by Kate Hewitt
The only solution:
A royal wedding of convenience!
To save his kingdom, intensely private Prince Mateo Karavitis must take the throne—and a bride! But he can’t trust just anyone with the role. And he certainly can’t trust emotions to drive this all-important decision. Luckily, he has an ideal candidate in mind...
Rachel Lewis is completely thrown by Mateo’s proposal. She’s known him for years and has secretly yearned for him every single second. It’s an irresistible offer...but can she really share his palace—and his royal bed—without getting hurt?
USA TODAY bestselling author
“I want you to marry me,” Mateo said again. “But let me explain.”
“O...kay.”
“I’m not who you think I am.”
Now this was really beginning to seem melodramatic. Rachel had a sudden urge to laugh. “Okay,” she said. “Who are you?”
“My full name and title? Prince Mateo Aegeus Karavitis, heir to the throne of the island kingdom of Kallyria.”
Rachel stared at him dumbly. He had to be joking. Mateo had liked to play a practical joke or two back in the lab. Was that what he was doing here? Was he making fun of her? Her cheeks stung with mortification at the thought, and her heart felt as if it were shriveling inside her. Please, no...
“I’m sorry,” she said stiffly. “I don’t get it.”
Mateo frowned, the dark slashes of his brows drawing together. Why did he have to be so handsome? Rachel wondered irritably. It didn’t make this any easier or less painful. “Get it?”
“The punch line,” she said flatly.
“There’s no punch line, Rachel. I mean it. I accept this comes as a surprise, and it’s not the most romantic proposal of marriage, but please let me explain...”
After spending three years as a die-hard New Yorker, Kate Hewitt now lives in a small village in the English Lake District with her husband, their five children and a golden retriever. In addition to writing intensely emotional stories, she loves reading, baking and playing chess with her son—she has yet to win against him, but she continues to try. Learn more about Kate at kate-hewitt.com.
Books by Kate Hewitt
Harlequin Presents
The Innocent’s One-Night Surrender
Claiming My Bride of Convenience
Conveniently Wed!
Desert Prince’s Stolen Bride
One Night With Consequences
Engaged for Her Enemy’s Heir
Princess’s Nine-Month Secret
Greek’s Baby of Redemption
Secret Heirs of Billionaires
The Secret Kept from the Italian
The Italian’s Unexpected Baby
Seduced by a Sheikh
The Secret Heir of Alazar
The Forced Bride of Alazar
Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.
Kate Hewitt
Vows to Save His Crown
To Cliff, my partner and my prince! Love, K.
Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
EPILOGUE
EXCERPT FROM HIRED BY THE IMPOSSIBLE GREEK BY CLARE CONNELLY
CHAPTER ONE
‘I’M SORRY, MATEO.’
On the computer screen, Mateo Karavitis’ mother’s elegant face was drawn into weary lines of sadness and resignation—sadness for the position she’d put him in, and resignation that it had come to this. A queen who’d had three healthy, robust sons, an heir and two spares, and yet here he was, the unneeded third to the throne, now about to be thrust into the unwanted limelight.
‘I know you don’t want this,’ his mother, Queen Agathe, continued quietly.
Mateo did not reply. He knew who didn’t want this: his mother. How could she? As the third son, and a late surprise at that, he hadn’t been prepared for the throne. He’d never been meant to be King, to rule Kallyria with a gentle manner and an iron fist the way his father had for thirty years, as a revered ruler, kind but strong, beloved by his people, feared by his enemies.
It has been his oldest brother Kosmos who had been taken into training from infancy, told from the cradle who he was and what he would become. Kosmos who had gone to military school, who had met dignitaries and diplomats when he was barely out of nappies, who had been crowned Prince and heir to the throne when he was just fourteen, arrogantly assuming the title that would be his. And it was Kosmos who had died in a sailing accident ten years ago, when he was only thirty.
His oldest brother’s sudden death had shocked his family to the core, and rocked its seemingly stable foundations. His father, King Barak, had diminished visibly in what felt like minutes, his powerful frame suddenly seeming smaller, the thick mane of grey hair turning thin and white. Three months after Kosmos’ death, Barak had suffered a mini stroke that had affected his speech and movement but kept him on the throne. Four destabilising years after that, he’d died, aged only sixty-eight, and Mateo’s older brother Leo, the true spare, had been crowned King.
How had they got here?
‘Have you spoken to Leo?’ he asked his mother, his tone brusque. ‘Has he given an explanation for his unprecedented actions?’
‘He...he just can’t do it.’ Agathe’s voice, normally mellifluous and assured, wavered and broke. ‘He’s not up to it, Mateo. Not up to anything any more.’
‘He is King.’
‘Not any more,’ she reminded him gently. ‘Not since he abdicated last night.’
Mateo spun his chair around, hiding his face from his mother, a welter of emotions tangled inside him, too knotted up to discern one from the other. He’d never expected this. Even after Kosmos had died, after his father had died, he’d never expected this. Leo had seemed more than ready to assume their father’s mantle. Leo, who had always been in Kosmos’ shadow, finally ready to shine. He’d been more than ready for it, eager even. Mateo recalled the gleam in his brother’s eye at their father’s funeral, and it had sickened him. He’d walked away from Kallyria, intent on pursuing his own life here in England, away from the royal family and all its pressures.
And now he had to come back, because Leo was the one who was walking away. His brother had been King for more than half a decade, Mateo acknowledged with an iron-edged frustration. How could he just walk away from it all? Where was his sense of duty, of honour?
‘I don’t understand,’ he ground out through gritted teeth. ‘This is coming from nowhere.’
‘Not nowhere.’ Agathe’s voice was soft and sad. ‘Your brother...he has always struggled to assume his royal duties.’
‘Struggled?’ His brother hadn’t struggled when he’d practically snatched the crown from their father’s head. ‘He seemed more than ready to become King six years ago.’
Agathe’s mouth tightened. ‘The reality was far more challenging than the dream.’
‘Isn’t it always?’ If his brother had acted as if being King was a licence to indulge whatever pleasures and whims he had...but Mateo didn’t know if he had or not, because he’d chosen to distance himself from Kallyria and all it meant, and th
at had been fine by everyone, because until now he’d never been needed. ‘How has he struggled, exactly?’ He turned back to face Agathe, wanting to see the expression on her face.
She shrugged her slim shoulders and spread her manicured hands, her face drawn in lines of weary sorrow. ‘You know Leo has always been a bit more highly strung than Kosmos. A bit more sensitive. He feels things deeply. He hides behind his pleasures.’ Mateo made a dismissive sound. Leo was thirty-eight years old and had been reigning as King for nearly six. Surely it was more than time to put such boyish indulgences behind him, and act like a man. Like a king. ‘With the insurgency in the north of the island,’ Agathe continued, ‘and the economic talks coming up that are so important...’ She sighed sadly. ‘He fell apart, Mateo. He simply fell apart. It was a long time coming, but I should have seen this was going to happen. He couldn’t handle the pressure.’
Leo was now, according to his mother, in a very private, very expensive clinic in Switzerland, leaving his country rudderless at a critical time. Leaving Mateo as the only one to step up and do his duty. To become King.
But Mateo had never been meant to be King.
Outside, the chapel bells of one of Cambridge’s many colleges began to peal, a melodious sound so at odds with the bleak conversation he was having with his mother. His life was here, in the hallowed halls of this university, in the modern laboratories where he conducted important research into chemical processes and their effect on the climate.
He and his colleagues were on the brink of discovering how to neutralise certain chemical emissions and potentially reverse their effect on the climate. How could he leave it all behind, to become King of a country most people hadn’t even heard about?
A country that was the linchpin in important economic talks, a country that was, if his mother was to be believed, on the brink of war.
‘Mateo,’ Agathe said softly, ‘I know this is hard. Your life has been in Cambridge. I understand that I am asking so much of you. Your country is.’
‘You are not asking any more of me than you asked of my brothers,’ Mateo said roughly. Agathe sighed.
‘Yes, but they were prepared for it.’
And he wasn’t. The implication was glaringly obvious. How could he be a good king, when he’d never been shown or taught? When no one had expected anything of him, except to live his own life as he pleased?
And he had done exactly that—going to Cambridge, becoming a lecturer and researcher, even living under a false name so no one knew he was a prince, eschewing the usual security and privileges to be his own man, free from all the encumbrances of royalty.
But all along he’d belonged to Kallyria.
‘Mateo?’ Agathe prompted and he gave a terse nod of acceptance.
‘I’ll fly back to Kallyria tonight.’
Agathe could not hide her relief; it shuddered through her with an audible sound. ‘Thank you. Thank you.’ Mateo nodded, knowing he was doing no more than his duty, even if it chafed bitterly. Of course he would still do it. There had never been any question of that.
‘We must move quickly, to secure your throne,’ Agathe continued and Mateo stared at her, his blue-green eyes narrowed to aquamarine slits, his chiselled jaw bunched with tension.
‘What do you mean?’
‘Leo’s abdication was so sudden, so unexpected. It has led to some...instability.’
‘You mean from the insurgents?’ A tribe of nomadic rabble, as far as he could tell, who hated any innovation or threat of modernity.
Agathe nodded, her forehead creased in worry. ‘They are growing in power, Mateo, as well as number. Without anyone visible on the throne, who knows what they may do?’
Mateo’s gut clenched at the thought of a war. It was so far from his experience, his life, that it was almost laughable. Tonight he was meant to be speaking at a fundraising dinner, followed by drinks with some university colleagues. Now those plans seemed ephemeral, ridiculous. He had a country to rule. A war to avoid, and if not, then win.
‘I will do my best to put a stop to them,’ he said, his tone assured and lethal. He might never have been meant to be King, but heaven knew he would step up to the role now. He would do whatever he had to secure his family, his country, his kingdom.
‘I know you will,’ Agathe assured him. ‘But there is more, Mateo.’ His mother looked hesitant, and Mateo frowned. What more could there be than what she had already said—his brother abdicating, his country on the verge of ruin, and the necessity for him to leave his entire life behind? How on earth could there be more?
‘What do you mean?’ he demanded. ‘Mitera, what are you talking about?’
‘Your rule must be made stable as quickly as possible,’ Agathe explained. ‘With your father and brothers...so much uncertainty...there must be no doubt, Mateo, that our line will rule. That our house will remain established, through all the foibles and fortunes of war.’
‘I am travelling to Kallyria tonight,’ Mateo answered, with an edge to his voice that he tried to moderate. His mother looked so worn down, so worried. He didn’t want to hurt her or cause her any more concern. ‘What else can I do?’
‘You must marry,’ Agathe told him bluntly. ‘As quickly as possible, with an heir as soon as possible after that. I have drawn up a list of suitable brides...’
Mateo jerked upright, his mouth dropping open before he snapped it shut, his teeth grinding together. ‘Marry? But Leo never married.’ Six years his brother had been King, and he’d never even entertained the thought of a bride, as far as Mateo knew. There had certainly been no whispers of a potential match, never mind an engagement or a wedding. Leo had had numerous affairs with unsuitable women, many of them splashed across the tabloids, none of the fleeting relationships leading anywhere.
‘It is different now,’ Agathe said with bleak, regal honesty. ‘There is no one else left.’
A bride.
He resisted the notion instinctively, with an elemental aversion both to marriage itself, and to marriage to a woman he didn’t know or care about, a woman who would no doubt be so very suitable.
‘And what women are on this list of brides?’ he asked, a sardonic note entering his voice. ‘As a matter of curiosity.’
‘Admittedly, not very many. Your bride will play an important role, Mateo. She must be intelligent, not easily cowed, of the right birth and breeding...’
‘So no vacuous socialites need apply?’ Thank God. He could not stand the thought of being married to some grasping, faint-hearted miss who only wanted his money or title. Yet what kind of woman would agree to marry a man she’d never met? Not, Mateo suspected, one he wanted to share his life with.
‘No, of course not.’ Agathe gave him a severe look that reminded him of his childhood, of the days when he’d been unrepentantly unruly, testing all the boundaries to make sure they were there. ‘You need a bride to suit your station, Mateo. A woman who will one day become Queen.’ As she was. Yet no woman could match his mother for strength, elegance, or grace.
Mateo looked away. He couldn’t bear to think about any of it. ‘So who is on the list?’ he asked after a moment.
‘Vanessa de Cruz...a Spanish socialite who has started her own business. Women’s wear.’
He made a scoffing sound. ‘Why would she want to give all that up and become Queen?’
‘You’re a catch, Mateo,’ Agathe said, a hint of a smile in her voice, despite all her sadness.
‘She doesn’t even know me,’ he dismissed. He did not want to marry a woman who would only marry him for his title, her station in life. ‘Who else?’
‘A French heiress...a Turkish daughter of a CEO...in today’s modern world, you need a woman who is her own person by your side. Not a princess simply waiting for the limelight.’ His mother reeled off a few more names Mateo had barely heard of. Strangers, women he had no interest in knowing, much
less marrying. He’d never intended to marry at all, and he certainly didn’t want to love the woman whom he did, but neither did he want such a soulless arrangement as this.
‘Think about it,’ Agathe pressed gently. ‘We can discuss it more when you arrive tonight.’
Mateo nodded his terse agreement, and a few minutes later he ended the video call. Outside the bells had stopped ringing. Mateo looked around his cluttered study, the research paper he’d been writing discarded on his desk, and accepted that his entire life had changed for ever.
* * *
‘Something’s come up.’
Rachel Lewis looked up from the microscope she’d been bending over to smile a greeting at her closest colleague. Mateo Karras’ dazzlingly good looks had stopped stealing her breath years ago, thank goodness, but the academic part of her brain still couldn’t help but admire the perfect symmetry of his features every time she saw him—the close-cropped blue-black hair, the aquamarine eyes the exact colour of the Aegean when she’d gone on holiday there a few years ago, the straight nose and square jaw, and of course the lithe and tall powerful figure encased now in battered cords and a creased button-down shirt, his usual work attire.
‘Come up?’ She wrinkled her nose, noting his rather terse tone, so unlike his usual cheerful briskness as he came into the lab, eager to get started. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I...’ He shook his head, let out a weary breath. ‘I’m going to be away for...a while. I’ll have to take a leave of absence.’
‘A leave of absence?’ Rachel stared at him in shock. She and Mateo had been pioneering research on chemical emissions and climate change for the better part of a decade, since they’d both received their PhDs here at Cambridge. They were close, so close, to discovering and publishing the crucial evidence that would reduce toxic chemicals’ effect on the climate. How could he be walking away from it all? It was too incredible to take in. ‘I don’t understand.’
‘I know. I can’t explain it all now. I’m afraid I have a family emergency that has to be dealt with. I... I don’t know when I’ll be back.’
