Her Royal Masquerade (Her Royal Romance) (16 page)

“I’ve always been a prince.” His thumb teased her nipple. She tingled with arousal but didn’t allow him to distract her.

“But when you were younger, before your father became ill. How did you spend your time? What did you enjoy doing?”

“It doesn’t matter,” he replied, sounding as tired as he looked. “The rest of my life is mapped out for me.”

Mia shifted on Vittorio’s lap, teasing him with her warm, wet heat. He didn’t want to talk about the past. Didn’t want to think about the future. He’d read the documents spread out in front of him a hundred times. The words never changed. He could find no way around the royal marriage decree. “Vittorio…”

He set her off his lap and stood. He didn’t want to look at the papers any longer or think about what they meant for the rest of his life. “It doesn’t matter anymore.” He took Mia’s hand and led her from his office, closed the door behind them.

“But it does matter,” she insisted. “It’s part of who you are. Even a prince can have other interests that help make them complete.”

“The interests of my people are what are important now.” He couldn’t forget that. “My life is no longer my own, Mia. You spoke of freedom when I brought you here. You spoke of prisons.”

“Yes, but you know I no longer consider this place a prison.”

He took her into the bedroom, opened the door to the balcony and brought her out into the night. A few lights from the neighboring towns still shone in the distance. The glow from the city was visible beyond the hills.

“This is my life. This is my prison,” he told her. Mia slid her arm around his waist and leaned against him, lending him her warmth and strength. He gestured to the lights before them.

“These are my people. I have responsibilities to them. It is a duty I cannot escape.”

She gasped. “I would never ask you to give up your duty to your people.”

“I know.” Still, it was tempting, so tempting, to grasp this way to keep Mia beside him always. But Vittorio knew it would be incredibly selfish to abandon his people for a woman.

Even a woman as warm, as loving, as perfect as Mia.

He turned to bring her into his arms. After a long kiss, he opened her robe. Her eyes widened, but she didn’t stop him when he slid the robe from her body. He knew he shouldn’t use her this way. Shouldn’t use sex as a distraction.

But it was only when he was with Mia that he could pretend there was a part of his life that was his own.

She was silent as she helped him shed the clothing he’d thrown on when he hadn’t been able to sleep. His body was already hard and ready for her. He was always that way for her, but he wanted to make sure her body would be ready to take him.

Vittorio dropped to his knees before her and she gasped when he pushed her back up against the railing and spread her legs apart. He lifted one of her feet and brought it to his mouth. He loved the erotic noises she made when he kissed her ankles. He’d discovered that on the first night they’d spent together. So he nibbled on one ankle and then the other before he placed her feet flat on the floor of the balcony and then leaned in for another kind of kissing.

His mouth found her slick flesh and he flicked his tongue eagerly through her feminine folds. Mia gasped again when he spread her wide with his thumbs and found her tight little button of nerves. Her hands dove into his hair and her hips moved, bringing her core closer to his seeking mouth.

“You are so sweet,” he murmured. “I love your taste on my tongue.”

She moaned, her moves growing ever more frantic in the shadows of the palace. He kept licking her and sucking lightly on her flesh with his lips. He slid one finger into her core and found her wet and ready. His erection throbbed with the need to be buried in her tight heat.

Vittorio sucked on her clitoris and she exploded around him, crying out his name. Her body shook with her climax and he drank her juices like the finest wine. When he could wait no longer, Vittorio stood and turned Mia around so that she was facing the railing, facing the lights of the towns below where his people lived.

She held onto the railing and after he took a condom from the pocket of his pants, he grabbed onto her hips and plunged into her from behind. Mia called out his name again as he filled her.

Vittorio leaned over her, covering her with his body as he moved within her. His thrusts weren’t as deep this way, but the change of angle meant his shaft rubbed against her flesh in a whole new way. He wrapped one arm tightly around her waist, holding her close, the way he wished he could always keep her.

Sensations built until they overwhelmed him and his climax hit him with intense force. He thrust over and over into her body, taking the solace she offered him, emptying himself of everything but his desire for her.

After they crawled into bed together, Mia rested her head on his shoulder. He kissed the top of her head.

“I’ve always loved to read,” he whispered. “History, non-fiction and fiction, I couldn’t get enough of it. I haven’t read for pleasure in a long time.”

“I can see you as a reader,” she said thoughtfully. “You have no problem sitting still and concentrating. You study any situation you are in, learn what you need to know. I’m sorry you haven’t found pleasure in your reading recently, but I’m sure your knowledge of history will serve you well when you are king.”

She crawled on top of him, her naked body covering his. “Thank you for trusting me with a little part of you.”

Vittorio wrapped his arms around her and held her close. He would trust her with every part of him, he would read every piece of history, but it still would do no good.

Another week later, Mia still hadn’t heard from Birgitte. She’d settled into a routine at the palace and stopped checking for messages on her phone. The Queen’s Garden was already blooming. Having a team of gardeners at her disposal made such a difference. They carried out her instructions without question, obtaining whatever she needed, digging and planting where she told them to. But she made sure got her share of digging in too.

Evenings were her time with Vittorio. Long evenings where the appropriate dress she wore for dinner was often stripped off before they finished eating. Longer nights spent in each other’s arms.

Vittorio looked more rested. He smiled more. Joked more. Laughter became the norm instead of the exception. They shared a quick breakfast every morning now that she made sure he ate something before he started his day. He even stopped by nearly every day to see the children after she began to have lunch with them in the large dining room off the kitchen. The king’s condition seemed to have stabilized. Or at least that’s what his doctors said. Mia stopped by to see him after she had lunch with the children. A couple times she’d wheeled him down to listen to the musician’s practice.

Today she walked with the king though the Queen’s Garden. She’d directed a new wide, smooth walk to be constructed that would accommodate his wheelchair. As they slowly circled the garden, he told her stories of Vittorio as a boy, and of Queen Concetta who he admitted he still missed, even if, as he explained, he’d never loved her with a passion that would have distracted him from his duties.

Mia was thinking of the king and queen as she returned to the bedroom to change her clothes before going back out to work in the garden for a few more hours. How had they managed to live together, raise three children together, and never love each other? They had respected each other, King Alberto told her. They had liked each other. Those things were as important as love, he said. But he didn’t meet her gaze as he said it.

She hung up the lightweight dress she’d worn to visit with the king and grabbed a pair of jeans and a short sleeved T-shirt. It was hard to imagine the snow that would still be falling in Stagatland. She’d quickly grown used to the warm sunshine on her skin and the scent of the ocean in the air.

She sat on the edge of the chair while she slipped on her shoes. Today they were going to trim the hedges and she wanted to be there to supervise. The ring of her cell phone made her jump. Nerves twisted in her stomach as she crossed the room and picked it up.

Birgitte.

Mia almost didn’t answer. Didn’t want to answer. She hadn’t had enough time with Vittorio. Would she have ever had enough time with him? She pushed the button to answer before she could throw the phone down and stamp it to pieces. “Where have you been?” she snapped because something inside her was breaking.

“Well, hello to you too,” Birgitte said smoothly. “I hear you are in Mezzano.”

“How could you put me in this position? How could you leave me? Ignore me?”

“Settle down. I’m heading back right now. My parents have been going on and on about the handsome prince and how he wants to marry me.” The haughty tone suddenly dropped from her cousin’s voice. “They want me to say yes. They want me to settle down and give them grandchildren and learn how to be a ruler.”

Mia sank to the floor. She thought of Vittorio, of all he was trying to learn now in order to take his father’s place as the ruler of Mezzano. Then she thought of Vittorio, married to Birgitte, having children with her. She swallowed the sudden tears and leaned back against the side of the bed where she and Vittorio had made so much love. “It has to happen sooner or later, don’t you think?”

“I don’t know,” Birgitte said, the pout clear in her voice. “I don’t think I’m ready to get married yet.”

Good.
But Mia knew putting it off wouldn’t change her situation any. She would never have a future with Vittorio. An ache settled deep in her chest.

“What do you think of him?” Birgitte asked softly. “The prince? I’ve never met him. How can I think about marrying someone I’ve never even met?”

It sounded as if she was actually thinking about it. Mia swallowed before she could speak. “He’s handsome. Commanding. He loves his people and will be a good ruler. He has this dry sense of humor and dark eyes that crinkle when he smiles.”

“Really?”

Mia realized she’d said too much. She cleared her throat. “So are you coming here to Mezzano?”

“No. I’m heading home. You can tell him that if you see him. I hear you’re digging in a garden and teaching little kids? You probably don’t get a chance to see those crinkly eyes too often. Do you?” There was a searching question in her cousin’s tone.

The last thing Mia wanted was for anyone from home to know she had been Vittorio’s mistress. “Just from afar.”

The long silence on the other end of the phone told her that Birgitte was trying to decide whether to believe her or not. “Well, Mother is already talking about holding a big dinner for him after I get home. I’m sure someone will be contacting him soon.” There was an odd tone in her cousin’s voice,

“Birgitte? What’s going on? Where have you been?”

More silence. “With friends,” she finally replied. “You know, this probably happened at just the right time. I’ve been thinking about my life, contemplating my future. Maybe Prince Vittorio looking for me now is serendipity.”

“Wouldn’t that be nice for you?” Mia had a tough time speaking gracious words through the lump in her throat.

“Yeah. And listen. My parents think it was me that the prince met at the ball. I told them I took off after the festivities were over. Apparently the prince kept my secret too. Don’t tell them I wasn’t there. Don’t tell them you took my place.”

Mia stiffened. “I have never betrayed your confidence in all these years. I’m not about to now.”

“Good. Um…Mia? As long as you keep quiet, I’ll keep your secret as well.” “What secret?”

Birgitte’s light laughter made Mia shiver. “The prince met you at the ball and brought you to Mezzano a few days later? Our parents may believe that all he really wanted was another teacher. But I know better.”

“Birgitte…”

“We both know how our people feel about mistresses. They wouldn’t want a woman like that teaching their children, would they?”

A chill ran over her body. “I already told you I won’t say anything.” Mia hated the pleading tone to her voice. She doubted her cousin would say anything, but Mia hated to think that there was a chance she wouldn’t be able to teach. If she didn’t have her job when she went back to Stagatland, what would she have?

“Even if he chooses me over you?” Birgitte asked.

“He already has,” Mia murmured.

“That’s all right then. See you later, cousin.”

Birgitte disconnected and Mia dropped the phone to the floor. The ache in her chest grew heavier. She pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them to her. She’d known this day was coming. She’d had more time with Vittorio than she thought she would. More time than she should have had.

It was time to accept the fact and get on with it.

She might not have any more time to work in the Queen’s Garden after today. She leapt to her feet and slid her cell into the pocket of her jeans. No sense hiding from the phone any longer, dreading the call she’d known was coming.

But now that the call from the princess had come, could she put off telling Vittorio for a little while longer?

The laughter caught Vittorio’s attention. He’d stopped by the kitchen as he’d begun to do at lunchtime in the hopes of spending a few minutes with Mia. But the dining room was empty. He had a little bit of time before the next conference call so he headed outside. That was when he heard the laughter.

Vittorio rounded the corner of the building and froze. Mia was surrounded by the children in the center of the now blooming garden. She was leading them down the pathway holding hands with the two youngest children. The older ones were laughing and running, following the pathway in and out of the flower beds.

Memories slammed into him. His mother smiling as he and Stefano had chased each other down those same cobblestones. Playing hide and seek behind the hedgerows with Angelina. Even though it had been years ago now, the memories were as fresh as if it had been yesterday. His mother had never worn jeans like Mia was, but the laughter was the same. Some of his happiest memories were of the times he’d spent in the garden with his mother, brother and sister.