Royally Claimed - By Marie Donovan Page 0,70
his head. “I was an idiot to let you go. I could have easily found you but I thought you needed your space and you would eventually contact me again. When I didn’t hear from you for so many months, I thought the memories were too painful for you to see me, so I gave up. We could have dated through college and married soon after, but I was foolish and stubborn, refusing to take the first step toward you.”
“I was foolish and stubborn, too,” she admitted. “I lived in my shell for so many years until I was almost shattered. I had to come to the Azores to make myself whole.”
“I am not whole,” he whispered. “Ever since you left me again, I am missing part of my soul. Come to me in Portugal, Julia. Marry me. As you Americans say, the third time’s a charm.”
“What?” She stared at him with huge eyes.
He dropped to one knee, heedless of his lovely uniform. “Marry me, Julia,” he repeated. “Live with me in Portugal—make my estate a home for us. I cannot bear to be without you anymore. I love you with all my heart.”
“Frank…” she murmured, stunned that he was proposing to her again, here at someone else’s wedding. Her mother would have a fit at the breach of etiquette.
“Do you still love me, amor meu?” He kissed the back of her hand.
“I do. I never stopped loving you for the past eleven years. Why do you think I never married, never even got engaged? My heart was always yours.” She wrapped her fingers around his, shaking on her high heels.
“Then tell me yes, you will marry me. If you say no, I will crawl on my hands and knees following you around the cathedral. My sword will scratch the marble floors, my trousers will be ruined, and worst of all, my mother will berate me for acting a fool in front of all her friends.”
Julia couldn’t help giggling at the image. “Get up, Frank.” She tugged at him, realizing they were attracting some attention. “Don’t you know it’s tacky to propose to a girl at someone else’s wedding?”
He resisted her prodding easily. “Stefania will forgive me. She would be the first to cheer me on.”
He was probably right. From all he’d told her, the bride was decidedly unconventional.
“I’m going to start singing Portuguese love songs in a few seconds,” he warned her. “Three, two, one. Te amo, te adoro, você quer casar comigo…” His pleasant baritone voice echoed in the cathedral.
“Frank!” She slapped her hand over his mouth and he kissed her palm. He gave such a look of love from his sweet brown eyes that she melted. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
He leapt to his feet. “Oh, Julia.” Heedless of anything or anyone around them, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her.
“Is that your sword or are you glad to see me?” she asked demurely.
He threw his head back and roared in laugher. “Both, of course. I’ll unsheathe them for you later.”
She groaned and rested her head on his shoulder. “Are you going to wear this for our wedding?”
“All of this plus the ducal coronet. It’s family custom.”
“Like a tiara?”
He gave her a pained look. “No, not a tiara—that is for women. A narrow gold crown for a man. And you get one, too.”
“A crown?”
“A coronet belonging to the Duchesses of Aguas Santas. You’ll be the newest.”
She clutched his hand. “Your mother! Will she like me?”
“She’ll love you. Would you like to meet her? She and my sisters are probably wondering where I am.”
He’d been making more than enough noise to attract everyone’s attention. “How do I look?” She patted her hat to make sure their kiss hadn’t knocked it off. It sure knocked her socks off.
“You look like the most beautiful, the most precious, the most wonderful woman in the world,” he told her. “And it is an honor that you will be my wife.”
“The honor is mine.”
He bent to kiss her again and a flash popped. “Uh-oh. I think the cat is out of the bag.”
She giggled. “After we meet your mom, I need to call mine so she won’t find out about us in the paper first.”
“I’d loan you my phone, but I left it in my other ceremonial uniform,” he said with a wink. Then his expression deepened, a look of awe and wonder on his face. “Oh, Julia, you have made me the happiest man in the world.”
“And I’m the happiest woman in the world.”
“I will never forget our past, Julia, but from now on, we only live in the present and plan for the future.”
“Our future.” She rested her cheek against his and smiled. A golden-white beam of light shot through the stained-glass dove and shone on them as a blessing. Their past had its dark moments, but they had finally come to a brighter place together. Forever.
Epilogue
Fashionista Magazine: The Royal Review:
LOYAL ROYAL-WATCHERS, we at The Royal Review would like to thank you, our wonderful readers for helping make our blog the most popular destination for royal news on the net, but we’re not stopping now!
After the stunning wedding of Princess Stefania of Vinciguerra to soccer star Count Dieter von Thalberg, her brother Crown Prince Giorgio must have caught wedding fever. His office has announced the engagement of Prince Giorgio to American Renata Pavoni of Brooklyn, New York. The hunky prince met the stunning redhead when she was chosen to design his sister’s wedding gown. It now looks like she’ll be able to design her own wedding gown, fit for a crown princess.
This comes after the whirlwind wedding of Prince Giorgio’s French friend, Count Jacques de Brissard to his lovely Countess Lily. Countess Lily has been kind enough to give us the exciting news first—they are already expecting a boy bébé—the next Count de Brissard! Countess Lily says they will name him Henry Gérard—Henry for her late father, and Gérard for the Count’s late father.
With wedding bells literally ringing, Prince Giorgio’s old college chum Francisco Luís Gustavo Felipe Duarte, Duke of Santas Aguas, reportedly popped the question to his American girlfriend, Julia Cooper of Boston—and at Princess Stefania’s wedding, no less! A little birdie tells us that she was the One Who Got Away many years ago, so it’s no wonder he didn’t waste any time recapturing the affections of the petite brunette. Looks like her nursing skills brought his heart back to life! They have already set a wedding date for the end of August at the chapel at Santas Aguas, the Duke’s ancestral holdings in the heart of Portugal.
The bride-to-be was overheard telling a gal pal that the Duke had donated money for a new hospital emergency room not only in the hospital nearest Santas Aguas, but also on São Miguel, the closest hospital to his private island of Belas Aguas. The part of this that will make you say aww…the emergency rooms will be named in honor of the Duchess Julia Cooper Duarte das Santas Aguas. Rumor has it that the Duchess may work part time there since she loves her work so. Some brides get big rings, some get emergency rooms—whatever makes your heart go pitter-pat!
So, alas, poor single ladies, three of Europe’s most eligible bachelors are eligible no more. But you can be sure we’ll bring you all the juiciest inside scoop for the upcoming weddings of Prince Giorgio and Duke Francisco. With all these happy couples, we’ll be watching eagerly for the next generation to arrive!
ISBN: 978-1-4592-1544-3
ROYALLY CLAIMED
Copyright © 2011 by Marie Donovan
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*A Real Prince
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Epilogue