Royal Games (The Royals of Monterra) (24 page)

“It’s okay,” I told my aunt, my eyes bright with unshed tears. “It would have meant that I would miss getting to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas with you.”

“Which would have been fine. We could have spent one holiday apart. That’s normally what happens when children grow up.”

“Four thousand? Anyone? Anyone at all? Four thousand?”

“Announce me as the winner!” Brooke insisted loudly from the crowd.

Rafe walked over to Nicole. “If I bid on myself, can I choose my date?”

“Absolutely,” Nicole said, her eyes lighting up. “Do you bid four thousand?”

“How much more do you need to hit your goal?” he asked.

Nicole studied her notepad where she had written down the winning bids. She quickly calculated. “About seventeen thousand.”

“Then I bid seventeen thousand dollars.”

The room went so quiet, you could hear the snow falling outside. “I have seventeen thousand dollars! Do I hear eighteen thousand? No? Didn’t think so. Going once, going twice, sold to Prince Rafael, and we have a new church roof!”

Everyone got to their feet, cheering and clapping for Rafe and yet another amazing thing that he’d done to support the town that I loved.

“And just who, I wonder, will you choose as your date?” Nicole asked.

His gaze settled on me, and he held out one hand. “Genesis Kelley, will you come with me to Monterra?”

I raised my eyebrows at Aunt Sylvia, who nodded so hard she looked like a bobblehead toy.

“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” I asked.

“You’d better say yes before Brooke kidnaps him and keeps him locked up in her basement!” she responded.

“I will!” I yelled to him, and the town’s cheering got even louder.

The church had its roof, Nicole had Shane, and I had a date with my prince.

Chapter 24

Aunt Sylvia made plans to spend Christmas with Max, Amanda, and her son, Austin, and I was on Rafe’s jet, holding his hand and talking to him as we flew halfway across the world.

We were nearly to Monterra. He pointed out the mountain ranges near his home. It was sunny outside, but everything was covered in a blanket of white. He excused himself to use the restroom before we had to put on our seatbelts, and I got up to get my purse and send Aunt Sylvia a text to let her know that I was nearly there.

But when I pulled on the straps, my purse caught on Rafe’s bag, and it emptied the contents all over the floor. I bent down to put his things back. I glanced at his passport, smiling at the picture of him.

His wallet. I glanced up at the bathroom door. I couldn’t help it. I wondered what he had in it. Pictures? Was there one of me?

“I should put it back,” I whispered.

I didn’t.

He had black and platinum credit cards in his wallet. A bunch of cash in different national currencies. No pictures.

But there was something behind the cash. Something pink.

It was my letter. The one I had written him on the show. I pulled it out to make sure. He had folded it neatly, and he carried it around with him everywhere he went. The whole time he’d been in Iowa, he’d had it with him.

If there had been any doubt about his sincerity, this took it all away. He loved me. He really, really loved me.

My heart leapt in happy excitement. I heard the sink running, and I put the note back where I had found it, shoving his bag back into the overhead compartment just as he came out.

He was so amazing. So handsome, so smart, so kind and generous.

Why was I waiting? What was I waiting for? I loved him. Totally, completely loved him. I never stopped. Just like he’d never stopped loving me.

Resistance really was futile.

“Hi!” I beamed at him, breathless but elated.

“Hi,” he responded, giving me a strange look. “Everything okay?”

“Everything is fan-freaking-tastic.” I couldn’t help it. I giggled. I loved Rafe. I loved him.

But as I started to tell him, the flight attendant came out to tell us that we were beginning our descent and asked us to put on our seatbelts.

I could tell him later. We had four full days in Monterra before we had to head home.

The palace was in total chaos. When we entered the front hall, there were relatives and wedding guests everywhere, and members of the palace staff were trying to direct everyone to their rooms and get their luggage situation straightened out. Despite the people running around like an army of confused ants, the front hall was stunning. Like a winter wonderland. It had been impressive on my first visit, but now, decorated for the holidays and the wedding, it was just magical. There was greenery and red ribbons and gold accents everywhere I looked. Red and gold were the colors on his family’s crest, as well as the colors of the country’s flag, and with this royal wedding the royal family seemed determined to display those colors proudly.

“Follow me,” Rafe said. He took me up a staircase that had been blocked off because it led to his family’s personal suites.

“I had them put you in the guest room next to Lemon’s,” he said. It was the same room I had used when I first met his family during filming the show. When he opened the door to put down my luggage, his seven-year-old sister Serafina was lying on my bed.

“Genesis!” she said, bounding across the room to me. I picked her up and hugged her. She was the friendliest little girl I had ever met. I knew Lemon and Kat both adored her.

“What are you doing up here?” Rafe asked. “Shouldn’t you be downstairs helping
Mamma
with the guests?

“Prince Matteo is here.” She said it the same way someone else might say, “The Grim Reaper is here.”

“Who is Prince Matteo?” I mouthed the words to Rafe, but Serafina caught me.

“He is
un cretino, uno sciocco, uno scemo, proprio un idiota!”

I figured the lapse into vehement Italian wasn’t good. “Basically a punk?”

“
Si
. He is horrible,” she seethed. “I hate him.”

“His mother is best friends with our mother, so you should probably go down there and be nice,” Rafe said.

Serafina fell dramatically backward against my bed. “I can’t be nice to him!”

He took his phone out of his pocket. “Just pretend. And I’ll let you use my phone.”

She stood straight up, a diabolical gleam in her eye. “Maybe I can be nice.” She took the phone, tapping away as she went out into the hallway.

“Did you just bribe your little sister to get me alone?”

He put his arms around my waist, tugging me close. “I might have.”

I giggled as he pressed a kiss against my forehead.

“What’s all this? My poor innocent eyes!” Rafe’s twin brother, Dante, entered the room, hand in hand with Lemon. We pulled apart as the two brothers greeted each other. Lemon hugged me. “I’m so glad you were able to make it.”

“And it only cost Rafe seventeen thousand dollars.”

“You’ll have to tell me that story later,” Lemon said with a conspiratorial grin. “Kat would have come by, but as you can imagine she’s really busy.”

I totally got it. Given the horde downstairs, I didn’t know how they were planning on pulling this all off.

“You know, you’re ruining all of Mother’s plans. She had a line of women she planned on introducing you to, since you’re now her only son who’s not engaged.” Dante jumped and landed on the bed. This family really did just make themselves at home wherever they were.

“You can’t be serious,” Lemon retorted. “She has to know how Rafe feels . . .” Her words died as she looked between us. I hadn’t had a real conversation with her since she came to visit me. She didn’t know how things had changed, and she was being careful.

Dante got a wounded expression and put a hand over his heart. “I try not to be serious, but sometimes it just slips out!” Lemon laughed.

I couldn’t believe that I had ever thought Dante and Rafe were the same person. They were nearly polar opposites. Where Dante was all kinetic energy bundled up with constant flirting, Rafe was a mountain in a storm—sheltering, unmoving, reliable.

And they had chosen women who balanced them out. Lemon made Dante more responsible and serious, and he reminded her to slow down and enjoy life. Which was the opposite of Rafe and me. I helped him to be happy, and he made me feel safe and loved.

There was a knock at my door. A short, formal-looking man stood there, and he bowed slightly to me. “Signorina Genesis, I am Giacomo. I understand that you might need a dress for this evening and tomorrow’s festivities?”

That had to be Rafe’s doing. He knew I didn’t own anything fancy enough to attend a royal wedding.

“Whatever you need, ask Giacomo. He’s like a fairy godfather,” Lemon told me.

“Let’s go,” Dante said, as he stood up and grabbed Lemon’s hand. “I think there are some things I still want to show you in the castle.”

She grinned. “I know exactly the kind of thing you want to show me.”

“You wound me again with your insinuations!” he said. “You’re lucky I love you so much.”

He kissed her gently. It was an odd experience to see someone with Rafe’s face kissing someone else.

They told us they’d see us at the rehearsal dinner that evening. After they left, Rafe said, “I’m going to go see my parents while Giacomo helps you sort everything out.” He kissed my hand and said goodbye.

I felt a little uneasy at being left alone, but I remembered that Lemon had told me I was in good hands.

“Why don’t you show me what you brought with you, and then we’ll go downstairs and select whatever you’re lacking?” Giacomo pulled out a tablet, ready to go through my stuff. I was sure this very stylish man would find my clothes lacked a lot.

“What do you mean?” I asked. Did the palace have a store inside of it?

“There are several different Monterran designers who have come to the palace, and they have brought evening gowns, shoes, and accessories, in case a guest’s luggage was lost or someone had an accident with their dress. Or”—he leaned in as if sharing a great secret—“if they want to borrow something to upgrade their jewelry.”

I nodded, and the mention of jewelry made me remember the last time I was at the palace, when the show had sent me to meet Rafe’s family. He had taken me shopping in town among the little gingerbread shops, which were edged in white lattice. It was like walking into a fairy tale.

I had admired a diamond necklace in a jewelry store, and he was ready to go in and buy it for me. I told him not to, because it cost too much money. “But you would look beautiful with it on!”

I cringed, and he hadn’t missed it. “Why do you do that whenever I say you’re beautiful?”

Making sure we were far enough away, I turned off my mike pack and he did the same. “John-Paul always told me I was pretty. That’s why he wanted me. So for a long time I stayed away from anything that might make anyone think I was pretty and just focused on other stuff. When I got older I wanted to be thought of that way, but it was too late. I didn’t know how to do my hair or makeup, and it made me feel too stupid to ask. Then you stop believing it’s even possible and you think that no one will ever want you.”

I had turned my head away from him during my confession. He put his fingers on my chin, making me look at him. “I don’t think you’re pretty.”

That made little stabbing knives tear at my heart at his confirmation.

“You’re unbelievably beautiful. And I want you.”

Then he had kissed me in the middle of the city’s main square, not caring who saw or if the show filmed it, proving to me that his words were true.

It was one of my favorite memories with Rafe.

He thought I was unbelievably beautiful. I had to remember that. I smiled at Giacomo. “Let’s go grab something stunning.”

Giacomo did not disappoint. He found me a royal-blue cocktail dress for the rehearsal dinner and a beautiful full-length emerald gown for the wedding. He even sent up a makeup artist to get me ready for the dinner, which I did not have a problem with considering the kind of people who would be in the dining room. Actual royalty from all over the world. Heads of state.

Rafe.

He came and knocked on my door, looking amazing in a custom-tailored tuxedo. Seeing Rafe in a tux was a little like looking directly into the sun. Painfully, blindingly bright, and now I had little spots at the periphery of my vision.

“I’m trying to think of how to tell you just how beautiful you are,” he admitted. “I don’t think I know enough English for that.”

A million butterflies burst to life inside my stomach, making my whole body feel lighter. Like I could float away. I grinned at him.

He held out his hand. “It would be my great privilege to escort you down to dinner.”

“And it would be my great privilege to go with you.”

“Would you two just get a room already? We literally have hundreds of them,” Dante said as he breezed past us to knock on Lemon’s door.

“Ignore him,” Rafe whispered. “He’s just jealous that I look so much better in a tuxedo than he does.”

“I heard that! And you do not!”

I giggled as we went downstairs. Two servants pulled open the large double doors to the dining room. I had been in this room before, but it had seemed much smaller then. Now there were several long dining tables set up to accommodate all the guests who had been invited. I didn’t know how they had determined who made the cut and who didn’t, but I was dazzled by the elegant gowns and sparkling jewelry.

We were seated at the main table with Rafe’s family. His two other sisters, Chiara and Violetta, nodded to me as Rafe held out my chair. I smiled at them as I sat down and he helped me scoot the chair back in. He sat across from me. Lemon was seated next to me, with Dante next to Rafe. Everyone stood as Nico and Kat entered the room. They were a stunning couple, both tall and dark-haired. And they looked at each other with such love, such adoration, that I wanted to sigh. They sat in the center of the table, next to King Dominic and Queen Aria.