Page 33 of Forbidden Noble
It was heavenly.
He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall in front of the bed. “What else do you want?”
She grabbed a second tart as it was delicious. “Your sister said you had a closet with a lost key. I worked as a locksmith and can try to jimmy the lock.”
“Interesting, but unnecessary.” His face tightened and he pushed off from the wall. “It's in my boyhood room.”
So this room they were staying in wasn’t where he'd hid when he’d been a sad boy missing his mother.
Clara had vivid memories of her room at her grandmother’s house and how she'd always wished her adoptive parents hadn’t died. She’d lie on the bed with her eyes closed and imagine a different life, like the one she led now. She reached out and brushed his forearm. “This wasn’t your room then?”
He shook his head and let out a small sigh like he felt a spark between them too. “No, this was my grandfather’s chamber. He was truly the last worthy lord of Montelino Bay.”
Worthy. Deserve. Her husband had clear lines in the sand. She’d tackle that slowly--later. “How are you the Duke of Modena if everyone here is a lord?”
He relaxed his shoulders as if grateful for the distraction. “The house and the title are different names.”
When he'd first explained that she was a duchess, he’d said "grace" but no one here used that fancy title as it wasn’t in the military chain of addresses. She took a seat on the bed. “Yes, but your title is Modena and that sounds modern.”
He sat beside her, pushing the bedspread aside. “We do have a modern town nearby, but that can’t be protected inside the walls.”
This was more responsibility than she'd imagined. Her friend, Rossie, was redecorating her home but not listening to cases. Clara preferred to pitch in however best she could. She slipped her flats off and then crossed her legs on the mattress. “But you’re in charge there too?”
He nodded. “There are duties of nobility and family responsibility. Montelino Bay has a long history. A king a thousand years ago wished to thank an ancestor, which was how we became Dukes of Modena. Defenses against air, land, and sea are taken seriously here. Our people are often the military heads of Avce… we follow the ways that have always worked.”
So outside the castle, he was a duke, and called "Your Grace" but inside he was a lord like in olden times. He ruled over soldiers who were more like knights of old. This was very interesting and just like medieval histories she’d read. She stood and tugged his hands. “So, show me your old room… then we can figure out the key and the message your mom left for you.”
His lips thinned but he got to his feet and put his hands in his pockets. “I don’t know if I want to.”
“Okay, no problem.” She hoped he wasn’t hurt that she'd asked. Her heart continued to race a little. “We don’t have to then. I just thought you’d like my help to face the past so that you don’t have to be alone.”
Color rushed to his face and he untucked his hands. “Clara, you’re sweet.”
She slipped on her shoes and walked beside him to leave their bedroom.
She glanced back at the bed, sure that when she returned someone would have come in and cleaned a small mess and not a disaster. “So what doyouwant to do?”
He reached for the door. “I’ll show you Montelino Bay and the town. You’ll be helping me as lady of the manor.”
Doing nothing wasn’t a decent fit for her as she’d always been busy. Until coming to Europe she couldn’t remember a day off. With an eager step, she marched beside him. “What does that include?”
He spoke like she understood this world already when that was far from the truth. “Help me decide issues, have your own women’s council, and of course, keep me level-headed.”
She'd never decided anything and it sounded rather scary. They descended the stairs in step as she asked, “Are you a judge here? Your sister mentioned bank interest rates for a pool being built.”
“Yes and no.” He bumped into her side. She wondered if the great room downstairs had housed an army centuries ago. “This isn’t the United States where everything is structured for lawyers and judges. In our small community, we prefer to deal with each other, and we have a more expedient way to handle local issues.”
They strode out of the gate that opened for them and into the small walled town. People bowed as they cross. She asked, “What happens if you have an issue with an online retailer or someone from out of town?”
He nodded at a clerk inside the bank while he said, “Then we rely on the king or international courts.”
An older woman and a little boy about ten both bowed as they passed them on the street. Clara waved but as they moved ahead, she asked Astorre, “How did your castle mask itself from aerial bombs in World War Two?”
They forged ahead but her husband had his head level like he was assessing everything and walked like a general. “We didn’t mask the town like we could now with technology. Every man, woman, and child in Montelino Bay had been given a specific task. Everyone had a job from air raid wardens, auxiliary firefighters, fire watchers, first-aid workers, and construction assignments to keep us all isolated. We worked together just as our ancestors had.”
The culture of being a unit was evident in this castle. She’d never been part of anything like It.
“My lord.” An older man in a baseball cap, with a gap in his teeth, bowed.
