“I’m sorry, Fausta. It’s just that so many lives could be upset by what went on between me and Enrico that I’m frightened.”
“If you don’t hurry and tell me, I don’t think my heart will be able to take it.”
Donetta drew in a deep breath. “On our way to the airport, I learned Enrico has plans to get married.”
“What?”
She put up her hands. “Hear me out.” In the next few minutes she explained what Enrico had told her in the limo. After she’d finished telling her everything, Fausta grasped her arms.
“Oh, my gosh. Enrico was talking about you the whole time! He wants to marry you and share his throne with you!” She shook her gently before letting her go. “Donetta, your lifelong dream to be queen could come true if you marry him!
“Look at what happened the second he saw you in Madrid. You get an invitation to a concorso from him in his own country. You’ve just been with him and love is written all over you. The two of you were crazy about each other back in your teens. I remember the day the letters stopped coming. It broke your heart.”
“That’s true, Fausta. It killed me that he stopped writing to me. But that’s all over now. He doesn’t love me. Enrico made it clear it would be a marriage in name only.”
A frown marred her brow. “I don’t believe it.”
“I’m afraid he’s changed.”
“Look at me and tell me he didn’t kiss you while you were camping.”
Donetta turned aside. “We did, and I encouraged it. I know he’s attracted to me, but that doesn’t mean he’s madly in love.” She shook her head. “I guess... I don’t trust that he loves me. Otherwise he would have asked me to marry him after he came back from the university.”
“But if it isn’t love, what other reason could there be for him to reveal you’re the one he wants to marry?”
“He spelled it out. His country has problems dealing with corruption. He wants a queen who will be professional and rule while he does his own work away from the palace.”
“What about children?”
“Maybe he doesn’t want them.”
“But you do.”
“I know. I’m so confused and shocked that he proposed.”
“What are you going to do? I can see you’re gutted.”
“Even if I told Enrico I would marry him, neither his mother nor our parents would allow it to happen.”
“But the point is, I can tell that you want to accept his proposal.”
Donetta turned a tear-stained face to her sister. “You probably think I’m crazy to consider marrying Enrico when he’s not in love with me. But Arnaud isn’t in love with me, either, and—”
“And you’d rather marry the man you love,” Fausta interrupted.
She nodded her head. “Yes. Arnaud needs to be free of me and have time to meet someone he can truly love. But if Enrico and I tell our parents, it could make Papà’s illness worse and cause a terrible rift between Enrico and his mother that he has already warned me about.”
“Yet he still wants you for his wife because he knows you will make a wonderful ruler. It’s what you always dreamed of.”
Donetta averted her eyes. “I thought I did once, but I’d rather have his love and his children.”
“You really are in love to say something like that to me.”
“I am.”
“When are you going to give Enrico his answer?”
“First I have to tell Arnaud I can’t marry him. No matter what happens between Enrico and me—maybe nothing—Arnaud needs to know it’s over between us. He shouldn’t be kept in the dark a minute longer.”