The Wedding Party And Holiday Escapes Ultimate Collection. Кейт Хьюит
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might not be for me to say this,’ Alyse said quietly, laying a hand on Liana’s arm, ‘but Leo and Sandro—they haven’t had easy lives, royal though they may be.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Their relationship with their parents...’ Alyse sighed and shook her head. ‘It wasn’t healthy or loving. Far from it.’
Liana just nodded. She couldn’t exactly say her relationship with her parents was healthy, even if she loved them. She wasn’t sure if they loved her. If they could, anymore, and she could hardly blame them.
‘Sophia doesn’t seem like the most cuddly person I’ve ever met,’ she said, and Alyse gave a wry smile back.
‘No, and neither was the king. And yet I think both Leo and Sandro wanted their love, even if they wouldn’t admit it. They might not trust love, they might even be afraid of it, but they want it.’
‘Leo did,’ Liana corrected.
‘And I think Sandro does too. Give him a chance, Liana. That’s all I’m really saying.’
And again Liana could just nod. Sandro might want love, but he didn’t want her love. Did he? Or could he change? Could she?
She still didn’t know if she wanted to change, much less whether she had the courage to try. She’d entered this marriage for a lot of reasons, and none of them had been love. She’d never even let herself think about love.
She’d been skating on the surface of her life, and now the ice below was starting to crack—and what was beneath it? What would happen when it shattered and she fell? She couldn’t bear to find out, and yet she had a horrible feeling she would whether she wanted to or not.
But would Sandro be there to catch her? Would he even want to?
‘Thank you for telling me all this,’ she said, turning back to Alyse. ‘It’s very helpful.’
‘Of course. And you must come have dinner with us one night, you and Sandro. Escape from the palace for a bit.’
After Alyse had gone she went to meet her private secretary, an efficient young woman named Christina. Liana sat and listened while Christina outlined all her potential engagements: cutting ribbons at openings of hospitals and schools, attending events and galas, choosing a wardrobe created by Maldinian fashion designers.
‘Are there many?’ she asked. ‘Maldinia is a small country, after all.’
‘A few,’ Christina said confidently. ‘But of course, your stylist will go over that with you.’
‘All right.’ Already Liana felt overwhelmed. She hadn’t considered any of this. ‘I’d like to support a charity I’ve been working with for many years,’ she began, and Christina nodded quickly.
‘Of course, Hands To Help. Perhaps a fundraiser in the palace?’
‘Oh, yes, that would be wonderful.’ She felt her heart lighten at the thought. ‘I can contact them—’
‘I believe they’ve already been contacted by King Alessandro,’ Christina said. ‘It was his idea.’
‘It...was?’ Liana blinked in surprise. Sandro had seemed sceptical and even mystified about her charity work, yet he’d thought to arrange a fundraiser? Her heart lightened all the more, so it felt like a balloon on a string, soaring straight up. ‘Where is the king? Do you know?’
Christina glanced at her watch. ‘I imagine he’s getting ready for your appearance together in twenty minutes.’ She pulled out a pager and pressed a few numbers. ‘I’ll page your stylist.’
Just minutes later Liana was primped and made up for the appearance on the balcony. Sandro strode into the room, looking as handsome as ever in his royal dress, but also hassled. Liana’s heart, so light moments ago, began a free fall. She hated that her mood might hinge on his look, that such a small thing—the lack of a greeting or a glance—could affect it.
And yet it did. Despite all her attempts to remain removed, remote, here she was, yearning. Disappointed.
‘Ready?’ he said, barely looking at her, and then with his hand on her lower back they stepped out onto the ornate balcony overlooking the palace courtyard, now filled with joyous Maldinians.
The cheer that rose from the crowd reverberated right through her, made her blink in surprise. She’d never felt so much...approval.
‘I think they want us to kiss,’ Sandro murmured, and belatedly Liana realised they were chanting ‘Baccialo!’
Sandro slid his hand along her jaw, turned her to face him. His fingers wrapped around the nape of her neck, warm and sure, as he drew her unresistingly towards him. His lips brushed hers, soft, hard, warm, cool—she felt it all in that moment as her head fell back and her hands came up to press against his chest.
The roar of the crowd thundered in her ears, matching her galloping pulse as Sandro’s mouth moved over hers and everything inside her cracked open.
She wanted to be kissed like this. Loved like this. She was tired of hiding away, of staying safe.
Sandro stepped away with a smile. ‘That ought to do it.’
Liana blinked the world back into focus and felt everything in her that had cracked open scuttle for shelter. That kiss had been for the crowds, not for her. It hadn’t meant anything.
Their marriage was still as convenient as it ever had been...and she wished it weren’t.
As soon as they left the balcony Sandro disappeared again and Liana went to meet with her stylist and go over her wardrobe choices.
‘A queen should have a certain modest style,’ the stylist explained as she flipped through pages of designs, ‘but also be contemporary. The public should feel you can relate to them.’
Liana glanced down at her chaste, high-necked dress. ‘So what I’m wearing...?’
‘Is beautiful,’ the stylist, Demi, said quickly. ‘So elegant and classic. But perhaps something a little...fresher?’
‘Yes, I suppose I could update my look a little bit,’ Liana said slowly. She’d been dressing, for the most part, like a businesswoman facing menopause, not a young woman in her twenties. A young woman with everything ahead of her.
But she’d never actually felt as if she had anything ahead of her before, and she didn’t know if she did now.
She had a quiet supper in her bedroom, as Sophia was dining out and Alyse and Leo had gone back to their town house. Sandro was working through dinner, and it wasn’t until it was coming on ten o’clock that she finally went to find him.
She had no idea what she’d say, what she wanted to say. He was leaving her alone, just as she’d hoped and wanted. How could she tell him she actually wanted something different now, especially when she wasn’t sure herself what that was?
She wandered through the downstairs, directed by footmen to his private study in the back of the palace. With nerves fluttering in her tummy and her heart starting to thud, she knocked on the door.
‘Come in.’
Liana pushed open the door and stepped into a wood-panelled room with deep leather club chairs and a huge mahogany desk. Sandro sat behind it, one hand driven through his hair as he glanced up from the papers scattered on his desk.
‘Liana—’ Surprise flared silver in his eyes and he straightened, dropping his hand. ‘I’m sorry. It’s late. I’ve been trying to clear my desk but it never seems to happen.’
‘A king has a lot of work to do, I suppose,’ she answered with a small smile. Sandro might have avoided his royal duty for most of his adult life, but he was certainly attending to it now.
‘What have you been doing today? You had some appointments?’
She