“What’s your full name?”
“Luna Biancho Baldasseri.”
“Biancho... Biancho...” he said several times.
“You sound pure Italian, but I think that’s enough lesson for now except to learn the word for good-night. It’s buona notte.”
“Buona notte,” he repeated. “But I don’t want to go to sleep yet.”
She took that as a compliment. “I think it’s one of the most beautiful words in Italian, Rini. Now, I’m sure you’re exhausted even if you don’t realize it. I know I am.”
“Buona notte, Luna.”
“Buona notte, tesoro mio.”
He cocked his head. “What did you just say?”
Uh-oh. Heat flooded her cheeks. She’d married a brilliant man and could hear Dr. Tullia telling her to do what came instinctively. “Tesoro mio.”
“Are you going to leave me in suspense?” His voice resonated through her insides.
“It’s an expression I often used with you.” She lay back and closed her eyes tightly.
“And?” he prodded, not willing to let it go. “What does it mean?”
“My treasure.”
“Say it again.”
“Tesoro mio.”
After a slight pause she heard him say, “What did I sometimes call you?”
“Pulcina mia.”
He said it several times. “What does it mean?”
“My little chick.”
A low chuckle came out of him. “How do I say thank you?”
“Grazie.”
“Grazie, pulcina mia. Buon anotte.”
“You know something, Rini? I think you’re a fraud. Listening to you right now, no one would guess you’d lost your ability to speak Italian. Before we were married, your grandfather took me aside and told me you were one of the most intelligent men he’d ever known. When the time came for you to rule, you’d be the greatest of the San Vitano kings.”
She heard his covers rustle. “I have no idea what the future holds for me, but I’d rather be dead than be a king.”
“How do you know that?”
“I just do.”
Ooh. She buried her face in the pillow so he couldn’t hear her groan. Where had that thought come from? Had it always been buried in his psyche?
Throughout their marriage he’d never expressed negative feelings about being royal. He’d loved his grandfather and had admired him. With few complaints Rini had managed to balance his princely duties with his career as a mining engineer. He hadn’t let them intrude on the glorious time they’d had together as man and wife.
The one time she hadn’t wanted him to leave for work and felt it was an intrusion was the day of the earthquake. Her body trembled to remember the horror of learning he’d been buried in the debris.