Читать книгу Royal Baby Collection - Lynn Raye Harris - Страница 12
ОглавлениеTHE ROYAL PALACE of Isole dei Re impressed Kiki, but it was the royal family, gathered en masse in their private reception room, that intimidated her.
There were a lot more of them than in her family, and not one person looked particularly welcoming. The prevailing emotion didn’t seem to be anger so much as utter shock. Apparently Mich was the responsible one, the guy everyone counted on to do the right thing.
He hadn’t left her side though, not even to greet his parents, making it clear where his loyalty lay.
Her own parents and their top two security men flanked them.
King Claudio looked a lot like his son, except for the gray at his temples and the chill in his dark eyes as they took Kiki in.
“So, you are the woman who has convinced my son to disregard his training and obligation to marry you in some elopement.” He made their beach wedding sound so sordid.
“She is the woman I love,” Mich replied, ungiving steel in his tone.
Whoa. That was not a voice she’d want directed at her.
“You love her so much, you did not think enough of her to introduce us?” the queen asked, sounding more upset and confused than angry, her lovely Italian features wreathed with concern.
Mich’s arms tightened around Kiki as if he was worried she’d take his mother’s words as truth. “I had every intention of introducing you when the time came.”
If anything, King Claudio’s expression grew darker. “The time would have been before you asked her to marry you.”
“Because you think you should have a say in who I marry?” Mich demanded, sounding every inch the prince she now knew he was.
“Your wife has an important role to play in this country. An inappropriate match could do damage to our political and economic standing.”
Kiki almost snorted. She didn’t think Mich marrying the daughter of Miguel Menendez was such a hardship for Isole dei Re. Her father’s voice said almost those exact words in a frigid tone she’d heard very rarely in her life.
The king looked nonplussed for a moment, though nowhere near cowed.
Queen Therese interjected calmly, “The point is, we were not given the opportunity to know her before the deed was done.”
“The deed can be undone easily enough.” The king glared at both Kiki and Mich. “But not without scandal.”
“No one is undoing my marriage,” Kiki said with deadly calm.
King Claudio shook his head. “You did not marry merely a man, young lady. You married a future monarch.”
“She married me,” Mich argued. “If Kiki is deemed unsuited for the role of queen, or if she ultimately refuses the role, I will abdicate in favor of Adamo.”
Mich should have sounded overwrought to say something like that, but he didn’t. He sounded absolutely sure of himself.
The entire room erupted into arguments and exclamations, but Kiki didn’t care how anyone else was taking that announcement.
She turned and looked up at the man who had married her and claimed their child without hesitation. “You would do that for me?”
“Sì. T’amu. I love you. That means your happiness is paramount.”
“Are you sure you are not using my daughter to justify abdicating responsibilities you do not want yourself?” her dad demanded.
Kiki wanted to kick him. Her mother’s furious admonishment was even better. Especially when she stepped away from her husband and moved to Mich’s other side.
The look on her dad’s face was worth admission. The expression on the king’s, not so much.
“You will apologize, Miguel,” Kiki’s mom demanded.
“It is a legitimate question,” the king said before her dad could decide whether to risk defying the love of his life.
Kiki giggled. Maybe it was hysterical laugher, but really? The whole situation was taking on farcical proportions. If it were not for the pained expression on her love’s face, she would have burst into real laughter.
“Invece?” Mich asked.
Unexpected exhaustion washed over her, but she grinned up at him tiredly. “Our dads are like two peas in a pod. It’s almost scary. Bet you want to kick yours, too.”
He didn’t share her amusement, his own expression turning concerned. “You look pale, Kiki. Are you all right?”
“Maybe a little tired.” She leaned heavily into him, suddenly not so steady on her feet.
“Take Kiki someplace where she can rest,” her mom instructed Mich.
“We are not finished with this discussion,” the king said.
“Can you not see the girl needs a break?” Mich’s grandfather admonished.
Mich had told her on the plane that the former king had abdicated in favor of his eldest son for the sake of his health several years ago.
“What do you call an ex-king?” Kiki wondered aloud, things going a little sparkly at the edges.
“Micheli!” Queen Therese barked at Kiki’s husband, sounding very different than the calm woman she’d been only moments before. “Now.”
“Excuse me—” King Claudio started, only to be interrupted by Amber Menendez.
“Excuse me, Your Highness, but my daughter is carrying your first grandchild, and she has had a very stressful few days between graduating university, telling the father of her baby about their coming joy and flying off to marry him on a Caribbean beach, and then being summarily summoned to a palace she didn’t even know was in her future this morning. You will save the rest of your questions, harangue and attitude for later.”
Oh, man, her mom could do icy disdain with the best of them.
Even her dad knew to back down when Mom got this angry. Apparently the King of Isole dei Re wasn’t a complete idiot either, because he kept his mouth shut.
Mich showed he knew when to take an order too, lifting Kiki into his arms and carrying her from the room.
His mother and Amber Menendez followed them, giving advice, expressing concern and watching over them all the way down the long corridors, up marble steps and down another plush hallway until Mich stopped outside a set of double doors.
The queen gracefully moved around him to open both doors into what turned out to be a luxurious suite done in masculine tones. Mich carried Kiki inside, crossing the outer room without pausing and going directly into the bedroom, where he laid her down after her mother pulled back the bedding.
Mich tucked Kiki in and then poured her a glass of water from the carafe by the bed. “Drink this, invece.”
Still feeling ridiculously light-headed, she didn’t argue and took several sips before resting against the pillows. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
“Stress. It can be debilitating in early pregnancy,” the queen said softly.
“Mama, you have to talk to him. I don’t care if he wants to yell at me, but he’ll treat Kiki with tender care, or I’ll take her away.”
Queen Therese nodded. “I will speak with him, but I’m confident Signora Menendez’s announcement will have already gone a long way toward bringing your father back from his anger and his confusion. He is only hurt, you understand? That you did not introduce us to the woman you love. He thinks you are ashamed of us.”
Mich snorted in disbelief. “Father is too arrogant to believe that.”
“You forget his love for his family is greater than even his arrogance.”
“He changed when he became king.”
“It was inevitable, but underneath he is the same man who taught you to swim, who took time from a schedule most would not to be a dad to his children as well as their royal father.”
Mich sighed and Kiki reached out to take his hand. “Be nice, he loves you.”
He stared down at her. “How can you say that?”
“Because he’s so much like my dad.”
“Your dad is a billionaire, not a king.”
“Same thing.” She winked up at Mich.
He shook his head. “You’re going to be trouble, Kiki Scorsolini.”
“You are just figuring this out?”
* * *
The following days were filled with frantic activity. A diplomatic reception that had been in the works for over six months was suddenly the venue by which the marriage would be announced. There was no more talk of Kiki’s suitability or ending her marriage before it had really begun.
It had been decided that the pregnancy would not be announced until Kiki had reached her second trimester. It was not an uncommon practice, so would hopefully minimize speculation on the reason for Kiki and Mich’s elopement.
King Claudio hadn’t warmed up exactly, but he’d stopped glaring at her like Public Enemy Number One. So, she took that as a win.
Kiki wasn’t worried. The man would come around. He just had to do it in his own time. Her own dad wasn’t exactly all sunshine and approval with Mich, though he was showing a bit more tolerance each day for the man who had dared to marry his daughter.
A lot more worrying was Giannetta Bellini, the daughter of one of Isole dei Re’s top diplomats. And apparently a very good friend of the family.
Also the woman who had expected to marry Principe Vittoro Micheli Scorsolini, if Kiki didn’t miss her guess.
The woman had already been helping Therese plan the reception and had managed to insert herself in the middle of its transformation to formal wedding announcement and reception. She’d dropped several oblique comments that implied she thought the wedding announcement premature, going so far as to suggest they keep the elopement under wraps completely until a traditional wedding could be planned.
Yeah, that was going to work. Events like that in their world? Took a minimum of a year to pull together; Kiki’s mom would have preferred two, she was sure. She dreaded her five-year anniversary. She just knew Amber Menendez was going to use it as an excuse to do a formal wedding with a renewal of vows.
Queen Therese had finally told Giannetta about Kiki’s pregnancy, no doubt to shut down the suggestions, and because the woman was such a trusted friend of the family.
Therese hadn’t seen the fury on the younger woman’s face when she heard the news. Kiki had, though. She’d told Mich about it, and he’d just laughed, telling her that she, Kiki, was the woman he’d married. If his own father didn’t get a vote, friends definitely didn’t.
* * *
Kiki wore a strapless vintage Alexander McQueen gown her mother had convinced the design house to pull out of their vault to the reception. Her finery didn’t stop there by any means, though. She wore a choker and ornate earrings set in platinum with stones to match her wedding rings, a bridal gift from her parents. The complementary ruby-and-diamond tiara, placed carefully amid her gold and brown curls swept up in an elegant pile, had been a gift from the king and queen.
“You look like a princess, even if you never expected to be one,” Mich said, his gaze hot with admiration.
She smiled up at him as they waited in the formal reception line for the first guests to be allowed into the cavernous ballroom. “Thank you. I like the prince togs, too. Who knew epaulets could be so sexy?”
He laughed, looking amazing in the formal suit of Isole dei Re royalty, identical to his father’s but for the subtle difference that proclaimed him prince and heir rather than king.
They had been greeting guests as they arrived for two hours when a tall man, who could give her husband a run for his money in the whole “too gorgeous for words” category, arrived.
Only this guy’s eyes? Were cold like January in upstate New York.
“Prince Vittoro, may I extend our most sincere congratulations on behalf of Volyarus and my family?” Hottie McHotterson said.
Mich introduced her, revealing the man was the Prince of Volyarus. Goose bumps chased up her arm when the imposing man bent over her hand.
The Volyarussian prince moved on and Kiki fanned herself. “Wow. Who was that guy?”
“I introduced you,” Mich said with some asperity.
“Yes, but he’s kind of intense, isn’t he?”
“He’s the perfect prince. My father only wishes I was as dutiful and committed to my country’s welfare.”
She didn’t like the sound of that. They never had dealt with the accusation the king had made in that first volatile meeting after the wedding.
“So, you were just in Palermo on vacation?” she asked after greeting another guest.
“No. I was on business, I told you.”
“For Isole dei Re.”
“We run many interests to support our island country’s economy.”
“Uh-huh. You took a long break after university before diving into the country’s business though, right? Traveled the world. Dated beautiful women. Played with the other young royals of the world.”
He did another introduction and then laughed drily. “Not a chance. I took over my current position a week after getting my MBA from Harvard.”
“I’d say you’re pretty darn dutiful and committed to the best interests of your country then.”
Mich didn’t reply, but he was smiling when she looked at him.
