Page 28 of His Royal Bride Replacement

‘No, it’s not that. I genuinely want a child, a little being to love and cherish and the stability of feeling part of a family. I know it’s not usual for a man to admit that but some of us do feel that way.’

‘And how courageous to admit it,’ she murmured, sidling along the bench to seek his tempting mouth again for herself.

After a couple of glasses of wine, she was getting sleepy when they returned to the house and she decided to take a nap before dinner in the hope that it would waken her up for the evening.

Alessio promised he would wake her later and went off to do some work. She recalled the light in his gaze when he confessed that he simply wanted a child and his unashamed honesty had touched her. He was like water steadily dripping on stone, she warned herself squarely. Except that he had buckets of charisma and was sexy as all get out. If she wasn’t careful, she would find herself agreeing to have a child just to please him. Their relationship needed time and space to develop before they made such a major decision. But her own emotions were getting so tangled up with him and she had been naïve not to realise that that would happen.

The sex was amazing. Foolish of her not to appreciate that she could not get that close to Alessio without feelings becoming involved.Deeplyinvolved, she acknowledged. She was falling head over heels in love with the man she had married. He was everything she had ever wanted in a man. Intelligent, loyal, kind, considerate, surprisingly sensitive. His troubled childhood might have damaged him but he had dealt with it, learned the lessons and moved on. Their marriage was no longer a fake. She was something more than a replacement bride now, she reflected with satisfaction before she fell asleep.

It wasn’t Alessio who wakened her, it was some internal alarm of her own because she opened her eyes, checked the time in dismay and surged straight into the bathroom to freshen up before dinner. They had skipped dinner the night before and rifled the fridges at long after midnight to feed themselves. This evening, she would do the whole formal thing, she decided, yanking out a long blue dress. Act like a princess for once, she thought ruefully, but, with Alessio around and his penchant for al fresco encounters, that was likely to be a challenge.

She smiled to herself then because his passionate streak of unpredictability thrilled her just as much as his sheer intensity. She reckoned there would be plenty of times they had to act as if they were much older and staider than they were, so it was probably good for both of them to go a little wild occasionally. Although she suspected that making love outdoors in a waterfall did not seem as shocking or daring to Alessio as it had seemed to her.

Dressing, she heard someone giggling and realised that either a member of staff was having fun or Alessio was entertaining, because the room he used as an office was directly below their bedroom. From the landing, she peered down at the gallery below but it was too awkward an angle to show her much. She caught a flash of scarlet just out of view and the sound of Alessio laughing. Returning to the bedroom, she dashed on some lipstick and mascara before cramming her feet into high heels, keen not to look like a wife who might embarrass him. Ready, she started down the staff staircase that acted as a shortcut to the gallery.

Emerging onto the gallery, she caught the merest flash of a gorgeous brunette in a scarlet dress walking into Alessio’s office, talking volubly in what sounded like Spanish. A mane of long silky black hair worn loose, a figure-hugging dress with a low neck and towering heels—she was unlikely to be a business connection, she reasoned, stopping in the open doorway to look into the office. Alessio’s back was turned to her as the brunette flipped through images on the laptop in front of him while she talked very fast. She was so close to Alessio that her swishy hair was brushing his shoulders and as she bent over, her hands rested on his shoulders for balance. Annoyance flashed through Rosy like a match thrown on a hay bale and her blue eyes blazed.

‘Sorry if I’m late…you were supposed to wake me,’ she reminded Alessio.

At the sound of her voice, he swung round and stood up, dislodging the brunette, who backed off with a flirtatious smile and purred in Italian, ‘And who is this, Your Highness?’

Her familiarity with Alessio turned Rosy’s tummy over with a sick lurch. His smile in Rosy’s direction was distinctly tense.

‘Rosy…allow me to introduce you to Lucia Garcia Perez, the tourist board’s manager for this area. El Palacio is to be the focus of a new advertising campaign in the spring. Lucia, allow me to introduce you to my wife, Rosalia.’

‘Yourwife?’ Lucia gasped, all wide dark eyes and parted lips. ‘You’ve got married? I had no idea.’

Tempted to ask what rock she had been hiding beneath to avoid the blanket European media coverage of Graziana’s defection and Rosy’s last-minute substitution as the bride, Rosy forced her lips into a polite smile. ‘Pleased to meet you,’ she said, extending her hand. ‘I’ve fallen in love with this place. Tell me about the campaign.’

‘There’s no reason for you to get involved in this,’ Alessio sliced in, having raised a staying hand as Rosy made to move towards the laptop he had been studying with the brunette. ‘Give me fifteen minutes and I’ll be done.’

‘I’ll ask Jorge to send in some refreshments,’ Rosy murmured coolly, returning to the doorway.

‘Thank you but there’s no need, Your Highness,’ Lucia interposed brightly, her dark eyes snapping with enjoyment as if she could sense Rosy’s concealed vexation. ‘Alessio will look after me. We’re old friends.’

With a non-committal nod of acceptance, Rosy departed, her spine stiffening as she heard the door close in her wake. She didn’t think he should be in that office alone with so forward a woman. Old friends indeed! She’d heard that expression before in an old sitcom and it should’ve been left there. Lucia had been touching him, all over him like a rash, fixing his cufflink, for goodness’ sake!

Quietly seething, Rosy went into the drawing room, where Jorge served her with a drink. It took almost half an hour for Alessio to join her. By then, he had changed into a dinner jacket and classy narrow black trousers to match her appearance and he looked arrestingly handsome. His strong jawline was slightly clenched, however, his lean dark face a little taut.

‘I didn’t hear your visitor leave,’ Rosy heard herself quip, even though she had not intended to make any reference to the gorgeous Spanish lady.

‘She’s always used the side entrance into the library,’ Alessio countered.

‘Old friends indeed.’

‘Don’t be passive aggressive about it. Just say what you’re dying to say.’

Rosy felt the heat of the colour flushing her face at his intonation. ‘I thought that she was far too familiar with you and that you should’ve told her to back off,’ she said quietly.

‘Madonna mia!’Alessio bit out impatiently. ‘If it only takes the appearance of an old lover to make you throw a jealous fit, how will you ever cope with my misspent past?’

CHAPTER NINE

The ghastliest silence fellInto it, Jorge surged to pour Alessio an aperitif and offer her a second, which Rosy refused.

Stiff as a concrete post, Rosy tilted her chin. She hadn’t seen Alessio angry before, so it was a new experience, and he was angry with her, angry, tense and uncomfortable and that bothered her and, she discovered,woundedher. All of a sudden, she felt like the replacement bride again, guilty of crossing boundaries that she had had no right to cross. Jorge, evidently a good reader of the room, was already striving to usher them across the hall into the dining room and their first formal meal in the rambling house.

Rosy almost winced when she saw the polished table scattered with rose petals and crystals. It was the ultimate honeymoon dining experience with tiny heart-shaped savoury tarts on the plates awaiting them and she was quick to compliment Jorge on the beautiful and elegant setting.

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