Page 2 of His Royal Bride Replacement

‘No,’ she mumbled, scrubbing at the blood on one knee and wincing when it hurt before looking up at him, squinting in the sun.

Alessio saw the sunglasses that had fallen off her nose and lifted them to offer them back to her.Madonnamia, she was gorgeous, he thought abstractedly. Eyes with the depth and colour of amethysts set in a heart-shaped face, a soft pillowy pink mouth and skin as velvety smooth as a creamy lily petal.

* * *

Rosy was staring and she just kept on staring because she couldn’t believe her eyes. She accepted the sunglasses even though one of the lenses had smashed. She could hardly put them on again like that and crammed them into a pocket instead. She breathed in slow and deep, striving to steady herself and accept that Alessio Marchetti, the Crown Prince, well, theonlyPrince of Sedovia, was crouching down beside her acting like a good Samaritan. The intensity of the emerald-green eyes locked to hers left her feeling oddly dizzy.

‘Can you walk?’ he asked as the hubbub around them grew and cameras began to show in a sea of surrounding obtrusiveness.

‘Of course, I can,’ Rosy told him, grudgingly accepting the hand he extended and beginning to rise with his help, only to stiffen and flinch as her ankle sent a jolt of pain running up her leg. ‘I think I must’ve turned my ankle when I fell.’

Alessio stooped to lift her into his arms and slotted her with care into the passenger seat of his car while phone cameras operated and questions were hurled by breathless journalists, who had raced up from around the corner. He dropped her sun hat back onto her head and she crammed it low, not wanting to look at anyone, not wanting to be identified in such company. She was too well aware that everything Alessio did and everyone he interacted with was of interest to his loyal public and of even greater interest to the media.

The policeman approached the car and spoke to Alessio, who said that he would give a witness statement to the police later in the day, and at that news the policeman retreated and stopped the traffic, making some vehicles reverse while his companion cleared the road so that Alessio could drive across the bridge into the palace.

‘What on earth are you doing?’ she demanded. ‘Where are you taking me?’

‘Into the palace for treatment.’

‘I use the employees’ entrance.’

‘Right now you can’t walk and my office is within easier reach,’ Alessio countered.

Rosy compressed her lips and gritted her teeth at having to respect that tone of authority. Ultimately, he was her employer, she reminded herself in exasperation. She might never have met him before but arguing wasn’t a good idea.

‘What’s your name?’ he enquired smoothly.

‘Rosy… Rosy Castelli,’ she said. ‘Rosy short for Rosalia.’

He drew the powerful sports car to a halt on the cobbles and left the car as she struggled frantically to get the heavy passenger door open. ‘Chill, Miss Castelli,’ the Prince urged. ‘The only cameras here are of the security variety.’

A little of her panic dissipating, Rosy winced as she clambered out, balancing on one foot and the door.

With a muttered imprecation, her companion swept her off her feet again and she trembled and gasped.

‘Nervous little creature, aren’t you?’ he quipped. ‘What do you think could happen to you here where we are surrounded by so many other people?’

Face as red as a tomato, Rosy glanced at his security team hovering, the faces under the portico of the staff all wide-eyed with wonderment at the scene that met their eyes. ‘I don’t like being the centre of so much attention,’ she said truthfully.

Alessio sighed. ‘Clearly there isn’t much excitement round here if we’re attracting this much interest,’ he muttered, brushing past the bowing minions on the doorstep while ordering an ice pack and requesting that Dr Rossi be called to his office.

‘There’s a doctor on staff?’ Rosy exclaimed in astonishment.

‘Dr Rossi is the head librarian and also a doctor. He prefers books to doctoring but he’s happy to help out in an emergency.’

‘I’mhardlyan emergency,’ Rosy quibbled as he elbowed open a door off the giant echoing marble hall while the heat of him scorched the side of her body and the scent of him—ocean-fresh and clean with the merest hint of some woodsy cologne—flared her nostrils. ‘A few bumps and scrapes.’

‘Andyou’ll be on crutches for at least a few days,’ Alessio interposed drily as he laid her down with care on an opulent leather lounger.

‘Nonsense!’ Rosy protested as he dropped down into an athletic crouch beside her.

He was too close, way too close for comfort, those shimmering green eyes squarely locked onto her. Her breath was trapped in her throat, her heart speeding up and she felt, with a sinking heart, her breasts swell inside her top. ‘Your ankle is already puffing up,’ he pointed out, standing back as an ice pack complete with protective cloth was laid down beside her and he asked for a first-aid kit.

‘I can do all this for myself,’ Rosy objected shakily, shattered by the effect his proximity had had on her because she didn’t ever react that way to men. Sure, he was good-looking, sure, he was the pin-up of Sedovia, indeed of Europe itself, but she wasn’t the sort of woman who reacted physically to such a man…wasshe?

‘Tea or coffee? What’s your preference?’ Alessio shot at her as she roasted like a pepper on a grill, mortification claiming her entirely.Notsuch a woman, she reminded herself, not the sort of woman who would compare his luminous eyes to jewels, who would notice the lush black lashes framing that stunning gaze and the warm intelligence etched there.

‘Tea…’ another voice interposed quietly. ‘Sweet. Miss Castelli is in shock.’

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