Her Royal Masquerade (Her Royal Romance) (19 page)

He should never have gone to her little house in the woods on his way to the airport, but he hadn’t been able to resist the chance to see her one last time. No one else besides Rico knew of Vittorio’s impulsive declaration to step down as Crown Prince. He’d never before let his desires rule his decisions and looking back, he wasn’t surprised that Mia had been stronger than him.

Now his suite felt empty, his meals lonely, his bed cold.

The princess had texted him with some ideas for the wedding, but she didn’t seem any more anxious than he was to make things official. He told her he didn’t care what they did as long as they were married at the end of it. He’d like to put it off indefinitely, but he wanted to be married before he took the throne, so indefinitely was not possible. Birgitte said she understood. A week after he’d become officially engaged, Rico pulled Vittorio out of a dinner meeting with his advisors. “Excuse me, Your Highness. I must interrupt. Please come with me.”

Vittorio was so exhausted, he didn’t say anything when his head of security excused his advisors and told them to go home for the night.

“What is it, Rico? Where are we going?”

Rico led him out of the room, down the hall, out of the palace and out to the Queen’s Garden. The sun was setting and Vittorio thought that Mia would have loved the play of colors in the sky.

“What are you up to?” he growled, because he’d been trying not to think of Mia at all. Rico turned on Vittorio, pushed him down onto the bench. “You may want to kill yourself working twenty-four hours a day, but your staff should not have to commit suicide along with you.”

“What are you talking about?” He jumped to his feet, then stumbled tiredly.

Rico simply crossed his arms. “Do I have to spell it out for you, Vittorio?”

Vittorio sank back onto the bench. “No.” He sighed, looked around him at the blooming garden, at yet another reminder. “If I don’t stay busy I think about her.”

“I know. If I may say so, my friend, she would have made a fine queen for Mezzano.”

“Yes, she would have.” Vittorio chuckled softly, sadly. “Although, she didn’t think so.

She thought herself too common.”

“I think our people would appreciate her more than her own people do. Our people would love her. She’s so down to earth. Such a warm person. We loved to see her digging in the garden like your mother did.”

Rico might have been his head of security, but he was also Vittorio’s best friend. He had no one else to talk to, so Vittorio took a deep breath and admitted, “I cannot marry Birgitte. She would remind me too much of Mia.” It did not escape his notice that now he considered Birgitte a substitute for Mia, instead of the other way around.

“I understand,” Rico replied quietly. “I know you had hoped to marry and sire an heir before you took the throne, but surely there is no rush if you haven’t found someone suitable. You can marry after you’ve taken the throne if need be, so don’t take a rash step you will regret.

You can take your time to find a royal who is appropriate.”

Vittorio’s laugh came out as a dark bark. “Appropriate. Yes.” There was no one more appropriate than Mia to be his queen. There would never be. “I am not fit to be King of

Mezzano.”

“You cannot step down, Your Highness!”

He smiled at the adamant tone of Rico’s voice. “No. Mia was right. To rule our people is a privilege as well as a duty. I could never turn my back on them. But I would be a terrible king without Mia at my side.” He sighed. “You see what I have become without her.”

“What are you going to do?”

The only thing he could think of. “I have to talk to the king.”

“You look terrible, my son,” King Alberto said as Vittorio entered his room the next morning.

“I haven’t been sleeping well. I have had a lot on my mind.” Vittorio sat down and looked his father in the eye. “I am not marrying Princess Birgitte. I broke it off with her last night. A business agreement disguised as a marriage has no appeal to me.”

The king frowned. “We’ve been over this many times. It must be done this way. You have too many responsibilities to be distracted by emotions.”

“I asked Mia to marry me.”

His father’s eyes widened in surprise, but then his lips thinned in disapproval. “That’s preposterous. You can’t marry her. She has no royal blood.”

And Vittorio didn’t give a damn. “I love her. I will be a better king with her as my queen.”

“You can’t rule wisely if your heart is involved with a woman as much as it is with your country.”

Vittorio was tired of all the arguments that made no sense to him. “My heart is already involved. I am already distracted.”

“I was afraid that would happen when you brought her back here.” The king sighed. “Mia is a wonderful woman, but you cannot marry her.”

“Not yet, no. She turned me down.” He had to show his father how serious he was. “I begged her. I told her I would step down as Crown Prince in order to be with her. I would to give the throne to Stefano. Do you understand? I was willing to leave Mezzano forever.”

His father’s face turned so red, Vittorio feared he’d pushed him into a stroke. The king sputtered, then bellowed, “You cannot do that, Vittorio. It is your birthright.”

Vittorio took a deep breath and said what he’d come here to say. “Then rescind the royal marriage decree.”

His father curled his hand into a fist and pounded it against the armrest of his wheelchair.

“No.”

“I’m not backing down. I’m going to keep asking her until I can convince her to say yes.” “Don’t be a fool. It’s impossible.”

“Rescind the royal marriage decree,” Vittorio repeated.

“No. I won’t.” The king glanced out the window for a moment, stared down on the colorful Queen’s Garden before turning back to Vittorio. “Don’t you understand? Centuries ago it was decided it was best for our country to have the decree in place. And I agree.”

“I don’t agree. I don’t believe it is the best thing for Mezzano.”

“It is best. It’s true.” His father’s voice cracked and he looked back out the window. “It has to be true.”

The desperation in his father’s voice pulled Vittorio up short. “What do you mean?”

His father was silent for so long, Vittorio thought he wasn’t going to answer. “Don’t you understand? I loved your mother with my whole heart. Yes, me, who was also told by my father that to love would make me a weak ruler. How surprised I was when this young duchess I had never met until our wedding day took my heart away with her first smile.” Vittorio had never seen his father cry, but tears filled his eyes now. “I loved Concetta with all my heart and I never let her know. I didn’t want to be weak.” He grasped Vittorio’s hands in a strong grip that belied his illness. “I held back my emotions because I was afraid of letting my heart run away with me. Afraid my heart would overrule my head.”

“I think the best ruler should use both his head and his heart.” Vittorio heard Mia’s voice telling him the same thing. “I know the king has the power to overturn any decree. Give me the chance to be a stronger, more caring ruler with the woman I love at my side.”

“Vittorio…”

“If you will not, I swear I will take the throne as an unmarried man and overturn the decree under my reign. Who knows, it may take me years to convince her to be my queen.”

Vittorio smiled wryly. “She’s stronger than I am.”

“And you are stronger than I am, my son. Braver than I was.” The king nodded and relief washed over Vittorio. “Perhaps this is another time when change makes sense. When tradition no longer serves its purpose.”

“I think it’s too soon.” Mia and Annika sat in the corner of her grandfather’s bakery on Saturday morning, sipping strong coffee and eating cardamom rolls. Actually, Annika was eating her sweet. Mia was picking at hers. She hadn’t been very hungry in the past week.

“It’s not too soon. You know you have to do this. Beck says that Emil is eager to meet you. We can have an early dinner next Saturday night and see a movie.”

“But you said you usually stay in the city with Beck over the weekend.”

“I’m not going to leave you alone. Don’t worry. You and I will come back home after the movie. I think the best thing for you is to get out there and start dating.”

Mia had needed someone to talk to after Vittorio left, so she admitted to Annika that she’d fallen in love with Vittorio while she was in Mezzano. She didn’t say anything about having been his mistress. Anni had embraced the story of tragic, unrequited love and ran with it.

She promised to help Mia get over him.

A double date with Beck and his best friend was her first idea.

Mia knew she needed to get on with her life. It was going to be bad enough knowing that Vittorio was marrying her cousin. Picturing Birgitte and Vittorio together made her chest ache. She would never love another man the way she loved him, but if he could find a wife he could like and respect to build a life with, then she could do the same. It would do no good to mope around and feel sorry for herself. She deserved better than that.

“You’re right,” she said to Anni, forcing a smile. She hoped before too long her smiles would not have to be forced. She had a week to get used to the idea. “I would love to meet Emil but, you know, I have nothing to wear. Want to go shopping?”

Shopping with Annika was much more fun than it had been with Vittorio’s personal shopper. She and Anni laughed a lot and Mia tried on some very inappropriate clothing, just because she could. She didn’t need to worry about impressing a royal, she just wanted to look nice for a casual first date.

She and Anni were in a dressing room trying on jeans when Mia’s cell phone rang. Anni picked it up off the floor where it had slid out of a pocket. She glanced at the name on the screen and lifted her brows.

“It’s him.” She handed Mia the phone.

Vittorio.
“I don’t want to talk to him.” Mia disconnected the call.

“Don’t you want to know what he’s calling about?”

She kicked the too-short jeans off. “I don’t want to hear his voice. I’m trying to move on. Hearing his voice would just take me back to the place I was a week ago.” The phone rang again and they both stared at the phone in Mia’s hand.

Anni grabbed the phone and pushed the button to answer the call. “She doesn’t want to talk to you.” She disconnected the call, shut off the phone and handed it back to Mia. “There.”

“Thanks.” But Mia whirled around and bent over to pick up her old jeans to pull back on. She didn’t want Anni to see her tears.

The next morning there was a knock at Mia’s door. She didn’t know what she would do if it was Vittorio. He’d left several voice messages on her phone, but she’d deleted them all without listening to them. She had to stay strong but she’d always felt weak where he was concerned. If she saw him again, she was afraid this time she’d let him in. She’d never get on with her life if she kept letting him back in.

“Who is it?” she asked, not even daring to look out the window in case Vittorio was standing there.

“It’s Birgitte.”

Stupid, ridiculous, foolish disappointment slammed into her. Mia took a deep breath and opened the door to her cousin. Birgitte stood there, looking like a fashion model in her elegant wool suit and fur boots. “Can I come in? It’s important.”

Mia shrugged and opened the door wider. “What is it?”

Birgitte smiled and walked past her. When she stopped in the middle of the living room and turned to look at Mia, she couldn’t help but think how out of place the princess looked in the humble cottage. “I need your help,” her cousin said, boldly, matter-of-factly, as if she had no doubt Mia would agree as she always had before.

Mia closed the door and leaned back against it with her arms folded. “Help?”

Birgitte pulled off her white gloves one finger at a time, finally revealing the large engagement ring on her left hand. “I need you to stand in for me again.”

Mia pushed away from the door, anger flaring with her. “Oh no. No. No. No.”

Her cousin tilted her head and smiled, as if she was humoring her. “It’ll be the last time. I promise.”

“I’m never going to pretend to be you again.”

That smile of certainty wavered a bit. “Please?”

“No.” Mia crossed over to her dresser and grabbed a pair of scissors from the top drawer.

“I’m going to cut my hair right now.”

“No.” Birgitte ran over to her, a look of panic in her eyes.

Mia waved the scissors in front of her. “And then I think I’ll dye what’s left a dark, dark brown. Then you’ll never be able to use me again. I’ll never be tempted to agree to deceive good people who didn’t deserve to be lied to. Never look into someone’s eyes and wish I could tell him the truth.”

Birgitte was quiet for a moment. “You fell in love with him, didn’t you?”

Mia met her cousin’s gaze, knew she saw the truth there. “I’m not going to talk about this with you.” But she set the scissors down.

“You did, didn’t you? I can see it. Oh, Mia. He
is
handsome. And he knows how to pick out jewelry.” She waved the large emerald-cut diamond under Mia’s nose. The ostentatious stone fit her cousin perfectly, but Mia would always treasure her string of smaller diamonds. “But don’t you think he’s a little too over the top?” the princess went on.

“Over the top? What do you mean?”

“I don’t know. Everything is so big with him. He’s a big guy, yes. But his talk is big. His emotions are big. He’s so...so fiery.”

Many of the things Mia loved about him. “The people of Mezzano are hot-blooded. You better get used to it.”

“Hot-blooded? Yes, that’s a good description. Mia, I need your help right now.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I need you to go to Mezzano for me,”

“Are you crazy? They all know who I am there.”

“It’s just for the press. Something about dedicating something called the Queen’s

Garden?” Birgitte shrugged carelessly. “I guess the royal family wants you there.”

Mia’s heart warmed at the thought. She would love to be there for the dedication, but there was no way she could go. “I can’t. I’m not going to pretend to be you anymore. I’m busy enough being me.”