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.Teenagers in St.Michel were the same as teenagers in the rest of the world.Out to have a good time.Luc could relate to that.He had the same goal tonight.To have a good time and not think about the future.The midway was lined with rides that tilted, rolled or shook.But it was the Ferris wheel that caught his eye.“Let’s go on that first.”“I’m not very fond of heights,” Juliet warned him.“Just hang on to me,” he replied.That she could do, having perfected “hanging on” while sitting behind him on that motorcycle.As she boarded the Ferris wheel with Luc at her side, Juliet wondered how many more fantasies of hers would be fulfilled tonight.The ride started gently enough.It was only as they were lifted higher and higher, that a flutter of anxiety hit her.“Don’t look down,” Luc advised, taking her chin in his hand and gently lifting her face skyward.“Look up.Look at all those stars.”It was a glorious spring night.The dark sky was dotted with sparkling pinpricks of light, a divine necklace strung together across the heavens.And there, just above the horizon, a golden full moon was rising.It truly was a magnificent sight.“It’s magical,” she breathed.“Magical,” he agreed, looking at her instead of the sky.The ride ended too soon, and Juliet insisted on taking another before Luc laughingly demanded they move on to the next one.An hour later they stopped at the food tent for a meal of sausage and crisp pommes frites—french fries—which they washed down with chilled red merlot from one of the many local vineyards.St.Michel was well-known for its wines.For dessert they had freshly made cotton candy wrapped around paper cones.As they left the eating area, Luc happened to see a father with his small son.The man held the boy’s hand, and the child looked up at his father with awe and delight.The scene reminded Luc of when he was that age.Had he ever looked up at Albert that way? Was that why he felt this stupid ache in his chest?Or was it because the man he had believed to be his father all these years wasn’t his father after all?Not that Luc had spent a lot of time with Albert.Once Luc had reached the age of eight, school had become his home—first Eton then Cambridge.While at university, Luc had become good friends with Jeremy Landing, the son of a high official in Interpol.Luc had spent several summer vacations with Jeremy and his family.He’d preferred doing that to dealing with the tension between Albert and his second wife, feeling like an outsider in what was supposed to be his own home.Jeremy’s father, Spencer, had been impressed with Luc, who spoke five languages fluently and had excellent grades in all his subjects at Cambridge.Spencer had been the one who’d suggested that after leaving university, Luc should consider a career in Interpol.It seemed like a great idea to Luc.Interpol, an international police force, was an appropriate home for someone who felt that he belonged nowhere in particular.Luc still felt that way, as if he belonged nowhere in particular.This despite the fact that he now had blood relatives—a grandmother, several half sisters, a baby half brother.But he couldn’t seem to get comfortable with the idea that he was no longer on his own.And he couldn’t seem to get comfortable with the idea of his future being locked into the strict codes and traditions of royalty.This was where blind passion had landed them all.In a carnival house of mirrors—where nothing was as it seemed.His mother and King Philippe hadn’t been able to be practical and control their emotions, so they’d run off and married.And now look at the convoluted mess they’d left behind.Luc gave the father and son a brooding look, angry at the tug he felt at his heart, the tug of a little boy who’d had a father and then lost him to a second marriage.He’d rightly told Juliet that he avoided love because it left you feeling too vulnerable.Not giving a damn was a much saner, a much more sensible way.His gaze shifted to Juliet.He didn’t seem to be able to be sensible about her.Yet sometimes it felt as if she was the only sensible and solid thing left in his life.During this past week she’d been his Rock of Gibraltar.When it had felt as if everything else in his life had been turned upside down, Luc had only to look at her and feel better.The trouble was that looking at her didn’t merely make him feel better.It also made him want her.So, in a way, even his relationship with Juliet had changed.Because in the past few years, while he’d always considered her to be a good friend, he’d never gotten sexual ideas about her.But all that had changed.Now he thought about her when he restlessly tossed in his bed at night.He dreamt about her, about that kiss they’d shared in the Crystal Ballroom the other night.Luc felt as if he were a man on the run from his own destiny, a destiny not of his own choosing.So here he was tonight, playing hookey like a kid who’d run off to join the circus.“Everything all right?” Juliet asked him.“Yes.Come on, let’s try our luck at one of the booths.”“Win a tiara for the lady!” a burly bald man invited with the feigned cheer of a natural-born salesman.“Come on then, sir, win a bright and shiny bauble for your pretty sweetheart.”“What do you say?” Luc turned to ask Juliet.“Wouldn’t you like a tiara of your own?”“Doesn’t every girl long for a tiara of her own?”She’d just been kidding, but Luc took her seriously.“Here.” He handed over some money to the vendor who quickly counted it.“This will give you ten chances to hit the red center of the target with one of these balls,” the vendor said.“I won’t need that many,” Luc confidently replied.In the end he was right.He hit the target on his fifth try
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