“How could I turn down his kindness, Fausta? As Papa said, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me. Our family doesn’t have that kind of money. But you and I will phone and send letters. After graduation we’ll be together again and make plans for our future.”
What future? You’ve stabbed my heart, Dego.
Fausta’s father hadn’t forced him to go. It had all been up to Dego, but he hadn’t fought for their love.
“Cara?” he’d prodded when she hadn’t answered. “Tell me you understand. Of course I love you and am going to miss you, but he’s been so good to our family and he is the king.”
That’s right, and she’d been born the daughter of a king instead of a commoner like she’d wanted to be. “I understand more than you think.”
Fausta had never liked being royal and her parents knew it, but the years growing up around Dego had been idyllic. He wasn’t royal and they got along so perfectly, she knew a marriage between them would end in a lasting love match. Her plans for them to get a little home in the city where they could raise a family and live a normal life with children had been her dream.
But his willingness to leave her without begging her to go to Rome with him was worse than a betrayal. She’d thought their love had meant everything to him, but nothing could have been further from the truth. Fausta had been living in a fantasy world with no substance. Many times they’d come close to making love but had decided to wait until they were engaged.
His sudden departure had left her feeling heartbroken and betrayed. Her father had known she was in love with Dego and she knew he didn’t like it. But he wouldn’t have stood in the way of her marrying if Dego had loved her enough.
The fact that Dego had left for Rome without agonizing over them being torn apart said it all. The phone calls and letters from him came less and less, killing her feelings. In time she learned he’d married an Italian girl. Dego had been subtly bribed, and more than ever she hated that she’d been born a royal.
In the last four years there’d been no other man. She knew her parents were hoping she’d end up marrying one of the princes on their short list. But that would never happen! One day she’d find herself a commoner who couldn’t be bought for any reason!
Her thoughts flashed back to Dr. Barsotti.
The second she’d laid eyes on the family practice doctor with his dark fringed midnight blue eyes and black-brown hair, his image had filled her thoughts. At six foot three with a rock-solid physique and potently male, no other man could come close to him.
Just hearing about his virtues from her best friend, Mia, revealed qualities beyond his looks. Besides being twenty-eight and single, he wasn’t a baron, a count, a duke or a prince. Pure and simple, he was a nonroyal doctor, already a revered professional who she doubted could be intimidated, manipulated or bought at any price.
Once in her apartment at the palace, she phoned Mia because she’d promised.
“Fausta? I’ve been waiting to hear from you.”
“I just barely got home from the hospital after my first shift on the pediatric ward. It was so much fun.”
“I know how much you love kids.”
“I do.” Fausta adored children and looked forward to the day when she had a family of her own and an attentive husband who had no other duties than to come home at the end of the day and be with them.
“Any sightings of Dr. Barsotti?”
She gripped her cell phone tighter. “He came in to check on one of his patients while I was reading to Tommaso.”
“How did that go? I guess the doctor went into shock to see Princess Fausta Rossiano working there.”
Fausta’s breath caught. “I hope it was a good one.”
A small laugh escaped her friend’s lips. “Do you honestly know a man who wouldn’t be thrilled to get near you if he could?”
“Mia—”
“Stop pretending when you know it’s true.”
“The good doctor didn’t seem to care that I left the room. I could have been wearing a quarantine sign for his lack of interest.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. You’re the daughter of King Victor, that’s why he played it cool. He doesn’t want to presume. Felipe is the same way when it comes to you.”
“I know.” Dr. Felipe Peletti, a friend of Dr. Barsotti’s in the same medical group, had been dating Mia. The two were in love. “There are certain lines they won’t cross.”
“I’m afraid most ordinary people, men in particular, have the same problem when it comes to your royalness,” Mia teased.
Fausta’s friend had never had that hang-up. They’d met in high school with no secrets between them. She was one of the few nonroyals who’d treated them like equals and Fausta loved her for it. “You mean my untouchableness.”
“If only the masses knew what a fun, easy person you are to be with.”
“Ditto. Now I’d better let you go. I know you have to be at the hospital first thing in the morning. See you for lunch at Babbo’s.” It was a trattoria around the corner from the hospital.
“Absolutely.”
“Ciao.”
Wednesday after office hours, Nico was elated to find the princess comforting his ten-year-old patient Gina. The girl suffered from a form of childhood absence epilepsy. Each seizure lasted ten to twenty seconds and ended abruptly. Two out of three children responded to treatment and the seizures usually disappeared by midadolescence.
He’d had her brought in for tests before he ordered medication for her. She was holding on to a new stuffed animal for dear life.
The princess looked up at him when he entered the room. She was a vision in a soft orange blouse and skirt beneath her lab coat.
“Here’s Dr. Barsotti, Gina.”
The girl looked frightened. “Are you going to give me a shot?”
He shook his head. “No. I just came in to see how you are doing.”
“Her mamma will be right back,” her visitor said with an entrancing smile.
Nico nodded before checking his patient’s vital signs. “In the morning you’ll be able to go home.”
“You see?” the princess assured her, patting her other arm.
“Am I going to die?”
“Of course not,” Nico answered her. “I believe this condition is going to go away by your midteens. Don’t be frightened by things some kids say to you. They don’t know what I know.”
A small smile broke out on her cute face. “Fausta brought me this white Lagotto hunting dog.” Fausta again. “She says her father has one.” That didn’t surprise Nico. The king was known to hunt. “I love him.”
The princess’s compassion and generosity impressed him. “I’d like to be a patient so she’d bring me one just like yours, Gina.”
“I might be able to arrange something,” their royal guest drawled without looking at him. She stood up as Gina’s mother came back in the room. “I loved spending time with you, Gina. Do everything the doctor says and I know you’ll get well too.”
“Do you have to go?”
“There’s another patient I have to