The Playboy Prince (Piacere Princes, Book One) Read Free Page A

possessions he’d managed to accumulate over the past seventy years.  
    She wouldn’t let that happen. No matter what.

    “Don’t worry, Papa. I’m sure you’re getting better—back to normal soon, you’ll see.” Maggie did her best to reassure her father while they waited in the stark office for the doctor to come and discuss the results of the latest round of tests, but she didn’t think it worked.
    Not for him, or for herself.
    Her father gave her a small, tired smile. “You look tired, bella mia. You are worrying too much. I can hear your mind.”
    The choice of words startled her, dumped her into a memory of an afternoon at the palace with Salvadore. They’d been alone at the swimming pool after Nico had been summoned for royal duties, and Salvy had been his typical, happy-go-lucky self. Maggie had been fretting about school, about how her father would pay for the design college she wanted to attend in London, and the younger prince had said the same thing to her.  
    Come and swim, Moo Moo. Stop worrying.
    How do you know I’m worrying? She had smiled despite the questions without answers that rattled around in her head.
    I can hear your thoughts when they’re not happy.
    It had pleased her, at the time, how well he knew her. They were twelve or thirteen, on the cusp of shedding their childhood, and even though she didn’t understand how yet, Maggie’s feelings had begun to change.
    In the present, Magdalena was tired—she’d taken over all of the behind-the-scenes work at their tailor business and sent her father only on the calls where his missing presence would raise red flags. Gabriel Rossi was the famous, royal tailor of Cielo, but his daughter was no one special. Without his name, the business could fail, so they said nothing of the changes to their structure and hoped no one would notice.
    It had never been the plan, for her to take over. Gabriel had been going to retire while Maggie started her own fashion line. Then he’d gotten sick, and their plans had crumbled. She couldn’t support them both on the salary of an up-and-coming clothing designer.
    Based on the drawn expression on the doctor’s face when he entered the office, Maggie guessed that was about to happen again.
    “Mr. Rossi, I’m afraid your Parkinson’s is getting worse. You need to think about retiring, sooner than later, because managing the sort of equipment you need will quickly become dangerous to your health.”
    Maggie frowned. Not to mention that it was already affecting the quality of his work. She spent more time undoing his uneven stitches than it would have taken her to simply fill the orders herself.  
    “You have a capable daughter, and I’ve had the nurse put together a packet of information as far as what to expect, timelines, things like that.” He raised his eyebrows, pinning Magdalena’s father with a serious look. “This isn’t going to get better, Gabriel. It’s going to get worse, and you need to think about making arrangements to make the transition as smooth as possible. For everyone.”
    The doctor cast a meaningful glance at Maggie. She averted her eyes as her father grunted. They got the message. They had gotten it months ago, but neither had been willing to accept the truth of it.
    It sounded as if the time had come to do just that.
    “Thank you, Doctor. We’ll show ourselves out.”
    The doctor sighed and stood, shaking her father’s trembling hand when it was offered. Magdalena knew he wished that his patient would be more forthcoming, but that wasn’t her father’s way. He kept everything to himself—his clients, his feelings, his techniques, his pain—and she didn’t expect the end of his life to go any differently.
    “Papa, do you want to stop and get something to eat? Maybe talk?”
    He nodded, leaning on her arm for support as they made their way through the parking lot. “Yes. I think it is time to discuss how we will pass the business from me to you.”
    She sighed,