The Billionaire's Baby Swap

by Rebecca Winters

  “I don’t want it to end.” His voice grated.

  She put her hands in her robe pockets in order to hide her nervousness. “I don’t, either, but now that the babies aren’t so upset, we know we have to make that final break.”

  “Says who?” he challenged.

  Valentina averted her eyes. “Says everyone. Conventional wisdom.”

  “I’ve been doing things all my life to please other people. For once I want to do something I want to do.”

  She let out a sigh. “When I was thirteen, one of my teachers was lecturing our class about the rules. She said you can do whatever you want in here as long as it doesn’t hurt you or anyone else. It made a lot of sense.”

  “I had a teacher who said the same thing, but we’re talking about our children. They had a different start than most children. Why don’t we capitalize on what has happened?”

  If her heart pounded any harder, he’d be able to hear it. She lifted her head. “What are you suggesting?”

  “That we go on seeing each other.”

  “It won’t work, Giovanni. If we don’t stop this now, Vito will always be looking for you. That’s not fair to him or Ric.”

  “Even if it will make them happy?”

  “They’ll be happy. Give them a few days away from us and they won’t remember us anymore.”

  His eyes flashed. “You want to make a bet?”

  “Giovanni—” She shook her head.

  “Let’s give it two more days and then see how they react apart from us. I don’t want you to leave.” He unexpectedly cupped her face in his hands and kissed her lips.

  His mouth on hers sent a bolt of electricity through her body. With a soft gasp she moved away from him. “We mustn’t do this. It won’t work. We have to say a final goodbye tomorrow.”

  “You could rearrange the time with your father.”

  “I could, but I won’t and you know why. Now I’m going to say good-night.”

  She closed the door and leaned against it, terrified she’d give in to anything he had to say. Valentina touched her lips. He’d awakened a new longing in her. If she did what he was asking, then she’d be putting her own selfish need ahead of her son’s needs. What Giovanni was asking just wasn’t possible.

  Rini had warned her it wasn’t a good idea to see Giovanni again. She’d thought she could handle it. She’d wanted to handle it for the babies’ sake, but she hadn’t counted on caring for Giovanni to this extent. After Matteo, she thought she’d learned her lesson and couldn’t imagine ever getting close to another man again. The love for her baby would be all that mattered to her.

  After another minute, Valentina opened the door again so she could listen for Ric. Then she turned off the light and slipped out of her robe. Once in bed, she buried her face in the pillow. That way she could smother her tears. Tomorrow she would have to be strong. Tonight she couldn’t help but give in to the emotions roiling inside of her.

  Giovanni’s kiss was all she could think about. Ever since the hospital, he’d infiltrated her thoughts. Her Vito had gotten his start with the kind of exceptional man she hadn’t known existed. It was all turned around. Now there were two babies she loved with every atom of her body. Worse, she’d fallen deeply in love with Giovanni. There was no other explanation for the reason he’d taken up lodgings in her heart.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  A WEEK LATER when Giovanni saw the name on the caller ID, he picked up. “Stanzie?”

  “Forgive me for disturbing you at work. I know I’ve done it every day this week, but I don’t think Riccardo likes me or Paolo. If you want to hire a nanny, maybe you should.” He could hear in her voice she was close to tears.

  There was only one woman Ric wanted when Giovanni wasn’t there. This business couldn’t be allowed to go on. “Of course he likes you, but he’s still not used to the change. I’ll be home early and we’ll talk.”

  After he got off the phone, he alerted his pilot, then told his assistant to reschedule any appointments because he was leaving for the day. A half hour later he’d hired a limo with a car seat for an infant to drive him from the helipad in Positano to the Montanari villa. He told the chauffeur to wait.

  Giovanni used the wrought-iron knocker to bring someone to the door. If it was Rinieri himself who answered, so be it, though he imagined he was still at work. With no results the first time, he knocked again.

  When the door opened, he heard a gasp. “Giovanni—” Valentina held Vito in her arms. She sounded like she was out of breath and had hurried to the door.

  “I had to see you, but if I’d phoned, I feared you wouldn’t pick up.”

  The sound of his voice must have brought Vito’s head around. The second he saw Giovanni he made jerky arm movements and started to cry. Though she held him fast, he kept looking at Giovanni instead of hiding against her and cried harder.

  “He wants you,” she murmured. “He’s been looking for you all week. Go ahead and hold him.”

  Giovanni didn’t need an invitation. He drew him into his arms and cuddled him against his chest and shoulder. “It’s only been a week, but you’ve grown!” Vito cried a little longer, then rested peacefully against him. “I’ve missed you, too, Tiger.”

  He glimpsed tears in Valentina’s eyes. She looked tired but beautiful in a sleeveless top and shorts. “Your bonding with him was so strong. Rini doesn’t fill the bill, wonderful as he is.”

  Rejoicing that she’d admitted it, he tried to give Vito back to her, but he clung to him. “I’ll tell you why I’m here. Stanzie called me at work a little less than an hour ago and said I needed to hire a nanny because Ric doesn’t like her or Paolo. I told her I was coming home. After we hung up I flew straight here, knowing what needs to be done. Ric misses you terribly. Nothing has been the same since you left the villa.”

  She wiped her eyes. “Maybe you could bring Ric here and I’ll take care of both babies for a few days. Then I’ll take Vito there and you can watch both of them for a few days. It would mean rearranging your work schedule.”

  He shook his head. “That won’t work and you know it. I’m as exhausted as you are trying to comfort Ric, so I’ve come to ask you to move in with me. For how long I have no idea. Unfortunately the babies had just enough time to get attached to both of us, so instead of trying to fight the obvious, let’s get together for the sake of their happiness and our sanity.”

  Valentina eyed Vito. “It’s true that if I tried to take him from you right now, he’d have a meltdown.”

  “Ric was having one when Stanzie called.”

  An anxious expression broke out on her face. “If we get together now, it can’t be for too long. Otherwise it would cause too much damage to the children and I wouldn’t be able to handle it. But there’s another risk. You know how people talk. I was never married. People would say I was a loose woman using you for what I could get out of you.”

  “People could say I got rid of Tatania because I’m a womanizer who wanted you and that’s why we’re divorced. None of it’s true.”

  “You admit it could create a scandal both our families would have to live with.”

  “My parents learned a long time ago I make my own decisions.”

  “But your mother-in-law—”

  “No matter what, she wants to be a grandmother to Ric. I say to hell with what anyone else thinks! Our babies were switched at birth and nothing has been normal about it.”

  After a pause, she said, “I know what Carlo would say. Get over it and lead your own lives.”

  “And Rini?”

  She looked away. “He hasn’t said anything, but he’s aware of how Vito has behaved. H-he knows how much I mourn the loss of Ric,” she said, her voice faltering.

  “If you asked your father, what do you think he’d say?”

&nb
sp; “To follow my heart. That has always been his advice.”

  “Did you ask his advice about Matteo?”

  “No. I already knew he wouldn’t approve of my getting involved with a professor so much older.”

  That was news to Giovanni. “How much older?”

  “Twenty years.”

  That explained a lot about the engineering professor having a midlife crisis with a student as utterly delectable as Valentina. No doubt it fed his ego to seduce the daughter of one of the celebrated Montanari engineering family.

  Giovanni nuzzled Vito’s neck and kissed him. Her fragrance went where the baby went. “He gave you a beautiful son.”

  She swallowed hard. “He did.”

  “So what does your heart say now?”

  There was an interminable silence while he waited for her answer. When she looked at him, he saw more tears. “You already know the answer or I would have closed the door on you before Vito got the chance to realize who it was.”

  Relief swept through him in waves. “I have a limo waiting. Go ahead and do what you have to do to get ready. I want time to play with Vito. We’ll walk around out here.”

  “I’ll have to leave a message for Rini and a note for Bianca. She went to the market.”

  “Take your time. You don’t have to bring everything yet. There’ll be other days to come back for more things. We’re in no hurry.”

  He wandered around the courtyard, admiring the explosion of flowers and Rinieri’s exquisite taste in buying this two-story villa. Its design reflected a bygone era of elegance and refinement. Like Giovanni, Rinieri had his own helipad at the rear of the estate, but he wouldn’t have been so presumptuous as to use it.

  When he saw Valentina come out the front door, he strapped Vito in the car seat, then helped her put her things inside. She disappeared once more for the carry-cot. While he’d waited for her, she’d changed into white pants and a top of navy-and-white stripes that outlined her womanly figure. The sight of her ignited all his senses.

  Once everything and everyone were installed, he instructed the driver to take them back to the Positano helipad. He let Vito cling to his finger. She studied the two of them. “Look how excited he is to be with you.”

  “If you think he’s happy, wait till Ric discovers you on the premises.” Their eyes met. Her tears were gone.

  “I pray we’re doing the right thing, Giovanni. Down the road—”

  “Don’t think about that,” he interrupted her. “Let’s enjoy the here and now. The future will take care of itself.” He had plans for them, but after her experience with Matteo, he didn’t want to make a wrong move.

  Within minutes they lifted off for the short flight to his villa in Ravello. Though he’d bought it and made it his own, he’d never felt like he’d really come home until the helicopter set them down.

  Paolo and Stanzie were out in the garden that bordered the swimming pool, tending Ric. They waved when they saw him climb out. But he hadn’t come alone. When they caught sight of Valentina, Stanzie cried with excitement and hurried toward her with Ric.

  “Welcome, Valentina!”

  “It’s good to be back, Stanzie.”

  Ric heard her voice. Just like Vito, he started wiggling to get to her. This time Giovanni’s eyes filled to see the way he cried and burrowed into her neck. His son knew exactly where he wanted to be. He took after Giovanni in that department. This moment was one he’d treasure all his life.

  Valentina rocked Ric in her arms. Over his little head with its black hair she looked at Giovanni. Without being able to resist he said, “Remember that bet I made you a week ago?”

  She nodded. “They do remember us and it’s been a lot longer than two days.”

  “If you hadn’t been such a terrific mother, Ric wouldn’t have suffered so much. I say we all go for a swim.”

  “Won’t the water be too cold for them?”

  “We’ll pull them around on the rafts.”

  Her blue eyes lit up. “That sounds fun. I’ll hurry inside and change. Come on, Ric. You can help me.”

  Stanzie wasn’t ready to give up Vito.

  Giovanni followed Valentina into the house with her suitcase. After he set it inside her room, he headed for his own room to change. He threw off his suit and tie, so anxious to get outside he didn’t care about anything else. After pulling on a pair of brown-and-white trunks, he grabbed some towels and hurried out to the back patio.

  A couple of children’s toy plastic rafts rested against the wall. He tossed them in the water.

  “Come on, Vito. We’re going for our first pool ride.”

  He smiled at Stanzie, who gave him up. Hugging him to his chest, he carried him into the pool. After settling him on his back in the middle of one of the rafts, Giovanni started moving it around at the shallow end.

  “Don’t be scared. Your mommy’s going to be out here in a minute with your brother.” That was the second time the word had slipped out. While he moved him around he caught sight of Valentina walking toward the pool with Ric. Her long legs and the way she filled out her white one-piece bathing suit knocked the wind out of him. She walked down the steps into the pool and put Ric on his back on the other raft.

  * * *

  Giovanni pulled the raft over to her. “I told you guys this was going to be fun.”

  The babies were so shocked by what was happening, they forgot to cry. Valentina saw their expressions and laughed so hard it infected him. From the beginning they’d shared the same sense of humor. It was just one of the many things he loved about her. If there was heaven on earth, this was the place.

  The next half hour of play was pure delight. As long as the babies could see both of them, they were mesmerized. Valentina had put him in the same condition. When he saw those eyes glittering like sapphires above the water as she watched him, he almost had a heart attack.

  He swam over to her. “What do you say we take them in and feed them?”

  “I was just going to suggest it. One dark head and one blond. Aren’t they adorable?”

  Giovanni’s emotions were running all over the place. He grabbed Ric while she reached for Vito. Together they took the babies inside and up the stairs. Then she carried Vito and headed for the nursery in the pants and top she’d worn earlier. Giovanni had slipped into his room to put on shorts and a shirt.

  They sat down and fed the babies. Ric finished first. His eyes were closed as Giovanni placed him in the crib with the fish mobile and turned it on. Very soon after Vito had finished, too. As she left the nursery to put him down, she said in a hushed voice, “We’ll have to get a mobile for Vito so he won’t feel left out.”

  “Shall we drive into town and get one? While Stanzie and Paolo keep watch, let’s eat dinner out.”

  “Maybe we shouldn’t leave the children yet.”

  “We won’t be gone long, and I’m the one starving now.”

  “So am I,” she confessed. “Give me a minute to change into something more appropriate.”

  * * *

  Valentina freshened up and decided to wear one of her sundresses with cap sleeves in a pale pink. She met him at the Maserati parked at the side of the villa where a garden of white moonflowers gave off a beguiling scent.

  “I feel like I’m wandering in a fantastic dream.” Her eyes had fastened on Giovanni. He looked incredible in charcoal trousers and a silky dark vermilion sport shirt. Open at the neck, she could see the dark hairs on his well-defined chest. She wanted to be in his arms so badly it was killing her.

  “I’m taking you to my favorite restaurant at a hotel where Grieg stayed during his travels here. It’s rumored he never wanted to leave Ravello.”

  “Of course he didn’t. I adore Grieg. During my pregnancy I must have listened to his first piano concerto dozens of
times.”

  He drove them out to the main road past flowered terraces and hanging gardens to the village center and pulled into the parking area reserved for the hotel patrons. Twilight had descended.

  The maître d’ showed them out to a patio with candlelit tables overlooking the spectacular villa gardens. Sculptured topiary trees surrounded the fountain playing below. The sight took her breath. Grieg’s music, “Wedding Day at Troldhaugen,” could be heard in the background, adding to her sense of entrancement.

  Giovanni’s eyes gleamed like jet between black lashes as he reached for her hand across the table. “Will you let me order for you?”

  “I’d love it.”

  “Some women wouldn’t like that.”

  “I’m not some women.”

  “No, you’re not.” He squeezed her hand before letting it go.

  Soon they were feted with swordfish piccata, a dish wrapped in ham and roasted almonds. The sumptuous meal came with kale, polenta and risotto.

  After one bite, she exclaimed, “I’ve never tasted anything so delicious. The presentation looks too good to eat, but I plan to devour everything anyway.”

  Giovanni’s laughter warmed her heart. They lingered over the predessert and the dessert served at the end with coffee. She passed on the wine, too drunk on the atmosphere with a man like Giovanni to get any more euphoric, but he fed her the last chocolate petit four. Her lips tingled as they brushed his fingers, causing her to hunger for his kiss.

  Quite a few of the diners who recognized him nodded and stopped to shake hands. He introduced Valentina, but made no explanations about her. One of the men who’d come to their table assessed her in a way that made her blood curdle. Giovanni noticed and cut the other man off. The gossip would already be starting, but Giovanni didn’t worry about lighting his own fires and made no excuses.

  Female heads turned everywhere they walked. His striking features, not to mention his tall, well-honed physique made her the envy of the evening. With hands clasped, they strolled through the winding alleyways filled with flowers and shops. Valentina had reached a new high with this incredible man.