Sarah & Vittorio (Royals of Valleria #9)

by Marianne Knightly

  She stared at the bed for a few seconds, then around the room. She’d hoped some time alone here would have jogged her memory, but it hadn’t worked. Maybe she’d never fully remember last night.

  And maybe that would be for the best.

  “Yes, let’s leave. I’ll just follow up with my agents.”

  After her agents confirmed it was safe to leave, and that one would stay behind, they headed out. They didn’t see anyone but some castle staff as they left.

  The sky was a pale, pale blue, and the lands surrounding the castle were calm and serene. The air held the quiet of a morning after a loud, glittering night.

  It reminded her of the palace grounds in Valleria. Of home.

  The black town car looked starkly out of place in the serene setting, but it was necessary. It had been modified for security purposes and she’d brought it with her from Valleria. That was on Marcello’s orders since he was responsible for all their safety.

  An agent was holding the door open for them. Rio gestured for her to go first and she slipped inside the back. Rio followed.

  Once the car was underway, she turned to him. “Do you want to call your family first? Or shall I?”

  His eyes were fixed on the window, one finger rubbing the stubble above his lips. “Ladies first.”

  She usually didn’t care for stubble on a man, but on him it was enticing. She could just imagine that stubble abrading her cheeks and her neck as he kissed her, the way it’d feel against the flesh of her breasts as he laved her nipples, the scratchy foreplay of it against her thighs as his mouth sucked…Good God. Was she fantasizing? Or was she remembering last night?

  “Ma’am, we have a standard nondisclosure agreement available, if you need it.”

  She jumped lightly in her seat. Focus, Sarah! “What?”

  Adrienne’s body was twisted towards hers from the front seat. “A nondisclosure agreement. NDA. For Prince Baziano.”

  Right. Because she was about to speak to her family in front of him. He’d given his word, but it would be best if he signed it. She could already hear her brother Alex’s stern and unwavering voice in her head. Get him to sign it, Sarah. Don’t let an indiscretion put the family and monarchy at risk.

  Alex’s words were a tame version of what she’d hear from her father, but he was right.

  “Just give it to me.”

  She blinked and peered at Rio. “Pardon?”

  The papers seemed to appear by magic in his hands along with a pen.

  He was scowling. “I’ll sign the damn forms. I’m almost surprised you didn’t have me sign them last night.”

  Ouch. For some reason, that hurt more than anything else he’d said.

  Her back went rigid. She’d dealt with men like this before, men who became irritated when a woman’s needs—even in the form of an NDA—were put first. Yet why did his insults seem to affect her so much worse? “That was uncalled for.”

  He gave the documents a quick read and scrawled his name and date along the bottom. He handed them back to Adrienne. “Princess, if you’d had the chance last night, are you telling me you wouldn’t have asked me to sign them?”

  Damn it. He was right.

  Which meant she was wrong.

  She hated being wrong.

  She had to be man, er, woman enough to admit it. “Okay, okay. Now, I’m sorry. You’re…right.”

  His brows popped up in surprise. “What was that?”

  She gritted her teeth. “You heard me.”

  He crossed his arms and leaned back. “Say it again.”

  “You heard it already.”

  His hand snaked out to cup her jaw, surprising her. “Say it.”

  His voice was mesmerizing, his eyes so dark and deep. What was he saying?

  “Say it, bella.”

  “Say what?”

  A ridiculously sexy grin lit his face. Damn him! “You know what.”

  “Er, that is, you’re right.”

  His grin turned into a full smile.

  It was the first time he’d smiled that morning. If he’d turned that smile on her last night, no wonder she hadn’t been able to resist him.

  “Thank you, bella.”

  His thumb was stroking her cheek. His hand wasn’t calloused or rough, but smooth and warm. She had a sort of flash from last night…his hand on her thigh, then under her ass, his head going down between her legs…

  Focus, Sarah!

  “Er, sure.”

  He chuckled, and his hand slid away, his smile now cocky, as if he knew exactly what he did to her.

  Not fair! How dare he have such control over her body?

  Another flash. This one of him ordering her to keep her hands above her head or face the consequences…

  Shit!

  She squirmed in her seat and he chuckled again.

  Damn the man!

  “Thank you for signing the NDA. I’m calling my family now.”

  She ignored Rio and decided to start by calling Alex. He’d be the toughest conversation after her father. Since she wasn’t ready to speak to him, she’d start with Alex.

  The phone barely rang once before he picked up. “Why haven’t you been picking up your phone?”

  She sighed and sat back, crossing her legs as she prepared for the onslaught. In her best Alex impression, she said, “Why, hello, Sarah, how are you? As your big brother, I want to make sure you’re okay—”

  He grumbled but sounded contrite. “All right. All right. Holy hell. Do you have any idea what we’ve been going through?”

  She countered immediately. “Do you have any idea what I’ve been going through? No, because you’re reaming me out instead of listening to me.”

  “Sarah—”

  “Need I remind you, brother dear, future king of Valleria, eldest and oldest sibling of us all—”

  “Oh, Christ.”

  “—that I had things to take care of this morning, so I wasn’t able to call until now.”

  “Is your latest boy toy gone then?”

  She glanced at Rio through the side of her eye, then forward again. “He is not…that.”

  “Your latest one-night stand then?”

  “Stop. Stop it right now. You know nothing about him.”

  He countered immediately. “I likely know more than you. You know we started running a search on him as soon as the agents confirmed who he was.”

  “Have you finished it?”

  “We have some preliminary findings, but Marcello’s working on the rest.” He sighed. “Why do you make us go through this every time?”

  Anger boiled within her until it was sharp and spitting. “How. Dare. You? I am your sister, damn it. You do not say things like that to me. You do not treat me like that.”

  It wasn’t just the anger swirling inside her; it was the shame he’d made her feel. She had no damn reason to be ashamed. So she had sex? So what? She may be a princess, but she was a woman, too, with needs and feelings like anybody else.

  Her brother, her entire family, had no right to shame her, or to be ashamed of her. “If I wasn’t in a car full of people right now, Alexander Robert Louis Santoro, I would really give you a piece of my goddamn mind.”

  Alex was silent for a moment. “Was a full name really necessary?”

  Arrrgh. Brothers. Who needed them? “Yes, it was goddamn necessary, you ass. If you can’t see how much your words just hurt me, then we need to have a very serious conversation.”

  Now he sounded genuinely stricken. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say anything hurtful. Honestly, Sarah. I just—I’m worried about you, that’s all.”

  “Then say that. That is a nice thing to say.”

  “Look, I’m sorry. Truly. Can we go back and focus on the matter at hand?”

  She’d still have a serious conversation with him, but she could let it go. For now, anyway. “All right. I will accept your apology probationally until we speak in person about this in the future.”

  Rio snickered, and she t
urned to glare at him. He was busy on his phone, so she couldn’t be sure he snickered at her, but there was a good chance of it.

  Alex sighed. “Probationally? All right. We’ll talk more. You’re headed back to Rome now, I believe, with the prince.”

  The agents would have sent that news already; she wasn’t surprised he knew. “Yes.”

  “We saw the pictures hit this morning.”

  “They were harmless.”

  “Camera phones are everywhere. You know we’re expecting other photos to surface. Will they be as innocuous?”

  She tamped down her anger. She may not remember much of last night, but she believed Rio hadn’t taken any photos of them in bed. Unless someone broke into their room and recorded them without their knowledge, they were relatively clear. “Of course. There is only a chance of photos of us dancing—”

  “—and kissing,” Rio piped in.

  “—and kissing,” she added, then turned to Rio for verification. “But nothing more compromising than a kiss?”

  Rio shook his head. “Not that I recall.”

  Alex chimed in. “You know a kiss, even an innocuous one, could be damning.” He paused. “We had a call from the Italian prime minister this morning.”

  Shit. The trade deal. “And?”

  “He wasn’t happy.”

  “He’s rarely happy. I never saw him smile unless he was looking at my chest.”

  “I’m your brother. I don’t need to know these things.”

  “Fact of life, brother dear. Get over it.”

  “In any case, though he’s signed the deal, he knows we haven’t and is pushing us to reconsider. You know how traditional he is. Even the pictures circling now have him nervous. He’s likely heard of your reputation—”

  Oh, she hated that word. Reputation. Whenever someone mentioned a woman’s reputation, it was always in derogatory tones. Men’s reputations on the other hand…

  Well, she wasn’t going to put up with this. “One more word like that, and we’ll be having two serious conversations. With Rebecca to mediate. Don’t you think your wife would like to hear what you have to say about my reputation?”

  He spoke almost instantly. “There’s no need for that.”

  Alex’s fear of his wife was something they all used against him, because though Rebecca was one of the sweetest, kindest women Sarah had ever known, she didn’t let Alex get away with anything. “Then watch your tone. Now, what else was the prime minister saying?”

  “That was basically it, besides some insinuations about you. If you two were a couple, maybe we could pass it off and placate him. This is the first trade agreement we’re signing with Italy in thirty years, and—”

  “You don’t need to tell me how important this is. I know it.” It was especially important that she’d done this well, as the last trade deal had been negotiated by her father. It was safe to say her father was protective of this deal.

  “I worked hard on this deal. Months of negotiating and hammering out the tiniest of details. Papa couldn’t have done any better. You, or Nate, or anybody couldn’t have done any better.” Her brother Nate was Valleria’s Minister of Finance and Treasury. He usually managed trade deals, but Sarah had fought for the right to handle this one.

  She’d won and, over the months that followed, she’d worked hard to prove that decision hadn’t been a mistake.

  Now, after one night, it could all fall apart.

  “Sarah, you did a great job on it. No one is doubting that. You know Papa went over it with a fine-toothed comb and couldn’t find fault with it.”

  “We could still sign it. Just because the prime minister’s reneging now, doesn’t mean his signature’s not valid.”

  “I know it, but that’s not the play we want to make. These are turbulent times for Europe and we need to show a united front, particularly with our neighbors and allies, of which Italy is both. Not to mention, we need a win on this for our own sakes. The Council is putting pressure on Papa. You know they love to use whatever ammunition they can get about our family to try to fuck us over.”

  Boy, did she ever. While most of the Royal Council members were fine—her brothers, after all, were ministers on the Council—there were some with anti-monarchist leanings who wanted her entire family to disappear, permanently. They’d been trying to get her removed as ambassador almost since she’d taken over the post. “Italy’s signed it. They can’t use this against me.”

  “You know that’s not how it works.”

  “I know I’m damn good at my job and no one’s firing me over this.”

  “Papa won’t have to fire you. You’ll probably have to resign. Face it. This situation is out of your control now.”

  She fisted her hand in frustration. Why should she lose her job over this? Just because the Italian prime minister was fussy about morals? He was only pushing this now because his predecessor was the polar opposite and had gotten embroiled in a sex scandal, forcing a resignation.

  She had to do something, anything, to stay in control of the situation.

  Suddenly, something Alex said clicked in her head.

  If you two were a couple, maybe we could pass it off and placate him.

  Maybe…maybe…

  Her eyes shot to Rio. His long fingers were busy typing away on his phone at a steady pace.

  Maybe.

  Yes, definitely maybe.

  If she could convince Rio, then maybe the deal and her job could be saved.

  She focused back on the call. “I wouldn’t count me out yet. I’ve got an idea. Let me work on it and I’ll call back later.”

  She tapped her phone off without waiting for a reply; rude, she knew, but time was of the essence. She angled her body towards Rio and gave him her idea.

  “How would you like to date me for a while?”

  * * *

  Rio’s thumbs paused in the midst of typing a message. “Pardon?”

  “You. Me. We’ll date. I think a month should do it.”

  His hands dropped to his lap, the unfinished message still lit on the screen. “You want to date. For exactly one month.”

  She tapped a finger on her lips—her full, pouty, pink lips—while she considered something. “Well, it doesn’t have to be exact. I think we can fake it for a month-ish. That should give me enough time.”

  Fake it.

  She didn’t want a real relationship with him. It wasn’t surprising, but a part of him was hurt.

  She wanted a fake relationship. With him. For a month. Ish.

  “What will that give you enough time to do?”

  She explained the pending trade agreement and the issue with the Italian prime minister. “So, you see? We put ourselves forward as a couple. We can say that we weren’t planning to announce our relationship yet. However, since it was discovered, we can just say we’re happy.”

  Happy. “Hmmm.”

  “So, you see, it’s a win-win.”

  “One moment, Princess.” Needing time to think, he took a few moments to finish up his message and sent it off. The reply came just as he was tucking his phone away, but he didn’t answer it.

  “What exactly would I get out of this situation?”

  “Me, of course. We’d have to go out and be seen—here and Valleria—so we’d need to spend time together. We can decide who breaks up with whom, unless we just send out a blanket statement that says we parted ways by mutual decision, but we’ll have a month together.”

  He glanced at the two agents in front, deftly assuming the role of agents-pretending-not-to-hear, then back to her. “So, you want to act like a couple for one month to serve your interests, and in return, I’ll have the opportunity to fuck you from time to time. Is that the gist of it?”

  She shook her head quickly. “That’s not what I meant.”

  “Good. Because for a moment there, you made me sound like a whore for hire.”

  She looked aghast. “Oh my God. I didn’t mean that at all.”

  “I have a life
, Princess. It may not be as glitzy or glamorous as yours, but it does have value and it is not something I can just leave for a month or a month-ish. I have work and responsibilities.”

  “Of course. You wouldn’t be giving up your life for the whole month, but I would need some part of it.”

  At that moment, he had a hard time believing she’d negotiated a sensitive trade deal. She was doing a terrible job of selling him on this scheme. “Did you stop to consider the public’s response once they assume we’re a couple? And the invasiveness of certain members of the press? They’ll dig up things that may not be useful to your end goal.”

  God, if they uncovered the truth about his family, about his past, there would be disastrous consequences. For both of them.

  “I, I hadn’t thought it all through, but—”

  “But nothing. There’s no chance this works.”

  “There is! We just need to plan. We can map it all out—all the events and appearances we’ll need to attend—so that it works for both of us and our schedules. As for digging things up…they’re probably going to do that anyway since our pictures have surfaced. We might as well try to use this situation to further both of our interests.”

  “How will this further my interests?”

  “The ball last night. You said that was your event, right? You fundraise for them?”

  “It’s my charity, actually. The Angel Foundation.”

  “Oh! I’ve heard of it, but I didn’t realize that was yours. Well, when I said you’d get me out of the deal, I meant my connections. I’ve got them everywhere, even in Italy. I can connect you with some high-level donors. Those could be some of our joint events: dinners with them or going to parties where they may be.”

  Any foundation was always looking for donors, but he wasn’t sure the scrutiny he might receive would outweigh those benefits.

  Then again, she was probably right. The press had probably already started looking into him, so maybe he should just reap what benefits he could.

  He thought of why he started the Angel Foundation, which made him think of Angela. She’d been the only true mother he’d had, never mind that she hadn’t given birth to him. What would Angela do?

  She’d tell him to protect himself as best he could, but to go along with it. If something good could come out of it, she’d think it was worth it.