Royal Secrets (22 page)

“Why not?” Stefano reached out and gripped her arms, both to keep her from backing away and to satisfy his need to touch. “I care for you, and no matter what the tabloids might say, I haven’t cared for anyone in a very long time.”

A spark of hope flashed in her eyes before she controlled it. Once again, her voice was unsteady when she spoke. “It could never work.”

Temper and impatience snapped inside him. When he would have pulled her closer, she stepped back.

“Stefano, I’m not trying to play games with you. I’m trying to keep both of us from getting hurt.” She turned and took several steps before turning back to face him. “You know my children are everything to me. The greatest gift I can give them is a sure knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It would be too confusing for them to get attached to someone who doesn’t share that understanding.”

He stared blankly at her for a moment. “You’re telling me you won’t spend time with me because I’m not Mormon?”

“I’m telling you that this can’t go any further because you’re not Mormon.” She looked skyward as though offering some silent prayer. When she looked back at him, she pressed her lips together, and he could see her determination. “The first day I met you, my children told you they want to be missionaries someday.”

“So?”

“I want to see that happen, and I’m afraid that if I fall for someone who isn’t a Latter-day Saint, my boys will lose their focus on what’s really important.” She swallowed hard. “I already worry about what Janessa will face when she and your brother have children.”

It took a moment for Stefano to realize that Alora didn’t know of his brother’s conversion to the Mormon Church. Shamelessly, he tried to spin the misconception to his advantage. “Let me get this straight. You won’t even go out with me, but you’re willing to support Janessa’s choice. Why?”

“Because she said when she prayed about marrying Prince Garrett, it felt right. It isn’t my place to say that she’s making a mistake when the Lord already told her she isn’t.”

He hadn’t ever considered that anyone would pray about such a personal decision and get an answer, but obviously Alora believed it was possible. He nodded, considering. “Okay, then. Why don’t you pray about spending time with me?”

She shook her head immediately. “That’s hardly necessary.”

“If you believe God can give you guidance in such personal matters, it is completely necessary.”

“Stefano, we both know you have plenty of women who would be thrilled to go out with you. I don’t understand why you’re wasting your time with me.”

“I have feelings for you. Is that so hard to understand?”

“We’re friends. That’s all.”

Frustration bubbled inside him. “Don’t tell me you didn’t feel anything when I kissed you, that you aren’t interested.”

Her shoulders straightened, and anger flashed in her eyes. “I’m starting to think you aren’t accustomed to someone telling you no.”

The truth of her statement stung, but Stefano stepped forward and took her hand. “You keep giving me excuses, but I think the only reason you don’t want to be with me is you’re afraid.”

Tears threatened, and she blinked them back. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I don’t want to feel anything for you because I know what it’s like to have everything and then have it all ripped away. I’m not willing to go through that again. I can’t.”

“Alora . . .”

Her eyes still bright, she shook her head and took a step toward the chateau. “I’m going inside. Good night.”

He started to follow, but the defiant look on her face told him that nothing he said would change her mind. Not tonight anyway.

Turning away from the chateau, he walked deeper into the gardens. She would change her mind, he told himself. This attraction between them was too strong to ignore. It demanded to be explored and developed. Neither of them would be able to leave it alone until they knew where it could take them.

He wavered between giving her some time to herself to come to terms with her feelings and putting his efforts into changing her mind. Though his pride favored the first option, his heart edged him toward the second. He could rearrange his schedule to stay at the chateau a bit longer, or perhaps he could convince Janessa that Alora should spend some time at the palace as they began working on the initial wedding plans.

Possibilities rolled through his mind until a thought struck him and overshadowed all others. Did it really matter if Alora changed her mind? She had pointed out herself that there were plenty of other women who were willing to spend time with him, women who didn’t have children to tend to or religious beliefs that got in the way. Other women wouldn’t scrape at his pride or point out his weaknesses.

Then again, before he met Alora, he couldn’t remember anyone ever expecting more of him than what they could see on the surface. He had been photographed countless times with dozens of beautiful women, but only once had he saved the resulting newspaper clipping. His stomach clenched as he faced the simple truth. He didn’t want any other woman. He wanted Alora.

His cell phone rang, and he instantly thought of her. Then he remembered he had never given Alora his phone number, that he still didn’t have hers. He pulled the phone from his pocket and saw his brother’s number illuminated on the screen. “What is it, Garrett?”

“They found it, Stefano. They found the other half of the transmitter.”

Chapter 28

Stefano didn’t mince words when he arrived in Janessa’s office, where he found her and Garrett. “Where was it?”

“Exactly where Levi thought it would be,” Janessa told him.

Stefano thought back to his encounter with his uncle earlier in the month and Alora’s report that he had returned a second time. “I didn’t want to think it possible, but I have to wonder if Uncle Elam could somehow be involved in this.”

“We were wondering the same thing,” Garrett admitted.

Janessa nodded in agreement. “There’s no way to know if he was involved in planting the devices originally or if someone persuaded him to come retrieve the transmitter for them, but either way, his sudden visits this month are definitely suspicious.”

“But why would he spy on our family?” Stefano asked with a hint of annoyance. “He had no reason to.”

“Maybe he did,” Janessa said gently. “According to the CIA’s file on your uncle, he stopped using his offices here about two years ago. There was some speculation among my colleagues at the Agency that your father asked him to leave.” Janessa looked from Stefano to Garrett. “I’m still new to Meridian politics, but can you think of anything that happened here around that time that might have caused a falling out between your father and your uncle?”

“I know he moved to his new offices right around the time the United States started negotiating for a new naval base,” Garrett told her. “Uncle Elam was one of the people opposed to allowing your country access to our waters.”

“He was also in favor of allowing offshore drilling,” Stefano added.

“Any chance he’s been associating with Liberté?” Janessa asked now.

“I don’t see any reason why he would. Even if his views are anti-American, he wouldn’t have any reason to support a group that is also against the monarchy.”

“You’re probably right. Maybe he just felt threatened when he realized he was being pushed out of your father’s inner circle and planted the listening devices here so he’d know what was going on after he lost access to the chateau,” Janessa suggested. “Although I still don’t understand why they were planted here and not in the palace. Levi said they conducted security sweeps at the palace with the enhanced scanning equipment and didn’t find any problems.”

“The majority of the meetings about the new U.S. naval base were held here at the chateau because the security is so good at the naval base here in town,” Garrett offered. “If whoever is behind this was trying to stop the U.S. from gaining a foothold in Meridia, that could explain why the equipment was planted here.”

“It could also be a matter of access,” Stefano suggested. “Elam had offices here in the chateau, but his access to the palace was limited after he married and moved out. That access was restricted further after my grandfather died and our father ascended the throne.”

“What is the relationship like between your father and your uncle?”

“Apparently they got along okay when they were younger. I know as they grew older, our grandfather was impatient with the way Uncle Elam spent his time.” Stefano hesitated and tried to find a way to explain his uncle tactfully. “I guess you could say he was more interested in enjoying what life has to offer than in participating in the duties expected of a member of the royal family.”

“And your father mentioned when we saw him last that Elam’s family is prone to living beyond their means.”

Stefano’s eyes narrowed. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“I’m simply trying to figure out why your uncle would betray his family,” Janessa said gently. “Financial weakness is one area that is often exploited, especially in the area of espionage.”

“We can’t be sure that Elam was the person behind it,” Garrett interjected. “For all we know, some contractor may have planted the equipment during the renovations.”

“Am I correct in assuming that your family would want proof before accusing him of being involved?”

“I believe so.” Stefano nodded. He considered his earlier plan of trying to spend more time with Alora and decided that perhaps a few days apart would help both of them gain some perspective. Going with instinct, he announced, “I am going to leave for Calene in the morning. I have some business I need to tend to, and I would prefer to discuss our theories with Father in person.”

“What can we do to help?” Garrett asked.

Stefano ignored his brother’s question and the concerned look on Janessa’s face. He motioned to the hole in her office wall where the transmitting equipment had been discovered. “We’ll need to have workers come in tomorrow to patch that hole. Janessa, if you want, you and Alora can use my offices until the repairs are done.”

Janessa’s voice held compassion when she spoke. “Stefano, I don’t mean to pry, but is everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine,” he said abruptly. “I’ll talk to you both later.”

Stefano turned and left the room with the intent of packing a few things and then driving to Calene tonight. Then he remembered he had promised to take Dante for a walk tomorrow night. Although he tried to convince himself that Dante would understand if he had to postpone their time together, he remembered too well his disappointment as a child when his father’s duties had interfered with personal plans.

As much as he needed to put some distance between himself and Alora, he knew he couldn’t disappoint her son. Resigned to stay one more day, he crossed to his office and packed everything he would need to work from his quarters the next day. He glanced at the files he and Alora had been working on together for the past several days and wondered if she would miss him half as much as he expected to miss her.

She had feelings for him. He’d felt it when he’d kissed her, and he’d seen it on her face when she’d turned him away. Now he had to find a way to overcome the obstacles she was placing between them.

* * *

Alora knew she should have felt relieved when it was Levi who brought her the bank access codes on Tuesday morning instead of Stefano, but she couldn’t deny that she was disappointed. She also couldn’t deny that she didn’t want to be.

Her words the night before had been the truth, at least as much of the truth as she had been able to give. She didn’t want to be involved with Stefano for all of the reasons she had offered him, but most of all, she was afraid.

Earlier that morning she had mustered all her energy to be cheerful as she and her children headed down to breakfast. She had been prepared to act like nothing had happened between them, only to find that Stefano had come and gone long before their arrival.

The explanation Patrice had offered was simply that he had some early calls to make, but Alora didn’t miss the disappointment on her children’s faces. It was too late, she realized suddenly. Despite all her concerns that her children might get too attached to Stefano, that they might see him as the male role model they had been lacking for so long, she could see now that the connection had been made. Her boys not only looked up to the prince, but they also already depended on him in many ways.

When she walked into his office that morning, she had been braced to face this new reality. Then she had opened the door only to find his office empty.

When Levi arrived with the access codes, Alora resigned herself to working alone and tried to focus on the task at hand. She spent nearly an hour organizing the files Stefano had left on his worktable. When she tried to access the computer in Stefano’s outer office, she found it lacked the security protocols necessary to link with the bank’s systems. With her office once again under construction, she reluctantly moved back into Stefano’s office.

She stared at the computer on Stefano’s desk but couldn’t bring herself to use it without permission. Just as she was considering calling Janessa’s cell phone, she looked up to see Janessa walk in.

“Oh, I’m glad you’re back.” Alora motioned to the files on the table. “I’m afraid I can’t do any more without a computer that has a high enough security level. The secretary’s computer wouldn’t let me access the bank files.”

“Stefano’s computer should work. I’m sure he won’t mind if you use it.”

“I don’t know . . .”

“Alora, it will be fine,” Janessa insisted. “He’s probably already left for Calene anyway.”

Her heart sank. “He left the chateau?”

“He mentioned last night that he was going to drive to the palace today to take care of a few things.” Janessa’s eyes narrowed. “He didn’t tell you?”

“No, but there isn’t any reason why he would need to check in with me.”

Janessa lowered herself into a chair and leaned back. Her eyes lifted to meet Alora’s. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Alora gave her a deliberately innocent stare. “Talk about what?”