Page 34 of His Royal Bride Replacement

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 itcouldbe 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 shehad, 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 onlyoneGraziana and she’s gone now. She won’t be a problem for us again. As for her trying to claim that sheeverloved 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 ditchedbeforethe 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.

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