“Ah huh.”
“Oh, God. I think I’m going to be sick.”
Benedetto stood, extending his hands to Cleopatra. She placed hers in them so he could pull her to standing. It wasn’t physically necessary. Her stomach, though rounded, was nowhere near what she expected it would be in three months, when their baby’s due date rolled around. Still, the contact filled her with warmth. His kiss turned warmth to flame.
“You’ll feel better when it’s over.”
She nodded. Surely he was right.
“Come on, Signora di Fiori. Let’s go say ‘hi’ to your brother.”
Her heart was in her throat the whole way to the front door, and once they reached it, anxiety spread through her body. But Benedetto, who always seemed to know exactly how she felt and what she needed, turned to her with a smile and before she could guess his intentions, pressed a firm kiss to her mouth.
Pleasure sparked in her belly, strong enough to push everything else from her mind for a moment, and then Benedetto drew the door inwards.
Standing on the other side of the door was a couple, elegant and beautiful and yet Cleopatra found herself warming to them immediately.
“Cleo?” The man – Vitalo Katrakis – stared at her for several long seconds, and she stared right back. They had the same eyes, but that was where the similarities ended.
“Hi,” the woman’s smile encompassed Benedetto and Cleopatra. “I’m Bella. Vitalo’s wife.”
Vitalo was still staring at Cleo. He blinked, shaking his head, a rueful smile sliding into place. “You are beautiful.”
And then, he was pulling her into his arms, the hug catching her off guard but somehow feeling completely, utterly right. This was her brother. Tears filled her eyes, happy tears, tears because of where she was in life, and who she had to fill her heart.
The afternoon passed in a blur. Once the initial meeting was over, they found there was no surfeit of things to discuss. From children to their lives, their parents, by the time Vitalo and Bella left, they’d made plans to meet the following week, with Freddie and their daughter in tow.
“Well, Cleopatra?” Benedetto pulled his wife to him, his eyes probing her face. He saw her tiredness and her radiance, her beauty and her goodness. He looked at her and saw the meaning to his life. “You are happy now?”
She smiled brightly. “I’m beyond happy. I honestly don’t know what I ever did to deserve this perfect, perfect life, but I will spend the rest of my days feeling blessed and grateful…”
He pressed a finger to her lips, silencing her, his eyes hooded. “It is I who am grateful and blessed.” He dropped is head lower, so his lips buzzed hers. She smiled against his mouth. “You deserve every thing that is good in this life, my beautiful, darling wife.” He lifted his head so she could see the truth in his eyes. “And I intend to make sure you have it.”
THE END
Dear Reader,
This is the final book of THE EVERMORE SERIES, which has six books, each so very dear to my heart. I have loved writing these books, loved telling these stories, and I’m so grateful to you for giving these characters life.
I hope you loved Cleopatra’s conclusion and that you were happy with Benedetto and Freddie’s part in her life. I’d be ever so grateful if you’d take a moment to give this book a quick ‘star’ rating over on Amazon, as that will help make sure this book, and the series, finds its way into the hearts of even more lovers of love.
And if you’re keen to stay in the loop about my upcoming releases, feel free to join the Clare Connelly Cartel over on facebook, or to join my mailing list (I send a newsletter every now and again, usually when there’s book news to share, or I’m running a give away, and definitely don’t share your details with anyone, ever).
Lots of love and happy reading, Clare x
Coming Soon
The Montebellos
Not your ordinary family…
Don’t miss ‘The Montebellos’, the exciting new seven book romance saga from Clare Connelly. Book One, REGRET ME NOT, will be released in July 2019 and you’re not going to want to miss it! Pre-order it for only 99c until July 15, 2019.
* * *
“You should have told me about him.” And despite the anger he’d thrown at her, the fury, the threats, her stomach looped because she felt what was at the root of everything he’d said and done: devastation.
He was devastated.
She sobbed, but he lifted a finger to her lips, and she gasped in surprise, the touch totally unexpected.
“Stop crying.”
She shook her head a little. “I can’t.”
His hands cupped her face then, holding her completely still, and her hands, now free, dropped to her side. “I will never forgive you for keeping my son away from me.”
His words were like acid and his touch was like silk. She couldn’t unravel how she was feeling.
“But it appears I cannot make the same decision you did. I will not push you out of his life.” Her heart turned over in her chest. “Yet.”
His thumb padded over her lower lip and her heart rabbited against her ribs for another reason now.
“You and Jack will move into my house.” The words were devoid of emotion. “For six months, you will live with me, to see if we can do it your way – and raise him together.”
Confusion filled her. Raise Jack with Fiero? In his house? “Like a family?”
His eyes flashed. “For Jack’s sake, yes, but you and I will remember the truth, Elodie. We will know what we think and feel, no matter how much effort we go to for the happiness of our son.”
His head dropped a little lower, his eyes scanning hers. “You will know that when I smile, it means nothing. That my anger and hatred for your decisions are still inside of me, weighing down on me with the pressure of every single day of Jack’s life I have missed.”
Tears filled her eyes once more.
“You will know, when we look at Jack and laugh, almost like real parents, that it’s a lie.”
Her lips parted on a gasp, or perhaps the start of a plea, a desire to make him stop talking like this. “And you will know that if I kiss you, Elodie, it is because of the same chemistry that drove us together that night, and nothing more. You will know that I will never like you as a person, that I will never forgive you for your decisions.” He stared at her for several long, anguished seconds. "I will never forgive you."
One wild night, with secret consequences...
It was a mistake. The sexiest night of her life, but still, a mistake. What else could it be? Billionaire Fiero Montebello wasn't the kind of man Elodie would ever get involved with. He was so completely off-limits. Except she had got involved with him. She fell for him, hook, line and sinker, and now she's a single mum, raising a little boy all on her own. A little boy with the same eyes and dimples as his father, a little boy who's a daily reminder of that one time she lost her mind and surrendered to sensual pleasure...
The call shocks him. A woman he slept with - once - and hasn't been able to forget, is in hospital and he's the 'emergency' contact. It doesn't make any sense, until the nurse presents the little boy he never knew he had. Fiero Montebello has been down the marriage and baby path before - with disastrous consequences - but now he's a father and there's no way he's not raising his son himself!
Even if that means bringing his son's mother home, too...
BOOK ONE in the seven-part series, THE MONTEBELLOS. Fall in love with these sexy, super-rich Italians. Not for the faint of heart!
Fiero Montebello is a serious alpha hero... with a heart of gold, of course! He's a guy who knows exactly what he wants and will stop at nothing to achieve it. REGRET ME NOT is a super-sexy, second-chance, secret-baby book with characters you'll fall in love with, heart-racing love scenes and one or two swears. You have been warned!
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About the Author
Clare Connelly is the internationally best-selling author of over seventy romance novels available digitally and in print, including novels in the Harlequin Presents/Mills & Boon Modern and Dare imprints.
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Happy reading!
Books By Clare Connelly
HARLEQUIN TITLES
Bought for the Billionaire’s Revenge
Innocent in the Billionaire’s Bed
Off Limits
Her Wedding Night Surrender
Burn Me Once
Bound by the Billionaire’s Vows
The Season to Sin
His Innocent Seduction
Bound by their Christmas Baby
Her Guilty Secret
Shock Heir for the King
The Greek’s Billion-Dollar Baby
Spaniard’s Baby of Revenge
The Bride Behind the Billion-Dollar Veil
Dare Continuity
Cross my Hart (Notorious Harts Bk 1)
SINGLE TITLES
Regret me Not
Her Guardian’s Christmas Seduction
Stolen by the Desert King
In the Hands of the Sheikh
His Nine Month Seduction
The Sheikh’s Contract Bride
Seduced by the Vengeful Tycoon
The Sheikh’s Stolen Bride
The Sheikh’s Secret Baby
The Sheikh’s Million Dollar Bride
The Tycoon’s Virgin Mistress
The Sheikh’s Virgin Hostage
Bartered to the Sheikh
The Sheikh’s Arranged Marriage
Marrying for his Royal Heir
The Greek’s Marriage Revenge
The Velasco Love Child
The Sultan’s Virgin Bride
Bound to the Sheikh
The Medici Mistress
His Loving Deception
The Sheikh’s Convenient Mistress
The Princess’s Forbidden Lover
Marrying her Enemy
Rakanti’s Indecent Proposition
Seducing the Spaniard
The Italian’s Innocent Bride
The Greek Tycoon’s Forbidden Affair
The Terms of their Affair
A Second Chance at Love
The Sheikh’s Christmas Mistress
At the Sheikh’s Command
The Billionaire’s Christmas Revenge
Seduced by the Italian Tycoon
Raising the Soldier’s Son
Warming the Sheikh’s Bed
The Tycoon’s Christmas Captive
The Brazilian’s Forgotten Lover
Betrayed by the CEO
The Billionaire’s Ruthless Revenge
The Italian Billionaire’s Betrayal
The Sultan’s Reluctant Princess
Love in the Fast Lane
Bought by the Sheikh
The Tycoon’s Summer Seduction
All She Wants for Christmas
One Night with the Sheikh
A Bed of Broken Promises
Tempted by the Billionaire
The Sheikh’s Christmas Wish
To the Highest Bidder
The Tycoon’s Secret Baby
Bedding His Innocent Mistress
The Sheikh’s Baby Bargain
The Greek’s Virgin Captive
The Sheikh’s Inherited Bride
Claiming His Secret Baby
Blackmailed by the Spaniard
Her Surprise Baby Christmas
COMPENDIUMS
Casacelli Brides
Mediterranean Tycoons
Desert Rulers
Billionaire Bad Boys
Too Hot to Handle
Desert Kings
Happily Ever After
The Darling Buds of May Café
Royal Weddings
The Evermore Series
The Evermore Series II: Books 4, 5 and 6 Page 51
