Crown Jewel Read Online Free PDF Page B

his options, it seemed best to go along with the revelry.
    "La, to be unencumbered by a future husband and a future throne," Anastasia complained playfully, purple-painted mouth curving in a smile beneath the purple and silver feathers of her ornate mask. Benito lifted her hand and kissed the gloved palm, which she withdrew with mock haughtiness, tossing her dark-stained ringlets about to hit him in the face.
    Benito only laughed and snagged them, dragging her around to press a quick kiss to the corner of her mouth. "Fidelity certainly is not stopping anyone else, demon."
    "Oh, really?" Anastasia challenged.
    "It's stopping me," Benito corrected, grinning. "La, woman. Go dance with something pretty and leave me to my drinking."
    Laughing, Anastasia blew him a kiss and obeyed, twirling off in a tumble of purple and silver. Ordinarily, the royal couple would never be permitted to gallivant about in the heart of the city so freely, especially with so much chaos around them. But during the Festival of Secrets, identities were the greatest of secrets. Not a person in the city went without a mask, and so it was safe in a way it would not otherwise be. That aside, there were numerous guards scattered discreetly about, braced for any unforeseen problem.
    Lazzaro thanked the pretty serving maid as she returned with a pitcher of wine, and for a fleeting moment he considered taking up her unspoken offer. The man who had plagued his thoughts for the past month again flickered through his mind and banished any fleeting thoughts of the serving girl.
    It was damned annoying to suddenly desire something that was easily within his reach, and yet completely out of it. He did not make sense even to himself; he could easily afford Celeste, so it should not be a problem. He did not want to purchase Celeste, however, and that annoyed him because there was no good reason to feel that way. One brief meeting was not sufficient to have mucked with his head as much as it had. He had gone to Celeste for one thing and Celeste had refused. Lazzaro would not ask for anything else. He drank deeply from his cup, suddenly not entirely opposed to getting drunk and ignoring his problems for the rest of the evening. Benito would be delighted with him, at least. He traced the rim of his goblet, frowning at the dark red wine within. He should indulge, in everything. One good tumble would surely banish Celeste from his thoughts.
    Nodding, decided, Lazzaro looked around to see where the serving girl had gone—and felt something tighten and twist in his chest as his eyes landed on a figure across the way. It could not be; the man probably just had similar hair, for the coincidence was too much. No, it was definitely Celeste. Lazzaro had seen Celeste only once, but he would remember that hair, that form, anywhere. If he felt like being honest, he wanted to comb his fingers through that pale, beautiful hair, tangle them in it as he held fast to Celeste's hips, guided Celeste up and down on his cock—
    The pleasure would be fleeting and cost him several sovereigns, and he was annoyed that it was not the number of coins that bothered him—merely that there must be coins involved at all. One brief exchange should not leave him in such a sorry state. He should ignore Celeste and go find the serving girl.
    Even as he told himself that is what he should do, however, he finished his wine, murmured absently to Benito, and rose. His head swam with the warm buzz of good wine, muffling the noise of the crowd around him, attention only for the beauty on the balcony across the way. Snagging a lush, dark pink rose from a flower peddler at the edge of the crowd, he tossed her a bit and pushed on the last few steps to where Celeste leaned over a balcony railing, staring down at the crowd below. Coming up behind him, not quite pressing against his back, Lazzaro presented the rose and murmured in Celeste's ear, "Beautiful evening, jewel."
    Tensing, clearly taken by surprise, Celeste