The Playboy Prince and the Nanny (Royal Duology 1)

“When I was away . . .” He frowned, then started over. “In the past, sometimes I’d deflect attention from the palace by acting out. Not that I needed much encouragement, but it’s not an isolated strategy. And I held it over Raoul’s head more than once. This time, though . . . he’s been through too much. He’s still grieving, for God’s sake. And the children . . . it angered me to think of anyone using them as pawns in whatever game they were playing. The headline wasn’t just that about the grieving widower. It was a mother for the children and it was just so . . . low.”

“Children are not pawns. Not . . . leverage.” She nodded at him. They could definitely agree on that.

“No,” he replied soberly, “they are not. And so I came up with the idea of going to Tanzania and pulling my party act one last time. I was going to have to go there anyway, to sort out the school situation, so I bumped up the trip, got Ryan and Brenna to meet me there, and made sure I was seen. Every night.”

“Oh, I know,” she said ruefully.

“Camila didn’t just want to create a scandal, she wanted to be rid of you,” Diego admitted. “She said so when I told her to get her things and she’d be escorted off the grounds. She was jealous. Turns out my brilliant strategy actually made things worse. I’m so sorry for that.”

Rose couldn’t help but smile a little bit. “Of course she was jealous. You are the most eligible bachelor in the country.”

“She didn’t count on me going away. She thought we’d send you away instead, and she’d have her chance.” He smiled and shook his head. “She didn’t count on getting caught, either.”

Rose shook her head. “People will do some crazy things in the name of love.”

He laughed a little. “It’s not the first time. But I’m not going to tell you those stories today. Today I’m trying to convince you to stay. Stay with the children. Stay with me. Marry me. We’ll hire a new nanny for Max and Emilia—I’m sure you can recommend someone lovely.” He squeezed her knee and gazed into her eye

s. “I love you, Rose. That’s all that matters. I told you once that I wasn’t about to let the press dictate my life anymore. Two weeks ago we decided to control the story. Today I want to start writing a new one.”

And oh, she wanted to. So badly. But she was still afraid. “But what will they say about me?” she asked, looking down at her lap. “That I’m the gold digger who took advantage of her position in the royal household? I don’t want to be the cause of more gossip.”

“So we give them an exclusive, and the story we want to tell.” He took her hand. “We give them the truth. We give them the love story.”

She looked into his eyes. From the very beginning, the reality of this man defied his persona in the press. He was kind, generous, focused on family, funny, warm, loving. He was willing to sacrifice for those he loved . . . and stand up to them when he needed to.

And right now he was standing up for her.

She’d been wrong. Misled, certainly, by Camila’s manipulations. But wrong not to believe in him when he’d always told her the truth. Wrong to put more weight on her own insecurities than the truth before her eyes.

“You really want to marry me?”

“I do. My world makes sense when you’re in it.”

“And your family? They really don’t disapprove?”

He smiled. “Raoul brought me back because he said I’d earned the right to deal with Camila and also to win back the girl. We all love you, Rose. And our family, for all its old-world traditions, is good at one thing. Following our hearts.”

The dread in the pit of her stomach had disappeared, replaced instead by a delicious swirl of nervous anticipation. He loved her. She loved him. More than that, she trusted him.

“Then my answer is yes,” she replied, letting the smile that was filling her heart be revealed on her lips. “Yes, Diego, el principe, mi amor . . . I will marry you.”

He gathered her into an embrace, holding her close against his chest, and she let out a happy, contented breath as she wrapped her arms around his waist.

“Did she say yes?” came the call from the corner of the garden.

Rose burst out laughing as Diego called back. “She did! She said yes!”

“Miss Rose! Miss Rose!” Max and Emilia left Raoul’s side and came running, pell-mell, down the path. “Is it true? Are you going to marry Tio Diego and be Tia Rose?”

Rose gathered them into a happy hug. “I am. If that’s all right with you, of course.”

“Of course it is!” Emilia’s dark eyes sparkled. “Miss Rose, if we can’t have our mama, at least we have you. I love you, Miss Rose.”

Rose’s eyes watered as she held the girl close. Raoul followed behind at a more respectable pace, and to Rose’s surprise, Alexander was by his side. Oh my. This was just so . . . unbelievably overwhelming.

“It’s nearly teatime,” Raoul announced. “So we’ve ordered champagne and cake in the garden. It’s about time we had something to celebrate.”

Rose stood and went to stand before Raoul. “Thank you, sir. For all your support. It means the world to me.”