by Amy Andrews
The ugly words taunted him to this day. ‘She said she’d taken a lover and wanted to be free to marry again. I told her over my cold dead body and that I would fight her every inch of the way. Fight her for Juliano. That she’d made her bed and she was just going to have to lie in it.’
He went silent and Nat finished the story for him. ‘So she hared off in the car and crashed it?’
Alessandro nodded and her heart went out to him. She rose from the bed and went to his side, leaning her body in to him, pressing a kiss to his shoulder. ‘It wasn’t your fault, Alessandro.’
‘I know that. Rationally, I know that. But…’
Nat nodded, dropping another kiss in the same spot. ‘You’ve been beating yourself up about it anyway?’
Alessandro felt the warmth of her seep into him and he began to hope. ‘I looked on it as my punishment. For insisting on a marriage on paper only and then for keeping her in the marriage. A marriage neither of us wanted. If I’d only forgiven her and gone on from there. Tried to make a real go of it instead of drawing the battle lines right from the start. But I was proud and angry.’
‘It must have been hard.’
Yes, it had. But, then, a lot of it had been his doing.
‘So you see,’ he said, looking down at her, ‘I don’t deserve to have love, to find love. That’s why I fought these feelings for you for so long. Because this isn’t supposed to be my lot. And then I saw Juliano in bed with you yesterday. You were asleep and he was stroking your head and telling you he wanted you to be his mummy and he loved you and you murmured, “I love you too,” and I realised that right in front of me was my whole world. You and him.’
Nat didn’t remember Juliano being in bed with her but smiled at the picture Alessandro painted. Her heart started to beat crazily as his words sank in. She wanted to believe him. But she was burned and wary.
She looked up and captured his gaze. ‘I just can’t get her picture out of my head.’
‘I know. I should have told you earlier but I honestly didn’t notice the resemblance after being in your company for just a few seconds. You were obviously like chalk and cheese.’
He lifted a finger and stroked it down her face. ‘It’s you I want. And not because you look like Camilla. Because you’re Nat. Nathalie. Our Nat. Funny and down to earth and kind and generous and sexy, and you gave me back my son, you gave me back Juliano, and you opened my heart enough to see that maybe I do deserve a chance at love. Real love for the first time in my life.’
Nat’s chest bloomed with an outpouring of the love that she’d kept firmly in check since she’d blurted it out. ‘Of course you do, Alessandro. We all do.’
Alessandro saw the compassion in her gaze and dared to hope. ‘Does this mean I haven’t destroyed everything you felt for me?’ he asked.
She smiled up at him, her heart skipping in her chest. She slipped her palm up to cradle his cheek. ‘Of course not. I love you, Alessandro. I can’t turn that off and on. It’s a fact of life. It’s who I am.’
She raised herself up on tiptoe and pressed her mouth to his. ‘I will always love you.’
Alessandro grinned for the first time since he’d started talking. Then he picked her up, ignoring her squeal, and threw her in the centre of the mattress. ‘So you’ll stay,’ he said, climbing on the bed and lying beside her on his stomach, propped up on his elbows. ‘For ever and ever. And you’ll marry me and have brothers and sisters for Juliano?’
She put her arms around his neck. ‘Yes, I’ll stay. Yes, I’ll marry you. And, yes, I’ll have brothers and sisters for Juliano.’ She pulled him down to seal it with a kiss. ‘You want to start now?’
Alessandro grinned. ‘I thought we did that already.’
A noise at the door had them both breaking apart as Juliano eyed them. ‘Is Nat better now?’
Alessandro grinned at his son. ‘She sure is. And guess what?’ he said, gesturing Juliano over. He grabbed his son’s hand and pulled him onto the bed with them. ‘Nat’s staying. For ever.’
Juliano’s eyes grew large in his head as he looked from his father to Nat and back to his father. ‘Really? Are you going to be my mummy?’
Nat beamed at him. ‘Would you like that?’
‘Oh, yeah! That’d be the best thing ever,’ he said enthusiastically, bouncing up and down on his haunches.
Alessandro couldn’t have agreed more. ‘Well said, matey.’ He grinned as he grabbed Juliano and lifted him in the air above his head, tickling him with his fingers, boyish laughter filling the room.
Nat laughed too as Juliano giggled and begged his father to stop. She pinched herself. She was really a part of all this. She couldn’t remember every being this deliriously happy.
It couldn’t get any better than this.
But it did.
Valentino’s Pregnancy Bombshell
Extract from VALENTINO’S PREGNANCY BOMBSHELL:
Paige held up the test, barely keeping upright as the foundations of her world crashed all round her. ‘It’s positive.’
Valentino stared at the pink plus sign. It was a full minute before the information sank in. He was going to be a father. He smiled. And then he grinned. ‘This is the best news I’ve ever heard.’
Paige wasn’t similarly overcome. In fact, a huge block of emotion built in her chest till she thought she was going to pass out from the pressure of it. It stung her eyes and prickled in her nose. She sucked in a breath. ‘No, Valentino, it’s not. This is the worst possible news. You have no idea.’
And she burst into tears.
This book is dedicated to all those bionic ear pioneers who strived to give deaf people everywhere options they’d never had before.
Such achievements are totally inspiring.
Chapter One
PAIGE DONALD could feel Valentino Lombardi’s gaze on her from across the altar. Not even the beauty of the ceremony or the happiness in her heart for her friend, Natalie, could distract her from the intensity of it.
It caressed every inch of her body, making her even more self-conscious about what she was wearing.
The bridesmaid’s dress clung to non-existent curves. The hem grazed her knee and she suppressed the urge to yank it lower. This wasn’t her. This frothy, clingy, femme fatale dress with shoestring straps and low back.
Very. Low. Back.
The crimson creation didn’t say busy single working mother with a high-needs child who hasn’t slept an entire night through in three years.
It said Sexy. Flirty. Time for pleasure. It said the playground is open, come on in. And Valentino Lombardi, possibly the sexiest man she’d ever laid eyes on, probably the sexiest man in existence, looked like he wanted to be first to ride.
But she didn’t have time. Not for flirting. Or riding. Or pleasure. Or any of those trivialities. And especially not for a man who looked like he held a PhD in trivia. There were never enough hours in the day as it was.
There was just never enough time.
She had a sudden hankering for her faded grey trackpants and her favourite oversized T-shirt back in her wardrobe at home in Brisbane. Or better still her baggy blue scrubs. She didn’t like being this…on display. She felt awkward.
The heat from Valentino’s gaze radiated towards her and she slid him a mutinous back-off-buddy glance. It was one she’d perfected since Arnie had walked out on her and it usually stopped a man dead in his tracks. But Valentino just grinned and gave her a saucy wink.
Great! Please, God, don’t let me have to dodge this Italian Neanderthal all night.
‘Can I have the rings, please?’
Paige could have kissed the priest as Alessandro’s best man was given a job to do other than look at her. Unfortunately, though, his actions commanded the attention of the entire female population of the church, including her, and Paige found herself drinking in the way his exquisite suit pulled across broad shoulders and how the fine wool of his trousers outlined powerful quads and one very fine backside.
Very, ver
y fine.
He glanced at her as he stepped back into his place and his espresso eyes told her he knew exactly where hers had been. A smile touched his lips, beautiful lips that could have been carved by one of the masters. Except they were warm and vital.
Desirable. Kissable.
There was a frankness in his gaze that stopped the breath in her lungs. She searched for something more, beyond the promise of tonight. Something deeper. A connection. Something that told her he was interested in more than getting her between his sheets. But all she found was heat and sex and lust.
Totally superficial. Like the man.
Another flashy male. All sparkle, no substance.
Still, her heart skipped a beat and she sucked in a ragged breath.
Paige hit the ‘send’ button and placed her mobile on the table, drumming her fingers. Her gaze returned, yet again, to Valentino as he worked the room. She tried to ignore him and her steadily growing irritation as women almost swooned at his feet but the rich sound of his easy, frequent laughter made it impossible. It reached out from across the room as if he had physically caressed her, drawing her attention like a moth to flame.
Valentino Lombardi was not a man you could ignore. With his killer dimples, boyishly curly hair and Italian playboy charm, he was pure vice.
Paige’s phone vibrated and she reached for it, her pulse spiking.
McKenzie fine. Sleeping well. Stop worrying.
Paige’s fingers flew over the keypad. Apnoea mat on?
Alessandro laughed again and Paige drank the sight of him in as she pressed ‘send’. He threw his head back, giving the belly laugh its full freedom, and her gaze followed the bronzed length of his exposed neck peppered with dark stubble.
Another vibration dragged her eyes back to the table. Yes. Go and dance for crying out loud!
Paige smiled despite the gnawing, ever-present worry. She could almost hear her mother saying the words. But she’d never had a night away from her daughter. Frankly she didn’t know what to do with herself.
Don’t think I’ll stay the night. If I leave after cake can be home by midnight. ‘Send’.
Paige checked her watch, doing a quick calculation in her head. Yep. She could definitely make it home by then.
‘Everything okay?’
Paige glanced up into the bride’s face. Nat had fresh bluebells threaded into her blonde locks, which brought out the colour of her eyes and matched the crystal beading decorating the neckline of her ivory gown. Alessandro’s hand rested possessively on her shoulder and Paige felt a sudden yearning she couldn’t explain.
Why? She’d been where they were. Had the divorce to prove it. She certainly had no desire to do it again.
She smiled at her friend. ‘Just telling Mum I might not stay the night.’
‘Paige? No.’ Nat grabbed her hand. ‘Your parents have booked and paid for it. Including breakfast. Your mother would skin me alive if I let you leave.’ Nat squeezed Paige’s hand. ‘It’s just one night. Don’t you think it’s time you enjoyed a well-deserved break?’
Paige shied away from the earnestness of her friend’s expression. Everyone said that to her—you need a break, Paige. But she was a mother first and foremost and McKenzie needed her. That’s just the way it was. Nat would understand one day too.
The phone vibrated and Paige grabbed it, relieved to break eye contact with the bride. She opened the message and read it three times, a ghost of a smile touching her lips. She held it up to Nat.
Don’t. You. Dare.
Nat grinned. ‘Have I mentioned how much I like your mother?’
Paige rolled her eyes. ‘Okay, okay. I’ll stay.’
‘Good.’ Nat squeezed her hand. ‘The speeches are about to start.’
A deep laugh floated towards them and Nat looked across to where Valentino was chatting with some nurses from their work. ‘You should take a page out of Val’s book. He’s certainly having a good time.’
Paige felt her gaze drawing to him again. ‘Isn’t he just,’ she said dryly.
Nat sighed. ‘I tell you, if I wasn’t utterly besotted with Alessandro and was up for a brief fling, I’d be over there too.’
‘Hmm,’ Paige murmured noncommittally.
‘Do you know he used to date Adrianna de Luca?’
Paige gave her friend a mystified look. ‘Who?’
Nat rolled her eyes. ‘One of Italy’s top catwalk models.’
Of course he did. ‘Fancy that.’
‘They were in all the magazines last year.’
Paige hadn’t read a magazine in for ever. Or a book. Sunday newspapers were about her limit. ‘Of course they were.’ Her voice dripped with derision.
Nat regarded her friend seriously. ‘Not all men are like Arnie, Paige.’ She looked up as Valentino laughed again and poked her elbow into Paige’s ribs. ‘Come on, you have to admit, he’s a bit of a spunk.’
‘I hope you’re talking about me, il mio tesoro,’ Alessandro interrupted, nuzzling his new wife’s neck.
‘But of course.’ Nat smiled, turning to Alessandro, her lips poised to meet his as he lowered his head.
Paige felt a tug at her dress and was grateful for a reason to avoid the blissful clinch she knew was happening beside her. She looked down to see, Juliano, Alessandro’s four year old son.
‘Where’s McKenzie?’
Paige smiled at the boy. ‘Juliano, you look magnificent!’ He was dressed in a mini-tux and was the spitting image of his father.
With the boyishness and dimples of his father’s cousin.
Juliano stood a little higher. ‘Nat says I’m handsome.’
‘Nat is one hundred per cent right.’
Juliano beamed. ‘Is McKenzie sick?’
Paige shook her head, saddened that it was such a natural conclusion for Juliano to jump to. ‘No. She’s at home with her grandparents.’
Juliano’s face fell. ‘I wanted to ask her to dance.’
Paige’s heart just about melted and she pulled Juliano in for a big hug. ‘You are so sweet. I see you have your father’s charm.’ She glanced at Alessandro, who winked at her. ‘Another time, huh?’
Nat had wanted McKenzie to be her flower girl but Paige had declined. The truth was, crowds made Paige very nervous for her daughter. As an ex-prem with chronic lung disease and poor immunity, every single person was a potential source of infection, a silver bullet to McKenzie’s weak defences. It just wasn’t worth the risk.
‘Okay.’ Juliano nodded, squirming out of her embrace. ‘See ya,’ he chirped, and ducked away, heading for the dance floor.
Paige watched him, smiling even though her heart ached. What would she give for her daughter to be so ablebodied, so carefree? She returned her attention to her phone and replied to her mother’s text.
Promise you’ll ring if there’s a problem.
It took five seconds for the reply. I promise.
Paige texted back. Anything at all. No matter how trivial. She released the message into the ether and held on fast to the phone, tension tightening her stomach muscles.
She knew people thought she was too uptight about her daughter but what did they know? It was she who lived every day with the reality of McKenzie’s fragile health, not them. And one thing was for certain—being vigilant had kept McKenzie alive.
With the operation only a couple of months away now, Paige was determined to keep McKenzie healthy and avoid any more delays. It had been rescheduled three times already. No more.
The phone vibrated in her hand and Paige opened the message. I’m switching the phone off now. Go and have fun. That’s an order.
Paige smiled. She’d obviously stretched her mother’s patience enough for one night. Thank God for her parents. She would never have got through the past few years without them.
A tinkling of cutlery on glass cut through the low murmur and Paige turned to see Alessandro standing. She pushed all thoughts of the world outside the room aside, determined to follow her mother’s orde
rs, and motioned for the drinks waiter.
‘So,’ Valentino said, topping up Paige’s half-full glass with some more champagne, ‘I believe it is a custom in your country for the best man and the bridesmaid to dance the bridal waltz together.’
His voice was low and close to her ear and her body reacted as if he had suggested something much more risqué than a customary dance in front of a room full of people. It took all her willpower not to melt into a puddle. Not to turn her head and flirt like crazy.
Except it seemed like a million years ago now that she’d last flirted and she was pretty sure she didn’t have a clue how to go about it. And why she would choose to do so with a man who was all glamour and sparkle, after her experience with Arnie, was beyond her.
The bitter burn of memories was never far from reach.
‘That’s right,’ she said, refusing to look at him, focusing instead on the bubbles meandering to the surface of her champagne.
‘Eccellente. I’m looking forward to that.’
Well, that made one of them. The thought of them dancing, his arm around her practically bare back, their bodies close, was sending her heart into fibrillation. Sitting next to him at the table, aware of his every move, every breath, their arms occasionally brushing, his deep voice resonating through tense abdominal muscles, was bad enough. Being pressed along the magnificent tuxedoed length of him? Frankly it scared the hell out of her.
She felt gauche and unsophisticated and totally out of her depth next to his man-of-the-world, model-dating perfection.
What if she stuffed up the steps? Or trod on his foot?
What if she liked it too much?
‘You are worried your boyfriend will mind that we dance, yes?’
Valentino’s comment snapped her out of the vision of her clinging to him like some sort of groupie as he pressed kisses down her neck. She glanced at him, startled.
A big mistake.
