A Forever Family Collection

“Oh no! How awful for her—for you…” Belle’s gaze traveled back to the baby. “You lost your mommy? No little girl as sweet as you should grow up without your mother. I—I’m so sorry, darling.” Her voice broke. “At least you’ll always know who she was, because you have your daddy, who loved her so much. And you have pictures.”

Without conscious thought Belle kissed that little hand before she looked up at Leon. “What went wrong during the delivery?”

He cuddled his daughter closer. “Soon after our marriage Benedetta was diagnosed with systemic lupus.”

A moan escaped Belle’s lips before she could prevent it. “One of the sisters at the orphanage had that disease.”

He kissed the baby’s head. “My wife was the daughter of the now deceased head of the kennel on my father’s estate. She and I had been friends throughout childhood. Later on, after I came home from college and had been working at the bank for several years, we fell in love, and got married in a small, quiet ceremony, out of the public eye.

“Before long her illness became more aggressive. She developed a deep vein thrombosis in the leg, which was hidden at the time. A piece of blood clot broke off and ended up in her lung. It caused it to collapse, and heart failure followed.”

“Oh, Leon…”

“Concetta came premature. My great sadness was that Benedetta’s life had been snuffed out before she’d been able to hold our baby.”

Belle’s heart ached for them. “Will Concetta get lupus?”

“No. Thankfully, the pediatrician says my daughter is free of the disease. It doesn’t necessarily follow that the child inherits it.”

“Thank heaven!” Belle exclaimed. “How lucky she is to have her daddy! Every girl needs her father.”

Leon’s glance penetrated to the core of her being. “You think it’s possible to do double duty?” he rasped.

In that question, she heard a vulnerability she would never have expected to come from him. The dark prince who’d kissed her hungrily had a weakness, after all. A precious cherub, the reminder of the woman he’d loved and lost. “With her father loving her more than anyone else in the world, she won’t know anything else, and will have all the love she needs, to last her a lifetime and beyond.”

He hugged his daughter tighter. “I hope you’re right.”

“I know I am. Do you think she’d get upset if I tried to hold her?”

“She isn’t used to people except my staff and family. If you try, you’ll be taking your life in your hands, but if you want to risk it…” He didn’t sound unwilling, just skeptical.

“I do.” The operation at the orphanage was such that the older children always helped with the infants and toddlers. Belle had no hesitation as she plucked the baby from his powerful arms.

By now Concetta had started to cry, but Belle whirled around with her and sang a song that so surprised the baby, she stopped crying and looked up at her. The dog followed them. It was then Leon’s little girl discovered the pearls, and grabbed them. Belle laughed gently. “You like those, don’t you.”

At this point Leon attempted to intervene. She felt his fingers against her skin while he tried to remove his daughter’s hands, but she held on tighter. After a slight tug-of-war, the necklace broke and the pearls rolled all over the patio tiles. The sound sent Rufo chasing after them.

“Uh-oh.” Belle chuckled again, because the surprise on the baby’s dear face was priceless. “Where did they go?” Concetta turned her head one way, then another, trying to find them.

“I’m sorry about your necklace, Belle,” Leon murmured, while his gaze narrowed on her mouth. Heat radiated through her body to her face.

“It’s nothing,” she said in a ragged voice.

“Once the pearls are gathered, I’ll have them restrung for you.”

“Don’t you dare,” she said, to fight her physical attraction to Concetta’s father, who suddenly looked frustrated. His baby made him so human, her heart warmed to him. “This is costume jewelry I bought for twenty dollars on sale. We don’t care, do we, Concetta.” She kissed her head and kept walking with her, to put Leon out of her mind. Of course, it didn’t work.

“Let’s watch that boat with the red-and-white sail.” She pointed to it, but by now the baby was staring at her. There were no more tears. “I bet you’re wondering who I am. My name is Belle Donatello. I can’t believe I know my last name. Your generous daddy is letting me stay here for a few days.”

I’m staying at my peril.

She lifted her head to find Leon standing a few feet away. “How do you say daddy in Italian?”

“Papà,” he answered in a husky tone.

Belle turned so Concetta could see him. “There’s your papà.”

All of a sudden his daughter started to whimper, and reached for him. Belle closed the distance and gave her back to him. But the baby quickly looked around and kept staring at Belle in fascination.

Leon’s sharp intake of breath reached her ears. “If I hadn’t witnessed it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed what just happened.”

“What do you mean?”

“She didn’t break into hysterics with you. Anything but.”

Belle’s mouth curved upward. “I learned in the orphanage that all babies have hysterics. It’s normal. The trick is to get their attention before they become uncontrollable. The sisters were lucky, since between their habits and crucifixes, they were able to quiet the babies down fast. My pearls did rather nicely, don’t you think?”

Leon had a very deep, attractive chuckle. “I think the next time you hold her, you’d better keep her hands away from the pearls in your earlobes. Inexpensive as they might be, the rest of you is…irreplaceable.”

A certain nuance in his voice made her realize he’d been remembering what had gone on earlier. It wasn’t something you could forget.

“Did you hear that, Concetta?” She poked the child’s tummy and got a smile out of her. Lifting the hem of the pinafore, she said, “Pink is my favorite color, too. I bet your papà bought this for you because he couldn’t resist seeing you in it.” The gleam in his eyes verified her statement. “Even if you weren’t a real princess, you look like one.”

For the first time since she’d joined him, his features hardened. “There are no titles under this roof and never will be.”

Meaning even after his father died? It followed that, being the elder brother, he would be Count Malatesta one day, but he’d just made it clear he wanted no part of it.

“After what I’ve learned of my mother’s tragic history, I think that’s the wisest decision you could make as her father.”

He switched Concetta to his other compact shoulder. “Before she and my father arrive, this little one needs her dinner. I’ll take her to the kitchen.”

“Can I come, too, and help feed her?”

A quick, white smile transformed him into the kind of man her roommates would say was jaw-dropping gorgeous. He was that, and so much more Belle couldn’t find words. “If you do, you may have to change your outfit.”

She sent him a reciprocal smile, attempting like mad to pretend she hadn’t experienced rapture. “That’ll be no problem.”

Together with the dog, they walked through the dayroom and down another hall. Belle glimpsed a library and an elegant dining room on their way to the kitchen. From one of the windows she could see a swimming pool surrounded by ornamental flowering trees. A vision of the two of them in the water after dark wouldn’t leave her alone.

In the kitchen three women were busily working. Leon introduced her to his housekeeper, Simona, the maid, Carla, and the nanny, Talia, who reached for the baby. If they knew who Belle really was, rather than simply being a guest, they showed no evidence.

After tying a bib around Concetta’s neck, Talia placed her in the high chair next to the table and drew a chair over to feed her.

Belle shot Leon an imploring glance. “Could I give her her dinner?”

He looked surprised. “You really want to? Sometimes she doesn’t cooperate.”

“That’s all right. I’d love it! I moved out of my adoptive parents’ house at eighteen and haven’t tended a baby since.”