The Italian Doctor's Wife

Carlo looked him straight in the eye. ‘I’m defending her because I know that this isn’t about her and the baby. Not really. It’s about you,’ he said softly. ‘You are making this personal.’

‘Dio, of course I’m making it personal!’ Nico flashed him an impatient look. ‘How do you think I feel, knowing—?’

He broke off and Carlo rose to his feet, watching his brother closely.

‘You can’t take her child, Nico.’

‘Watch me.’ Nico’s expression was grim. ‘And you’re forgetting that it isn’t just her child, it’s my child. And according to my sources, the girl is in big trouble. She earns next to nothing as a nurse and she obviously doesn’t manage her money well. At the moment she has been given two weeks’ notice to find somewhere else to live because she can’t keep up the rental payments. My sources tell me that she doesn’t have enough money for anywhere else. Soon my child will be homeless. Do you expect me to sit and watch while that happens?’

Carlo let out a long breath. ‘I can see that the situation is less than ideal, but—’

‘My child does not deserve a nomadic existence with a mother who clearly can’t manage her finances well enough to keep a roof over her head,’ Nico growled, and Carlo watched him thoughtfully.

‘She might not be willing to give the baby up,’ he pointed out, and Nico frowned dismissively.

‘The girl is clearly struggling to bring the baby up alone. I suspect that she will be only too pleased to take a financial incentive in exchange for the baby. Clearly having a baby was a whim and the reality of life as a single parent has proved less romantic than she expected.’

‘I think you underestimate the attachment between a mother and her child,’ Carlo said quietly. ‘Especially a mother who went to the trouble of having artificial insemination in order to conceive. She would have had a counselling session at the clinic and her reasons for wanting a child must have been good. I doubt that she will give the baby up lightly.’

‘You’re wrong.’

‘Maybe.’ Carlo gave a brief smile. ‘But my advice is stick to mending hearts, and leave the serious business of baby-making to those of us with some understanding of the emotions involved.’

‘I understand the emotions better than most.’ Nico’s teeth were gritted and Carlo gave a sigh.

‘Sì, I know you do.’

Nico shrugged, his black eyes hard and cold. ‘Then you’ll understand why I am right to go after the baby.’

‘I understand, but I don’t condone it.’ Carlo picked up the file again. ‘Answer me one question. If Abby Harrington had turned out to be in her late thirties and happily married, would you be threatening to take the baby?’

Nico frowned as if the question was completely superfluous. ‘Of course not. I would have checked that they had everything they needed and walked away.’

But it would have been the hardest thing he’d ever had to do in his life.

‘Then do the same thing now,’ Carlo said quietly. ‘You cannot take a child from its mother. Let it go, Nico. If you want family life, find a nice girl and marry her.’

Nico’s eyes were hooded. ‘Like you have, you mean?’

‘I’m still auditioning for the role.’ Carlo’s dark eyes flashed wickedly and Nico raised an eyebrow in mockery.

‘You feel the need to audition the whole female population?’

Carlo gave a rueful smile. ‘All right, I’m the first to admit that, like you, I’ve never found a woman who can see further than my wallet.’ His smile faded. ‘But that fact doesn’t make this right, Nico, and you know it.’

‘I’m not seeking your approval.’ Nico’s tone was harsh. ‘I came here because I wanted the answer to a question.’

‘Which was?’

‘I wanted to know if you were aware of her deception.’

Carlo shook his head. ‘No. I didn’t deal with her case and you should know me well enough to know that I wouldn’t do that to you.’

Nico’s expression darkened. ‘Lucia did.’

Carlo shrugged. ‘As we both know, Lucia is young and impulsive. And very spoilt by our parents. This was probably another one of her whims.’ He walked towards his brother and laid a hand on his shoulder. ‘I know you don’t take advice from anyone, but I’m going to give it anyway. Whatever reasons this girl had for deceiving us, she clearly wanted that child. Don’t jump to conclusions. Are you absolutely sure she knows you’re the father?’

‘Of course she knows.’ Nico was back in control, his emotions buried under the icy exterior for which he was renowned. ‘Lucia told me at the time that her friend drew up a list of qualities that she wanted in a father and I was the perfect match.’

His tone was bitter and Carlo sighed.

‘Lucia adores you, Nico. She probably genuinely did think you’d be the best father in the world and you know that all her school friends worshipped you. She just didn’t think it through.’

Nico’s mouth tightened. ‘She never thinks things through.’

‘And as for the friend—if she does know, she clearly didn’t want you to find out.’ Carlo rubbed a hand across the back of his neck, clearly concerned. ‘This is going to come as a shock to her, Nico.’

Nico’s mouth tightened. ‘Good.’

Abigail Harrington had deceived him. She was clearly a calculating, manipulative woman who was totally unsuited to motherhood. As far as he was concerned, the bigger the shock, the better.

CHAPTER ONE

‘I HATE leaving her—she was a bit fretful in the night. I’m afraid she might be coming down with something.’ Abby reluctantly handed her daughter over to Karen, the nursery nurse who ran the hospital crèche. ‘Maybe I should have kept her at home, but they’re so short-staffed on the ward that I just couldn’t do it to them, and—’

‘Abby, stop worrying!’ Karen interrupted her gently and settled Rosa on her hip, her expression sympathetic and mildly amused. ‘She looks perfectly healthy to me. I know you feel guilty about working but you don’t need to. There are plenty of single mothers in the world and plenty of them have to work. She has a really great time here and you’re a brilliant mother. The best I know.’

Was she?

Abby bit her lip, painfully aware that Karen didn’t know the whole truth of Rosa’s conception.

It was a part of her life that she never discussed with anyone.

And although it was true that there were plenty of single mothers in the world, there were surely very few in her situation. And because she never forgot that she’d chosen this life for Rosa, she was doubly determined to be the very best mother that she could be.

‘It’s so hard for you, being on you own. You must feel so lonely sometimes,’ Karen said gently. ‘I know you don’t like talking about it, but do you ever think of contacting her father?’

‘No.’ Abby shook her head.

How could she? Because she’d been so desperate to have a baby, she’d chosen to do so without the traditional support of a man. Rosa’s conception had been arranged with clinical efficiency and total secrecy, and she had absolutely no idea who the father was.

And that knowledge nagged at her constantly despite the fact that the pain of her own childhood had left deep scars and she was only too aware that having two parents was no guarantee of childhood bliss. She’d been sent to boarding school at the age of seven by workaholic parents keen to relieve themselves of a child they’d never wanted, so she knew better than anyone that two parents didn’t necessarily make a happy family.

But that didn’t stop her feeling guilty that she’d deprived Rosa of a father.

‘You never talk about it and you’re always so self-contained and independent.’ Karen sighed. ‘He must have hurt you so much.’

Abby bit her lip, unable to correct the misconception without giving away her secret. The truth was that Rosa’s father hadn’t hurt her at all. She didn’t even know him. All she knew was what her friend Lucia had told her. That the donor was Italian and very clever. And as for being independent, well, she’d had to be. Unlike most of her peers, her parents had never been there for her so she’d learned to take care of herself.