She’d never change, Callie thought. She’d always be Callie from the docks and Callie from the lemon groves too. All that mattered was love and friendship, and the man waiting for her inside the church.
Luca’s face was full of pride when he turned around as the grand old organ struck up the wedding march. She had never seen anyone more handsome in her life. In a plain dark suit, without any of his orders of office, or the royal sash with its ornate jewelled insignia, Luca couldn’t have looked hotter if he’d tried. What more could she want than this? Callie thought as Pa Brown transferred her hand from his to Luca’s.
‘You may kiss the bride.’
‘I may kiss the love of my life,’ Luca whispered so that only Callie could hear, ‘the only Princess I’ll ever need.’
‘The only Princess you’re ever going to get,’ she teased him softly before they kissed. She stared down at the band of diamonds that Luca had whispered could never replace the blue plastic ring from the cracker, but he hope she liked it. Liked it? She loved it. And there will be another ring, he’d told her. ‘When we marry in Fabrizio, you will have a ring made in Fabrizian gold.’
‘The blue plastic ring was enough for me,’ she had assured him. ‘What I feel for you is in my heart.’
As they stepped outside the ancient church hand in hand, a crystalline scene of snow and icicles greeted them. Luca turned to Callie beneath the stone archway decorated with white winter roses and floating silk ribbons, to draw her winter bridal cape more snugly around her shoulders. ‘Warm enough?’ he asked.
She gave him one of her looks. ‘Is that a serious question?’
Pulling her close against his muscular body, Luca gave Callie the only answer she would ever need, in a kiss that was more than hot enough to keep out any chill.
* * *
Michel, Luca’s elderly aide, had advised on all things formal to make sure that protocol was followed for Luca and Callie’s second ceremony in Fabrizio, but the magic, as always, was provided by the Browns, who had a far more relaxed take on what went into making the perfect wedding day. Callie only knew that it took one man to make her day perfect and he had just snuck into her suite at the palace, when she was fresh from the shower and naked beneath her fluffy towelling robe.
‘You shouldn’t be here,’ she whispered, glancing over her shoulder to check that the door was securely locked.
‘Why?’ Luca demanded, looping his arms around her waist. ‘You’re not in your wedding dress, are you?’
‘Exactly,’ Callie exclaimed, shivering with desire as he teased the sensitive skin just below her ear with the lightest of rasps with his stubble. He looked beyond amazing, wearing nothing more than a white T-shirt and banged-up jeans. ‘You parked the shave?’ she reprimanded in between hectic gasps of breath.
‘I know how much you like a good rasping,’ he murmured, transferring his attention to her lips, which he now brushed with the lightest of kisses.
And she did like a good rasping. Far too much. ‘You have to stop,’ she gasped out.
‘Or you won’t be accountable for your actions?’
‘Something like that,’ she agreed on a dry throat as Luca’s experienced hands traced the outline of her breasts.
‘Do you know how long it is since we made love?’ he demanded.
‘Too long?’
‘That’s right,’ he confirmed. ‘It must be an hour since. What’s this?’ he asked, frowning as he extracted the fine gold chain that disappeared between her breasts.
‘My something blue?’
‘The plastic ring,’ he exclaimed, smiling. ‘I hope you won’t mind if I replace it with something more substantial today?’
Callie’s heart beat nineteen to the dozen. What type of rings did princesses have to wear? Her knowledge of such things was confined to magazines and newspapers, and those rings always looked so clunky and as if they would ruin all her clothes. ‘So long as it’s nothing too flashy.’
Luca hummed and frowned. ‘I’m afraid I can’t promise that.’
And Callie couldn’t fail to be impressed. In fact, she was speechless when she saw the obviously priceless diamond ring that Luca had so casually pulled out from the back pocket of his jeans. The large, blue-white oval stone glittered wildly in the light as if it contained countless hopes and dreams just waiting to be set free. It was the most stunning piece of jewellery she’d ever seen, apart from the diamond ring Luca had surprised her with in the church in England. ‘I don’t need this,’ she felt it only fair to tell him.
‘But I want you to have it,’ Luca insisted. ‘Our children will expect you to have beautiful gifts from their father, a man who loves you more than anything else in the world.’ As he spoke Luca placed his hand on her not quite so flat belly, as if he were making a pledge to both Callie and their baby to love and protect them with his life. ‘You’ll have to wear the engagement ring on your right hand with the eternity ring from England,’ he said as he brought her fingers to his lips. ‘According to tradition in Fabrizio, your wedding band goes on this left hand, because it is said to contain the vein the ancient Romans believed connected directly to your heart. We still call it the vena amoris, the vein of love, and for that finger you will wear something very different.’
‘Fabrizian gold,’ she said, remembering as their stares connected.
‘As strong and as direct as you are,’ Luca confirmed in a way that made her heart go crazy. Thrusting his hand for a second time into the back pocket of his jeans, he brought out the simple band. ‘No frills,’ he said. ‘Just plain, honest perfection like you. I hope you enjoy wearing it.’
‘I love it,’ Callie exclaimed. ‘You couldn’t have chosen anything better. This is the most precious ring I’ll ever wear.’