The Count's Christmas Baby

by Rebecca Winters

  Two of Ric’s bodyguards opened the doors to help her inside and deal with the luggage, including securing the car seat into place, with little Ric firmly settled into it. Their deference to him caused her to stare into his inky-black eyes once they were seated across from each other. The limo started moving. “Ric? What’s going on?”

  “We’re heading to the airport.” His deep voice oozed through her body, kindling her senses without her volition.

  “But in this?”

  “You’re not comfortable?” Behind his hooded gaze she thought he might be smiling in amusement.

  “That question doesn’t deserve an answer. Why did the driver address you as Excellency? I may not understand Italian, but I heard him distinctly, so don’t tell me I misunderstood. Are you an important government official?”

  He kissed the top of the baby’s head. Ric was still sound asleep. “My business is shipping, remember?”

  She expelled the breath she’d been holding. “You do a great deal more than that! Who are you? Please tell me the truth.” He could be a terrible tease, something she hadn’t expected. Though they’d shared the most intimate experience between two people, she knew next to nothing about him...except the most important thing.

  He was a man of character who’d welcomed his son without hesitation, even though he was engaged to be married. How many men would do that?

  “I’m Alberto Enrico Degenoli the thirteenth.”

  “All of your predecessors had the same name?”

  “Yes.”

  She made a sound that came out more like a squeal. “That’s very interesting, but I know you haven’t told me everything. When we were buried, you never said a word about any of this.”

  One black brow lifted. “You never mentioned you were a student or where you were enrolled. If you’d told me, I could have found you months ago.”

  If by those words he meant that their lives might be different, it was too late now! Her body trembled. “If you recall, we decided we shouldn’t talk much.”

  “True. Instead we communicated in a more fundamental way under the most death-defying circumstances. I believe making love in total blackness added a thrilling element that increased our pleasure, thus producing our son.”

  With those words, the memory of what had transpired caused her body to break out in feverish heat.

  “One day,” Ric continued, “he’ll be indebted to us for giving him life against those odds, don’t you agree? I know I’ll be undyingly grateful to you for taking such meticulous care of him in my absence, Sami.”

  Though she was warmed by his compliment, the implication that his absence was now over rocked her to the core. She’d heard the steel behind it. Chief Coretti had jumped the moment Ric had suggested he leave the room. His own office! Come to think of it, the police chief had been able to locate Ric immediately. On the verge of asking him one more time who he really was, Sami was distracted by the limo coming to a stop.

  “We’ve arrived,” he murmured. On cue the doors opened for them.

  She climbed out to see a gleaming green-and-white private jet with the word “Degenoli” printed in gold on the side with a logo of a mariner beneath it. Before she knew it, one of his staff escorted her to the jet with her luggage. She started up the steps with Ric right behind her holding the baby.

  The steward showed her to one of the posh white leather seats in the club compartment. Ric strapped the car seat into the seat between them, then settled the baby, who’d fallen asleep again. As soon as she sat down, the Fasten Seatbelts sign flashed on. Soon the engines started up and the jet began to taxi out to the runway.

  Though she knew she wasn’t living in a dream, the revelations of this day were still unreal to her. When she really thought about her and Ric being alone together again for a whole week, her body shivered with a barrage of new sensations.

  She should have phoned Pat in Reno to tell her everything, but Ric was like a force of nature. Everything had happened too fast. Now wasn’t the time to get into a conversation with her sister while Ric sat nearby, able to listen. But when they landed in Paphos and got settled, she’d make the call.

  Pat was in for the biggest surprise of her life. She would have fits when she heard Ric had a fiancée who still didn’t know about the baby.

  When the jet reached cruising speed and the seatbelt light went off, the steward served them a delicious pasta and chicken dinner accompanied by a sweet white wine. After Sami took a sip, Ric eyed her intently. “I take it you aren’t nursing.”

  Sami put the glass down. “I tried it, but my milk jaundiced him, so the pediatrician told me to put him on formula. He loves it at room temperature and has been a good eater from the beginning.”

  His gaze wandered back to the baby. “I noticed he drank every drop of his bottle back at the hotel. I’m eager to feed him when he wakes up again.”

  Little Ric must have heard his father’s voice because it wasn’t a minute before he opened his eyes and started making sounds. That was all Ric needed to release the baby from the seat and nestle him in his arms.

  Having finished her dinner, Sami got up and searched in the diaper bag for a new bottle of formula and a clean burping cloth. “It sounds like you’re hungry again, sweetheart.” She leaned over to kiss his cheeks before handing Ric the bottle. “Just put it in his mouth and he’ll do the rest.” On that note she placed the toweling cloth over his right shoulder, then sat down again.

  Ric laughed as he played with the baby before feeding him. When the steward came in, Ric lifted his son for the other man to look at. They both smiled and spoke in Italian before he took away their dishes.

  Sami could see Ric was a natural at being a father. She was the slightest bit jealous their baby seemed content for his daddy to do the honors, but it also touched her heart. Little Ric was wrapped up in his silky blue baby quilt with the white lace around the edge. He made a beautiful picture against his father’s tan jacket.

  No doubt he wore a custom-made suit produced for him by a famous Italian designer. When they’d clung to each other in the darkness, he’d been wearing a shirt. But whoever said that clothes made the man hadn’t met Ric.

  Whether in the light or the dark, he made the man.

  Stop thinking about him like this, Sami. He was about to be someone else’s husband.

  She felt his eyes flick to hers. “Our son is perfect.”

  Sami had been thinking the same thing about Ric. Out of all the men in the entire world, how had she happened to be caught in the same avalanche with him? “He reminds me of a baby prince in one of my old books of fairy tales.”

  “Not a prince,” Ric corrected her before kissing his son on the cheek. “A count.”

  She blinked.

  “The first Alberto Enrico Degenoli went to sea and amassed a fortune he brought back to Genoa. For that, the ruling power made him a count. Through various ventures in shipping, that fortune grew over the years. Our family history dates back to the thirteenth century.”

  Sami hadn’t thought she could be shocked a second time in one day. Now, when she thought about it, the gold seaman ornament on the hood of the limousine made sense, but too many revelations in just a few hours had her reeling.

  Her hands gripped the sides of the chair. Ric was literally Count Degenoli. In a few more weeks his fiancée would be Countess Degenoli. Good heavens!

  “When you had the baby, you didn’t realize you’d given birth to Alberto Enrico Degenoli the Fourteenth. He’s my firstborn son. By rights he should be the next count after me.”

  Sami understood what he meant. That honor would go to the son he and Eliana would produce. Little Ric could never be the next count because he was the illegitimate son.

  “After my father died, the title passed to me,” Ric continued in a conversational tone, “but the title means nothing in this day and age, so forget it, Sami. To his friends, our son will be Ric Argyle Degenoli.”

  The ramifications of what all this meant
made it hard for her to swallow. “Ric—I’m not naive. Knowing you’re a count means your engagement is of public importance. Any move on your part will produce a ripple effect with serious consequences.”

  “You’re right, but you agreed to come with me, so no one else knows yet. Later on we’ll talk everything over. For the present I intend to enjoy this time with you and our son. Can you let your reservations go that long?”

  Some nuance in his tone got to her. Sami bowed her head, attempting to come to grips with this latest revelation. She didn’t know if she could do what he asked. But when she tried to put herself in his shoes, she could understand why he needed emotional time away from responsibilities and duties to deal with being a brand-new father.

  “There’s no precedent for what has happened to us,” she admitted at last. “I’m sorry to keep fighting you on it. You’re right for reminding me I had the whole pregnancy to realize I was going to be a mother. You only found out this afternoon that you’re a father. I’ll try to control my anxiety for a few days.”

  In the silence that followed, he leaned forward and put his hand over hers. She felt heat travel up her arm and through her body. “That sounded like the woman who helped me get through those first horrifying moments when we figured our time was up.”

  Tears filled her eyes. “I’m so glad it wasn’t— Ric’s the sweetest, most wonderful thing that ever happened to me.”

  “We did good work, didn’t we?” he said in a husky voice before lifting his hand from hers.

  She half laughed. “Yes. My family and friends go crazy over him.” Pat had said more than once that the baby’s father had to be some kind of Italian god to have produced a child as handsome as Ricky. As Sami eyed Ric covertly, she thought she could tell her sister that Ric was more sensational than any statue. She had to remember that soon he’d be another woman’s husband.

  “Tell me something. Are you rich?” she teased with a smile.

  He kissed the top of Ric’s head. “That depends on one’s definition.”

  With a gloomy answer like that, he’d sidestepped the issue. Their son had a father like none other. “Is Eliana’s family rich?”

  A shadow crossed over his attractive face. “Yes.”

  Suddenly Ric did a loud burp and they both laughed hard. She was glad to see his father’s frown had disappeared. There was nothing like a baby to reduce everything else to the unimportant.

  “Forgive me for being curious. I’ve never known a count before.”

  “I don’t like to be reminded of it, Sami. It’s meaningless.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Not to the men who called you Excellency.”

  He grimaced. “Old habits die hard.”

  “I’m glad you told me how you feel. I’ll never make the mistake of calling you count. It will be up to you to tell Ric one day.”

  Sami heard his sharp intake of breath. “Since you’re his mother, I’m going to let you in on a secret no one knows about yet. After my father died, I took the steps to have the title officially abolished. I made it legally binding so that it can never be bestowed on anyone else again, which means Ric’s life is going to be free and his children after him.”

  She studied him anxiously. “Has it been such a burden?”

  He flashed her a bleak glance. “You’ll never know.”

  “Tell me about it.” Help me get my mind off the woman you love.

  “The title is always bestowed on the first male heir. It was all I heard about from the moment I can first remember. All the attention was focused on me—my education, my social life, my duties, my future wife. But my siblings were ignored.

  “Vito and Claudia were fixtures in the background of our lives. My brother became a shell of himself with no confidence or sense of accomplishment. Claudia was a girl and virtually forgotten in the scheme of things.

  “Every time I received an honor from my father, I flinched inside, knowing my brother and sister were left behind and in some cases forgotten.”

  “How awful,” Sami whispered.

  “You have no idea. It sickened me and I swore that the day I became count, I’d have the whole reign of terror obliterated. That day came after we buried our father.”

  Sami thought long and hard about what he’d just told her. Titles were still de rigeur in certain societies, but apparently Ric abhorred the whole idea of them so much, he’d taken steps to rid himself of his title. That took an unusual man with the strength of his own convictions. She admired him more than he would ever know.

  His siblings wouldn’t have believed at first that he could do such an extraordinary thing, but since he was still the count, he had the right to do as he pleased.

  Sami had to admit the title had a certain ring. She secretly treasured the knowledge that when they’d made love, another Count Degenoli had been conceived. A very little one. For the short time left, she could fantasize about how romantic it all sounded.

  But that was shameful of her when she knew how diabolical the system clearly was in Ric’s eyes. Since the drive to the airport, Sami had felt as though she was living in a fairy tale; she was the young maid—being spirited away by the handsome prince to live in his castle. But there were two important caveats to this tale.

  By Christmas Eve the spell would be broken and Sami and her baby would return to Nevada to get on with the rest of their lives. By New Year’s Day, Ric would be married.

  She sat up straighter in the chair. “What do you think Eliana will say when she finds out your title is gone?”

  His answer wasn’t a long time in coming. “She’ll have to handle it. That’s what she’s been raised to do.”

  “Not if it wasn’t her dream.” For no good reason, her heart rate accelerated. “When are you planning to let her know?”

  “As soon as I receive word. I expected to hear a week ago, but the courts are slower here than in the States.”

  “I didn’t know that was possible.”

  Another chuckle escaped his throat. “It’s my Christmas present to myself, but your gift trumps anything I could have conceived of in this world or the next.”

  “You can think of Ric as your Christmas baby.”

  “Our baby,” he corrected in a thick-toned voice before switching him to his other shoulder. She could see he was totally enamored by his son. Sami could relate. “I believe our little bimbo is sleepy.”

  “Bimbo?”

  “It’s another Italian endearment.”

  “That’s sweet,” she murmured. “He’s easy right now because all he basically does is eat and sleep. In another month everything will change.”

  Ric nuzzled the baby’s neck. “Did you hear that, figlio mio? How about we change your diaper before you sign out again?”

  Sami chuckled as she laid everything out for him. “I know the diaper looks tiny, but it does the job.” They smiled at each other before he got down to business. After a little too much powder, and a couple of tries to attach the tapes right, he’d managed to change their son’s diaper. “Bravo,” she exclaimed.

  He picked up the baby and eyed her over his head. “I’ll do better next time.”

  “I can’t tell you the number of times I put the diaper on the wrong way. Ric was so patient.”

  By tacit agreement they both sat down with Ric hugging the baby to his chest. “Tell me about the delivery. Were you in labor long?”

  “About eighteen hours.”

  His eyes grew serious. “Were you alone?”

  “No. My sister and her husband took turns staying with me. I owe them everything.”

  His jaw hardened. “I should have been there. Did you know you were going to have a son ahead of time?”

  Her lips curved. “Oh, yes. I called him Ric the second the technician handed me the ultrasound pictures. She told me I had a boy in there and everything looked great. I’ll admit I wished you’d been in the room to hear the news with me. While I lay there, I had this fanciful notion that maybe you were watching from above or
somehow knew, and I hoped it would make you happy.”

  “I think you know exactly how I felt when you handed me his birth certificate. It was the supreme moment of my life.” The throb in his voice gave evidence how deeply his emotions were involved.

  “Ric? Tell me the truth. Was the reason you looked for me because you wanted to know if you’d made me pregnant?”

  His gaze wandered over her. “No. To be honest, I was afraid you might have died in the hospital you were taken to. You could have lost consciousness the way I did and never come to. I had to be sure.”

  “Why?”

  “Because if you were alive, I wanted to meet you face-to-face. I wanted to understand why two strangers could connect the way we did. I thought if we talked, maybe I’d get answers to questions that have plagued me ever since.”

  She made an assenting sound. “I have the same questions, but am no nearer to an explanation. For us, it wasn’t a physical attraction in the literal sense of the word. Maybe you’ll think I’m crazy, but the only way I can describe it is that our spirits spoke to each other.”

  “Or recognized each other on some other level?” he inserted.

  “Yes, as if we were bidding each other a final farewell which we did with...our bodies.”

  “I’ve had the same thoughts, Sami. They’re not crazy.”

  “I’m glad you feel that way because I’ve gone over and over it in my mind and it’s the only conclusion that makes sense.” She stirred restlessly. “When I first got back to Oakland, I felt so empty inside. I knew you’d died and I felt this great loss. It alarmed me. It wasn’t just the fact that we’d made love. What we did wasn’t for the normal reasons. I mean—”

  “I know what you mean.” He read her mind with ease.

  “While we were trapped, I’d assumed we would die. The thought of getting pregnant never entered my consciousness.”

  “Nor mine,” he murmured. “The thought of using protection was the furthest thing from my mind.”

  “All we knew was that we were facing the end.”