Read Honeymoon With a Prince (Royal Scandals) for Free Online Page A

set of footsteps sounded on the staircase behind her.   Without turning she said, “Dinner is ready, but I can serve you only if this man behind me moves out of my way.”
    A squat man with a close-clipped gray beard, brown slacks and a dark brown vest worn over a long-sleeved cream-colored shirt descended.   Clunky leather shoes, the type reserved for those whose gait wasn’t entirely stable, encased his feet.   He deliberately ignored Giulia—though not without a mischievous lift to his lips meant for her to see—and greeted them.   “My dear wife said you were home again, Massimo.   Should I be jealous that she is hiding you in our cellar?”
    “I asked her to run away with me, but she only has eyes for you.”   Massimo put one hand on the railing and leaned past Giulia to give the older man a warm hug and slap on the back.   “It’s good to see you again, Guillermo.   I understand you provided tonight’s dinner. Brought in some good sea bass today?”
    “Don’t I always?”
    “And he’s more than willing to brag about it,” Giulia said at the same time.
    Massimo smiled at the pair, but his hand gripped the railing tighter.   Giulia introduced her husband to Kelly, but while Kelly made the appropriate greetings, Massimo’s strained body language distracted her.   As Guillermo descended, crowding into the small space to comment on the wine Kelly selected, Massimo moved to the far wall, his spine stiff and smile increasingly forced…at least to her mind.  
    “Are you all right?” Kelly asked him quietly as Guillermo made a playful comment to his wife in Italian.
    “Of course,” he replied, but didn’t meet her gaze.   “Just getting out of the way.   Are you all right?”
    “Fine.”   There was a disturbing brusqueness to his tone that made her realize he wasn’t all right, despite what he claimed.   To Giulia, she said, “I’m dying to try that homemade ravioli.   Please tell me you weren’t teasing us when you said that it’s ready.”
    “I never tease about my food.   Come, come.”   She waved for everyone to follow her upstairs.   “Here, I will take the wine and bring it to the table for you.   Do you want one of the window tables, or by the fireplace?”
    Without looking to Kelly for her opinion, Massimo said, “We’ll stay on the patio.   It’s warm out and there’s a nice sea breeze.”
    Surprise registered on Giulia’s softly lined face at his authoritative tone, but her response was easy.   “Then I will bring the dishes outside.   I promise, you are in for a treat.”

Chapter Four
    Dinner was every bit as decadent as Giulia promised.   The sea bass practically melted in Massimo’s mouth, the freshly steamed asparagus and mushrooms had been seasoned to perfection, and Kelly’s wine choice was superb.   Still, it had taken several minutes for his heartbeat to slow enough for him to appreciate the melding of flavors that danced across his tongue.
    Much as he’d like to attribute his pounding pulse solely to the voluptuous woman before him, he knew better.   He’d experienced the same sense of horror and sickening disorientation once before.   He’d brushed off the event as an oddity then, but now…now he was as disturbed by the fact it happened a second time as he was by the event itself.
    He blotted his mouth with his napkin and reached for his wineglass, grateful his hand didn’t shake at the same time he thought, what the hell is wrong with me?
    A fight-or-flight urge had gripped him as he’d neared the bottom of the cellar stairs.   He’d flipped on the light, expecting the bizarre sensation to dissipate, but it hadn’t.   In fact, seeing the thick walls around him while he’d breathed in the deep, earthy scent of the cave increased the disturbing sensation to such an extent he couldn’t force it from his mind.   And he was very good at forcing things from his mind if he didn’t want them there.   Years of military training