Modern Romance Collection: December Books 5 - 8. Julia James

For Luca it was just sex, necessary like eating and breathing, and now it was done, he couldn’t wait to leave.

      What a mug I am, Callie thought as she pulled up her zipper. Even her well-used body mocked her as she dressed. It was so tender and still so responsive, while her mind continued to whirl in agitated spirals as she flashed glances at a man who seemed to have forgotten she existed. She’d been swept up in a fantasy, but as far as Luca was concerned they were two healthy adults who’d wanted sex. Now that was done there was nothing left. She couldn’t even be angry with him. She’d been a more than willing partner. She was just puzzled as to how they could seem so close, and now this.

      She glanced at him. He glanced back, but only to check on her progress. There’d be no more conversation or confiding, no more intimate jokes. Smoothing her hair as best she could, she looked at the time on her phone and grimaced. She was already late for the afternoon shift and would have to take a shower before returning to work. It must have been her heavy sigh that prompted Luca to say, ‘There are facilities next to the building where you’re working. You’ll find everything there—towels, shampoo—’

      Did he do this on a regular basis? Callie wondered. ‘Thanks.’ Why wouldn’t he? Luca came here every year. She couldn’t be the first woman to fall for his blistering charm. Her face flamed red as she pictured him with someone else. She’d thought they were special, which only went to prove how little she knew about men. She could understand he was in a hurry, but couldn’t there be just the slightest pleasantry between them, to allow for an exit with dignity?

      ‘So that’s it?’ she said as she checked her top was properly tucked in.

      ‘Should there be more?’ he demanded.

      His response was the slap in the face she badly needed. Something had to bring her to her senses. Reality had landed. Hooray. He was right. What more should there be?

      Callie was angry, but they were hardly at the stage where he could confide state secrets. She controlled herself well, but the tension in her jaw and the spark in her eyes told their own story. It couldn’t be helped. News of Max’s attempted coup was for his ears only. He strode on ahead as soon as Callie was ready. His mind was already elsewhere. Stabbing numbers into his cell, he told his staff to prepare the helicopter. He had to get to Fabrizio fast. He would just have time to shower and change before it arrived to pick him up. Max and his cronies had been causing trouble again, and, though they had been swiftly suppressed, the people of Fabrizio needed the reassurance of seeing their Prince.

      ‘So, you’re not even going to wait for me?’ Callie called after him.

      He turned around, shrugged impatiently then kept on walking. She was no longer his priority. However much he might want her to be, he couldn’t put his own selfish pleasures first.

      * * *

      ‘What’s got under your skin?’ Anita asked when the two women bumped into each other outside the shower block. ‘A man? One man in particular?’

      Anita sounded so hopeful that Callie couldn’t bear to disillusion her. ‘Tell you later,’ she promised as she hurried off for her afternoon shift.

      ‘Wave goodbye to the Prince before you go,’ Anita called after her.

      Callie stopped and turned around. ‘Where is he?’

      Shielding her eyes, Anita stared up at a large blue helicopter with a royal crest of Fabrizio on the side.

      ‘Apparently he’s been called back to Fabrizio to deal with an emergency,’ Anita explained as both women protected their eyes against the aircraft’s downdraft, which had raised dust clouds all around them. ‘Don’t worry. It won’t be an emergency when Luca gets there.’

      ‘Sorry?’ Callie froze.

      ‘Prince Luca’s will is stronger than any army his brother Max could raise, and his people adore him,’ Anita explained. ‘The people don’t trust Max as far as they could throw him. I read in the press today that Prince Luca intends to buy Max off. Max will do anything for money,’ Anita explained, ‘and that includes relinquishing his claim to the throne. Max needs Luca’s money to pay his gambling debts. He’d bleed the country dry, if he became ruler. The late Prince, their father, knew this. That’s why he made Prince Luca his heir—Callie? Are you all right?’

      ‘Why didn’t you tell me that Luca was the Prince?’ Callie stared at her friend in total disbelief, but how could she be angry with Anita when Callie was guilty of ignoring what had been, quite literally, under her nose?

      ‘I’m sorry,’ Anita said as she enveloped Callie in a big hug. ‘I thought you knew. I thought, like the rest of us, you were being discreet by not naming him, or talking about him. We all know that’s what Prince Luca prefers. If I’d guessed for a moment—’

      ‘It’s not your fault,’ Callie insisted. ‘I’m to blame. I only saw what I wanted to see.’ She stared up at the helicopter as it disappeared behind some cloud. Luca hadn’t told her anything, let alone that he was the Prince. What a fool she was. How could she have missed all the clues? They were as obvious to her now as the bright red arrow she hadn’t noticed when she’d first arrived at the Prince’s estate. Only worse, much worse, Callie concluded. She didn’t blame Luca. Was he supposed to act like Prince Charming in a fairy tale? He was a man, with all the cravings, faults and appetite that went along with that, and she hadn’t exactly fought him off.

      ‘Why are you laughing?’ Anita asked.

      Callie was thinking that Luca didn’t have to excuse his actions. He simply called for his helicopter and flew off. But into a difficult situation, she reminded herself. Even if Luca and his brother had never been close, no one needed to remind Callie how much a barb from within the family could hurt.

      ‘I thought he was one of us,’ she admitted to Anita.

      ‘He is one of us,’ Anita confirmed hotly.

      Callie smiled, knowing there was no point in arguing with Anita, one of Luca’s staunchest supporters, but she still couldn’t get her head around her own clumsy mistake. It was so much easier to think of Luca as a worker, rather than a prince, but how she could have been so wrapped up in her Italian adventure that she hadn’t guessed the truth before now defeated her.

      ‘Max’s uprising was over before it began,’ Anita explained as she linked arms with Callie. ‘You can’t fault Prince Luca for keeping his word to his father, the late Prince. Luca’s been coming here for years to work alongside the pickers, but nothing’s more important to him than the pledge he made to keep his country safe, and we all understand why he had to go back to Fabrizio.’

      All except Callie, who was still floundering about in the dark wondering why Luca hadn’t told her his true identity. Perhaps there were too many people who only wanted to be close to him for the benefits they could gain, apparently like his brother, Max. She could forgive him if that were the case. Well, sort of. Luca expected her to trust him, but he clearly didn’t trust her.

      And was she always truthful?

      The only time she’d reached out since arriving in Italy was to text Rosie to reassure the Browns that everything was going well. She’d explained that she was going to extend her stay, but had kept her answers to Rosie’s excited questions bland in the extreme. She was staying on because she wanted to learn more about Italy, Callie had said, which explained why she had taken a part-time job. She just hadn’t expected to get her heart broken into pieces and trampled on in the process. ‘I’ll be leaving soon,’ she mused out loud.

      ‘Must you? Oh, no. Please don’t. Was it something I said? I didn’t mean to probe,’ Anita assured Callie with concern, ‘and I’ll understand completely if you don’t want to tell me why you’re leaving.’

      Callie responded with a warm hug for her new friend. ‘You’ve done nothing wrong,’ she assured Anita. ‘If anyone’s at fault, it’s me. I could have asked Luca more questions, but chose not to. I didn’t want reality to intrude, I suppose. It’s better