Zac had told her about her father at the same time as he told her he had sold Westwold Components, because he knew she did not approve of the arms business. He had also added that the office gossip was the woman had married her dad for his money, and would leave him just as quickly when the cash ran out…What goes around comes around, Sally thought, and she didn’t care any more.
She had her own family, and sometimes Sally could hardly believe how blessed she was. Zac had cut back on his workload and they spent most of their time here in Calabria. She had fallen in love with the house the moment she had seen it.
The original two-hundred-year-old farmhouse was only part of one wing now. If Zac wanted something he got it, and he had used the same approach to the house. It was a great rambling home now, with a gym and a swimming pool, six en suite bedrooms and an amazing master bedroom that had panoramic views across the Strait of Messina to Sicily and the toe of Italy. The building had evolved over the years to sit perfectly in the surrounding landscape of olive groves, cliffs and sea, though it would probably never win any prizes for architectural beauty.
She loved the house, and she loved Zac—but, strange as it seemed, she had never actually said the words. Maybe it was time she did…
Sally bent down to drop a kiss on Francesco’s head.
Straightening, she felt two arms close around her waist.
‘Is he asleep?’ Zac murmured, looking over her head at his son sleeping in the cot. ‘He looks like an angel. Dio, don’t you just love him?’
Sally turned in his arms and linked hers around his neck. He was wearing only a towel slung around his lean hips and a smile to warm her heart—and quite a few other parts of her anatomy.
‘Yes. And if you have recovered from the party, I thought I would take you to bed and show you how much I love you, Zac.’
His dark eyes flared with a luminous light, and he groaned as he pulled her against him, his sensuous mouth kissing every one of her delicate features before claiming her mouth in a deep, loving kiss.
‘Thank you for that, cara mia,’ he murmured, holding her close. ‘I was beginning to worry you would never say the words I longed to hear, even though I know you feel them.’
‘Conceited devil.’ She grinned ‘But I do love you.’
‘No, not conceited—just a man who loves you to distraction. Now, what were you saying about taking me to bed…?’ And, curving an arm around her waist, he led her quietly out of the nursery.
‘I was thinking today,’ he said as they walked towards their suite. ‘If you agree, maybe it is time we started trying for the second of those three children you insisted you wanted when we met.’
‘You are never going to let me forget that, Zac.’
They both laughed.
And then they wandered off to make a start on extending their family.
* * * * *
All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.
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First published in Great Britain 2009
Harlequin Mills & Boon Limited,
Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR
© Jacqueline Baird 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4089-1870-8
Untamed Italian, Blackmailed Innocent Page 17
