New Arrivals: His Expectant Mistress: Accidentally Pregnant! / One-Night Pregnancy / One Tiny Miracle...

“Where do you fit in?” she asked quietly.

“That’s a long story. I was twenty-six when my mother died. You already know her feelings about wanting me married to Mila, so I became engaged, but I didn’t set a date for our wedding because I needed more time. Except for a war separating you, I don’t understand putting off marriage if you sense it’s right in your gut.”

He put his empty coffee mug on the side table. “Within six months my father remarried a widowed aristocrat from Genoa. She had a son, Fabbio, who was twenty-seven and a bachelor. He fell for Mila. If her ambition hadn’t been so great, she would probably have been happy with him.

“Father saw what was happening. About that time he announced he’d been diagnosed with cancer. I believed he might have been making it up to manipulate me. I’m sorry to say it worked. I acceded to pressure and married Mila. After she became pregnant, father ended up in the hospital with prostate cancer. At that point I felt guilty that I had doubted him.

“He thought he was going to die and appointed me acting CEO. Up until then I’d been his assistant. At that point he transferred the title to me. Naturally these moves infuriated the rest of the family and the lawsuits started flying. It was brother against brother, cousin against cousin.

“To defuse the maelstrom, I refused the title. That not only upset my father, it infuriated Mila and her family. They treated me like a pariah. In time my father recovered, but wasn’t speaking to me.”

Irena made another sound in her throat. “How ghastly for you.”

“With our baby on the way, I won’t pretend it wasn’t a hellish period. I was away on business for a lot of the time. By the time Dino was born, we were at war. As I told you earlier, she wouldn’t let me have anything to do with him, so I divorced her. You know the rest. The cruel part began with the visitation order that pretty well stripped me of my rights.”

She stared at him in a daze. “Where were you living until then?”

“In one of the smaller family palazzos overlooking the water in La Spezia. After the divorce, Mila continued to live there.”

“And your father?”

“In the former ducal palazzo with his second wife where I was raised. It’s higher up the hillside.”

“I thought Mila went back to Florence?”

“She spent time in both places, but when it was my visitation, she managed to be in Florence. Anything to make it more difficult for me. These days she splits her time between Florence, La Spezia and Milan. Again, when it’s my time to be with my son, I have to travel, but naturally I don’t mind.”

“How did you come to live in Riomaggiore?”

“The Valsecchi company owns several hundred houses and apartments in Cinque Terre that are rented out. I decided to take the one I’m in because I favor it, and it’s near the plant in La Spezia where I work. Antonello’s was part of my mother’s dowry when she married my father.”

The fasten seat belt light flashed on. They were coming into Genoa.

“You’re right,” Irena murmured, fastening hers. “Your family life has been much more complicated than anything that has happened to me.” She smoothed the hair away from her face. “Vincenzo? Why has marrying me allowed you to gain joint physical custody?”

He’d known that question was coming and had hoped he could put off answering it for a while longer. “I’ll tell you when we’re in the car. From the looks of it, jet lag is already catching up to you. Your beautiful eyes are doing that little flutter thing.” His comment caused color to seep into her cheeks.

But Vincenzo knew that his wife, who still had yet to sleep in his bed, deserved to know what was happening. Their marriage might have been for convenience’s sake, but he longed to make their marriage real. The truth was, he didn’t dare make love to her until he’d cleared it with her doctor tomorrow. If being intimate could put the baby’s life in any danger with the test looming, he would wait as long as it took. After all, he had the prize he wanted.

It was 10:30 p.m. by the time he’d ordered a limo to drive them to his car. Once he’d stowed the luggage and they’d headed for Riomaggiore, Irena had fallen asleep against the door. When he reached the apartment, instead of it being Dino he put to bed, it was his exhausted wife he carried to his son’s room.

He removed her shoes and put a light quilt over her, relieved their talk would have to be postponed until tomorrow. Satisfied she wouldn’t wake up, he went back to the car for their luggage and put as much away as he could.

After turning out the lights and locking up, he walked back to his bedroom and shut the door. Unfortunately he couldn’t put off a certain phone call he’d promised to make as soon as he’d returned from his honeymoon. It was part of the bargain he’d struck with his father. With a sense of inevitability, he reached in his pocket for his cell and called him.

“So Vincenzo—you’re home?”

“Sì, Papa.”

“How’s my little Dino?”

“After all his new adventures, he’s thriving.” He and Dino should have had a lot more like them over the years. Vincenzo struggled to tamp down his anger.

“Bring your wife to the palazzo tomorrow. Silviana and I have everything ready here for you to move in.”

Bands constricted around Vincenzo’s chest, making it difficult to breathe. “Tomorrow I’ll bring her to the office. I’d rather your first meeting with her took place where I’ll be working. I want to show her around, introduce her to everyone. Give us two weeks here at the apartment, then we’ll make the move. Since we were married, I haven’t had any time alone with her, Papa.”

“You’re that besotted?”

His father could have no idea. “I knew she was my soul mate the moment she was shown into my office and smiled.” It got better from there. So much better that by the end of her business trip to Italy, they’d made love with a passion that still robbed him of breath. For those magical hours he knew in his gut she hadn’t been thinking about Simonides.

“I guess I’m not surprised. I overheard Fabbio telling Tullio she was the most breathtaking woman he’d ever seen. That described your mother the first time I met her. How does Dino like her?”

Vincenzo cleared his throat. “I think very much, but you’ll have to ask him if you want specifics.”

“I intend to. Does your new bride want children?”

If a heart rate could quadruple, Vincenzo’s did. With his next response, he would probably be struck by lightning. “To be honest, we’ve been so busy with Dino, there are many things we still need to explore. That’s why we’d appreciate two more weeks without anyone else around.”

“Then enjoy them while you can because you’re going to be busy after that. I don’t have to tell you how relieved I am you’re going to be taking over, Vincenzo. As you found out when you looked over the books, we’ve had a downturn in profits over the last few years and we both know why.”

“I agree the figures didn’t look good.”

“Your cousins simply don’t have the grasp for business that you’ve always had. It’s providential you came to your senses when you did. I’m tired of keeping it all together.”

Vincenzo had come to his senses for the sake of his son and no other reason. His father wouldn’t like all the changes he planned to make, but having been given two more weeks with Irena, he wasn’t about to get into a detailed discussion tonight.

He thought ahead to tomorrow. Irena’s doctor appointment had been made for midmorning. After they finished there, he’d take her to lunch at Spoleto’s, one of his favorite spots. “We’ll be at your office around one. Ciao, Papa.”

“Ciao, figlio mio.”

His father hadn’t called him my son in seven years. All that time he’d held Vincenzo hostage over a title! Rage welled in his heart. He swore an oath that he would never allow anything like this to happen to Dino.

Frustrated once more that she’d fallen asleep on him, Irena had awakened soon after Vincenzo had carried her in the apartment. She’d thought he would have taken her to his bedroom tonight. They hadn’t been intimate for over two months. Now that they were married and alone, she didn’t understand it.

Anxious to ask him what was wrong, she’d padded down the hall, but his door was closed. She’d heard him talking to someone, but had no idea who it was or what they were saying.

Feeling shut out emotionally as well as physically, she took a shower and got ready for bed. Her heart thudded as she left the bathroom, hoping he was there waiting for her. But the apartment was dark and quiet. Dino’s bed remained empty.

A pain pierced her heart. When she’d first met Vincenzo, everything had happened so naturally, she hadn’t had to think about which foot to put in front of the other. Now here she was his wife and she didn’t dare tiptoe down to his room and climb into bed with him.

No one could have been more loving and attentive than he’d been in California. There’d been great tenderness, but they were home now. She needed reassurance that he still wanted her the way he had before.

After she climbed under the covers, she remembered something Deline had said several weeks earlier. Have you asked yourself why he’s willing to rush into marriage with you?

Irena’s response had been immediate. He’d needed a wife to change the rules of visitation. Deep down she’d believed the attraction they had for each other portended something more significant. He’d said he’d gotten his heart’s desire.

But if she was wrong and his desire for her was already fading, it was too late to do anything about it now because they were married. Dino was her stepson and trusted her. She had a baby coming. Although the paternity of the baby was still in question, Vincenzo had said he wanted to help her raise it.