Читать книгу The Brides of Bella Rosa: Beauty and the Reclusive Prince - Rebecca Winters - Страница 11

ISABELLA slid down off the horse and began to collect the basil, snipping leaves with little scissors she’d brought along with her. Max dismounted as well, but he stood back, watching her, and when she glanced up she noticed that all his good humor had fled. In fact, he looked ill at ease.

This was the place he considered too dangerous to let her visit alone, but she still couldn’t really understand why. The hillside looked quite benign. The river was racing past below, and she knew how he felt about the river, but even if she started to slide there were plenty of places where she would be able to break her fall. No, she didn’t get it. The place seemed fine to her.

The only problem was, the basil was not quite at its peak and there was only a limited amount she could harvest at the moment. She was going to have to discuss this with him and ask to come again in a week or so. Was he going to allow it? She had no idea.

It did seem all his warmth had evaporated and all he wanted to do was hurry up and get her to finish up and head for home again. Looking at his face, she decided to deal with her problem later.

“Okay,” she told him at last, tying her two large bags together. “I think I have enough for now.”

He nodded, handing her Mimi’s reins and helping her aboard, then turning to mount his own horse. Isabella turned to look at him, and as she did the reins slipped from her hand.

“Oh!” She started to lean down to get them again, but the bags full of basil began to fall and she had to grab for them instead, stuffing them under a strap to hold them tightly secure.

And in that moment, something went wrong. She was never able to pinpoint exactly what happened, but something frightened the sweet, gentle horse who had been so pleasant all day, and suddenly she turned into a different animal.

“Max!” Isabella cried, grabbing handfuls of mane in order to keep from falling. “Stop her!”

Mimi wasn’t waiting around to see what Max would do. She neighed in an alarming way and shot off toward the river.

“Max!”

Isabella hung on for dear life. The water was straight ahead.

“No, Mimi!” she cried, seeing another dunking in her future, at the very least. Closer and closer—the river looked inevitable. Then, suddenly Mimi veered away, racing along the bank, into the trees.

In a moment, a small clearing appeared, and a beautiful waterfall, and Mimi came to an abrupt stop. Too abrupt. Isabella sailed right over her head and landed in the brush. Mimi seemed to understand exactly what she’d done and decided not to stick around and find out what her punishment would be. Instead, she took off again, this time with an empty saddle.

Isabella moaned, pulling herself out of the brambles and seeing Max arrive just too late.

“At least I didn’t get wet this time,” she commented shakily, then stopped dead as she saw Max’s ashen face. He leaped from his horse and grabbed her, looking her over as though he expected to find broken limbs and gaping flesh wounds.

“Are you all right?” he demanded harshly. “Isabella, are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I think.” After all, she hadn’t had time to take an inventory. “I’m okay, but poor Mimi…”

He swore in a way that would have sent chills down Mimi’s spine if she’d heard him. “Never mind that damn horse. You could have been killed.”

“But I wasn’t.”

“No, but…” He took her by the shoulders, searching her face, then looked over his shoulder at the waterfall with such a look of dread, it took her breath away.

“What is it, Max?”

She put her hands flat against his chest, staring into his face. And suddenly, she knew.

“Is this where…?”

He looked at her as though he’d never seen her before.

“We have to go,” he said curtly. “We have to get out of here.”

“Oh, Max.”

He turned toward the horse and swung up, pulling her up in front of him just as he had that first night. His face was like stone but she could feel the tension in him and see it in the cords of his neck. His dark eyes were filled with pain and a pulse was beating at his temple. She saw all this and didn’t dare say a word. Just before they started off, he looked back toward the waterfall and the anguish in his face sent her reeling. Here, obviously, was the core and crux of his torment. This had to be the place where his young wife had died.

They rode hard back toward the palazzo, but after a few minutes the horse swerved into another direction and she realized he was taking them to the Rossi cemetery instead. They arrived and he lowered her, then dismounted himself. Without a word, he turned and strode off into the courtyard. Biting her lip, she followed, though she wasn’t at all sure she was welcome.

At first she thought he was heading for the little marble chapel, but he turned into the flower garden instead. Turning, he waited while she joined him. Her heart beat like a drum as she looked into the desolation in his eyes.

“Isabella, I’m sorry. I…I think you’ve probably guessed why I was upset near the waterfall. I just need a few minutes to unwind. If you could wait out by the chapel…”

“You want me to go and wait for you?”

“Yes. Please.”

She was already shaking her head. “No,” she said. “No, I won’t go.”

He stared at her as though he wasn’t sure she understood. “Isabella…”

“Max.” She grabbed his arm and looked up into his tortured face. “I think you should talk about it. I think you should tell me…”

“No.” He pulled away from her touch. “I don’t talk about this. Not to anyone.”

“That’s why you must,” she insisted passionately.

He began to back away, but she wouldn’t let him go. “Max, don’t you see? You need to talk about it. You’ve probably been holding it all inside for ten years. You have to talk.” Tears filled her eyes. Taking his arm again, she shook it, not sure what else she could do to convince him. “Tell me about her. What was she like?”

He stared down at her. “Laura?” he asked softly.

“Yes,” she said. “Tell me about Laura.”

He turned woodenly and slumped onto the garden bench. She slipped in beside him, taking his hand in hers.

“What did she look like?” she asked gently.

“An angel.” His voice was gruff as gravel and he cleared his throat. “Blonde hair, light as a feather. And so fragile…” His voice broke.

Isabella squeezed his hand. “You loved her.”

“Yes.” He nodded. “I loved her from the moment I saw her.” His voice was getting stronger. “She was good and kind and so very loving. Our life together was like a fairy tale. We were so happy.”

Isabella nodded as he went on and on about his wonderful wife. His pain was clear in his voice and it was agony just to listen to him. But it was also good. She needed it, too. She wanted to understand him.

“When we found out we were going to have a baby,” he said at last, “we thought life couldn’t get any better.”

A baby. Isabella blinked hard and looked away. She hadn’t realized Laura was pregnant. That only made it all so much worse. Her heart already ached for him, now it broke in two.

“Our favorite place to have a picnic was by the waterfall,” he was saying. “But we shouldn’t have gone that day.” His voice was almost a monotone now. “I’d been up most of the night before trying to solve a problem with the accountant. I was dead tired. But Laura had been planning a special celebration and I didn’t want to disappoint her. So we went, and we toasted the baby that was on the way, and we ate Laura’s special croissants that she had just learned how to make.” His voice was suddenly choked. “And then we lay back on the blanket, wrapped in each other’s arms. And the next thing I knew, I was opening my eyes and she was gone.”

His hand was gripping hers tightly now, so tightly she could hardly stand it, but she didn’t complain.

“I looked around. I couldn’t imagine where she could have gone. And then I saw a bit of her dress floating in the water.” A shudder went through him and he pulled his hand away from hers, leaning forward, his face in his hands. “I was in a frenzy. I pulled her from the water. Her foot had been stuck between two stones. I was so sure I could make her breathe again. I tried and tried. But it was too late. She was dead.” His voice was harsh now, harsh and grating.

“Gone forever.”

And then his shoulders began to shake and she knew he was releasing his grief at last.

He blamed himself. She’d seen it in his eyes, in every fiber of his being, as though despair and regret were all he knew. He blamed himself and it was so unfair. How could she get him to see that?

She stayed beside him, very quiet, until she could sense he would accept a bit of comfort, and then she touched his back, rubbing her hand softly up and down.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured. “Oh, Max, I’m so sorry.”

He rose slowly and turned toward her, his face ravaged. “Don’t be sorry for me,” he said coldly. “I don’t deserve it. I let her die. I let them both die.”

She gasped. “Max, how can you say that? You were asleep.”

“Yes. Exactly. I was asleep. I should have…” His voice faded.

“See? You can’t even say what you should have done. You couldn’t help it. Accidents are called accidents because no one means for them to happen.”

He was shaking his head, looking at her with haunted eyes. “I should have saved her.”

She searched her mind for some way to get him to see this from another perspective. “Should your father have saved your mother when she jumped from the balcony?” she said a bit wildly, and then clamped her hand over her mouth, realizing she didn’t know enough about the incident to use it this way.

But to her surprise, he didn’t seem to notice that. He answered directly. “He couldn’t have done anything. She was alone at home when it happened. How could he have stopped that?”

Isabella threw out her hands. “And Laura was alone when she went into the water. You weren’t there. You were asleep.” She shook his arm again. “Max, you couldn’t help it. It’s not your fault.”

He looked doubtful, but she could tell he was beginning to mull that over. She shook her head.

“At least you talked about it,” she said.

He gave her a sardonic look. “Quite the junior psychologist, aren’t you?” he said, but there was no animosity in his voice. To his own surprise, he did feel better. Not much, but a little better. Maybe.

And she could see the truth in him, in his face, in his attitude. She was glad she’d risked everything on pushing him to talk. For now, it seemed to have worked out for him. There was so much guilt, so much self-doubt in his heart. And for her, there was so much new background that she knew about him. No matter what she learned, everything only made her regard for him grow. Her father and Susa were wrong. She was glad she hadn’t stayed away from royalty after all.

There was just one thing that still nagged at her. She didn’t know the details of the crash that had taken his face, the accident no one seemed to know anything about. That was still a mystery.

“You’re going to have to ride with me again,” he told her as he led in the stallion, and she nodded, thinking what a contrast this was to the other night in the dark.

“It’s way past noon,” she fretted. “Now don’t you wish we’d brought the picnic I made?”

He nodded, feeling a touch of chagrin. Looking at her, he realized what a fool he’d been. He’d thought he could keep her at arm’s length if he only tried hard enough. Now he knew that wasn’t going to happen. Though he couldn’t see how anything real and lasting between them could work out in the long run, for now, when she was near, he was going to live in the moment. No more pretending, especially to himself.

“I’m hungry as a wolf,” he admitted.

She grinned up at him. “I have a solution to that. There’s a place very near here we can get the most wonderful food.”

“What are you talking about?” he asked suspiciously.

“Do you know the little stand by the reservoir? Where the Spanish family sells tapas?”

His face cleared. “Yes, I’ve driven past it.”

“And you’ve never been tempted to stop?”

He half smiled down at her. Her lively interest in everything was contagious. “Actually, I have, but…”

She put a hand on his arm. “We’re going there.”

That was going a little far. “What? Who’s going where?” He thought she understood he didn’t do things like that.

“You and me. We’re going to go have some of his delicious tapas. You’ll thank me for this.”

He stood where he was, shaking his head and looking stubborn. “Isabella, I don’t think…”

“Oh, Max, please.” She hung on his arm and looked adorably hungry. “It’s just outside your walls. We’ll go out the gate and we’ll ride up and you can stay outside, under the trees. I’ll go in and order the food. There are tables along the water.” She made her face even more appealing. “At this time of day, we’ll probably be the only ones there. You won’t have to come face-to-face with another soul. I’ll do that part.”

He was still frowning but she could see he was going to bend. “I don’t know.”

“Yes, you do.” She gave him her most playful smile. “You know very well you need this. You want it.” She pulled on his arm. “Come on.”

He gave in. He couldn’t help it. To do anything else would seem churlish right now. He helped her up in front of him on his horse and they made their way through the gate, to the outside of the estate. This was territory he hadn’t traveled in years, except to rush past in his limousine. There was something freeing about just venturing this far beyond his own walls.

The tables on the rise above the river were completely empty. He sat at one of them and she went in, bringing out a wonderful collection of small, delicious items, including prawn croquetas and chopped pork empanadas and sautéed artichokes. Señor Ortega trailed behind her carrying two bottles of cold beer, and Max tensed, waiting for the man to react to his scars. Maybe Isabella had warned him, but he showed no sign of noticing a thing, chattering on in his Spanish-accented Italian about how they should come back tomorrow because he was planning to make the best tapas ever seen in these parts and if they didn’t return, they would miss that.