Page 46 of Awakened On Her Royal Wedding Night
“And? How are you taking it?” Felipe prodded, aware that she had been so upset for others she hadn’t expressed her own feelings on the matter.
“Honestly? I’m really sad that he’s not still alive. That breaks my heart.” Her eyes were bright with unshed tears. “I’ve always held on to a small hope I might meet him someday. Now that it will never happen, I’m deflated. And I hate that Francois is exploiting him this way when he can’t even defend himself.”
“It’s reprehensible.” Felipe drew her into his arms, trying to offer what comfort he could, but his conscience tortured him. “I never should have pulled you into the ring of my fight with my brother.”
“He and I fought before you and I had ever met,” she reminded him, drawing back enough to look into his eyes. “I’m sorry that you have had a lifetime of fighting with him. Of never knowing what it is to have family who loves and supports you. I can’t imagine how hard that’s been for you.”
Such a wrenching sensation went through his chest that he nearly mistook it for a medical event. He swallowed back the profound ache and held her closer, tucking her face into his shoulder so she wouldn’t see how completely she had leveled him with her wish that he had experienced something he had long ago convinced himself he didn’t need.
“Don’t worry about me,” he insisted gruffly. “I want to know how I can help you.”
“I don’t think there is anything that can help. I presume if he had family, they would have been identified already.”
“I asked Vinicio to investigate—” He cut himself off as there was a knock at the door.
Felipe dropped his arms so they both faced his secretary as Vinicio entered with the closest thing to excitement he had ever exhibited.
“Sir. I think this could be positive news.”
There was no reason for Felipe to feel a level of threat this intense. It wasn’t physical, which was probably why it was so uncomfortable. His team had verified everything, so traveling to Sicily carried virtually no risk to either of them.
Emotionally, however, there was the potential for great jeopardy.
Felipe had trained himself to avoid emotions. The ones he allowed himself to feel were generally the ones surrounding his brother’s behavior and even those bouts of fury and bitterness he routinely watered down and ignored.
He didn’t allow himself the folly of hope or joy. Never ever the hopeforjoy.
There was Claudine beside him, though, drying her palms on the raw silk trousers she wore, chewing her lip, fairly quivering with anticipation of something that could turn out to be profoundly disappointing.
How was he supposed to protect her from that? He couldn’t.
Which churned an unfamiliar helplessness in his gut, but he couldn’t deny her this chance, could he? Not when she had told him how much she had clung to the hope that she might one day meet the man who’d made her. This wasn’t that, but it was the next best thing.
The helicopter flight was just over an hour. They landed on a private estate where two of Felipe’s guards greeted them, having come in this morning to ensure everything was as secure as promised. The pair fell into step with them as they were escorted down a wide, paved path toward a beautiful single-level villa.
As the path brought them into a garden where a freeform swimming pool gleamed in the midday sun, a family waited to greet them.
Freja, Claudine’s cousin, was a blonde woman closing in on thirty. She resembled Claudine even more in person than in her photos. It went beyond the physical into the warmth she radiated and the gleam of liveliness in her eyes.
Her husband, Giovanni, looked closer to forty. He gave off a relaxed air, but there was a quiet suggestion of power in his wide shoulders and watchful gaze. Their twin girls were three years old and stood wide-eyed on either side of their father’s wheelchair, each clutching a posy of flowers.
As one of the assistants provided introductions, and the men reached to shake hands, the girls hurried forward to thrust their small bouquets at Claudine.
“Thank you.Grazie.” Claudine crouched to take them, looking deeply moved. “Which one of you is Louisa and—”
“She’s Theresa, I’m Louisa,” one said hurriedly.
“Where’s your crown?” Theresa asked with a worried look at Claudine’s hair.
“They don’t wear them every day, angel.” Freja gave her daughter’s fine hair a tender smooth. “I hope you don’t mind.” Freja bit her lip against helpless laughter. “They wanted to meet a real princess.”
“Iwanted to meet a real cousin and look at you both! I swear I have a photo of myself at your age that looks just like you two.” She was blinking back tears of joy.
“I would love to see it,” Freja said, then urged the girls, “Off you go with nanny. I’ll call you when it’s time to say goodbye.”
The girls were pulled away and Giovanni invited them to sit in a shaded settee near the pool. Refreshments were served, but Felipe didn’t think Claudine noticed anything beyond her newly discovered cousin. She was staring and smiling at Freja and Freja did the same thing back, both seeming nearly speechless with happiness.
“I must apologize for the way this news came out,” Felipe said, prepared to offer a more thorough explanation, but Freja held up a hand.
