“But you couldn’t be that Ric. I wasn’t able to wake him. He died in my arms—”

“No, Sami,” he countered in a husky voice. “I’m right here.”

She was so staggered to hear him use her nickname she clutched the crib railing with both hands. A small cry escaped her lips.

“You’re Ric?” She shook her head, causing her hair to swish against her pale cheeks. “I—I can’t believe this is happening. I—”

The room started to swim. The next thing Sami knew, she found herself on the bed, with the man who’d made her pregnant leaning over her. He sat next to her with his hands on either side of her head.

“Stay quiet for a minute. You’ve had another shock.”

He spoke to her in the compassionate voice she remembered—exactly the way he’d done in the avalanche. With her eyes closed she could recall everything, and she was back there with him in spirit.

But the minute her eyelids fluttered open she saw a stranger staring down at her. In her psyche Sami knew he was Ric. But she couldn’t credit that the striking, almost forbidding male who’d swept past her at the police station was the same Ric who’d once given her his passion and the will to live.

Dear Reader,

Born at the foot of the Wasatch mountains, my family has always enjoyed winter sports in our Rockies, which rise ten thousand feet. In my travels to Europe I’ve also enjoyed the winter ski areas in the Alps. Perhaps there’s no place more breathtaking than Austria, where charming villages are tucked in at the base of the mountains, all covered in snow. Innsbruck is one of my favourite places.

When I read an article about an avalanche that swept through a street in one of those Austrian villages, killing five people, I shuddered. We’re familiar with avalanches in our Utah mountains too. The tragedy stayed in my mind and wouldn’t let me go until I’d written a novel about it.

When a man and a woman are trapped in a similar Austrian avalanche, their outcome beats the odds. I hope their story will thrill you.

Enjoy!

Rebecca Winters

About the Author

REBECCA WINTERS, whose family of four children has now swelled to include five beautiful grandchildren, lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, in the land of the Rocky Mountains. With canyons and high alpine meadows full of wild-flowers, she never runs out of places to explore. They, plus her favourite vacation spots in Europe, often end up as backgrounds for her romance novels, because writing is her passion, along with her family and church.

Rebecca loves to hear from readers. If you wish to e-mail her, please visit her website: www.cleanromances.com

The Count’s
Christmas Baby
Rebecca Winters

www.millsandboon.co.uk

To my darling son John, a wonderful husband and

father, who started skiing at four years of age and can

ski like a champion. His experience

and expertise both in the Utah and Colorado Rockies

have helped me to add authenticity

to the many mountain scenes in my books.

CHAPTER ONE

“PAT? It’s me.”

“Where are you?”

“At the Grand Savoia eating lunch in my room. You were right. It’s a lovely place with every amenity. Thanks for arranging everything for me.”

“You’re welcome. How my gorgeous baby nephew holding up?”

“He’s taking another nap right now, thank heaven. That’s giving me time to pick up where I left off last evening.”

“Couldn’t you have phoned me before you went to bed to tell me how things were going? Your text saying you’d arrived in Genoa was hardly informative. I waited all day yesterday expecting to hear more from you.”

“I’m sorry. After I reached the hotel, I began my search. But the telephone directory didn’t have the listing I was looking for. When I realized I wouldn’t find the answer there, I talked to the clerk at the front desk. He hooked me up with one of the chief phone operators who speaks English who was more than happy to help me.”

“Why?”

In spite of the seriousness of the situation, her suspicious sister made her laugh. “It’s a she, so you don’t need to worry I’m being hit on. When I told her my dilemma, she couldn’t have been nicer and tried to assist me any way she could. But by the time we got off the phone, I was too exhausted to call you.”

“That’s okay. So what’s your plan now?”

“That operator suggested I should call the police station. She gave me the number for the traveler’s assistance department. She said there’ll be someone on duty who speaks English. They’re used to getting calls from foreigners either stranded or in trouble and will help me. I’m going to do that as soon as I hang up from you.”

“And what if you still don’t have success?”

“Then I’ll fly home in the morning as planned and never think about it again.”

“I’m going to hold you to that. To be frank, I hope you’ve come to a dead end. Sometimes it’s better not to know what you don’t know. It could come back to bite you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just what I said. You might be walking into something you wish you could have avoided. Not all people are as nice and good as you are, Sami. I don’t want to see you hurt.”

“You’re not by any chance having one of your premonitions, are you?”

“No, but I can’t help my misgivings.” Pat sounded convinced Sami had come to Italy on a fool’s errand. Maybe she had.

“Tell you what. If he’s not in Genoa, then I’ll be on the next plane home.”

“I’m going to hold you to that. Forgive me if I don’t wish you luck. Before you go to bed tonight, call me. I don’t care what time it is. Okay?”

“Okay. Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

Sami hung up, wondering if her sister was right. Maybe she shouldn’t be searching for the grandfather of her baby. If she did find him, he might be so shocked to find out he was a grandfather, it could upset his world and make him ill. Possibly their meeting could turn so ugly, she’d wish she’d never left home.

That’s what worried Pat.

If Sami were being honest, it worried her, too. But as long as she’d come this far, she might as well go all the way. Then maybe she could end this chapter of her life and move on.

She looked at the number she’d written down on her pad and made the phone call. The man who answered switched to English after she said hello. “Yes?”

His peremptory response took her back. “Is this the traveler’s assistance department?”

“Yes—”

“I wonder if you could help me.”

“What is it you want?”

Whoa. “I’m trying to find a man named Alberto Degenoli who’s supposed to be living in Genoa, but he’s not listed in the city phone directory. I’ve come from the United States looking for him. I was hoping y—”

But she stopped talking because the man, whom she’d thought was listening, was suddenly talking to another man in rapid Italian. Soon there was a third voice. Their conversation went on for at least a minute before the first man said, “Please spell the name for me.”

When she did his bidding, more unintelligible Italian followed in the background. Finally, “You come to the station and ask for Chief Coretti.”

Chief?

“You mean now?”

“Of course.” The line went dead.

She blinked at his bizarre phone manners, but at least he hadn’t turned her away. That had to account for something.

Next she phoned the front desk and asked them to send up the hotel’s childminder. Sami had interviewed the qualified nurse yesterday and felt good about her. While she waited for her to come, she refreshed her makeup and slipped on her suit jacket.

Only four people knew the private cell phone number of Count Alberto Enrico Degenoli. When the phone rang, Ric assumed it was his fiancée, Eliana, calling again to dissuade him from leaving on a business trip in a few minutes. She was her father’s puppet after all.

Now that Ric was about to become the son-in-law of one of the wealthiest industrialists in Italy, her father expected to control every portion of Ric’s life, too. But Ric had crucial private business on Cyprus no one knew about, and it had to be transacted before the wedding.

Love had no part of this marriage and Eliana knew it. The coming nuptials were all about money. However, once they exchanged vows, he planned to do his part to make the marriage work. But until Christmas Eve, his time and business were his own concern and his future father-in-law couldn’t do anything to stop him.

When he glanced away from his office computer screen long enough to check the caller ID, he discovered it was his private secretary phoning from the palazzo.

He clicked on. “Mario?”

“Forgive the interruption, Excellency.” The older man had been in the service of the Degenoli family as private secretary for thirty-five years. But he was old-fashioned and insisted on being more formal with Ric now that Ric held the title. “Chief of Police Coretti just called the palace requesting to speak to you. He says it’s extremely urgent, but refused to tell me the details. You’re to call him back on his private line.”

That would have irked Mario, who’d been privy to virtually everything in Ric’s life. In all honesty, the chief’s secrecy alarmed even Ric, whose concern over the reason for the call could touch on more tragedy and sorrow for their family. They’d had enough for several lifetimes.

“Give me the number.”

After writing it down, he thanked Mario, then clicked off and made the call. “Signor Coretti? It’s Enrico Degenoli. What can I do for you?”

He hadn’t talked to the chief since the funeral for his father, who’d died in an avalanche in January. The chief had been among the dignitaries in Genoa who’d met the plane carrying his father’s body. The memories of what had happened that weekend in Austria would always haunt Ric and had changed the course of his life.

“Forgive me for interrupting you, but there’s a very attractive American woman in my office just in from the States who’s looking for an Alberto Degenoli from Genoa.”

At first his heart leaped at the news, then as quickly fizzled. If this American woman had been looking for him, she would have told the police chief she was looking for a man named Ric Degenoli.

Ric and his father bore the same names, but his father had gone by Alberto, and Ric went by Enrico. Only his siblings ever called him Ric. And the woman who’d been caught with him in the avalanche.

“Does she know my father died?”

“If she does, she has said nothing. To be frank, it’s my opinion she’s here on a fishing expedition, if you know what I mean.” He cleared his throat. “She’s hoping I can find him for her because she says it’s a matter of life and death,” he added in a quiet voice.

What?

“Since she’s being suspiciously secretive, I thought I should let you know before I told her anything.”

The intimation that this could be something of a delicate nature alarmed Ric in a brand-new way. He shot out of his leather chair in reaction. Up to now he’d done everything possible to protect his family from scandal.

Unfortunately he hadn’t been able to control his father’s past actions. No matter that Ric was a Degenoli, he and his father had differed in such fundamental ways, including the looks he’d inherited from his mother, that the average person wouldn’t have known they were father and son.

One of Ric’s greatest fears was that his father’s weakness for women would catch up with him in ways he didn’t want to think about. With his own marriage coming up on New Year’s Day, it was imperative nothing go wrong at this late date. Too much was riding on it.

His father had been dead less than a year. It wasn’t a secret he’d been with several women since Ric’s mother’s sudden and unexpected death from pneumonia sixteen months ago. He recalled his mother once confiding to him that even if his father were penniless, he would always be attractive to women and she had overlooked his wandering eye.

Ric couldn’t be that generous. If the woman in Coretti’s office thought she could blackmail their family or insist she had some claim on his deceased father’s legacy, then she hadn’t met Ric and was deluding herself. “What’s her name?”

“Christine Argyle.”

The name meant nothing to him. “Is she married? Single?”

“I don’t know. Her passport didn’t indicate one way or the other, but she wasn’t wearing a ring. She called the traveler’s aid department and they turned it over to me. At first I thought this must be some sort of outlandish prank, but she’s not backing down. Since this is about your father, I thought I’d better phone you and learn your wishes before I tell her I can’t help her and order her off the premises.”

“Thank you for handling this with diplomacy,” Ric said in a level voice, but his anger boiled beneath the surface. To go straight to Genoa’s chief of police to get his attention was a clever tactic on her part. She wouldn’t have taken that kind of a risk unless she thought she had something on Ric’s father that the family wouldn’t like made public. How convenient and predictable.

She’d probably met Alberto at a business party last fall when he’d decided he didn’t want to be in mourning any longer. More often than not those dinners involved private gambling parties. Many of them were hosted for foreign VIPs on board one of the yachts anchored in the harbor where the police had no jurisdiction.

There’d be plenty of available women, including American starlets, to please every appetite. But it would be catastrophic if this last fling of his father’s was the one that couldn’t be hushed up and resulted in embarrassing the family morally and financially.

Not if Ric could help it!

Anything leaked to the press now could affect Ric’s future plans in ways he didn’t even want to think about. He saw red. Before the wedding, the negotiations in Cyprus had to go through as planned to safeguard his deceased mother’s assets so Eliana’s father couldn’t get his hands on them. Ric refused to let anything get in the way.

“Per favore—keep her in your office until I get there. Don’t use my title in front of her. Simply introduce me as Signor Alberto Degenoli and I’ll go from there.” This woman wouldn’t have gotten involved with his father if he hadn’t had a title, but Ric intended to play along with her ruse until he’d exposed her for a grasping opportunist.

“Understood. She went out for a while, but she’ll be calling me in a few minutes. If you’re coming now, I’ll let her know you’re on your way.”

His thoughts were reeling. “Say nothing about this to anyone.”

“Surely you don’t question my loyalty to the House of Degenoli?”

“No,” Ric muttered, furrowing his hair absently with his fingers. He stared blindly out the window of the Degenoli Shipping Lines office. For well on 150 years it had overlooked the port of Genoa, Italy’s most important port city. “Forgive me, but when it comes to my family …”

“I understand. You know you can rely on my discretion.”

“Grazie.” Ric’s voice grated before he hung up.

Whatever was going on, Ric didn’t want wind of this to reach his siblings. Claudia and Vito lived with enough pain and didn’t need to take on more, especially with Christmas only a week away. It was absolutely essential this be kept secret.

After he told his driver to meet him in the side alley, he rang security to follow them and left the office with his bodyguards. He needed to take care of this matter now, before he left for the airport.

For the second time today, Sami paid the taxi driver and got out in front of the main police station in Genoa with trepidation. The police chief had told her one of his staff had found the number of the man she was looking for and had contacted him.

It was a miracle! She couldn’t have done it without the phone operator’s help. After searching for Alberto Degenoli without success, she’d almost given up hope.

No telling what would happen at this meeting, but she had to go through with it for her baby’s sake. His existence would come as a total surprise to Mr. Degenoli, but her son deserved to know about his father’s side of the family.

Of course, the baby was too little to know anything yet. It was up to Sami to introduce them and lay a foundation for the future, if Mr. Degenoli wanted a relationship. If not, then she’d go back to Reno and raise him without feeling any attendant guilt that she hadn’t done all she could do to unite them.

Once through the doors, she realized it was just as busy at four o’clock as it had been earlier. Besides people and staff, it was filled with cigarette smoke, irritating her eyes and nose. The nativity scene set up on a table in the foyer reminded her how close it was to Christmas and she’d done nothing to get ready for it yet. But she’d had something much more important on her mind before leaving Reno than the upcoming holidays.

Having been in the building earlier, she knew where to go. She’d just started to make her way down the hall when a man strode swiftly past her and rounded a corner at the end. He was a tall male, elegantly dressed in a tan suit and tie. Maybe he was in his mid-thirties. For want of a better word, he left an impression of power and importance that appeared unconscious and seemed to come as naturally to him as breathing.

Sami passed several men and policemen who eyed her in masculine appreciation before she turned the corner and entered the reception area of the police chief’s office. With the exception of the uniformed male receptionist she’d met before, the room was empty. Where had the other man gone?

After she sat down, the receptionist picked up the phone, presumably to let the chief know she’d arrived. Once he’d hung up, he told her she could go in. After removing a few blond hairs from the sleeve of her navy blazer, Sami thanked him and opened the door to the inner office.

To her shock, the stranger who’d passed her in the hall moments ago was standing near the chief’s desk talking to him. Obviously the chief of police was busy, so she didn’t understand why his secretary had told her she could go in.

At a glance she took in the other man’s lean, powerful physique. Her gaze quickly traveled to the lines of experience etched around his eyes and mouth. Maybe she was mistaken, but beneath his black brows, those dark eyes pierced hers with hostility after he’d turned in her direction. That wasn’t a reaction she was used to receiving from the opposite sex.

Of medium height, she had to look up to him. His unique male beauty fascinated her, especially his widow’s peak formed by hair black as midnight. Swept back like that, it brought his Mediterranean features and gorgeous olive skin into prominence.

The chief spoke in heavily accented English, drawing her attention away from the stranger. “Signorina, may I present Signor Alberto Degenoli.”

Sami’s spirits plunged. This isn’t the man I’m looking for. But perhaps he is a relative? “How do you do?” she murmured, shaking the hand of the striking Italian male who’d extended his. He had a strong, firm grip, like the man himself.

“How do you do, Signorina?” His polished English was impeccable with barely a whisper of accent. But it was the depth of his voice that sent a curious shiver through her body, recalling an echo from the past. Maybe she was mistaken, but she thought she’d heard that voice before.

But that was crazy. They’d never met.

“You’ve gone pale, Signorina. Are you all right?”

“Yes—” Sami gripped the back of the nearest chair. “I-it’s just that you’re not the person I’m looking for and I’m disappointed,” she stammered before gazing at him again. “You have his name, but you’re … too young. Obviously there’s more than one Alberto Degenoli living in Genoa.”

He shook his head. “No. There’s only one.”

“You mean you?”

“That’s right.”

“Perhaps instead of Genova, you meant Geneva in Switzerland, Signorina,” the chief inserted. “Many Americans become confused by the two similar spellings.”

She frowned. “Possibly I misunderstood. Mr. Degenoli’s in shipping.”

“So are others on Lake Geneva.”

“But he’s Italian.”

“Thousands of Italians live in Switzerland.”

“Yes. I know.” Maybe because of the differences in pronunciation, she’d gotten the name of the city wrong. How odd. All this time … “Thank you for the suggestion.” She looked at Mr. Degenoli. “I’m so sorry you’ve made this trip to the police station for nothing. I’ve put both of you out. Please forgive me.”

“Perhaps if you gave me a clearer description of him?”

“Well, he’d probably be in his sixties. I’m not sure. I feel terrible about this. Thank you for coming here on such short notice.” She glanced at Chief Coretti. “Please excuse me for taking up your time. You’ve been very kind. I’ll leave now so you can get on with your work.”

At her comment, he squinted at her. “You sounded desperate when you came to me, Signorina. Therefore I will leave you to get better acquainted with this gentleman you’ve inconvenienced, and the two of you can discuss … business.”

Business? “What on earth do you mean?”

“Surely you’re not that naive?” the chief replied.

Upset by the distasteful insinuation, she felt heat rush to her cheeks. “You’ve evidently questioned my motives, but whatever you’re thinking, you’d be wrong—” she blurted. At this point she felt oddly reluctant to be left alone with the intimidating stranger studying her with relentless scrutiny. “I haven’t found the person I’m looking for, so there’s no point in this going any further. I truly am sorry to have caused either of you any inconvenience.”

Chief Coretti gave her a nasty smile. “What is going on, Signorina? You said it was a matter of life and death.”

“It is.” She hated the tremor in her voice.

He threw up his hands. “So explain!”

“I know I’ve been secretive, but I’m trying to make this inquiry as discreetly as possible to protect all concerned. When my other searches failed yesterday, I came to you for answers and hoped nobody would get hurt in the process. But the fact remains I’m looking for an older gentleman. I suppose he could even be in his early seventies.”

Time seemed suspended as Mr. Degenoli swallowed her up with those jet-black eyes of his. “Signor Coretti—if you’d be so kind as to leave us alone for a moment.”

“Of course.”

After he left, the room grew silent as a tomb except for the thudding of her heart. It wouldn’t surprise her if the stranger could hear it.

His lips twisted unpleasantly before he moved closer. “You’ve been secretive long enough. I’d like to see your passport.” Sami had the strongest conviction he was curious about her, too. At this point she knew she’d heard his voice before. But where? When she’d come to Europe a year ago, she hadn’t visited Italy.

While she rummaged in her purse, her mind was searching to remember. He stood there waiting, larger than life with an air of authority much more commanding than any police chief’s. She handed the passport to him. After he read the information, he gave it back.

“I’ve never heard of you.” His eyes glittered with barely suppressed anger. “The Alberto Degenoli I believe you’re looking for is no longer alive, but I think you already knew that. How well did you know him?” he demanded.

Ah. Now she understood the police chief’s earlier remark about “business.” Both men assumed she’d been involved with the man she was looking for. Sami lifted her head. “I didn’t know him at all. In fact I never met him, but I’d h-hoped to,” she stammered. Sadness overwhelmed her to realize she’d come to Italy for nothing.

“What did this man mean to you?”

Wouldn’t he just love to know, but he’d be so wrong! She took a fortifying breath. “Since he’s dead … nothing.”

“How did you hear of him?”

Sami had heard of him through his son, but he was dead, too. If this man was the only living Degenoli in Genoa, then what the chief of police had said was probably true. She should fly to Geneva to start her search there before flying home.

“It no longer matters.” She tried to swallow, but the sudden swelling in her throat made it difficult. “Forgive me for bothering you.” She spun around and made a quick exit.

As she flew down the hall to the entrance of the police station, she suddenly realized what had been bothering her. The man she’d just left had the same kind of voice as her baby’s deceased father. That’s why it had sounded so familiar and disturbing … except for one thing.

This man didn’t have that tender, caring quality in his voice. His tone and manner had been borderline accusatory. Her body gave a shudder before she stepped into the first taxi in the line-up in front of the building.

Ric had caught only a glimpse of tear-filled green eyes before she dashed from Coretti’s office. Could there be two American women in existence who sounded that identical? He supposed the coincidence was possible, since he’d never seen this woman in his life.

For months he’d looked for the woman he’d been trapped in the snow with, hoping she would come looking for him, but by summer he’d decided she must have died in that avalanche.

He closed his eyes for a moment, remembering the way this woman’s husky voice had trembled. Much as he hated to admit it, a part of him had felt her emotion was genuine. The classic features of her pale blond beauty, so different from his own countrywomen, already bothered him in ways he was reluctant to admit.

But great as her acting had been, Ric was convinced Signorina Argyle had lied to him, or at least hadn’t told him the whole truth. Whatever her secret, he was determined to find it out.

Running on pure adrenaline at this point, he buzzed Carlo, his head of security, and told him to follow the twenty-six-year-old blonde American woman leaving the police station. When she reached her destination, he wanted to know exactly where she went from there, so he could arrange a private meeting.

Now hadn’t been the time to stop her. The conversation he intended to have with her needed to be someplace where they could be strictly alone with no chance of anyone else walking in on them.

With his visit to the chief’s office accomplished, he went out to the limo. Within a few minutes he learned she was booked in at the Grand Savoia—one of the best, if not the best hotel in Genoa. It was expensive any time, but especially over the holidays. He told the driver to take him there. Carlo indicated Ric would find her on the third floor, to the right of the elevator, four doors down on the left.

Before long he alighted from the limo and entered the hotel. Deciding to take her by surprise, he dispensed with the idea of phoning her and took the stairs two at a time to her floor. When he reached her door, he knocked loudly enough for her to hear.

“Signorina Argyle? It’s Signor Degenoli. We need to talk.” He got no response, so he decided to try a different tactic. “Why were you trying to find Alberto? I would like to help you if you’d let me.”

Carlo had told him she’d gone into her room and hadn’t come out again, but she might be showering. He gave her another minute, then knocked again. “Signorina?”

A few seconds later the door opened as wide as the little chain would allow. He saw those green eyes lifted to him in consternation, but they were red-rimmed. By the look of it, she’d been crying. That much was genuine.

The champagne-gold of her collar-length hair gleamed in the hall light. She’d discarded her jacket. From the little he could see, a curvaceous figure was revealed beneath the silky white blouse she’d tucked in at the waist of her navy skirt. Every inch of her face and body appealed strongly to him.

“I didn’t realize the police chief had had me followed.” The natural shape of her mouth had a voluptuous flare he’d noticed back at the station. But right now it was drawn tight. She hugged the door, as if she didn’t trust him not to break in on her.

Ric lounged against the wall. “Don’t blame him. I asked one of my men to keep an eye on you until I could catch up with you.”

“Your men?”

“My bodyguards. If you’ll invite me inside, I’ll be happy to explain.”

A delicate frown marred her features. “I’m sorry, Mr. Degenoli, but as I said at the station, there’s nothing more to discuss and I have other plans.”

“As do I.” He was already late leaving for Cyprus. “But we have unfinished business,” he rapped out. To his disgust, he wondered what her exact plans were. Deep inside, his gut twisted to think that he could be this intensely attracted to a stranger. His interest in her made no sense, but the sound of her voice and the way she talked still played with his senses.

A sound of exasperation escaped her lips. “Please believe me when I tell you how badly I feel that you were called into the police station for nothing. If you’d like me to pay you for the inconvenience, I could give you fifty dollars to cover the gas money. It’s all I can spare.”

If that were true, then she’d chosen too expensive a hotel to stay in. “I don’t want your money. To be frank, I knew you were upset when you left the station.” He cocked his head. “I can tell you’ve been crying. Now that we don’t have Chief Coretti for an audience, you can speak freely with me.”

“I probably could, but there’d be no point.” She wiped her eyes with the back of her hands. “I’ve come to the end of my search. I have to say goodbye now.”

There was no question in his mind she was holding back something vital. He put his foot in the door so she couldn’t close it. “Not until I get more answers. For one thing—” He only got that far because he heard a baby fussing. The sounds came from the other side of the door. I knew it!

“Not so fast.” Ric put his weight against the door so she couldn’t shut it on him. “Whose baby is it?”

“Mine.”

“And Alberto’s?” With his mind firing, all Ric could think was that his father had made love to this woman and she’d come to present him with the fruit of that union, but it was too late.

“No—” she cried.

“Then prove it to me.”

CHAPTER TWO

IN HER mind Sami could hear Pat’s dire warning, but she hadn’t heeded it.

This situation had hit rock bottom and was exactly what she’d hoped to avoid, but this man wouldn’t let it go and had followed her to the hotel. Since she’d started this, she decided that if she didn’t want to deal with Chief Coretti again, she’d better let him in.

After undoing the chain, she hurried across the room to the crib. Once she’d picked up the baby, she cuddled him against her shoulder in a protective gesture. Kissing him, she said, “You heard noises and they frightened you, didn’t they, sweetheart? Don’t worry. It’s okay.” She flicked Mr. Degenoli a curious glance. “Our visitor will be leaving soon.”

The arresting-looking Italian had already come inside the room and locked the door behind him. She shivered a little as he drew closer to look at her baby.

Sami decided this Mr. Degenoli had to be a relative of her baby’s father. That’s why his voice sounded so familiar to her. Back at the station he’d been as cagey as she’d tried to be in her effort to protect people and reputations, even to the extent of possibly lying about his name, but with both father and son dead, there was no worry now. The only thing to do was answer his questions, then go home to Reno in the morning.

“Excuse me while I change him.” Reaching for a towel, she spread it on top of the bed and put the baby down.

“Where did you leave him while you were at the police station?”

Sami undid the baby’s stretchy blue suit. “Here, of course. Don’t you know the last place for a baby was that smoke-filled building? This hotel happens to have an outstanding child-minding service.” Sami’s sister had made the reservation for her. “That’s the reason I booked in here. They sent a qualified nurse to watch over him while I went to the police station.”

He didn’t look as if he believed her. “I didn’t kidnap him. If you’re so skeptical, call the front desk and ask them yourself. They’ll verify who I am.”

At this point his eyes were riveted on the baby. “How old is he?”

Sami used the baby wipes and discarded everything in a plastic bag. After powdering him, she slipped him into a fresh diaper. “Two months, but that information wouldn’t have any relevance for you. I couldn’t bring him to Genoa to meet his grandfather before now.”

“Grandfather—”

“Yes. Why do you seem so shocked? Most children have them. I’m heartbroken that my son is never going to know him or … his father.” Her voice faltered.

She kissed the soft baby hair that was dark and too beautiful for a boy. His handsome face was all flushed, but he stopped crying long enough to notice the intruder who was thoroughly inspecting him.

After fastening the snaps on the stretchy suit, she wrapped him in his quilt and picked him up to snuggle him. “I think you’re ready for your dinner, young man.” She walked over to the dresser for a fresh bottle of ready-mixed formula and sat down on a chair to feed him.

“Your voice sounds familiar to me, Signorina.”

So she wasn’t the only one imagining their connection. “Yours does to me, too. Strange, isn’t it, when I know we’ve never met?”

His dark brows furrowed. “More than strange. Were you in Europe on holiday recently?”

“Not for close to a year, but I’ve traveled to Europe before.”

“I’d like to see your passport again.”

“Let me feed my son first, then I’ll get it for you.”

He was a good little eater, but he’d been awakened before his nap had been over and was ready to go back to sleep. She burped him, then put him back in the crib and covered him with the quilt.

Aware of Mr. Degenoli’s eyes watching her every move, she walked over to the dresser and pulled the passport from her purse. “In case you were wondering, I applied for this passport several years before my baby was born.”

Her visitor took it from her and studied the pages with the various entry stamps. “This last one dated in January says you visited Austria—”

“Yes.”

“Where in Austria?” The inflexible male sounded in deadly earnest.

“Innsbruck.”

At the mention of it, his complexion took on a definite pallor. “Why that town?”

“Because my sister and her husband own a travel agency, and I was checking out some hotels for them there and in the surrounding areas. They’re always looking for new places to book their clients into.”

Mr. Degenoli appeared so shaken, she decided to end their inane question-and-answer session. Without hesitation she reached for her purse and pulled out a brown envelope. “Here—” Sami handed it to him. “I brought this to show my baby’s grandfather. It will explain everything.”

He eyed her suspiciously before he opened it and pulled out the birth certificate.

“As you can see there, I named my baby Ric, after his daddy. Ric Argyle Degenoli. You see, b-both Ric and his father, Alberto, were caught up in the same avalanche I was buried in last January.” Her voice faltered. “I assume Alberto was a relative of yours. Maybe your uncle?”

Her uninvited guest didn’t make a sound. It led her to believe he was finally listening to her. “I’d just stopped in one of the hotels for a minute to check it out and get a hot drink in the dining room. As I was about to go outside again to do a little sightseeing, the avalanche swept through the three-story hotel like a supersonic freight train.

“Ric and I were entombed for several hours. I knew he’d died before I lost total consciousness, but until you told me at the police station, I didn’t realize Alberto had been killed, too.

“After I woke up in a clinic, I assumed Ric’s father had survived, because only one male victim named Degenoli was listed among the fatalities. That was Ric, of course. His father must have died later from his injuries, after the list was put out.”

Sami couldn’t stop the tears from spurting. “It was a nightmarish time. My sister came to Innsbruck to get me and fly home with me. I didn’t realize until six weeks later that I was pregnant. At that point I determined that one day I’d look up Alberto and let him know he had a grandchild. But as you’ve let me know, this trip was in vain.”

The man listening to her story had gone eerily quiet.

“My sister calls my son Ricky, but I love the Italian version. I named him after his heroic father to honor him.”

“Heroic?” he questioned in a gravelly voice.

“Yes. One day when Ric is old enough, I’ll tell him how courageous his father was.”

“In what way?”

“You would have to have been there to understand. Ric was an amazing man. After the snow buried us, he kept me from losing my mind. You see, I suffer from claustrophobia. You can’t imagine what being trapped did to me. I wouldn’t be alive if it hadn’t been for him.

“We were total strangers sealed in a black tomb together We heard each other moan, but had no idea what the other one looked like. I know I was on the verge of a heart attack when he started talking to me and urged me to relax, because he believed we’d get out of there if we didn’t panic. He pointed out that by some miracle, we were trapped by beams that kept the whole weight from falling on us, providing us a pocket of air and room to wiggle.

“At first I thought I was dead and that he was an angel the way he took care of me and never let me panic. But when he reached for me and held me in his arms, promising me we’d be all right, I knew he was mortal.

“His only thought was to protect me. At first his kisses on my cheek held back my terror. I returned them, needing his comfort while we lay there slowly suffocating. We talked a little. He told me he’d just come from a wedding with his father, Alberto. I explained I was on a trip, but we didn’t go into details.

“As time went on and no help came, we realized we were going to die. At that point we drew warmth and comfort from each other’s bodies.” She took a fortifying breath. “We made love. It happened so naturally, it was like a dream. Then I heard a shifting sound. The next thing I knew a piece of wood had pierced his forehead.”

A sob caught in her throat. “It knocked him unconscious and his warm blood spilled over both of us. I couldn’t get a pulse and knew he was gone. When I woke up in a clinic, the last thing I remembered was that he’d died in my arms.

“We’d been literally tossed together with the broken walls and furniture in the darkness of a catastrophic avalanche that hit the hotel. But for the time we were together, hanging on to life because we knew they were our last moments on this earth, I felt closer to him than to anyone I’ve ever known.

“When I look at my adorable Ric, I know I’m seeing his father. My only hope now is to raise him to measure up to the great man who gave him life. I know he was a great man because he was so selfless in the face of terror. He never once thought of himself, only of me. So now I hope that explanation answers your questions, Mr. Degenoli.”

She stared at the tall figure still standing there. His face had gone ashen. The birth certificate had fallen to the floor. How odd he’d left it there …

“If you still don’t believe me, then I don’t know what more I can say to convince you. Maybe now you’d answer a question for me. Was Alberto your uncle?”

“No,” he answered in a voice as deep as a cavern. “He was my father.”

“Chief Coretti introduced you as Alberto, but that really isn’t your name, is it? He did it to protect you. I can understand that.”

He moved closer to her. “Let me explain this another way. My father was christened Alberto Enrico Degenoli, and was called Alberto. I was also christened Alberto Enrico Degenoli, but I go by Enrico. However my immediate family calls me … Ric.”

As Sami stared at him, the world tilted.

“But you couldn’t be that Ric. I wasn’t able to waken him. He died in my arms—”

“No, Sami,” he countered in a husky voice. “I’m right here.”

She was so staggered to hear him use her nickname, she clutched the crib railing with both hands. A small cry escaped her lips. “You’re Ric?” She shook her head, causing her hair to swish against her pale cheeks. “I—I can’t believe this is happening. I—”

The room started to swim. The next thing Sami knew, she found herself on the bed with the man who’d made her pregnant leaning over her. He sat next to her with his hands on either side of her head. “Stay quiet for a minute. You’ve had another shock.”

He spoke to her in the compassionate voice she remembered—exactly the way he’d done in the avalanche. With her eyes closed, she could recall everything and was back there with him in spirit.

But the minute her eyelids fluttered open, she saw a stranger staring down at her. In her psyche Sami knew he was Ric. But she couldn’t credit that the striking, almost forbidding male who’d swept past her at the police station was the same Ric who’d once given her his passion and the will to live.

Sami’s hair spilled onto Ric’s fingers. If he closed his eyes, he could recall the same silky mane he’d played with in the darkness. The strands had been as fragrant as every part of her face and body. It was the same now, but at the time he’d had no idea its coloring resembled spun gossamer.

Still noticing her pallor, he got up from the bed to get her a cup of water. When he returned from the bathroom, she sat up. He handed it to her and she drank thirstily. “Thank you,” she whispered in a tremulous voice before lying back again like a spent flower.

Ric put the empty cup on the side table, then sank down next to her once more. “Our survival was a miracle,” he began.

“Yes. I’m still trying to deal with the fact that you didn’t die and are here where I can see you.”

She wasn’t the only one. “When we were trapped together, I would have sold my soul to know what you looked like,” he confessed emotionally. “Feeling you told me that you were a lovely woman, but I must admit that no dreams I’ve had of you could measure up to your living reality.”

Like someone shell-shocked, she lifted one of her hands to his face in wonder. She traced his features, bringing back memories he would never forget. “Ric—” Her fingers traveled over his lips. “Maybe I’m hallucinating again.”

He kissed the palm of her hand. “It was never an hallucination. We were mortal then and now.”

Tears trickled out of the corners of her eyes, eyes that were alive like the green of a tropical rain forest. “When I thought you were dead, I wanted to die. While you were still breathing, I could hold on. But after that beam hit you and I couldn’t get a response, it was the end of my world.”

Ric heard the same pain in her voice he’d carried around for months afterward. He studied her facial features, overlaying his memories of her through eyes that could see the throb at the base of her slender throat. Tears trembled on the ends of long dark lashes so unusual on a blonde.

She kept looking at him with incredulity. “I feel just like I did after the avalanche struck. Maybe I’m hallucinating and none of this is real, but it has to be real because I’m touching you and it’s your voice. You’re actual flesh and blood instead of the stuff of my dreams.”

“You were the flesh and blood I clung to while we were entombed,” he confessed. “You saved my sanity, too, Sami. Like you, I felt I was in this amazing dream. When we made love, I remember thinking that if it was a dream, I never wanted to wake up from that part of it. Everything about our experience had a surreal quality.”

Sami wiped the tears off her face. “I know. Until I found out I was pregnant, there were times when I thought I’d made it all up.” She stared at him. “What happened to you after you were rescued?”

He grasped her hand. “I was told that another few minutes and the medics wouldn’t have been able to revive me. I knew nothing until I woke up in a hospital in Genoa. I was in a coma for two days. When I came out of it, I was surrounded by my family. My first request of the doctor was to find out if you were one of the victims.

“He came back with the message that you must still be alive because there was no name of Sami or anything close to it on the list of fatalities. After hearing that news, I determined to go after you once I got better. After our family held funeral services for my father, then I started looking for you.”

“I can’t believe it.”

“Why are you so surprised? What we’d shared together was something so unique, I’ll never forget. But when your name didn’t show up on any established tour-group lists in the area, I had to look further afield. I remembered you’d told me you were from Oakland, California. That’s all I had to go on. I put my people on it while we searched for you for several months.”

“Oh, Ric—” she cried softly before sliding off the other side of the bed to come around.

He got to his feet. “You were my first priority, but you weren’t listed in the Oakland phone directory. No flights leaving Austria for the States with your name. No planes arriving in Oakland or San Francisco had a name that could be traced to you. It was as if you’d disappeared off the face of the earth.”

“That’s because you didn’t know my real name,” she cried out in dismay. “I was nicknamed Sami because my father’s name was Samuel. After my parents died, my grandparents took over raising me and my sister, and my grandfather said I reminded him so much of his son he started calling me Sami, and it stuck.”

“I thought it had to be short for Samantha, but your passport says otherwise.”

“That’s what everyone assumes who doesn’t know me. To think you searched all that time for the wrong name. I can’t bear it.”

He couldn’t either, considering the promise he’d made to his father when they’d gone to Austria for an important family wedding. Ric had done everything humanly possible to find her. When he’d exhausted every avenue to no avail, he’d got on with his life and eventually fulfilled that promise.

“It’s true I was born and raised in Oakland,” she went on to explain, “but after I went back to college, I started to feel ill and went to a doctor. When he told me I was pregnant, I couldn’t believe it. My sister, Pat, insisted I move to Reno, Nevada, to be with her and her husband. Their travel agency is growing all the time. They’re the ones who gave me a working vacation during my break from college.”

Nevada … The avalanche had changed both their lives in ways Ric was only beginning to understand. “Were you ill the whole pregnancy?”

“No. After the morning sickness passed, I didn’t have other problems. Since Pat’s my only family and I wanted to be close to her and their children, I moved to Reno and started classes there. Without my legal name, no wonder you couldn’t trace me.”

He rubbed his chest absently while he was digesting everything.

Her anxious gaze fastened on him. ‘Do you have any ill effects from your head wound?”

“Only the occasional headache,” he answered, touched by her concern.

“I’m so glad it isn’t worse. That was the most terrifying moment.” Her voice shook.

“Thankfully, I don’t remember.”

“I don’t like to think about it. Throughout my pregnancy I decided that after Ric was born and I’d had my six-weeks checkup, I’d take him to Genoa and look up his grandfather. My own parents had already died, and I thought it would be wonderful if Ric grew up knowing he had at least one grandparent who was still alive.” She hugged her arms to her waist. “How tragic you lost your father.”

“Yes,” he whispered, but right now everything else seemed very far removed.

“I thought about him all the time,” she said. “Naturally I feared how he would take the news. It might have been the worst thing he could hear, but I hoped it might comfort him a little to know you weren’t alone when you died.”

Ric’s breath caught. “Ringrazio il cielo you looked for him! Otherwise I would know nothing! Be assured my father would have wanted to be a grandfather to our son.” Once he’d gotten over the shock of learning the circumstances of his grandson’s conception. Ric was still having trouble taking it all in.

She bit her lip. “I didn’t know the right thing to do. That’s the reason why I was so secretive with the police chief.” Ric warmed to her for her desire to be discreet. “I didn’t want to embarrass your father or cause him pain in front of anyone else. I really thought if I could find him, he’d refuse to believe me and that would be the end of it. But for the baby’s sake, I felt I had to try.

“When the police chief suggested maybe I had the wrong city, I didn’t know what to believe. I thought you’d told me you were from Genoa. The thought of flying to Geneva and starting another search sounded overwhelming, but I was prepared to do it for your son’s sake. Oh, Ric—”

The woman he’d been trapped with had to be one in a billion.

His eyes strayed to the crib. The baby sleeping so peacefully was his son. It was unbelievable! Throwing off his own shock, he walked over to the crib and looked down at the baby—his baby—lying on his back with his arms outstretched, his hands formed into fists.

“In spite of all that death and destruction coming for us, we managed to produce a son!”

“Yes.” She’d joined him. “Incredibly, he’s perfect.”

Ric had thought the same thing the second he’d laid eyes on him. In that moment he’d suffered pain thinking his parent had fathered such a beautiful child with her. Ric had been so convinced of it that he was still having trouble getting a handle on his emotions.

But it wasn’t his father’s— It was his own!

His elation was so overpowering, he reached for the baby and held him against his shoulder, uncaring that he’d wake him up again. Ric wanted him to wake up so he could get a good look at him. Warmth from the little bundle seeped into his body’s core, bonding them as father and son.

The baby must have sensed someone different was holding him. He started wiggling and moved his dark silky head from side to side. He smelled sweet like his mother. He was such a strong little thing that Ric was forced to support his head and neck with more strength. He lowered him in the crook of his arm so he could pick out the unique features that proclaimed him a Degenoli and an Argyle. Both sets of genes were unmistakable.

“Ciao, bambino mio. Welcome to my world.” He kissed his cheeks and forehead. His olive-skinned baby grew more animated. Ric laughed when those arms and legs moved and kicked with excitement. The first Degenoli in this generation to live.

His sister, Claudia, had barely learned she was pregnant before she’d suffered a miscarriage. It had happened soon after she’d heard their father had been killed in the avalanche. His sorrow for her and her husband, Marco’s, loss would always hurt, but as he looked down at his son, there wasn’t room in his soul for anything but joy.

When Ric looked up, he caught Sami’s tear-filled eyes fastened on the two of them. After wondering what she’d looked like, he couldn’t get his fill of staring at her.

“I can’t fathom it that you’re alive, that you’re holding him,” she cried. “When I left the police station, I was heartbroken. If I didn’t find Alberto in Geneva, it meant going home knowing my baby would never know the Italian side of his family. What if you hadn’t followed me here?” she cried.

“Nothing could have stopped me. I had to find out who you really were because I couldn’t believe there was another woman alive who sounded like you.”

“I know what you mean. The second you spoke to me, I should have stopped trying to be cautious and just called you Ric to see what you’d do. It would have saved us both so much trouble.”

Ric would have responded, but his cell phone rang. It jerked him back to reality. He had a strong idea who it was.

“I’ll take the baby while you answer it.” Sami plucked the baby out of his arms and walked the floor with him.

He watched his little boy burrow his head in her neck. The action brought a lump to his throat before he wheeled away from her and checked the caller ID. Though he’d finally come to the end of his search for the woman named Sami, time had passed during that search and other dynamics had been set in motion.

Ric groaned when he thought of how this news was going to affect negotiations with Eliana’s father, let alone with Eliana herself. Theirs was no love match, but news of an unknown baby would be difficult for any bride-to-be to handle. He’d need to deal with her carefully. As for his own family, they would be in shock.

“Eliana?” he said after clicking on.

“I thought you would call me before you left the office, but your secretary said you weren’t there.”

He rubbed the back of his neck absently. “I’m on my way to the airport and planned to phone you before my jet took off.” It would have been the truth if something else hadn’t come up. Something that had changed the very fabric of his life. The Sami he’d been entombed with was alive and had just presented him with his son!

There was a distinct pause. “Are you all right? You sound … different.”

Different didn’t begin to cover what was going on inside him.

“It’s … business. I’m afraid I’m preoccupied with it. Forgive me.” It was the kind of business Chief Coretti had referred to at the station. But it had everything to do with Ric, not with his father. When he thought of the way his suspicious mind had worked trying to get answers …

“Of course I forgive you, Enrico.”

Ric took a steadying breath. Before they were married, those words were going to be put to the test in the cruelest of ways.

Sami had called him a great man. How honorable did it make him if he kept this revelation from Eliana? But he couldn’t tell her yet. It wasn’t possible when he could hardly comprehend it himself. With this news there would be so many ramifications, he needed time to think how he was going to handle everything.

“I’ll phone you from Cyprus tomorrow.”

“That had better be a promise.”

He gripped the phone tighter. “Have I ever broken one to you?”

“No, but I’m still angry you’ve let business interfere so much. After we’re married I intend to keep you occupied for a long time. For one thing, I want to give you a baby. Hopefully a male heir.”

Ric closed his eyes tightly. Someone got ahead of you in that department, Eliana.

His fiancée was a beautiful, polished product of her aristocratic upbringing. He couldn’t fault his future wife for voicing her womanly expectations. But neither could he do anything about the new state of affairs. Fate had blown in with the avalanche, altering his world forever.

“Forgive me, Eliana, but I have to go. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

“A domani, Caro.”

He ended the call and turned to Sami.

The baby had fallen asleep against her shoulder. She eyed Ric steadily. “While you were on the phone, I’ve had time to gather my thoughts. Maybe I’m wrong, but I sensed a woman was on the other end of that phone call. Judging by the tone of your voice, she’s either your wife or your girlfriend.”

During those hours they’d been trapped, they’d crossed all the boundaries waiting for the end. It didn’t surprise Ric she wasn’t only intuitive, but forthright. “My fiancée, Eliana.”

Not one dark eyelash flickered. “Were you—”

“No.” He knew what was on her mind. “I didn’t get engaged to her until long after I’d lost all hope of ever finding you. I kept the thought alive that since I’d told you my last name, you might come back to Genoa to look for me. Now that I understand you were carrying our son all that time, I know why you didn’t come until now.”

“Did you ever tell your fiancée about us?”

“Not her, not anyone,” he whispered before moving closer. “Are you involved with someone? Married?”

“No.” Her single-word answer shouldn’t have filled him with relief, but it did. “I’d just broken up with a man I’d been dating before I left for Europe on my trip in January. As you can imagine, I wasn’t the same person when I returned.

“When Matt found out I was back, he called me and told me he hadn’t given up on us.” Ric could understand why. “I told him it was over for me, but he said he was going to keep trying to get through to me. When I discovered I was pregnant, I told him the truth of what happened to me in Italy so he’d give up.”

Ric bit down hard. “And did he?”

“No. He said he’d marry me and help me raise the baby as if it were his own.”

The idea of another man parenting Ric’s son didn’t sit well with him. “He must love you very much.”

“Yes, I believe he does. I love him, too. He’s really wonderful, but I’m not in love with him. There’s a huge difference. That why I broke up with him in the first place, because I didn’t want to hurt him.

“He’s been very good to me, but I know it hurt him horribly that I would make love with a stranger, especially when he and I hadn’t gotten to that point.” Her voice faltered. “No matter how I tried to explain the circumstances, I realized it sounded incredible.”

“It still does,” Ric confessed. “Even to me, and I was there.”

Color crept back into her cheeks. “It would be asking too much of him to forget it. I know he’s still hoping I’ll change my mind, but I can’t see that happening.” She kissed the baby. “How soon is your wedding?”

The wedding to Eliana …

“January first.”

“New Year’s—that’s coming soon.”

With Sami standing there cuddling his son, Ric found it impossible to think about his upcoming nuptials. The shock still hadn’t worn off.

Her eyes searched his. “I realize it isn’t every day a man is confronted with a situation like ours—” she said anxiously. “If I’d known you were alive, I would have handled everything differently. But now that you know you have a son, I’m aware you need time for the information to settle in before you can tell how you really feel about everything.”

“How I feel?” he questioned, not understanding the remark. “You’ve just presented me with my child. I didn’t know that being a father would bring me this kind of happiness.”

Neither Ric nor his siblings had ever been close to their father. He was gone so much, they rarely saw him. Though he’d ruled over their family, he left the child-rearing to their mother and the house staff.

Not until college did his father take an interest in Ric. Even then it was all about duty and money. When Ric thought about how his father had always ignored Vito and Claudia, his insides twisted into knots. Early on he’d decided that if he were ever to become a father, he’d get totally involved in his children’s lives from day one.

For Ric, today was day one. He eyed the mother of his child. “I didn’t know learning I was a father would make me feel reborn in a whole new way.”

“Nevertheless, you’re getting married before long and have all this to talk over with Eliana,” she said in a pragmatic tone. “It’s a good thing my flight for the States leaves in the morning. Ric and I will go back to Reno while you let this sink in. Now that we know of each other’s existence and can exchange phone numbers, there’s no hurry.”

He frowned. “No hurry? I’ve missed the first two months of my son’s life and don’t intend to miss any more.”

“But with Christmas and your wedding almost here, this isn’t the time to—”

“To what?” He cut her off. “Decide how to fit our baby into my life? He wasn’t conceived on your schedule or mine, but he’s a living breathing miracle. Unlike my father, who hardly acknowledged the existence of his children until they were grown, I want to be with my son all the time that you and I can work out.”

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