Latin Lovers: Italian Playboys: Bought for the Marriage Bed / The Italian GP's Bride / The Italian's Defiant Mistress

‘Signore Marcello doesn’t know.’

The housekeeper’s dark eyebrows shot upwards. ‘You have not told him?’

She shook her head and a little sigh escaped from her lips. ‘There’s a lot I haven’t told him.’ She turned to look at Georgia, who was sucking noisily on her fist. ‘So very much I haven’t told him.’

Nina became conscious of Lucia’s lengthy, studied look.

‘Signore Marcello told me to tell you that he has some business to see to. He will be home in time for us all to leave for the airport together.’

She gave the woman a faltering smile. ‘Grazie, Lucia.’

‘He will be a good husband,’ Lucia said after another little pause. ‘You must give him time. He is still grieving; he is not himself at all.’

Nina inwardly smiled at the irony of the housekeeper’s statement. Marc wasn’t the only one who wasn’t himself!

‘Georgia is such a beautiful baby,’ Lucia said, gazing down at the child. ‘She has brought joy to Signore Marcello’s life.’

Unlike her fake mother, Nina couldn’t help thinking as she reached to tickle her niece’s tiny fingers. ‘She’s my world, aren’t you, Georgia?’ She kissed each little finger in turn.

‘You are a wonderful mother,’ Lucia said. ‘No one could doubt it for a moment.’

Nina looked around in surprise. The housekeeper had been nothing but hostile towards her for days. What had happened to bring about this sudden change?

Lucia’s gaze was so intent and watchful that Nina had trouble maintaining eye contact. She looked away guiltily, unable to rid herself of the feeling that Lucia was starting to put some pieces of a rather complicated puzzle together in her head.

‘There was a phone call for you while you were in the shower,’ Lucia said into the sudden silence.

‘Oh?’ Nina tensed.

‘I did not want the sound of your mobile phone waking Georgia so I answered it.’ The housekeeper paused for a single heartbeat and added, ‘I hope you do not mind.’

‘No.’ Nina swallowed. ‘No, of course I don’t mind.’ She forced her voice to remain calm. ‘Who … who was it?’

‘She did not say, but for a moment I thought it was you. It was uncanny, really. Her voice sounded so similar.’

‘Did … she leave a message?’ Nina asked, staring at Georgia’s starfish hands with fierce intent.

‘She said she would call back some other time.’

‘Grazie.’

There was another small pause.

‘Signore Marcello has instructed me to help you pack for your trip.’

‘It’s all right, Lucia. I can manage. I haven’t got much to pack anyway.’

The housekeeper gave her one last thoughtful look before moving away to complete her tasks. ‘If I can help you with anything, Signora Marcello, you have only to ask. It will be my pleasure, I assure you.’

‘Grazie, Lucia.’

Nina waited until the housekeeper had left the room before she released her breath. She sighed as she looked down at the chortling baby, muttering in an undertone, ‘I’m in over my head, Georgia, and drowning fast.’

Georgia gave her a toothless grin and stuck her fist back in her mouth.

Marc was well aware of Nina’s reluctance to establish eye contact with him as they prepared to leave for the airport later that day. She spoke politely to Lucia and was openly affectionate to Georgia as she settled her into the car, but each time her gaze swung to him it just as quickly shifted away, her cheeks turning a delicate shade of pink.

He slanted his gaze her way as they drove to the airport, frowning when he saw her hands moving restlessly in her lap and her bottom lip being nibbled by her teeth as she stared anxiously, almost fixedly, in front of her.

The memory of the intimacy they had shared the night before gnawed at him constantly, the feel of her body against his, her soft mouth feeding off his, her flinching cries when he had gone too deep for her.

He had been so confident he would be able to resist her but in the end he had not stood a chance. Even though his brother had walked away from her, Marc knew he was not going to find doing so as easy as Andre had. In spite of everything he knew about her, he still couldn’t get her out of his mind. His every waking thought was of her and only her; even his restless slumber was haunted by his out of control need for her.