Ravishing Royals Box Set: Books 1 - 5

by Holly Rayner

  “Two years ago when I found you, you were drunk on a boat, ignoring every single one of your father’s calls. I had to put out a hundred fires with the press as you drank and caused destruction, all the while knowing that you would face no consequences because I ensured that you did not. Well, that’s not entirely true. There was that one time I let you spend a week in jail, hoping you would learn some kind of lesson…”

  His words pierced right through Matteo, and he realized then that the man was right. Two years ago he had been in no position to be king, and instead, had been forced to grow up when the time came. Five years ago, he was certainly an adult by age, but not by maturity. What would he have done with David, if given the chance?

  He would never know.

  “The point is,” Silvio said after Matteo continued to stand in silence, absorbing some harsh truths about himself. “Our actions may have seemed cruel as far as you are concerned, but we were trying to protect you both in the best way we could. The media maelstrom would have been catastrophic, and in the end the boy would likely only be cast out, never accepted by the people and never able to inherit the throne.”

  “That was still my choice to make,” Matteo said. “Not yours.”

  “And what would you have done?” Silvio countered. “Truly, I am curious. Would you have given up your wild lifestyle in favor of changing diapers and waking up at night with a baby?”

  Matteo gritted his teeth, knowing just as Silvio did that it was a pretty farfetched idea.

  Or was it? Thinking about having David as a baby warmed his heart to the core. Perhaps David could have been the one to calm him down. He could have settled and prepared for leadership long before his father died, and perhaps been better prepared.

  “We can conjecture how I would have behaved all we want. Because of your choice, we will never know how our future could have been shaped,” Matteo said.

  Silvio approached him with an air of caution, stopping with a few feet still between them.

  “You truly care for the boy, don’t you?”

  Matteo stared at the man, exasperated.

  “Of course I do. Has that not been clear enough?”

  Silvio nodded.

  “Yes, it is clear that you care for the boy, of course. But do you care enough for him to spare him unhappiness, even at the cost of your own?”

  “What are you talking about, Silvio?” Matteo demanded.

  “Do you remember when I found you two years ago on that boat?”

  Matteo could get whiplash from the change of subject. He thought back to that day—the day his father died. He’d been in a cloud of grief the entire time, focused on getting home and righting the wrongs that had been so prevalent between him and his father.

  He didn’t want David to ever feel that way about him, if he could help it.

  “I remember every detail,” Matteo said, and it was true. Even from the cloud he remembered strange things, like what he ate on the plane ride to Golina—a few crackers to settle his stomach, and nothing else—to what he was wearing, and everything in between.

  “Then you remember the young woman you were speaking to the evening before, when your photograph was taken,” Silvio said.

  Surprisingly, Matteo did remember. The woman was engaged to be married, and she’d been worried that being photographed on a yacht with him and his wild German friend might make her fiancé upset.

  “I do,” he confirmed.

  Silvio nodded.

  “Then you know what happened to her,” he said.

  Matteo blinked. Was he supposed to remember every person he’d spent time with, and what happened to them after he encountered them? If he did, he was far, far behind.

  “I can tell from your expression that you do not, and I will now confess that is also my doing.”

  Matteo’s eyebrows lowered as he processed Silvio’s words.

  “What do you mean by that? What else are you keeping from me?”

  “Nothing that you couldn’t have found out on your own, I imagine. In the days following your father’s death, you were clearly plagued by grief and overwhelmed as you took on all of his duties. I was ensuring that no other scandals would arise to make things worse when I came upon the young woman’s story.”

  Silvio pulled out a phone and tapped the screen a few times, then passed the glowing object to Matteo. He took it and looked down to read the headline.

  “Woman loses marriage over scandalous photo with newly crowned King Matteo.”

  The image was just as he’d imagined it, with him bare-chested and frowning in the yacht, the woman appearing unusually close to him because of the angle of the camera.

  “He broke up with her because of it?” Matteo said.

  He handed the phone back to Silvio, who nodded.

  “The press is very powerful, the paparazzi even more so. Bad public opinion is toxic to anyone on or near the throne, and this woman was just a bystander on the same boat as you. What do you think will happen to your son, once they learn who he is?”

  Matteo stood in silence, his hand gripping the back of a chair as he stared at the ground and considered Silvio’s words.

  Was he right?

  Silvio stepped forward, but once again maintained his distance.

  “Consider who you are trying to help here, Matteo. Is David here because it is what’s best for him, or is he here to assuage your guilt and make you feel better about losing him in the first place?”

  “Why do you speak this way to me?” Matteo said. He swallowed and listened as Silvio turned and headed toward the door, clearly wise enough to give him some much-needed space.

  “It is my job to advise, sir. And I will do it, whether you like what I have to say or not, until you find someone to replace me. I will say, though, that having someone that won’t always just tell you what you want to hear can be an asset. At least, your father believed it to be so. Now that you have been kind enough to hear my points, I will leave you, unless you need anything else, sir?”

  Ever diligent, wasn’t he?

  “I think you’ve said enough for one evening. Good night, Silvio,” Matteo said, not looking up.

  Silvio said nothing, though Matteo imagined he likely nodded or did some other kind of gesture of respect before leaving the desolate king alone to brood in his council chambers.

  That woman—Matteo couldn’t even remember her name—had her life ruined because of Matteo. He thought about those other illegitimate sons, innocent boys that were cast out simply because of the circumstances of their birth.

  Matteo could see David caught in the webs of lies and deceit, used as fodder for a gleeful press as they destroyed his young life in exchange for words to fill their pages. Matteo knew the gilded cage he lived in could be suffocating. One never knew who to trust, and lies sold for gossip were leaked to line the pockets of anyone willing to deceive the prince.

  Was that an acceptable life for David? Was it really better to simply send the boy back to the only home he’d ever known, if it meant knowing he’d have a good, comfortable life with Ashley? Of course that meant losing the two people in his life he’d come to truly love…but what did that love entail?

  Perhaps Matteo would have to make his first truly difficult decision as king. Perhaps he would have to let the loves of his life go, for their own good.

  In that moment, Matteo’s heart shattered.

  Chapter 21

  Ashley

  Ashley wasn’t sure if it was the sunlight pouring in through the tall veranda windows or the crick in her neck from falling asleep on a sofa chair that woke her up first. She cracked open one eyelid and carefully lifted her head, rubbing at her sore neck to loosen the tight muscles. Across from her on a couch, Matteo was also asleep, and she took a quiet moment to steal a good and solid look at him.

  He was sitting up, his cheek resting on his fist, his eyes closed. His mouth was slightly parted as he breathed gently in his sleep, his black lashes kissing his cheeks, which were coated
with a light stubble.

  In other words, he was perfect in every possible way.

  Ashly thought about the long night they had just endured, with her stepping in to check on David every hour or so. When Matteo returned from his meeting with Silvio, he was quiet and a little distant, but his concern for David had him sticking out the night in the living room with her. Together they waited out the worry and stress until both of them succumbed to sleep.

  “Mom,” she heard David say.

  She was up like a bolt and in his room in a blink, happy to find him sitting up in bed.

  “I’m thirsty,” he said.

  “That’s good,” she said, relief pouring through her. She sat at his bedside and poured a glass of water from a nearby pitcher, then handed it to him as she ran her hand along his head.

  Perfectly cool. The fever was broken.

  David gulped down the entire glass, then asked for another. Ashley poured it and handed it to him, watching to see if there were any more signs of illness.

  “You gave us a little scare there, honey,” she said.

  “Being sick is the worst,” he said.

  Ashley nodded and rested her hand on the bed as she leaned closer to him.

  “I agree. It’s totally the worst.”

  “Is Matteo here?” he asked.

  Ashley was surprised by the question, but she nodded.

  “Of course. He was worried about you, too.”

  “You can tell him I’m okay now. We can go to the beach today.”

  Ashley grinned.

  “You had beach plans?”

  “Yeah, and I don’t want them canceled just because I don’t feel good,” he said.

  “Well, we’ll see what we can do. I want you resting as much as your body will allow today. Just because the fever’s gone doesn’t mean you’re at a hundred percent.”

  “Beach, beach, beach!” David chanted.

  “Oh, all right, you,” Ashley said, tickling his belly as they laughed together. A gentle knock sounded at the door, and Ashley was pleased to see that a maid with a silver tray laden with food had arrived.

  “We thought the young man might be hungry,” the woman said.

  Ashley smiled at her.

  “Yes, I think he might be. Thank you so much.”

  The maid nodded and rolled the cart over to them. Ashley could tell the palace staff was taken with David and had some moms employed. The cart had bananas, applesauce, toast, soda crackers, and chicken soup—all good choices for getting David back on his feet.

  “Does Matteo want some?” David asked.

  “I’ll go see,” Ashley said. “Eat up.”

  She left him with a full plate and a glass of ginger ale and headed back out into the living room, where she saw Matteo reading a morning paper. Ashley sat across from him, and he set the paper down. Small half-moon bruises had blossomed beneath his eyes, giving him a tired expression. She imagined it looked much like her own.

  “How’s our boy?” he asked.

  “Almost good as new,” she reported. “Fever’s broken and he has his usual horse-like appetite back. We’ve just had breakfast brought in, and he wanted you to join us.”

  Matteo frowned, and then shook his head.

  “No. I don’t think I will.”

  Ashley’s brow furrowed in confusion.

  “Why? Do you have something you need to do?”

  He hesitated, then stood and turned to face the beautiful landscape that stretched beyond the horizon just outside her room.

  “Silvio and I had a very meaningful talk last night,” he said.

  Ah, here it was. The reason he’d been so quiet the night before. Ashley waited for him to continue.

  “Yes?” she prompted.

  He turned, and this time there was sadness in his eyes. Her heart instantly ached. She never wanted Matteo to feel pain, ever. Whatever it was, maybe she could make it right?

  Yeah, right. Who was Ashley, anyway, but a regular person from Virginia? She wasn’t one to resolve dire matters of state, but maybe there was something she could do. She hoped so.

  “I still resent Silvio for the part he played in keeping David from me, and I’m not sure that deep down I will ever forgive him for what he did,” Matteo said. He sighed and took a step closer. “But there was truth in his words. A truth that I can’t deny.”

  “What truth?” Ashley asked.

  “The truth of what it means to be a member of this family, and the price that comes with it. David wouldn’t have had to pay that price if he’d been born into it the right way, but this country has a torrid history of mistreating children born out of wedlock, who don’t fit the prescribed mold.”

  “What history?” Ashley asked. She stood then to meet him at eye level and waited for his response.

  “I won’t get into the details here, but…announcing David as my son could put him as risk, Ashley. It would throw him into a spotlight that he may come to resent, when he could have had a normal life.”

  “But he wasn’t born to have a normal life,” Ashley said.

  She’d surprised him, she knew. The more time she’d spent in Golina, the harder it was to imagine ever leaving the place. Now Matteo was considering an exit from their lives, for David’s benefit, and Ashley couldn’t stomach the thought. She knew David would be crushed if he heard, and she glanced back to check if the boy might be listening. There was no sound from that direction.

  “Yes, he was,” Matteo countered. “And who am I to take that from him, because I want to be his father? It’s selfish and unfair of me. I’ve come to terms with the fact that as a king I may not always get the chance to follow my heart’s desire, that I must make sacrifices. Silvio has shown me that complicating the lives of the two people I care for most is unwise and unfair, and I must learn to think beyond myself. I must consider David’s happiness first.”

  Ashley’s mind was buzzing as he spoke, for several reasons. First, he wanted to put his son’s welfare above his own, which he didn’t realize already made him an exceptional father. Second, did he just say…

  “Two people you care about most?” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

  When she looked up at him, she almost wished she could swallow back the words. Did she really just ask if he cared for her out loud like that? As she swam in the depths of his sea-green eyes, she took a step forward and decided to be brave.

  He was already talking about sending them away for their own good, so really, what did she have to lose?

  “Did you really mean that? About…both of us?” she asked, her heart in her throat. She could hardly breathe as he took a step closer, close enough that she could feel the heat from his body beckoning her to close the distance even more.

  He reached out and rested his hands on her arms.

  “Yes, that is what I meant. Ashley, I know we haven’t known each other long, and I know that this complicates things even more, which is the last thing I want to do for you, but the truth is…” He inhaled, closed his eyes, then opened them. They glistened, as though he were holding back some very strong emotions.

  The sight of it instantly brought tears to Ashley’s eyes.

  “The truth is,” he said, “I love you. I’ve loved you almost from the moment I first met you, but I didn’t understand the feelings I was having. Then with David added to the mix, I knew that my feelings had to be put second. If I’m completely honest, and I would like to be, like you are with David, I would want nothing more than to have the two of you with me always, as my family.”

  Ashley couldn’t hold back anymore. She’d dreamed of hearing those words from his lips for what felt like an eternity. She rushed into his arms, and he wrapped her in his embrace. He was warm and strong and gentle and everything Ashley could have ever wanted in a man.

  “Oh, Matteo,” she said against his chest, tears melting in the fabric of his shirt. “It doesn’t have to be complicated. It doesn’t.”

  She leaned back as he wrapped his arms a
round her waist.

  “I spent a long time searching for a man that wanted a family with me, and I could never find someone who was the perfect fit for us,” she said, blinking back tears. He gently brushed her damp cheeks, cradling her face between his palms.

  “But then you came along and changed everything. You are all we could ever want. You’re all I’ve ever wanted. Don’t you see? So long as David has the both of us to love him and look out for him, nothing else matters. We can take on the press, the people, all of it, as a family, and our happiness will drown all of that out.”

  His fingers stroked her temples as he took in her words.

  “Are you saying you would like to stay in Golina with me?” he asked.

  Her heart was in her eyes as she gazed up at him.

  “Of course I do. I love you, Matteo. I know we’re strong enough to take on the world together. Don’t you?”

  His eyes searched her gaze before he dipped his head and captured her lips in a passionate kiss.

  Ashley had daydreamed about what Matteo’s kiss would feel like, of course, but she had no idea how her entire body could respond in one instant to the touch of his lips on hers. Fireworks erupted in her brain, butterflies released in droves from her belly, and her skin grew hot as she ached for his touch. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back with everything she had.

  “Mom! Are you coming back?” David called.

  Matteo ended the kiss, then, gently pulling back but keeping her in his arms.

  “It’s time to tell him,” she said.

  The passion in Matteo’s eyes cooled as nerves took their place.

  “Are you sure? What if he’s unhappy with the news?”

  Ashley stepped away, ever reluctantly, and took his hand in hers.

  “Have faith, Matteo. All will work out as it is supposed to.”

  He hesitated, then nodded and followed behind her as they entered David’s room.

  “Matteo! Do you want something to eat? Also, can we go to the beach later?”

  Matteo and Ashley sat on either side of David’s bed. The child glanced from one adult to the next, sensing something was off.