Rebecca Winters - Bride Fit for a Prince

Callie felt ill. “What did the special clause say?”

“You have to marry the prince within twenty-four hours of your arrival in his country and live with him for one month. If at the end of that time either of you wants to back out of the marriage, you can get a divorce, no questions asked, and the homeless charity still get their money.

“It’s a perfect setup. If you don’t want to stay married, you’ll have won a free trip to Europe and all the publicity that goes with it.”

Her sister was taking a long time to get to the point. When Ann tossed her head back like that, it was the signal that she was really nervous about something.

“I suppose if you actually did fall in love with the prince and he fell in love with you, then you’d stay married and live happily ever after in his palace without having to worry about money again. But only if it’s the life you really want, which I don’t and never did!”

Callie groaned in horror. Her sister’s one track mind had gotten her into some awful scrapes in the past, but nothing as bad as this. The heat of anger filled her cheeks.

“What does this prince do? Go around attempting to get married every few months in the name of charity because he can’t have an intimate relationship with a woman any other way? What’s wrong with him? He could be an ax murderer for all you know.

“Have you considered you could be walking into danger? What if you got pregnant?

“Do you honestly believe the prince would let that thirty day stipulation stand in the way if you were carrying a royal heir? If you think for one minute he’d consider divorcing you and allow you to leave the country with his child, then I know you’ve lost your mind!”

Ann’s identical green eyes gleamed like a cat’s. “There’s no chance of my getting pregnant. Trust me. But that’s not the point. If you saw his pedigree, you wouldn’t have all these misgivings.”

“Misgivings—don’t you know what he’s done is without a doubt the most monstrous, awful, barbaric, ludicrous, absurd thing I’ve ever heard of? Annabelle Lassiter—how could you put so little value on yourself? Selling yourself off to the highest bidder just to get in the movies? Where’s your pride?”

“Pride doesn’t pay my rent,” her sister retorted. “Naturally if I’d known my agent was going to call me last night with news that I’d landed the most coveted Hollywood film role of the year, I would never have gotten myself involved in the benefit in the first place and wouldn’t be in this dilemma now.”

“What dilemma? Tell the benefit committee you’re going to be in a movie so they’ll have to choose one of the other contestants for the prince.”

“I already tried that, but it didn’t work. This morning, before I flew up here, I asked my attorney to look over the contract I signed. He says there’s no way I can get out of it. That’s why you’re the only person on the planet who can help me.”

“Oh, no, you don’t.”

Callie didn’t even want to think about it. She put on her helmet, then started up her motorcycle and rode down the country road toward the Pike’s farm. Their calico cat, Baxter, had gone off his food. Callie had promised to take a look at him on her way back to the clinic.

Unfortunately Ann followed in her rental car. By the time Callie started to unfasten her helmet, her sister had caught up with her and thrust something in her face.

“Take another look at his picture. His name is Prince Enzo Tescotti. He’s twenty-eight, only a year older than we are. You can see there’s absolutely nothing wrong with him.”

“I might have known he’d be an Italian,” Callie muttered. “Oh, brother.”

“Here are the first-class round trip airline tickets to Turin, Italy, where he and his royal cortege will be at the terminal to greet you after you get off the plane.

“You’ll have to fly out of Los Angeles. Luckily you went to England for that vet conference after graduation, so you already have a passport. I’ve also purchased your round trip tickets from San Jose to L.A.

“Since your overseas flight leaves day after tomorrow, you’ll have to fly to L.A. tomorrow. You can stay overnight at my apartment. I’ll drive you to the airport the next morning on my way to the studio.”

Callie shook her head. “Even if I were willing, which I’m not, I can’t leave my work.”

“That’s all been taken care of. When I told Dr. Wood you’d won a month’s vacation in Italy, all expenses paid, he was thrilled for you. He agreed you work too hard and are due a long vacation. I swear he told me he’d get along just fine until you came back. So you’re set!”

“Just like that?” Callie snapped her fingers. “You’re forgetting one thing. I’m not the one in this family who treats life like it’s one big joke.” She handed the tickets and picture back to her sister.

“Maybe that’s because you take it far too seriously,” Ann responded in a quiet voice. “I’m not like you. I hated the way Dad’s death left us in debt. Mom scrimped and still ended up having to sell the farm. You’re just like her.”

“She did what was necessary to keep you and me alive!” Callie defended.

“Mom could have married several men who asked her, but she didn’t.”

“That’s because she loved Daddy too much.”

“So much that her life was miserable after that and she ended up dying of a heart attack. You’ll probably die early, too, and I’ll be left alone.”

“Ann—”

“It’s true. You work too hard and you’ve got years of vet school loans to pay off. You don’t even have a car and are forced to ride around on a secondhand motorcycle.”

“You know I’ve always had a thing for motorcycles.” Hers happened to be a yellow and black Danelli Strada 100 Sports Bike that had won every competition for a decade before the company unexpectedly ceased to exist. “It still gets me where I need to go. Best of all, it’s mine!” she said staring pointedly at Ann’s rental car.

“But you live in a tiny two-room apartment at the back of the vet clinic where you can hear every sick animal in North Monterey county howling and meowing in your sleep.

“You have no love life and no hope of getting one working for Dr. Wood who’s old enough to be our great grandfather. Most of the time you spend your life mucking out stalls or pig pens in order to get your job done! When was the last time you did something exciting or had any fun?”

“I have fun as a vet,” Callie defended. “It’s what I wanted from the first time Jasper almost died when we were nine years old and Dr. Wood cured him. In a few years I’ll make a good enough living to be able to afford a place of my own. In the meantime, I’m not complaining and plan to live a long time. I happen to love the life I lead.”

“So do I! That’s why I can’t lose this opportunity now. This movie ensures I’ll be able to live at least five years off the money they’re going to pay me.”

“That’s a lot of money,” Callie said quietly. “I’m glad for you, and sorry you’ve gotten yourself into this mess.”

“Not as sorry as I am. I only wanted to be seen, not chosen.”

At this point Ann’s eyes were brimming with tears. They were the genuine article. Callie looked away, unable to handle it when her sister got upset like this. It didn’t happen very often.

“You should have thought of that sooner.”

“Do you know something? You’ve grown hard since veterinary school. I don’t understand it.”

Had she?

Somewhere deep inside, Ann’s comment hurt. Since their mother’s death, Callie’s emotions probably had closed off. She hadn’t realized it showed.

“Whatever happened to my sister who once played tricks on all her would-be boyfriends and then used me to bail her out? As I recall, I never turned you down when you begged me to go out with them because you’d changed your mind. And I never told them that we’d switched places either.”