Page 11 of Forbidden Noble
A few moments apart would be good for both of them to have cool heads. She didn’t know the real him, no one did. “Good idea. I’ll tell Stephano and then we’ll get back to…celebrating.”
She let out a chuckle like he’d joked when he hadn’t but then she said, “Rossie, hi.” Her phone was to her ear.
So, he answered his own and headed out to the covered balcony overlooking the Atlantic. “Stephano, hey.”
His friend let out a sigh as he said, “You finally answered.”
Unusual. He settled on a weatherproof chair to look at the falling rain. “I didn’t know I'd be missed so much.”
Stephano said, “Your thirtieth birthday is in a few hours and Matteo and I promised to be with you at the end.”
Friends were a good thing. He’d been lucky when he'd met the two men from his country in college. “I married Clara tonight. The wedding license is being sent to the royal palace.”
“Yes!” Stephano said fast and Astorre could imagine him making a fist-pump in the air. He relaxed into his seat, losing his view of the water below. Stephano said, “So you’re not going to be penniless… thank goodness.”
The door to the room was still open and he heard Clara as she spoke to her friend. “Astorre and I are… friends, and maybe more. I don’t know the future, but I’m happy for now.”
Clara giggled at something her friend must have said.
Hope was like a bubble that caught in his throat. Clara wanted happily-ever-after. He should have guessed from her innocent kiss. His skin grew electric as he realized she was his for the taking.
But that just made him more of a bad boy. And Stephano and he both knew it. “I think our wives have different opinions.”
“I guess so,” Stephano said. Astorre saw Clara whispering on the phone with her friend like they were planning something.
Astorre imagined Rossie talking to Clara about falling in love because it was clear she and Stephano had fallen hard, fast. However, Stephano didn’t have Astorre's black heart, so his friend had been free to find happiness.
Stephano, completely unaware of Astorre's thoughts, said, “I’m happy you’re going to stick around.”
At the last second, giving up his fortune seemed stupid when he could just ruin Clara’s life because he'd married her to get revenge on his father’s memory.
That already made him as crazy as his father in a way. “Happy isn’t a normal word for either of us.”
Stephano cleared his throat. “Just so you’re aware, as I’m sure Rossie is telling your Clara…”
Interesting. He straightened and braced himself. “What?”
Stephano’s voice was serious when he said, “Cassidy’s computer program matched you and Clara. She's the Bright sisters’ cousin.”
A snicker came out of his lips. No computer program could actually detect true love for anyone; not when the emotion itself was a lie people told to feel better about themselves. “That doesn’t matter to me.”
“It might to her,” Stephano said.
True. His new wife was complicated. Clara clearly believed in love as she spoke quietly to her friend across the room, still in her wedding dress, with pearls in her hair. She was an angel. “Look, I have to go.”
He swallowed and met Clara’s gaze as she caught his stare. She then said fast, “Bye, Rossie.”
“Bye, Stephano.” He was about to hang up when his friend said, “Come to our house for lunch or dinner whenever you get back.”
“Done. Bye.” Astorre ended the call.
He crossed into the room unsure how to warn her about him without ruining his own needs.
Everyone had been right that he’d never survive without a dime. He'd assumed he’d die soon after losing all the money, but now things had changed. He sat beside her on the couch, leaving the balcony door open so that they could hear the raindrops on the ocean. “We’re invited to lunch or dinner with Rossie and Stephano tomorrow--whatever is good for us, depending on when we leave here.”
She placed her hand on his arm and held him like she had some life-changing news as she asked, “Did Stephano tell you?”
There it was--her hope and belief in love. How could they work out? He was already ruined and now he’d ruin her too. “He said that Cassidy’s computer program claimed we matched.”
