The Prince's Forbidden Bride
Auteur
Rebecca Winters
Lezers
16,0K
Hoofdstukken
11
PROLOGUE
A TRUMPET SOUNDED, followed by the voice of the announcer.
“This year’s winner in the sixteen-year-olds’ jumping and dressage, in the junior division of the Emerian concorso, is Princess Donetta Rossiano of the country of Domodossola. Congratulations to this unparalleled equestrian and her horse, Blaze!”
Everyone in the crowd clapped with enthusiasm.
“She has been the reigning international champion in these events since her first appearance at the Windsor concorso, when she was ten years old and accompanied by her father, King Victor of Domodossola. Today she’s accompanied by her trainer, her father’s cousin, Prince Lorenzo, a world-famous equestrian in his own right.”
There was more clapping.
“And now Her Royal Highness, Queen Anne of Emeria, will present the winner’s cup.”
Donetta was overjoyed to have won, but she was even more excited to receive her prize from the queen. The elegant young monarch was so lucky to be born in a country where she could be queen.
Being the eldest of three daughters, Donetta had always dreamed of being queen of Domodossola one day. Somehow she would make it happen. Even if the law didn’t allow women to rule, she was determined to find a way to get it changed.
Prince Lorenzo stood next to her. “You deserved to win the overall championship because you’re the best! I knew you would do it. Too bad your family couldn’t be here. They would be very proud.”
“Thanks, Lorenzo, but I’m glad you’re here. You’re the expert who taught me how to ride. You deserve a prize, too.” Lorenzo had won many awards in concorsos throughout his youth.
Donetta was secretly thrilled he’d come. Lorenzo, who also served as her chaperone on these trips, always gave her the freedom to have fun at the different concorsos without following her around, something she needed badly today.
“If Princess Donetta will please come forward to the dais.”
“Go claim your well-deserved prize,” Lorenzo whispered.
A round of applause accompanied her walk to the table, where pictures were taken of her with the queen. When Queen Anne handed Donetta the cup, she whispered, “You’re the most outstanding female rider I’ve ever seen, Princess Donetta. I expect to hear of more exciting victories on that remarkable horse.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty. This is a great privilege for me.”
Donetta could only imagine doing this same thing for a young rider one day when she was queen.
She carried the engraved silver cup back to her spot in line with Lorenzo, treasuring the moment.
Another trumpet sounded, followed by the next announcement.
“This year’s male winner in the sixteen-year-old division is a name we’ve been applauding since he first rode his horse at the Windsor concorso at the age of ten. Prince Enrico of the country of Vallefiore, riding his horse, Rajah! If you’ll come forward to the dais, Queen Anne will present your international winner’s cup.”
The prince stood next to his first cousin Prince Giovanni. Giovanni had lost his parents in a plane crash, and after introducing him to Donetta, Enrico explained that his parents had taken over raising Giovanni. He lived at the palace with Enrico and his family. The two were like brothers and did everything together. Donetta had liked Giovanni immediately.
As her gaze riveted on Enrico, he flashed her a glance that said he was equally excited to see her and be with her again. They had plans when this was over. If her fifteen-year-old sister Fausta were here, she would say he was so dreamy he looked like a movie star.
He was more than dreamy.
Six years ago the prince had caught Donetta’s ten-year-old eye when she’d first watched him perform at Windsor in his division. Even at the age of ten, he’d been a little taller and stronger than the other male contestants of his age. With his olive skin and dark hair, he’d definitely been the best looking.
Back then she’d noticed everything about him, from his penetrating black-fringed eyes to his outstanding performance on his splendid black horse, Malik. She’d envied the way the two were so tuned in to each other; it was as if they were one.
To Donetta’s surprise, Enrico had sought her out after the prizes had been awarded. He’d complimented her on the way she rode and she’d returned the praise. From then on, whenever they saw each other at the dozen concorsos held every year in various countries, they would try to spend time together. No one else existed for them. They would discuss the finer points of each other’s performances and talk about their lives.
Because of Enrico’s striking looks and intelligence, Donetta never noticed the other male contestants. Whenever she learned he was on the list of competitors for his age group, her eyes always sought his and he’d find her once the competition was over.
They’d walk off away from the others. Often they hid out on the grounds to talk and laugh. From that first concorso, she lived for each meeting.
Today, as Donetta watched him accept his silver cup, she realized he was becoming a man, one whose looks and charisma had a visceral effect on her.
Donetta examined her heart and realized she had an infatuation for Enrico that wasn’t about to go away.
Now that his presentation was over, the groups disbanded and she handed her silver cup to Lorenzo, who would be staying to talk to the officials.
He smiled at her. “I’ll see you at the entrance in an hour?”
“That’s perfect. Thank you!”
In a quiet voice he said, “I know why you’ve always been so excited to ride in every concorso possible, and I’ve kept a blind eye. Have fun, but be careful and remember—you’ve been promised to Prince Arnaud. Need I remind you that the Rossianos and the Montedoros have been in a feud over trade rights for two hundred years. If your parents ever find out about you and Prince Enrico...”
“Don’t worry. I’m always careful and I know you won’t tell.” None of his warnings bothered her a bit. She was excited to be with Enrico. They loved being together whenever they could, especially knowing it was forbidden by their two families.
Now was her chance to get away and be alone with him. She started walking her horse toward the stable, knowing he would catch up.
“Donetta?”
She trembled as that seductive voice did unexpected things to her, but she didn’t want people to know she was waiting for him. It was always better if he was the one who approached her. Her legs felt less substantial as she turned to him.
“Enrico!” She was so excited to see him she could hardly stand it.
“Congratulations! You gave a superb performance!”
“I wanted to tell you the same thing, but we can’t talk here. How about we both mount our horses and take a ride away from the track?”
Donetta wanted to be with him all day. Right now she was too eager to spend time with him to worry about an ancient feud, or her parents’ plan that she marry Arnaud one day. Enrico’s parents had promised him to Princess Valentina of Vallefiore one day, but like Donetta, he didn’t give it any thought.
They walked to the stable. She found her horse’s stall, where her groomsman had brought Blaze after her last event. “I’ll meet you here after you’ve retrieved Rajah. We’ll have to ride bareback.”
A smile broke out on his handsome face. “Do me one favor? Don’t wear your helmet.” His eyes played over her features, sending a thrill of excitement through her body.
She chuckled. “Why?”
“Because for once I’d like to see your hair completely uncovered.” On that unexpected note he strode away from her on his long, powerful legs. No guy could look better in riding breeches than he did. At six-two, he was becoming a man.
His comment had caused her to tremble. She removed her Devon riding jacket and helmet. After shaking her head to loosen her hair, she walked over to Blaze and offered him a treat and gave him a hug.
“You were brilliant today. I love you. How would you like to take me for a ride without the saddle? We’re going on a walk with Rajah.”
She removed the trappings and her devoted horse nudged her. “Ah...that feels good, doesn’t it?”
Donetta reached for the reins and mounted him. No more competition today. No more rules. Just pure fun with the most gorgeous guy she’d ever known. For him to have asked her to go riding with him on this special day made her happier than she’d ever been in her life.
As they backed out, she saw Enrico without his helmet, coming on his stallion. Normally they didn’t allow stallions to enter the competitions, but it seemed they’d made an exception for the prince in this competition. He had total control over his animal.
Enrico, too, had shed his jacket and had loosened his white show shirt at the throat. When they walked out into the sun, the rays glistened on his luxuriant black hair.
Donetta’s willingness to ride bareback was one of the reasons Enrico found it so exhilarating to be with the princess. Her spirit of adventure made her different from all the other princesses his family forced him to spend time with.
None of them could ride the way she did or be more entertaining. As his best friend and first cousin Prince Giovanni had been saying since they’d been coming to the concorsos together, Princess Donetta was poetry in motion, on or off her mare.
Her five-foot-seven-inch height gave her a regal elegance that had nothing to do with her title. In her navy-and-beige riding kit she looked spectacular, especially with her silvery gold hair cascading down her shoulders and back, shining like one of the waterfalls secreted in the mountains of Vallefiore.
She’d been very pretty, but now with those shimmering light green eyes that reminded him of the South Seas he’d seen in his travels, she’d turned into a raving beauty. Whenever he saw her in a crowd—always surrounded by more males than females—he couldn’t take his eyes off her.
“You rode a new horse today, Enrico. Why did you name him Rajah?”
Her question brought him back to the present. “To befit his kingly Arabian ancestry. His breed runs wild on the plains in my country and his instincts are phenomenal.”
“I’d love to see a sight like that. He’s absolutely gorgeous. With him you’ll continue to win every competition from now on.”
“I’m sure you will, too. No other rider comes close to you.”
She beamed as he led them on a path away from the track to the park in the distance. When they reached the trees, they dismounted. “I brought a picnic for us.”
“You’re kidding!”
Enrico pulled a blanket out of his saddlebag and spread it on the ground. Then he produced several sacks of sandwiches, fruit and drinks.
“This is fabulous, Enrico.” She sat down with him to eat.
“Much as I want to spend the entire weekend with you, that isn’t possible. I’d give anything if we were eighteen. Then I’d be able to take you to an early dinner and dancing in some trendy café. But we’re not old enough to go out to a place like that yet.”
“No. My parents would never allow it. What about you?”
“I could steal away with you now if I could, but since that isn’t possible, we’ll have to wait until we’re eighteen. Then we’ll do whatever we want. You’re the only girl I want to be with.”
“I think about you all the time.”
He darted her a penetrating glance. “You don’t know the half of it. As soon as we turn eighteen, we’ll go out after every concorso. That’s a promise. In the meantime we’ll have to make do with picnics.”
“Next time it will be my turn to bring the food. I’ll manage it somehow.” She glanced at her watch and moaned. “I’d better go back. Lorenzo gave me an hour.”
“What would happen if you’re two hours late?”
“I don’t dare test him and find out.”
“I was just teasing, but it doesn’t mean I can’t dream.”
“I know. I feel the same way.”
He got to his feet and cleaned up the mess. After putting everything back in the saddlebag, they returned to the stable.
Frustrated that they had to part, Enrico dismounted in front of Blaze’s stall. “I’ll help you down.” He held out his arms. “I won’t let you fall.”
Donetta glanced at him again with that enticing smile. “I’m sure I can trust you.” She reached for him. The second he felt her in his arms, he pulled her against him before lowering her to the ground. Every beautiful part of her fit perfectly, increasing his desire for her.
“I’m going to miss seeing you, let alone our talks, Donetta.” Unable to help himself, he lowered his head to kiss her mouth, knowing he wouldn’t be able to be with her until the next concorso. She tasted so good he couldn’t stop and began kissing her long and hard, sweeping them away until both were breathless. This kiss would have to last.
Sometime later he unwillingly released her. “Until next time. Have a safe flight home, bellissima,” he murmured before reaching for his horse’s reins to walk away.
Two years later, there’d been twenty more horse competitions where Donetta had met with Enrico. They’d enjoyed picnics and kissed each other until they were breathless. Now that they had both turned eighteen, Donetta was dying to be with Enrico again because they could really be together now for hours and hours.
After she won the overall championship for eighteen-year-olds at the concorso in Vienna, she’d worked it out with Lorenzo to look the other way while she and Enrico went out to dinner. She promised to be back at their hotel by 11:00 p.m., and Giovanni had hired a limo for them.
Donetta almost died with happiness when Enrico took her to a club where they could have dinner and dance. He never let her out of his arms, kissing her cheek and neck.
“You don’t know how long I’ve waited for this, Donetta.”
“Oh, yes, I do! Thank heaven there’s another concorso next month, otherwise I’m not going to be able to handle the separation.”
He kissed her lips before dancing them back to their table. It was already getting to be eleven o’clock, but she didn’t care. She wanted to stay out all night with him.
“Donetta,” he said after they sat down. “There’s something I have to tell you, but I’m dreading it.”
Some nuance in his voice told her she wasn’t going to like it. “What’s wrong?”
“Today was my last time to ride in a concorso.”
She blinked. “What are you talking about? We can ride in competitions until we’re a lot older. I don’t understand.”
He gripped her hand across the table. “Next week I’m leaving for England to attend university at Cambridge. Giovanni will be going with me. I won’t be riding in any competitions from now on. There’s no time. During the next four years I’ll be spending most of my time studying. There’ll be a few visits to see my family.”
Donetta had been so drunk with happiness the import of his statement took a minute to sink in. “I see,” she said in a quiet voice. “What will you study?”
“Business, law enforcement, finance, economics, agriculture.”
“I’m envious.”
“Aren’t you going to be attending college, too?”
“Yes. Next month, but it won’t be in England. My parents insist I get my education at Domodossola University. They don’t want me going far away.”
“I wish you could come to Cambridge, where we could spend all our free time together after our classes are over, to study and do other things...” His words caught at her heart. “Will you be competing in more concorsos while you’re at university?”
By now they’d been served dessert, but she couldn’t touch hers. “Maybe some of them.”
“After the performance you put on today, I have no doubt you’ll continue to win everything. I heard what the head of the Austrian federation said to you after your win. Your ability on a horse is breathtaking.”
“Thank you,” she said, trying to smile, but her heart was heavy.
“It’s killing me that I won’t see you again.”
Enrico squeezed her hand harder. “I know I’ve upset you. Now you have some idea of what the separation’s going to do to me.”
Tears flooded her eyes. “The thought of not seeing you again... I can’t handle it. Your presence has always made the competitions more exciting for me. Everyone asks, is Prince Enrico going to win again? They think I know. And I do,” she said with a teasing smile.
“Now you’re really flattering me. I’ll watch for your name in the competitions coming up on the lists in the next few years and try to get away to see you.”
“Oh, please come!”
“I don’t want to lose you, Donetta. In the meantime let’s write to each other. I’ll send you letters through your equestrian foundation and ask Giovanni to mail them.”
She brightened. “I’ll do the same through your organization and put Prince Giovanni’s name on the envelope so he’ll send them on to you. No one will be able to monitor them. Our families will be incensed if they find out that a Montedoro and a Rossiano have been carrying on a forbidden relationship all these years.”
“You’re right. That old ridiculous animosity over trade rights between our two countries is still a sore spot with my family. But I refuse to worry about that right now.”
“I’ve never worried about it,” Donetta said with stunning honesty. Neither of them had talked about the people they were promised to. Both sets of parents would be enraged about what had been going on behind the scenes.
“Much as I don’t want to, I’d better get you back to the hotel. Lorenzo will be looking for you, and Giovanni will be waiting for me at the airport. We’re flying home on the royal jet tonight.”
That revelation brought more pain to her heart as they left the club in the limo.
“Come closer, Donetta. I don’t want to waste one second of the precious time we have left.” He pulled her into his arms and kissed the daylights out of her until the limo pulled up in front of the hotel.
He finally let her go. “I’ll write to you as soon as I’m in England. Stay safe and send me some pictures.”
“I’ll be waiting for your letters and pictures, too.”
They embraced one more time before he helped her out of the limo. She ran inside the hotel, where Lorenzo was waiting for her.
He looked at his watch. “You’re only a half hour late. I can forgive you for that.”
She hugged him hard. “Thank you for being my friend.”
“Why the tears?”
“I’ve had some disappointing news, but today was the best day of my life.”
Dear Donetta,
When you told me you were participating in the concorso at Aix-en-Provence in France, I bought this book for your twenty-first birthday. It tells the history of the white Camargue horses of that region. I believe you’ll find it fascinating.
I plan to fly in for your competition and will be staying at the Hotel Cezanne, where you are staying. I’ll ring your room.
We’ll spend as much time together as we can while I’m there. I’m longing to see you again. All the letters and photos have kept me going, but it’s been a century since I kissed you.
Enrico
After reading the book from cover to cover, Donetta kissed Enrico’s letter. It traveled to her purse, her pocket and her pillow. She had it with her when she entered the hotel. This time her staff stayed at a different hotel. So did Lorenzo, who’d flown here with her but had come only to watch her perform, not keep tabs on her.
Once she was in her room, her pulse raced and wouldn’t subside, because she knew she’d be seeing Enrico shortly. She had brought several outfits with her, not knowing what to wear. After much indecision she chose to wear a filmy short-sleeved dress in champagne color and bone-colored sandals.
To please him Donetta left her hair long and flowing from a side part. After applying pink, frosted lipstick, she put on hoop earrings of the same light green color as her eyes. She wanted him to take one look at her and never let her go.
When the room phone rang, she literally jumped before picking up.
“H-Hello?” she stammered.
“Thank heaven your voice hasn’t changed.”
His had grown even deeper. “Neither has yours.”
“Are you ready?”
“Yes,” she answered, almost out of breath.
“Meet me in the lobby in five minutes. I’ve rented a car. We’re going to take off and find a charming spot away from the world where we can be alone.”
Donetta came close to fainting when she saw the man of her dreams standing near the entrance, wearing a tan suit and sports shirt. No man came close to her picture of Enrico, who was the personification of every woman’s dream of a dark-haired prince. At almost twenty-two, he was truly breathtaking and sensuously male.
“Bellissima,” he murmured. His black eyes played over her hungrily before he grasped her hand. They walked to the parking area and got in his car. He drove them out of the city to the suburbs and pulled up to a place called the Patio.
“Before we get out, I have to do this.”
“Enrico—” she cried as he reached for her and his mouth closed over hers. It didn’t seem possible that she was in his arms again and they were giving each other kiss for kiss, unable to get enough.
Evening turned into night as they tried to make up for the years when they hadn’t been able to be together. The letters and photos hadn’t been enough.
“If you’re dying for dinner, we’ll get out of the car, but I don’t want to let you go.”
She shook her head. “I’m only dying for you. After your letter and gift, which I love, I haven’t been able to concentrate on anything. All I want is to be with you.”
“We’re safer here than back at the hotel, where everyone knows us. But this is no way for us to have a relationship. One more year of schooling for both of us and then we can make plans to be together. What if we take a trip after we graduate? How about two weeks to the South Seas or a Caribbean island?”
“I’d give anything to go away with you. Anything!”
“Then we’ll do it. You’re so beautiful, Donetta, I think I’m hallucinating. Kiss me again.”
After another half hour they ended up driving to a store for fruit and some quiche. “I need to get us back to the hotel. You’re performing in the morning and need your sleep.”
“No, I don’t. I only need you.”
The car was their sanctuary. They didn’t go into the hotel until after one. “I’d come to your room, but then you’d never get rid of me and we’d be the target of every eye. I’ll be at the stands in the morning to watch you on Blaze.”
They rode the elevator to the second floor, where he had to get out, but they clung to each other.
“Enrico? How soon do you have to get back to Cambridge?”
“Tomorrow night.”
“Why don’t we just drive away right now until you have to be at the airport. I’ll skip the competition.”
He pressed his forehead against hers. “You can’t do that. I can’t let you. But we’ll be together all day tomorrow.” Enrico let her go and stepped out into the hall. He looked back. “Meet me in the lobby at seven and we’ll go somewhere for breakfast before you have to report to the stands.”
“Don’t go, Enrico. I’m afraid.”
He frowned. “Why do you say that?”
“Because I’m too happy.”
“You don’t know the meaning of the word yet. Buona notte e sogni d’ oro, Donetta.”
Golden dreams. She’d been living in one since they’d met in the lobby. “Buona notte, Enrico.”
The elevator door closed and carried her to the third floor. When she reached her room, the phone was ringing. She rushed to answer it. “Enrico?”
“Good. You’re home safe and sound for tonight. I’ll be dreaming of you.”
“I dream of you every night,” she confessed.
“One of these days we won’t have to do that anymore.”
He clicked off.
She was slower to hang up. If he meant what she thought he’d meant, he wasn’t just talking about a two-week vacation. Filled with elation, she whirled around the room before settling down long enough to undress and get to bed.
