Page 31 of His Royal Bride Replacement

And that truth was that Alessiohadbought his royal bride, like an apple off a supermarket tray. How had she ever contrived to forget that horrendous fact? How on earth had she managed to fall in love with her buyer? Those harsh facts suddenly made her feel cheap and unclean. An hour later, necessity having suffocated any chance of giving way to angry, wounded tears, Rosy emerged from a final fitting of her coronation robes and went straight to Alessio’s official office on the ground floor to tell him about the website.

Having neglected to knock, she stopped dead on the threshold when she registered that her husband was in the middle of a meeting and every head turned to see her. ‘Oh, I’ll see you when you’re finished,’ she said lightly, forcing an apologetic smile onto her tense face and turning on her heel again.

Being forced to wait even longer to vent her feelings did nothing to cool down Rosy’s mood. The more she reread that article, the angrier she became, even though a calming voice at the back of her head warned that it was a very bad idea to keep on heavy-duty dwelling on such a negative item. That was why it was unfortunate that it took Alessio quite a long time to finish his meeting and Rosy had showered and clambered into the casual clothing she always wore after what she deemed to be ‘work hours’ were over. In fact, clad in her shorts and tee, she was pacing the floor in their bedroom when Alessio finally put in an appearance.

‘I need a shave,’ he complained, striding through the door, looking darkly handsome but stressed out and rubbing a hand irritably over his shadowed, stubbled jaw line.

‘You always need a shave,’ Rosy pointed out quite truthfully for he had to shave twice a day.

In silence she watched him strip. There were times when watching that lean, muscular, hair-roughened physique of his emerge from clothing was the highlight of her day, quickening her heartbeat, turning her tummy over with craving. But this wasn’t one of those times. Rosy desperately wanted his full attention and it didn’t seem the right moment, but frustration was engulfing her at having had to wait so long to speak to him and just as he was about to stride into the en suite for a shower and shave, she crossed the room.

‘I have to talk to you,’ she told him in a rush as she set down Clover on the rug. ‘It’s about this website…’

Alessio flipped round and actually smiled at her, she registered in disbelief. ‘Oh, that?’ he murmured with unbelievable calm and cool. ‘That’s already been dealt with.’

‘I beg your pardon?’ she cried with incredulity. ‘You alreadyknewabout that article?’

Twin ebony brows drew together above his gleaming, assessing gaze. ‘Of course. Our IT team are very good. They check out stuff like that every day,’ he told her conversationally. ‘The government informed the palace about that site as well.’

‘So…?’ Rosy breathed in deep and fast. ‘In other words, just about everybody in Sedovia knew that I and my family had been targeted and maligned…everybodybutme!’

‘I saw no reason to upset you with such nonsense,’ Alessio admitted levelly, not turning a hair in spite of the fact that Rosy had got very flushed and was standing there rigid with clenched fists by her sides. Clover, though, had shot below the bed when she had raised her voice.

‘You sawnoreason?’ she gasped furiously.

Alessio released his breath in a huff. ‘Clearly, you believe I should’ve told you sooner.’

‘Yes!’she bawled at him angrily. ‘At least I could’ve warned my family.’

Blind to her temper, it seemed, Alessio skimmed his flashing smile at her. ‘You don’t need to worry about that either. I took care of that for you and Vittoria and Patrick aren’t bothered. In their words, “Sticks and stones don’t break bones”,’ he completed cheerfully and the dog dared to peer out from under the bed.

And that was the last straw for Rosy, the absolute last straw that Alessio could have dared to go over her head toherfamily and warn them of that article while continuing to keep her in the dark!

‘Allroyallyhandled, I take it?’ Rosy breathed between gritted teeth in a tone of dulcet sweetness.

‘Yes. The website was taken down following the threat of legal action. It was only in existence for a couple of hours and the leak at the bank was traced to a junior employee. He has been dismissed for breaking his employment contract and selling confidential information for cash,’ Alessio explained with distinct satisfaction. ‘Our staff are excellent at dealing with such incidents.’

Rosy wrinkled her nose. ‘So, it was just me you left out of all this handling, even though it wasmewho was most libelled!’

‘How did you find out about it anyway?’ Alessio enquired, poised there so deadly serious now and clad only in a pair of boxers, acres of bronzed male flesh on show.

‘Samantha on the PR team.’

‘She’s new and she wouldn’t have been made aware yet that you are not to be informed of any such personal attacks.’

‘Who said I wasn’t to be informed?’ Rosy very nearly shouted at him and Clover retreated further below the bed.

Alessio elevated an ebony brow. ‘I did, of course. I don’t want you to be upset by something so trivial.’

‘Trivial?’she screeched back at him, making him frown in apparent surprise. ‘You think it’strivialwhen I’m called a scheming, gold-digging shrew? Or when the financial background to our marriage is leaked to the public?’

‘Of course, I don’t think it’s trivial inyourestimation,’ Alessio countered more thinly, a faint flush rising along his high cheekbones. ‘But, at present, we have won what redress we can for this distasteful incident. We are still pursuing proof of who put up the site, although we have a suspect. Beyond that, there is nothing more we can do.’

‘I had a right to be told about that article the minute it appeared!’ Rosy launched back at him stridently.

His green eyes glinted like diamonds in sunlight, hard and unyielding. ‘Notif this is how you will react. Being trolled is what happens to public figures, and we are public figures, however, we—as a couple—do not take it personally. That is the bottom line here and I will not move it a centimetre. Now you may understandwhyI ordered that you be protected from such scurrilous drivel.’

As Alessio went on into the en suite without another word, Rosy couldn’t bear to let him have thelastword and she yelled, ‘I don’t feel like part of a couple!’

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