His Royal Bride Replacement

Chapter Ten

CHAPTER TEN

Alessio and Rosy talked quietly over dinner, excruciatingly polite to each other while the staff were around.

Over coffee, Rosy murmured, ‘So, we’re not allowed to talk about this.’

Alessio slung a scorching appraisal at her. ‘No, we’re not. The discussion is closed. I have said all I can say on the subject.’

‘We can still exchange views quietly .’

‘You can’t. You made me angry,’ Alessio condemned as though that were an actionable offence. ‘And as a rule, I do not get angry.’

‘You’re not accustomed to anyone arguing with you,’ Rosy almost whispered. ‘But I’m also sure I’m difficult enough to get you into the habit without it being a total disaster.’

‘Enough!’ Alessio sprang upright and tossed down his napkin. ‘I have work to do.’

Tears stung the backs of Rosy’s eyes because she had never seen Alessio so upset about anything and it was true that he didn’t normally get angry. It disturbed her that she had managed to get him so riled up.

‘Please…’ she murmured as he was striding out of the room.

Alessio froze as if she had paralysed him with that single word and then he slammed the door shut and spun round to lean back against it, looking very much as though she had trapped him. Tall, dark and trapped against his will. He breathed in deep and slow before focusing shimmering, stormy green eyes on her anxious face. ‘This is our world and I can’t change it for you. You will be a target every day of your life if you stay married to me. Someone will always have a rumour to spread through the media and there is absolutely nothing I can do to prevent it happening,’ he framed with savage bitterness, taking a couple of steps away from the door. ‘I can’t fully protect you from it—how do you think that makes me feel?’

And the last piece of the puzzle smoothly fell into place then for Rosy. He blamed himself for that article that had distressed and embarrassed her. He was a future king and people wanted to know everything about him and that truth had made her, as his partner, equally fascinating. When he went to the lengths of warning her that she would be a target every day she stayed married to him, it was an exchange that had gone too far though, she reasoned. Such an extreme sentiment plunged them into an unnecessary drama as helpful as a dark, suffocating cloud.

‘The pressure on us will be relentless because we must live in the public eye most of the time. I’ve been aware of the glare of the cameras from early childhood,’ Alessio bit out in raw continuation. ‘ Everything is criticised or commented on, every personal choice, every outfit, every tattoo, every piercing, every woman on my arm. It was at its worst in the past until I reached the stage of not caring any more. I didn’t care what was said about me and still don’t, but that’s no comfort now because I do care very much about what is said about you .’

‘I know and I’m very grateful for that!’ Rosy crossed the room and tried to haul him into her arms but he was standing there still, rigid with tension and deep emotion. ‘I didn’t understand how you felt, not properly, because nobody’s ever been interested in me in that line before, because I was so ordinary until I met you.’

Alessio gazed down at her, stormy green eyes glittering. ‘ Extra ordinary,’ he corrected thickly. ‘You were never ordinary. You’ve dealt with everything that was thrown at you but this one thing…the adverse publicity is ironically the most dangerous thing in the life we lead. I’ve known women and men as well who live for the scandalous headlines and the praise. But, if you want to keep your sanity, you have to stay away from it. Sometimes it’s nice, just as often it’s vicious.’

‘I understand better how you feel now.’ Rosy ran caressing fingers up below the silk lining of his jacket, smoothing over his taut cotton-clad torso, feeling the slight shudder as he reacted helplessly to her touch. ‘And I know what will make you feel even better.’

Alessio bent down and scooped her up in his arms. ‘Yes, I hit the perfect word… extraordinary .’

And then he was kissing her with the fierce hunger that made her kick off her shoes as he carted her willy-nilly through a series of interconnecting doors into their bedroom and he launched them both down onto the bed.

‘I like being wanted,’ she gasped.

‘I like being wanted too, piccola volpe .’

And the pathos of that admission turned her heart inside out. Alessio, who hadn’t been wanted as a child by parents who had needed him only as a means to an end. Alessio, hunted like a big-game trophy by calculating women, who sought his wealth or his title or his body, she thought, reflecting on Lucia, who had simply wanted to enjoy him the way Rosy herself did. Yes, that thought was a true leveller of pretention, reminding her that she was far from unique in Alessio’s life, maybe just another woman who wanted him, craved him like an addictive drug because, in reality, he was fantastic in bed. It didn’t matter that she loved him, she was probably one of a crowd who had loved him but got no further. In fact, she was simply that one lucky woman who had been in the right place at the right time when he’d needed her to become his bride. It was a humbling reflection, grounding her in the midst of the soaring passion that only he could induce in her.

‘What are you thinking so hard about?’ he demanded in the blissful aftermath of that fury of desire, long fingers stroking soothingly up and down her spine.

‘Nothing,’ she fibbed, running her fingers through his silky hair, holding him close, secure in appreciating now that he liked affection, liked being snuggled, liked all sorts of stuff that she had once assumed men didn’t like. Alessio Maretti was his own unique self, fashioned by his love-deprived background, and she was his exact opposite because, in spite of her mother’s desertion, she had rejoiced in endless love and affection from her sister and her husband. And maybe that was why she understood him better now, what drove him, what troubled him…

And it was a huge plus to learn that Alessio only lost his temper when he saw her as being under threat and at risk of distress. He cared about her . Did he even realise what that little scene had told her? She didn’t think so. Alessio didn’t spend much time agonising over his reactions, he just seemed to react in the heat of the moment. Volatile and intense. He could be snatched by force from his normal, remote calm control setting to a passionate vehemence of emotion that turned her upside down inside herself. The guy she loved, the guy she had married, and she couldn’t believe how strongly she felt about him after such a short time.

* * *

She was having a cup of tea at some indescribably early hour the next morning when Vittoria phoned. ‘You’ll never guess who was outside our hotel last night with a cameraman waiting to capture pics of our celebrity customers leaving?’ her sister told her in a playful tone.

‘So, tell me—’

‘Blasted Graziana!’ Vittoria gasped, her incredulity now unconcealed. ‘I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw her. I mean, what’s a princess doing behaving like that?’

‘Alessio told me that her father cut off her trust fund, so maybe she’s just trying to make a living as a TV presenter or celebrity blogger or something,’ Rosy responded, unable to understand the choices of a woman she had never met but heard all too much about. For her just at that moment, Alessio’s former fiancée simply felt like yesterday’s news.

‘Nobody wants to see Graziana on television or anywhere else. She’s too disliked,’ Vittoria scoffed.

‘I just don’t think about her.’ Rosy hesitated and then pressed on because this was her sister, after all. ‘Alessio wasn’t attached to her.’

‘She strikes me as a bit intense, so maybe he dodged a bullet there,’ Vittoria commented before moving on to address the coronation events that would start at eight that very same morning with a military parade.

And ever afterwards that whole day would be a simple blur for Rosy, kicking off for her with a formal breakfast attended by religious personnel and followed by a private meeting. It progressed on, hour by exhausting hour, with a procession to the cathedral in a carriage, and then there was ceremony after ceremony. In her long tailored white dress, she was horribly conscious of the cameras, not to mention the stunning moment when a crown was set on her head. It was a decided relief once she was walking back down the aisle on Alessio’s arm even though the cameras were going madder than ever.

Only the presence of her own family in the front pew, her sister proudly pregnant now in a smart maternity dress, stabilised Rosy. That was real life, not the massive pomp and consequence of the coronation, which was intended for Alessio’s benefit and only tangentially for her as his consort.

Exhausted by the spectacle, they both crashed into recreation for the weekend afterwards, relieved that the royal household believed everyone had acquitted themselves well in their various duties. And then, Alessio informed her that they were going to dine out as a treat. When she asked him where on earth in Sedovia they could accomplish that without becoming the cynosure of all eyes in the restaurant, he explained that they would have a private room for them and their guests. And as their guests were to be her family and Alessio’s friend, Eduardo Conti and his chatty Spanish wife, Catalina, she was delighted because none of their guests were VIPs, whom it was impossible to relax with.

They were ushered in through a rear entrance, which Vittoria thought was wonderfully cloak and dagger, and Catalina giggled at their glimpse of the kitchens with all their rushing, immaculately uniformed chefs. Patrick, meanwhile, being a chef too, was busy eying up the competition, for they were visiting the top restaurant in Severino, which had won multiple foodie awards. Not that her sister and brother-in-law had much to worry about, Rosy reflected fondly. Currently, her family’s hotel was fully booked well into the colder months and Patrick’s own restaurant, though much smaller than the one they were visiting, was doing a ringing trade and popular with celebrities working at the television studios nearby.

There was much discussion about the food on the plates. Pleased to hear that Eduardo and his wife had already eaten at Patrick’s restaurant, Rosy looked up from her plate to find Alessio studying her and she smiled, instantly, gloriously happy when she collided with his smouldering green eyes and felt herself turning hot pink in response.

That was the precise moment that the door burst open and framed the very last person Rosy had expected to see grace their precious, private evening out. It was Graziana, groomed to the nth degree, clad in a very glamorous figure-hugging silver dress. Rosy blinked and looked instinctively at Alessio for guidance, but he was too engaged in pressing something on his phone. As she turned her head to frown, Graziana came closer, snatched up a glass of water from the table and threw it over her, the tumbler falling down on the carpet.

‘You stole the man I loved!’ she shouted like some ghastly playground bully while Rosy sat there dripping in sincere disbelief at the Princess of Eboltz’s behaviour.

A split second later, the room was full of Alessio’s security men and a bunch of policemen. The most senior policeman lowered his head to hear Alessio’s instructions while everyone else at the table sat dumbfounded by the scene. Ever practical, Vittoria handed Rosy her napkin to help dry her off. Only at that point did she notice the man with the camera on his shoulder and he was being handcuffed. Graziana was screaming and struggling but nobody was paying her the slightest attention and she was getting handcuffed very firmly too. As the senior police officer present told her sharply to stop kicking before she was forcibly restrained, she finally fell silent, staring at Alessio expectantly.

‘You can’t do this to me. I’m royal.’

‘You committed an assault on the Queen,’ Eduardo Conti, ever the lawyer, pointed out.

‘I threw water at her. I didn’t touch her!’ Graziana proclaimed, tossing Rosy a sneering smile of superiority.

‘It’s still an assault. Any infringement of the Queen’s personal space is an assault still on the statute books. You can thank the Middle Ages for that,’ Eduardo completed with a satisfied gleam in his gaze.

Alessio dismissed most of the men hovering in the room, leaving only the senior policeman and the head of his security with them. The cameraman was removed as well.

‘You can’t do this to me!’ Graziana shrieked at him. ‘I’m the Princess of Eboltz and I hold diplomatic status here.’

Alessio expelled his breath slowly. ‘Well, you did until yesterday when I received the proof that you were behind that obnoxious website that libelled my wife. Your diplomatic status was immediately revoked.’

‘Revoked?’ Graziana exclaimed incredulously. ‘You can’t do that to me!’

‘You are currently under a deportation order to Eboltz, which would’ve been served on you had we had the time to establish where you are staying. As we didn’t have the time, I will now give you a choice.’

‘My father won’t allow me to go home,’ Graziana countered with satisfaction.

‘I spoke to Prince Sebastien yesterday. He’s changed his mind. He prefers you at home rather than here acting like an embarrassment to Eboltz,’ Alessio responded with biting contempt. ‘So are you going home or you going to a jail cell tonight? That is your choice. If you refuse to leave Sedovia, you will be charged with assault and you will remain in a cell until the charge is answered in court. You may well receive a short sentence and after that is served, you will still be deported.’

‘I can’t believe you’re speaking to me like this, treating me like I’m just anybody!’ Graziana screeched in outrage. ‘I’m royal. I’m a princess.’

‘You have to act like a princess to get the royal treatment,’ Rosy surprised herself by slicing into that flood of self-justification, temper stirring now in the aftermath of the shock of the other woman’s behaviour.

Graziana had been responsible for that dreadful article on that website. Only hanging, drawing and quartering as a punishment would have lessened Rosy’s anger.

‘Charge her and put her in a cell,’ Alessio advised the policeman, weary of the exchange.

Graziana gave him a wounded look, tears shimmering in her bright blue eyes. ‘Alessio, please …

‘All right, I’ll go home!’ Rosy heard the beautiful blonde shout outside the door as she was bundled out.

‘With so many witnesses, this will get out into the media,’ Eduardo forecast with a shake of his head. ‘And I’m sorry to say it but I’ve no sympathy.’

Vittoria hissed a five-letter bad word in Rosy’s ear. Catalina said it out loud in Italian and her husband frowned at her in disapproval. Alessio merely smiled with satisfaction. Rosy, who was usually more compassionate, was simply grateful that the spiteful princess would be removed from Sedovia and prevented from making further attacks on either her or her reputation.

‘How will she get home?’ she asked abstractedly as their servers reappeared with the main course of their meal.

‘On the evening ferry. Fortunately for us, she timed her arrival here well.’

Rosy’s eyes widened in disconcertion. ‘Graziana…on that little ferry? I can’t imagine that.’

‘I imagine she won’t be able to either.’ Alessio finally laughed and, as if by silent mutual agreement, nobody even mentioned Graziana’s name for the remainder of the excellent meal.

In the limo that was wafting them back to the palace with police outriders, Rosy said, ‘When you said there was a suspect for that article online, was it her? And if it was her, why didn’t you tell me?’

‘To be frank, I couldn’t believe it could be her, any more than I could credit what she did tonight to you. How could I have been so blind to the craziness she was hiding behind her bland, formal front?’ he demanded.

‘I don’t think she’s crazy, I just think she’s been very spoiled,’ Rosy contended thoughtfully. ‘I also think she’s an attention seeker and all of a sudden nobody is the slightest bit interested in her any more and she can’t bear that. Life as she knew it has ended. But only someone pretty stupid would think she could walk in on us with a cameraman, do something like that to me and get away with it.’

‘And is that your final word?’ Alessio queried with unconcealed amusement.

‘Yes, I’ve no doubt she’ll face a reckoning with her father and have to keep her head down for the foreseeable future. And hopefully, she’ll stay out of Sedovia.’

‘You’re so calm,’ Alessio noted with appreciation. ‘Any other woman would be screaming at me for exposing her to that scene with Graziana.’

‘How could I blame you for it?’

‘I should have told my head of security that Graziana was under suspicion with that website because when she insisted that she was an expected guest in the restaurant, the security team were too aware of her status to question it,’ he explained. ‘That’s how she got in. I’ve never wanted to handle a woman roughly in my life before but when she burst in and threw that water at you, I wanted to kill her!’

‘My goodness…’ Rosy was disconcerted by that roughened admission.

‘She could have hurt you when she threw that glass and if she had , I probably would’ve laid violent hands on her!’ he bit out fiercely. ‘I will never allow anyone to get that close to you again.’

‘Don’t be daft,’ Rosy soothed. ‘Fortunately, there’s only one Graziana and she’s gone now. She won’t be a problem for us again. As for her trying to claim that she ever loved you, even I was tempted to slap her for that.’

‘Really?’ Alessio had elevated an ebony brow in surprise.

‘Of course I was after the way she treated you!’ Rosy responded with defensive heat. ‘Her sleeping with another man while she was engaged to you was the lowest of the low. She cheated on you, deceived you, upset you—’

‘I’m not upset now. In fact, I’m fairly certain that ninety nine out of a hundred men would come through an insane drama like that tonight and thank their good fortune at having been ditched before the wedding,’ Alessio said with unhidden amusement. ‘I can laugh about it now but I did make a very blessed exchange of brides…as your sister was quick to point out.’

‘Did she?’ Rosy winced as they walked back into the palace. ‘Well, that’s Vittoria, speaks as she sees and she’d have no time for Graziana’s dramatics.’

Clover raced across the giant hall as they waited for the lift and Rosy bent down to greet the puppy. ‘What are you doing downstairs?’

Alessio smiled at the apologetic teenager scooping up the puppy. ‘Rosy, this is Antonio’s youngest son, Pietro, and he volunteered to be the official dog-keeper for the summer. He’s keeping Clover for us tonight.’

Rosy’s brows disappeared beneath her fringe and she said all that was proper to the boy before stepping into the lift. As soon as the doors closed on them, she exclaimed, ‘Dog-keeper? Are you serious?’

‘He looks after her when we’re not around and she does need a lot of exercise,’ Alessio pointed out straight-faced. ‘So, the vet-to-be is the dog-keeper.’

‘Fine.’ Rosy resisted the urge to inform him that she had wanted to cuddle her dog and Clover had just been carried off.

‘I wanted you all to myself tonight,’ Alessio announced, gazing down at her in a different way altogether. ‘No dog, no distractions, nothing but us.’

Rosy reddened, perfectly able to interpret that scorching heat in Alessio’s eloquent scrutiny. ‘Right…’ she mumbled, a little quiver of response filtering through her pelvis.

‘I’ve decided that you’re not a very romantic woman, but then I’m not a very romantic guy. You don’t notice the flowers…you don’t—’

‘What flowers?’ she asked him blankly.

‘I’ve been sending you flowers every day for a couple of weeks! How could you not notice? You didn’t even read my cards,’ Alessio complained.

‘You sent the flowers that keep on changing in our sitting room?’ Rosy paled in dismay. ‘I never looked for a card. I just thought it was the staff ensuring fresh flowers in there for us. I’m really sorry I didn’t notice.’

‘Being calm and practical is fabulous for being a queen,’ Alessio told her as he herded her into their bedroom, where champagne on ice and chocolate-covered treats appeared to be awaiting them, making her brow furrow. ‘But when you’re a wife and you have a husband trying to tell you that he’s hopelessly in love with you, it’s not so good, piccola volpe …’

‘Hopelessly in love with me?’ Rosy parroted in sheer shock at that announcement. ‘Since when?’

‘I think it started the day you crashed your bike, because I couldn’t take my eyes off you. I was enthralled the whole time I was with you but trying to keep my distance because I was supposed to be getting married,’ Alessio explained. ‘I accept that I’m not great at the frills when it comes to telling you that I love you, but I’ve never told a woman I love her before and you’re so…silent.’

‘Because I love you too,’ Rosy finally piped up in a belated rush. ‘And I was silent because I was shocked. I honestly didn’t think you had those kinds of feelings for me. I thought I was just the replacement bride, the substitute for Graziana.’

‘In bed as well?’ Alessio quipped. ‘Surely not?’

‘That’s sex, that doesn’t count,’ Rosy argued.

‘Don’t be na?ve. Love and sex are an unbeatable combination in a healthy relationship.’ Alessio eased her up against him and kissed her with passionate hunger and she shivered against his lean, muscular body, thought becoming a distant impossibility. ‘And we have both because we attract each other like magnets…and you love me. To paraphrase you, when did that happen?’

‘Oh, just along the way somewhere. I got attached. I tried not to but the more time I spent with you, the more it crept up on me.’

‘You’re making falling in love sound like a distinctly disturbing experience.’ Alessio laughed. ‘But I’m still crazy about you. I got it wrong on our wedding night but I must have got some things right.’

‘You got an awful lot of things right,’ Rosy whispered, her hands reaching up to frame his high cheekbones so that their eyes met, his bright and unusually vulnerable, hers steady and warm with approbation. ‘But I’m not about to tell you them all and swell your ego.’

‘That’s mean,’ Alessio complained, tugging her down on the bed and uncorking the champagne to send it foaming down into the waiting flutes before slotting one into her hand.

Bubbles tickled her nose as she sipped from the glass and reached out to try one of the dainty chocolate-dipped fruit treats on the silver salver in front of her. ‘I don’t think you have a mean bone in your entire body,’ she told him.

Her conscience was twanging because she knew she was holding back on him and that wasn’t fair. He had told her that he loved her and she had been so astonished at that announcement, she had simply stared at him. He had had the courage she lacked. ‘You’re loyal, protective, kind, thoughtful, entertaining, honest…at least, when you’re not keeping quiet about stuff in the unnecessary belief that you’re protecting me.’

* * *

‘It’s fundamental to me to protect you any way I can from anything that could harm you,’ he objected.

‘I’m strong, Alessio. I can handle all kinds of unpleasant truths. I mean, there’s really nothing that you don’t have going for you in the lovability stakes. How can I possibly be the first woman you’ve told that you loved her? What about that harpy who slept with your father?’

‘I hadn’t got around to telling her that I believed that I loved her. I’m not sure now that I ever did. I didn’t experience any desire to run around taking care of her as if she were breakable…as I do with you.’

‘I bet if she’d known you were thinking it was love, she’d never have got with your father,’ Rosy opined with newly learned cynicism.

Alessio swiped her champagne flute from her and the chocolate treats, ignoring her little whimper of disappointment. ‘We’re not talking about that tonight. Tonight is for us and nothing else. Let’s not waste any of it discussing my youthful mistakes.’

‘I can’t believe you love me,’ she admitted unevenly. ‘It feels too good to be true.’

Alessio continued to strip off his suit and hauled his shirt over his head, exposing every mouth-watering inch of his muscular torso. Her heartbeat pounded and she wriggled out of her dress, cast it aside, treating her wispy silk underwear with a similar lack of care. He came down over her, all sleek dark predatory male, primed for action, and her mouth ran dry. ‘Believe it,’ he urged thickly. ‘I am never letting you go. I’m not a changeable person, piccola volpe . I never wanted to keep one particular woman before and the emotions involved are much stronger than I realised they’d be.’

‘Are they?’ As he slowly lowered his big body down on hers, every skin cell in her body was flaring alive with sensual energy and with the connection she had only ever felt with him. He loves me, she thought in awe and intense relief. He had deserved to be loved. Trusting him and giving him that chance to prove himself worthy had been the biggest emotional risk she had ever taken but had also brought her the most magnificent reward.

‘Yes, you’ve noticed that I’m not always reasonable where you’re concerned. I’m possessive, territorial. I would be jealous if you so much as looked at another man.’

‘No chance of that,’ Rosy scoffed tenderly as he looked down at her with burning adoration in his jewelled gaze, her fingers skimming appreciatively across the smooth hot skin of his wide shoulders. ‘You’re it for me. I’m here for the long haul.’

‘I was worried that you would think it would be too soon to tell you how I felt but I didn’t want to keep it a secret.’

‘And you got a dog-sitter lined up for Clover so that she doesn’t come whining and scratching at our bedroom door and you ordered champagne and strawberries.’

‘I wanted to make more of an occasion of it but you get embarrassed if I make extravagant gestures.’

‘You can’t buy a vet a new clinic just because she looked after Clover for a week and a bit—other people just pay the bill,’ she pointed out gently.

‘It was for you. You were so impressed with all the rescue work she did for free. Some people deserve that you go that extra mile…and I may not have mentioned it, but she is getting that new clinic. It’s not extravagant. She runs a charity and it’s a tax write-off,’ Alessio informed her with just a hint of one-upmanship.

‘I love you so much I could burst sometimes!’ she gasped chokily.

He wiped the tears from her cheeks with his thumbs and bent down to kiss her. ‘I love you so much,’ he husked.

‘Me too,’ she said with an inelegant sniff.

And then that seething passion they generated together wholly claimed them, bonding hearts and bodies in a wild scorching rush of emotion, sensual pleasure and satisfaction.