“Give me one reason why I would even consider marrying you—”

“Well, most women start with my wallet,” he drawled softly, and she gave an incredulous laugh. In her opinion, all the money in the world wouldn’t compensate for being in a loveless marriage.

“I’m not interested in your money. Money doesn’t make a family happy,” she said. “It’s love and attention from parents that does that.”

“I agree,” he said confidently, his dark eyes fixed on her face. “And Rosa will have that. You cannot possibly be pretending that she won’t benefit from also living with her father.”

She could barely hide her frustration. “But we don’t love each other.”

He frowned impatiently. “I admire you professionally and I appreciate your deep love for Rosa. Mutual understanding is all we need. I don’t need you to love me.”

She looked at him helplessly. “And if I say no?”

SARAH MORGAN trained as a nurse and has since worked in a variety of health-related jobs. Married to a gorgeous businessman who still makes her knees knock, she spends most of her time trying to keep up with their two little boys, but manages to sneak off occasionally to indulge her passion for writing romance. Sarah loves outdoor life and is an enthusiastic skier and walker. Whatever she is doing, her head is always full of new characters, and she is addicted to happy endings.

The Italian Doctor’s Wife
Sarah Morgan

Mediterranean Doctors

www.millsandboon.co.uk

CONTENTS

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

PROLOGUE

DOMENICO SANTINI slammed open the door of the exclusive clinic, his sensual mouth set in a grim line. Every muscle in his body was tense, every nerve ending responding to the anger that simmered inside his powerful frame.

He strode across the elegant reception area towards his brother’s consulting room, totally oblivious to the rapt female attention which followed his progress.

Under strict instructions to allow no one to see the boss without an appointment, the receptionist half rose to her feet and then sat down again, her knees weak as she recognised the visitor. Even the threat of losing her job wouldn’t have given her the courage to try and stop Domenico Santini.

And he knew it.

The self-assured stride, the arrogant tilt of that dark head and the bored, slightly disdainful look on his sinfully handsome face were the mark of a man who knew that his authority wouldn’t be challenged.

He moved through the foyer with the lethal grace of a jungle cat, and the receptionist stared, feasting her eyes on the luxuriant black hair, the smouldering dark eyes and the muscular, athletic body.

The newspapers and gossip magazines didn’t do the man justice.

He was staggeringly good-looking.

Ferociously intelligent, monumentally rich and wickedly handsome, Domenico Santini was every woman’s fantasy.

‘Don’t even think about it,’ her fellow receptionist drawled softly, following the direction of her gaze. ‘He’s way out of your league.’

‘He’s stunning.’

‘He’s also dangerous,’ her friend muttered. ‘He’s a very famous heart surgeon, did you know that? Children’s heart surgeon. What a joke! The man must have broken as many hearts as he’s mended in his time. He only has to snap those clever fingers and women leap into his bed. Lucky them.’

It was a woman who was on Nico’s mind as he opened the door of his brother’s consulting room, pausing only long enough to check that he wasn’t with a patient.

‘I need to talk to you—’ His tone was curt and he spoke in Italian as the brothers always did when they were alone together.

Carlo Santini leaned back in his chair, his dark eyes watchful. ‘So—talk.’

Two years younger than Nico and generally considered to be the more approachable of the two brothers, he waved a hand towards a chair, but Nico ignored the gesture and instead opened his briefcase and retrieved a slim file which he tossed onto his brother’s desk.

‘Read that.’

Carlo stared at him for a long moment and then lowered his eyes to the file, opening it slowly and perusing the contents.

While he read, Nico paced across the room, his broad shoulders tense as he stared out of the window across the expensively manicured grounds of his brother’s clinic. Occasionally he glanced over his shoulder, his expression impatient as he waited for his brother to finish digesting the contents of the file.

‘So?’ Finally Carlo lowered the file. ‘This girl had donor insemination in my clinic.’ His tone was noticeably cool. ‘I don’t know why you have a file on her, but if you’ve come to me for more information then you’re going to be disappointed. You’re my brother and I love you, but I won’t discuss my patients with you.’

‘This isn’t a clinic matter, it’s a family matter.’ Nico’s black brows met in a frown. He’d expected Carlo to react to the name in the file but he’d forgotten just how many women trooped through his brother’s world-famous infertility clinic every year. ‘And I’m not asking you to break patient confidentiality. Look at the name again.’

‘Harrington. Abby Harrington—it doesn’t ring any bells.’ Carlo peered more closely at the photo. ‘I’ve definitely never seen her before. She’s gorgeous. There’s no way I would have forgotten a face and a body like that.’

‘Then let me jog your memory,’ Nico’s expression darkened. ‘She was Lucia’s friend at school. Remember the shy little mouse who we thought might have a stabilising influence on our dizzy sister?’

Carlo’s eyes narrowed. ‘Vaguely. What about her?’

‘And do you remember what happened two years ago?’ Nico’s tone was lethally soft. ‘Lucia came to me with a sob story about a friend who couldn’t have children.’

Carlo frowned. ‘Yes, I remember that. The woman was in her late thirties and her husband was infertile and—’ He broke off and his eyes travelled from his brother’s icy expression to the photo in the file. ‘Are you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting? This is never the same girl.’

‘It’s the same girl,’ Nico growled softly. ‘As you can see, Lucia’s friend wasn’t in her late thirties or happily married.’

Carlo winced. ‘I’m beginning to understand your interest. If my memory serves me correctly, that was the one and only occasion that we’ve managed to persuade you to be a donor for my clinic.’

Nico’s jaw tightened. ‘Fathering children indiscriminately with no say in their upbringing has never appealed to me, as you well know.’

Carlo held his gaze. ‘But you agreed to do it for Lucia’s friend.’

Nico dragged long fingers through his luxuriant black hair and gave a growl of anger and frustration. ‘Dio, I was totally taken in by her sob story—how her friend’s husband couldn’t father children and how devastated they were….’

Carlo stared at the file. ‘And you really think that this is the same woman?’

Nico’s mouth tightened. ‘I know it is.’

Carlo let out a long breath. ‘Well, if you’re right, it certainly seems as though our little sister might have been economical with the truth,’ he observed, his eyes fixed on the photograph in the file. ‘She looks nearer twenty than forty.’

‘She’s twenty-four,’ Nico ground out, ‘but she was twenty-two when she came to your clinic—twenty-two.’ His voice was raw as he emphasised the words. ‘And she has never been married.’

‘I didn’t see her, Nico.’ Carlo put the file down, his expression serious. ‘Come to think of it, I think I was due to see her but then there was a family crisis and she had to see one of my colleagues instead.’

‘That was cleverly arranged,’ Nico said bitterly. ‘Who do you think engineered the family crisis that kept you away from the clinic that day?’

Carlo pulled a face. ‘Lucia?’

‘If Abby Harrington had seen you personally, you might have refused to go ahead—at least with me as the donor.’

Carlo nodded. ‘Because I would have known that you wouldn’t agree to be a donor for a single girl.’

‘But the doctor who eventually saw her didn’t know that,’ Nico concluded, his mouth set in a grim line. ‘I suspect that Lucia had him wound round her little finger as she did the rest of us.’

Carlo shook his head in disbelief. ‘She certainly thought it through.’

‘If our little sister applied the same degree of thought and deviousness to a useful career then she might stop wasting her life,’ Nico observed acidly. ‘We all know what Lucia is like when she wants something. She is manipulative and persuasive and she can be very, very difficult to resist. Dio, even knowing her as I do, I agreed to be the donor in her little scheme.’

Carlo fingered the file, his handsome face troubled. ‘So how did you get this information? You know we have strict rules about confidentiality at the clinic. How can you be sure that this is your baby?’

Nico tensed and a hint of colour touched his incredible cheekbones. ‘You know how strongly I feel about family. I wanted to check on the baby I fathered.’ A muscle moved in his jaw. ‘I knew you wouldn’t give me the information I needed so I hired a private detective.’

Carlo frowned. ‘But you didn’t even have the girl’s name. He wouldn’t have been able to—’

‘He’s the best,’ Nico interrupted smoothly. ‘He found her. That’s all you need to know.’

‘And have you spoken to Lucia?’

‘Not yet.’ Nico’s expression was grim. ‘I’m going to see Abby Harrington first. Then I’ll deal with Lucia.’

Carlo let out a long breath. ‘Well, don’t be too hard on our little sister. You’re pretty strict with her, Nico.’

‘If I detected the slightest evidence of common sense, I’d cease to be strict,’ Nico said wearily, and Carlo nodded.

‘I know—she’s a total airhead and if it weren’t for you she’d have come off the rails years ago because our father’s too busy to notice her.’ He closed the file and handed it back to his brother. ‘I can’t imagine how she thought she’d get away with it but I suppose there was a chance that you wouldn’t find out the truth about Abby Harrington.’

‘Evidently.’ Nico’s voice was clipped. ‘Both of them must have assumed that I’d never follow it up.’

Carlo sat back in his chair, his dark eyes reflecting his concern. ‘So now what?’

There was a tense silence and when Nico finally spoke his voice was hoarse. ‘I want that baby.’

There was a deathly silence and for endless seconds Carlo didn’t move.

Finally he spoke, his voice urgent. ‘You can’t do that, Nico.’

‘It’s my child.’

‘I know that.’ Carlo’s eyes were fixed on his brother’s face. ‘And I also know what that knowledge must be doing to you in the light of what’s happened to you since that baby was conceived. Nico, you’ve never really talked about it, but you know that if you want to—’

‘I don’t.’ Nico’s tone held a cold finality. ‘I just want to talk about this girl.’

‘We both know that it is one and the same subject.’ Carlo said carefully. ‘I know how strongly you feel about family but we both know that there’s more to this than—’

‘That’s enough!’ Nico’s eyes were hard as he stared at his brother. ‘This isn’t about me. It’s about her. And the child. My child. I feel a responsibility towards that baby, which is why I decided to check on how the family was getting on.’

‘I can imagine how you must be feeling, but you agreed to be the father,’ Carlo reminded him, and Nico lifted a hand to cut him off, his expression menacing.

‘For a happily married couple. Not for a young, single girl with no financial or emotional support. I never would have agreed to father a child for a penniless schoolgirl!’

‘She was twenty-two.’

Nico let out his breath in an impatient hiss. ‘As far as her suitability for motherhood goes, she is a baby!’

Carlo looked at him through narrowed eyes. ‘You’ve never met her. She might be a great mother.’

‘I know everything I need to know about her,’ Nico said flatly, ‘and the more I know, the more determined I am to take the child away from her. She isn’t a fit mother.’

‘Calm down.’ Carlo leaned back in his chair. ‘That’s a pretty serious accusation. What’s the woman done?’

Nico gritted his teeth. ‘Apart from conspiring with Lucia to lie to me so that I’d agree to father the baby? Well, for a start she puts the child in a crèche while she works as a nurse. If she wanted a child so badly, why is she working?’

‘Nico, this is the twenty-first century,’ Carlo pointed out quietly, his tone reasonable. ‘Women work. Even women with children. And working mothers need child care.’

‘She shouldn’t have chosen to become a single mother if she didn’t have the means to support the child,’ Nico growled, and Carlo’s eyes narrowed.

‘Well, not everybody has unlimited funds. Maybe she had good reasons for wanting a child—’

Nico made an impatient sound. ‘Why are you defending her? What possible reasons could justify a twenty-two-year-old wanting a baby? She has plenty of reproductive years ahead of her in which to marry a man and produce babies naturally.’

Carlo looked him straight in the eye. ‘I’m defending her because I know that this isn’t about her and the baby. Not really. It’s about you,’ he said softly. ‘You are making this personal.’

‘Dio, of course I’m making it personal!’ Nico flashed him an impatient look. ‘How do you think I feel, knowing—?’

He broke off and Carlo rose to his feet, watching his brother closely.

‘You can’t take her child, Nico.’

‘Watch me.’ Nico’s expression was grim. ‘And you’re forgetting that it isn’t just her child, it’s my child. And according to my sources, the girl is in big trouble. She earns next to nothing as a nurse and she obviously doesn’t manage her money well. At the moment she has been given two weeks’ notice to find somewhere else to live because she can’t keep up the rental payments. My sources tell me that she doesn’t have enough money for anywhere else. Soon my child will be homeless. Do you expect me to sit and watch while that happens?’

Carlo let out a long breath. ‘I can see that the situation is less than ideal, but—’

‘My child does not deserve a nomadic existence with a mother who clearly can’t manage her finances well enough to keep a roof over her head,’ Nico growled, and Carlo watched him thoughtfully.

‘She might not be willing to give the baby up,’ he pointed out, and Nico frowned dismissively.

‘The girl is clearly struggling to bring the baby up alone. I suspect that she will be only too pleased to take a financial incentive in exchange for the baby. Clearly having a baby was a whim and the reality of life as a single parent has proved less romantic than she expected.’

‘I think you underestimate the attachment between a mother and her child,’ Carlo said quietly. ‘Especially a mother who went to the trouble of having artificial insemination in order to conceive. She would have had a counselling session at the clinic and her reasons for wanting a child must have been good. I doubt that she will give the baby up lightly.’

‘You’re wrong.’

‘Maybe.’ Carlo gave a brief smile. ‘But my advice is stick to mending hearts, and leave the serious business of baby-making to those of us with some understanding of the emotions involved.’

‘I understand the emotions better than most.’ Nico’s teeth were gritted and Carlo gave a sigh.

‘Sì, I know you do.’

Nico shrugged, his black eyes hard and cold. ‘Then you’ll understand why I am right to go after the baby.’

‘I understand, but I don’t condone it.’ Carlo picked up the file again. ‘Answer me one question. If Abby Harrington had turned out to be in her late thirties and happily married, would you be threatening to take the baby?’

Nico frowned as if the question was completely superfluous. ‘Of course not. I would have checked that they had everything they needed and walked away.’

But it would have been the hardest thing he’d ever had to do in his life.

‘Then do the same thing now,’ Carlo said quietly. ‘You cannot take a child from its mother. Let it go, Nico. If you want family life, find a nice girl and marry her.’

Nico’s eyes were hooded. ‘Like you have, you mean?’

‘I’m still auditioning for the role.’ Carlo’s dark eyes flashed wickedly and Nico raised an eyebrow in mockery.

‘You feel the need to audition the whole female population?’

Carlo gave a rueful smile. ‘All right, I’m the first to admit that, like you, I’ve never found a woman who can see further than my wallet.’ His smile faded. ‘But that fact doesn’t make this right, Nico, and you know it.’

‘I’m not seeking your approval.’ Nico’s tone was harsh. ‘I came here because I wanted the answer to a question.’

‘Which was?’

‘I wanted to know if you were aware of her deception.’

Carlo shook his head. ‘No. I didn’t deal with her case and you should know me well enough to know that I wouldn’t do that to you.’

Nico’s expression darkened. ‘Lucia did.’

Carlo shrugged. ‘As we both know, Lucia is young and impulsive. And very spoilt by our parents. This was probably another one of her whims.’ He walked towards his brother and laid a hand on his shoulder. ‘I know you don’t take advice from anyone, but I’m going to give it anyway. Whatever reasons this girl had for deceiving us, she clearly wanted that child. Don’t jump to conclusions. Are you absolutely sure she knows you’re the father?’

‘Of course she knows.’ Nico was back in control, his emotions buried under the icy exterior for which he was renowned. ‘Lucia told me at the time that her friend drew up a list of qualities that she wanted in a father and I was the perfect match.’

His tone was bitter and Carlo sighed.

‘Lucia adores you, Nico. She probably genuinely did think you’d be the best father in the world and you know that all her school friends worshipped you. She just didn’t think it through.’

Nico’s mouth tightened. ‘She never thinks things through.’

‘And as for the friend—if she does know, she clearly didn’t want you to find out.’ Carlo rubbed a hand across the back of his neck, clearly concerned. ‘This is going to come as a shock to her, Nico.’

Nico’s mouth tightened. ‘Good.’

Abigail Harrington had deceived him. She was clearly a calculating, manipulative woman who was totally unsuited to motherhood. As far as he was concerned, the bigger the shock, the better.

CHAPTER ONE

‘I HATE leaving her—she was a bit fretful in the night. I’m afraid she might be coming down with something.’ Abby reluctantly handed her daughter over to Karen, the nursery nurse who ran the hospital crèche. ‘Maybe I should have kept her at home, but they’re so short-staffed on the ward that I just couldn’t do it to them, and—’

‘Abby, stop worrying!’ Karen interrupted her gently and settled Rosa on her hip, her expression sympathetic and mildly amused. ‘She looks perfectly healthy to me. I know you feel guilty about working but you don’t need to. There are plenty of single mothers in the world and plenty of them have to work. She has a really great time here and you’re a brilliant mother. The best I know.’

Was she?

Abby bit her lip, painfully aware that Karen didn’t know the whole truth of Rosa’s conception.

It was a part of her life that she never discussed with anyone.

And although it was true that there were plenty of single mothers in the world, there were surely very few in her situation. And because she never forgot that she’d chosen this life for Rosa, she was doubly determined to be the very best mother that she could be.

‘It’s so hard for you, being on you own. You must feel so lonely sometimes,’ Karen said gently. ‘I know you don’t like talking about it, but do you ever think of contacting her father?’

‘No.’ Abby shook her head.

How could she? Because she’d been so desperate to have a baby, she’d chosen to do so without the traditional support of a man. Rosa’s conception had been arranged with clinical efficiency and total secrecy, and she had absolutely no idea who the father was.

And that knowledge nagged at her constantly despite the fact that the pain of her own childhood had left deep scars and she was only too aware that having two parents was no guarantee of childhood bliss. She’d been sent to boarding school at the age of seven by workaholic parents keen to relieve themselves of a child they’d never wanted, so she knew better than anyone that two parents didn’t necessarily make a happy family.

But that didn’t stop her feeling guilty that she’d deprived Rosa of a father.

‘You never talk about it and you’re always so self-contained and independent.’ Karen sighed. ‘He must have hurt you so much.’

Abby bit her lip, unable to correct the misconception without giving away her secret. The truth was that Rosa’s father hadn’t hurt her at all. She didn’t even know him. All she knew was what her friend Lucia had told her. That the donor was Italian and very clever. And as for being independent, well, she’d had to be. Unlike most of her peers, her parents had never been there for her so she’d learned to take care of herself.

‘How’s little Thomas Wood?’ Karen settled Rosa more comfortably on her hip and changed the subject neatly. ‘When’s he going for his op?’

‘Tomorrow.’ Abby pulled a face and handed over a bag containing all Rosa’s things for the day. ‘That’s the other reason I felt I had to work today. I need to give his parents some support. They’re terrified.’

‘I’m not surprised.’ Karen shook her head, her expression sombre. ‘I can’t begin to imagine how it must feel to see your five-month-old baby going for open-heart surgery.’

‘Yes.’ Abby leaned forward to kiss her daughter one more time. ‘Still, Thomas is luckier than some. We’ve got an Italian surgeon arriving today to spend a few months on the unit until they appoint someone permanently. He’s supposed to be one of the best there is and he’s going to be teaching and working on the wards for a while. He’s doing Thomas’s operation. With an audience of thousands, from what I can gather. I hope he’s got steady hands.’

She stroked a hand over Rosa’s head, marvelling at how silky her dark hair was. ‘You promise to call me if you’re worried about her? Even if she’s just a bit off colour—’

‘For crying out loud, Abby!’ Karen gave her an exasperated look and waved a hand towards the door. ‘Just go, will you? She’ll be fine!’

Abby gave a faltering smile, cast a last longing look at her daughter and then forced herself to leave the brightly decorated crèche and make her way up to the paediatric surgical ward where she worked. As usual she had a dull ache in the pit of her stomach.

She hated leaving Rosa so much.

It was like a physical wrench that didn’t seem to get any easier with time. Given the chance, she would have spent every moment of every day just playing with her daughter and cuddling her but circumstances made that impossible. She had to work. Fortunately she loved her job and knew how lucky she was to work on such a respected unit. She found the field of paediatric cardiac surgery stimulating and absorbing and she knew that once she arrived on the ward she’d put thoughts of Rosa to one side and concentrate instead on the sick children and worried parents who needed her care.

And in a way Karen was right, she reassured herself firmly as she pressed the button for the lift. Plenty of parents worked and their children didn’t suffer for it.

She took comfort from the fact that Rosa was a happy, sociable child and being with the other children in the crèche provided her with an important source of stimulation.

As the lift doors opened she straightened her uniform and checked that her long blonde hair was securely fastened.

‘Hi, Abby.’ Heather, the ward sister, greeted her with a warm smile and gestured towards the side room. ‘The Woods are biting their nails to the quick in there. Fortunately we’re well staffed today so you should be able to concentrate on them and give them all the support they need.’ She glanced around furtively and lowered her voice. ‘And maybe you’d better check they understand everything that’s happening. Mr Forster had a brief chat with them before he left but you know what he was like, poor thing. He never had any time for the parents and he was hopeless at explaining anything. They looked more confused when he came out than they did when he went in.’

Abby gave a wry smile. One of their consultants, Mr Forster, had just taken early retirement on the grounds of ill health, but it was widely rumoured that he had just been finding the job too stressful. It was certainly true that he’d always been hopeless at explaining. He used the same terminology that he used with his medical team so his patients never understood him. ‘Perhaps the new surgeon will set an example.’

‘Let’s hope so. Thomas should be first on the list tomorrow and our Italian whiz-kid should be up later to talk to them.’

Abby’s blue eyes gleamed with amusement. ‘Whiz-kid’ seemed a strange description for someone with such an awesome reputation who was doubtless crusty and grey-haired. She’d never met the man in question but she was sure that he’d long ago outgrown the ‘whiz-kid’ title.

Making her way to the side room, she tapped on the door and walked in.

Lorna Wood had Thomas on her lap and he was dozing quietly.

‘Hi, there.’ Abby’s voice was hushed so that she didn’t disturb the baby and Lorna looked up, her face pale.

‘Oh, Abby, I’m so pleased to see you.’

‘How are you doing?’

Not very well, by the look of her, but, then, that was hardly surprising in the circumstances. Abby couldn’t begin to imagine how she’d feel if it was Rosa who was about to have major heart surgery.

Lorna pulled a face. ‘I feel awful. Worried, panicky…’ She spoke in an undertone, careful not to wake the sleeping baby. ‘But mostly I feel guilty.’

‘Guilty?’ Abby’s eyebrows rose in surprise and she closed the door behind her. ‘Why guilty?’

The young mother shrugged helplessly. ‘Because Thomas seems fine most of the time and I’m asking myself if all this is necessary. Am I doing the right thing by letting him have the op?’ Lorna glanced at her, her eyes filling as she begged for answers. ‘I know they keep telling me that he’ll get worse, but why not wait until it happens? Why do the operation now?’

More evidence that Mr Forster’s explanations had been less than perfect, Abby thought, hoping that the new consultant would have a better way with words. With Mr Forster they’d virtually had to provide a translation.

‘I know that Thomas seems well, but waiting might damage the heart further,’ she said quietly, and Lorna bit her lip.

‘But how do we know that for sure?’

Abby took her hand and gave it a squeeze. ‘I think you need to talk it through with the surgeon who is going to do the operation,’ she suggested. ‘He’s coming to see Thomas later. I’ll make sure that he knows that you’re worried so that he finds time to answer your questions.’

Clearly, concisely and in language that could be understood by normal mortals!

Lorna shrank slightly in her seat. ‘I don’t want to bother him,’ she said quickly. ‘He’s an important man and I’m the least of his worries.’

‘You won’t be bothering him,’ Abby said firmly, used to dealing with that type of attitude. She’d lost count of the times patients had told her they refrained from asking questions because they didn’t want to bother the doctor. ‘If there are things you don’t understand then you must ask!’

Lorna pulled a face. ‘I find doctors really intimidating. Especially surgeons who can operate on a child’s heart.’ Her eyes were round with admiration. ‘I mean, can you imagine being clever enough to do something like that? I always feel as though my questions are stupid and I’m wasting their time. Mr Forster has explained everything to me once. It isn’t his fault if I’m too stupid to understand.’

‘You’re not stupid, Lorna,’ Abby said firmly, making a mental note to brief the new consultant fully. He needed to spend time with the Woods. And he needed to use simple language. ‘If it would make you feel better, I’ll make sure I’m there, too. And I’ll make sure that he doesn’t leave the room until you’ve asked him every question you have and fully understand what’s happening.’

‘This whole thing feels like a nightmare. I just wish this was all a dream and I could wake up,’ Lorna muttered, and Abby leaned forward and gave her a quick hug.

‘The worst part is the waiting.’ She looked at the sleeping child and smiled. ‘I need to do his obs—you know, temperature, pulse that sort of thing—but I’ll wait for him to wake up. Later on I want to take you to the cardiac intensive care unit—we call it CICU—so that you know what to expect when Thomas comes back from Theatre.’

Lorna bit her lip. ‘Is it very scary?’

‘It can seem scary,’ Abby said, her tone gentle. She knew how important it was to be honest with parents and to prepare them for what lay ahead. ‘You know that when he first comes back from Theatre he’ll have a tube down his throat to help him breathe and a drain in his chest, as well as a drip. The monitors can seem very high-tech and daunting but the staff on CICU are wonderful and I know they’ll take good care of you and Thomas. We’ve a baby who has just had a similar operation to Thomas on the unit at the moment so I can show you what to expect and you can chat to the parents.’

‘And after CICU he’ll come back here to the ward?’

‘Once the doctors feel he’s well enough, they’ll transfer him back here.’

Lorna cuddled the sleeping child closer. ‘And will you still be the nurse looking after us? You’re always so calm. Nothing seems to make you flap—the minute you walk into the room I feel less panicky. I don’t think I could bear having anyone else.’

‘When I’m on duty I’ll be your nurse,’ Abby assured her. ‘We try and maintain continuity whenever we can.’

Lorna gave a weak smile. ‘Our nurse. You’re supposed to be Thomas’s nurse but you end up looking after the whole family.’

‘That’s because the whole family is part of Thomas’s recovery,’ Abby pointed out gently.

The whole ethos of the ward was to give care to the whole family, in recognition of the stress on the parents when a child was undergoing major surgery.

‘Give me a call when Thomas wakes up and I’ll check his obs,’ she said, picking up his chart and checking what had happened in the night. ‘In the meantime, I’ll track down this new consultant and make sure he makes time to see you.’

‘I hear that he’s Italian.’ Lorna looked at her anxiously. ‘Is he good, Abby?’

Abby thought of the eulogies that had been heaped on the man’s head in the past few weeks and smiled.

‘He’s better than good, Lorna. The doctors here say that he’s a legend in paediatric cardiac surgery. He’s pioneered several different techniques and his results are astonishing. That’s why he’s going to spend some time over here with us. Sharing his experience as well as filling in for Mr Forster until they make a permanent appointment. It happens quite often, believe me. In a way Thomas is lucky that he’s taken his case.’

Lorna nodded and gave a wan smile. ‘I just hope he’s as good as you say.’

They shared a look of understanding, each knowing that, even in the most capable hands, operating on a child’s heart always carried a risk. The challenge was balancing the risk of the operation with the risk of not correcting the defect in the heart.

It was midmorning when there was a sudden bustle on the ward and a group of doctors arrived, looking round expectantly.

‘Is Mr Santini here yet?’ Greg Wallis, the surgical registrar, glanced into the office and Abby shook her head.

‘If you mean the new consultant, no, not yet—he’s been meeting the team on CICU and he’s due here any minute.’ She frowned slightly and looked at Greg. Had she heard correctly? ‘What did you say his name was again?’

‘Santini. Domenico Santini. Why?’

Abby shook her head slightly. It couldn’t be…

‘I knew a Domenico Santini once,’ she said lightly. ‘I went to school with his sister. But it can’t be him. He’d be too young.’

‘Oh, this guy is young,’ Greg told her, a trace of bitterness in his voice. ‘I used to think my career was going well until I read his CV. His rise to stardom had been positively meteoric. The guy is a genius by all accounts. His nickname in the theatre is “Iceberg” because he’s the coolest surgeon anyone has ever seen.’

Abby felt her heart thud uncomfortably in her chest. Could it be him? Lucia’s brother?

As an impressionable young teenager she’d been thoroughly in awe of her friend’s older brother. She was well aware that he was considered the ultimate catch by all the other girls in the school but on the few occasions that she’d met him she’d found him monumentally intimidating.

Fortunately he’d never even known that she existed.

She gave a slight smile at her own expense.

And why should he have noticed her? She’d been an awkward, leggy, painfully shy teenager with a brace on her teeth, glasses and hair that never behaved itself. There had been absolutely nothing about her that had been memorable. Especially compared to her peers.

The exclusive Swiss school which had been her home from the age of sixteen had attracted the children of the rich and famous from all over the world. Appeasing their consciences by selecting what they’d seen as the best, her parents had somehow found the money to send her there without considering whether Abby would fit in socially.

For the first term she’d been utterly miserable and painfully conscious of the differences in circumstances between her and the other girls.

She’d tried to shrink into the background to avoid attention and if it hadn’t been for the flamboyant and boisterous Lucia Santini, her schooldays would have been a nightmare. As it was, the Italian girl had befriended her and made her life just about bearable.

Shocked that Abby’s parents never visited, Lucia frequently invited Abby to stay with her own family but Abby declined, too awkward and embarrassed to accept hospitality which she knew she could never repay.

She also refused Lucia’s invitations to join her on trips out with her older brother, knowing that such an outing would have been social torture. She never knew what to say to men anyway, let alone a man like Lucia’s dark and dangerous brother. She must have been the only girl in the school that didn’t try to attract his attention. Totally overwhelmed by his aggressive masculinity and cool self-confidence, Nico Santini made her thoroughly nervous. Carlo, the younger of the two brothers, seemed slightly more approachable, which was why she agreed to go to him for help so many years later.

She gave a sudden frown as an uncomfortable thought occurred to her.

Would the Santini family have discussed Rosa? Could Nico be aware of Rosa’s history?

Greg cast her an odd look. ‘Are you all right? You’ve gone really pale.’

‘I’m fine,’ she muttered, flashing him a wan smile and giving herself a sharp talking-to.

There was no way he could know. Everything that happened at the clinic was confidential, she assured herself. And even if Lucia had been so indiscreet as to mention it to her older brother, there was no reason why he should be in the slightest bit interested in her life.

It was highly unlikely that he’d even remember who she was.

Applying logic and reason but still feeling uneasy, she gave a start as the ward doors opened again and Dr Gibbs, the paediatric cardiologist, walked briskly down the corridor, accompanied by the rest of the team and a tall, powerfully built stranger.

Abby recognised him immediately and against her will her stomach flipped over as her eyes skimmed over the broad shoulders and long, muscular legs. Nico Santini had always been breathtakingly good-looking, but maturity had given his looks a lethal masculine quality which had a critical effect on her pulse rate.

Which just proved that, despite her protestations to the contrary, she was as shallow as the next woman, she thought with a resigned sigh.

But maybe it wasn’t entirely her fault.

The man was devastating.

There were five male doctors in the group but he drew the eye, not just because of his impressive physique but because of the air of cool command which he wore with the same effortless ease as his impeccably cut grey suit.

Nico Santini was more of a man than any other male she’d ever met and Abby felt her face flush slightly as she scanned his handsome features.

Iceberg.

The description suited him, she thought wryly, remembering just how cool and in control the man had been even in his twenties. Lucia had adored her older brother but she’d also been more than a little afraid of him.

Observing from a safe distance, Abby had always believed that he was very hard on Lucia who could certainly be a bit silly sometimes but had a very kind heart.

She hadn’t seen him for at least six years.

Would he recognise her? Should she say something?

She almost laughed aloud at the thought. He absolutely would not recognise her and there was no way she was going to say anything. The mere thought was laughable.

Hello, remember me? I was the shy little mouse at school with your sister who never said a word whenever you were around….

Jack Gibbs was introducing him to everyone and finally it was Abby’s turn and she lifted her chin and met that penetrating dark gaze head on, determined not to be intimidated.

Reminding herself that she was now a grown woman with a child, she forced herself to look composed, at least on the outside, and held out a hand.

It was a mistake.

Just touching those long, strong fingers was like connecting with a powerful electric force field and she felt her insides tumble unexpectedly.

‘Abby is one of our best paediatric nurses,’ Jack was saying, his expression warm, ‘and we’re very lucky to have her. When everyone else is in a panic you can rely on Abby to be the voice of calm. She has an amazing way with the children and the parents. We doctors fight over her. If we have something difficult to say to a family then we make sure we have Abby with us.’

Startled by the praise and unsettled by Nico Santini’s unrelenting grip on her hand, Abby gave Jack a fleeting smile and took a step backwards, deliberately removing her hand from the pressure of those long fingers.

‘I’ll remember that.’ He spoke in a deep, masculine purr that held just a hint of an Italian accent. Not enough to cloud his enunciation but just enough to make his voice unbearably sexy. ‘Are you the nurse who is looking after the Wood family?’

Abby nodded, wishing that he didn’t have such a powerful effect on her. She hated the fact that she was as vulnerable to his particular brand of scorching masculinity as the rest of her sex. She would have given anything to have been indifferent to him.

Not wanting to dwell on the effect he had on her, Abby quickly turned to the subject of work.

‘His mother is very worried and has lots of questions, but she’s afraid to ask them. I think it would be helpful if you could find time to talk to her.’ The expression in her blue eyes was slightly challenging as they met his. From the little she knew of him it was highly unlikely that he would have the time or the skills to show much sensitivity to parents.

‘Why is she afraid to ask them?’

His brusque question took her by surprise. ‘She thinks you’re very busy and doesn’t want to disturb you.’

‘Does she now?’ He held her gaze for a long moment, his lush, dark lashes shielding his expression. ‘Then we must make sure that she has all the time she needs.’

Against her will, Abby’s eyes dropped to his firm mouth and she found herself remembering the rumour that had spread among the girls when she’d been at school.

That Nico Santini was a spectacular lover.

Shaken by her own thoughts, she looked away from him, her colour rising.

It was just the way that all women reacted to Nico Santini, she assured herself silently. He was much too powerful a personality to leave anyone feeling indifferent. At least she had more sense than to fall for him. She could admire him from a distance, but any more than that would have sent her running for cover.

Finally Nico’s eyes left her and he turned to the rest of the doctors. ‘I will see the baby and the parents straight away.’

Jack Gibbs, frowned slightly, clearly put out by that decision and by the fact that Nico had taken control. As paediatric cardiologist, all the children were referred to him initially and he very much considered it to be ‘his’ ward.

‘But the teaching round… We were assuming…’

‘If the mother has questions then I deal with those as a priority,’ Nico said immediately, his tone discouraging any argument from those around him. ‘In my experience it is counter-productive and cruel to leave the family worrying unnecessarily. It is important that they feel that we are all part of the same team. I’ll do the teaching round when I have answered her questions and, of course, everyone is welcome. Until then I will see the family with just the nurse who cares for them.’

He looked expectantly at Abby who was having trouble hiding her surprise. Agreeing to see the family so quickly suggested a sensitivity that she hadn’t thought him capable of.

‘They’re in the side ward,’ she said quietly, and he gave a brief nod.

‘Then let’s go and talk to them. Has she signed a consent form or do I need to go through that with her?’

‘Mr Forster did it before he left but I think she’d appreciate the chance to discuss the operation again,’ she said tactfully, as she tapped on the door and walked into the room.

Nico Santini walked straight over to the parents and introduced himself.

‘I will be your baby’s doctor for the operation. Once you are discharged you will see Dr Gibbs again. With your permission I would like to examine Thomas, and then we will talk. I am sure you have many questions for me.’

‘Well, yes, I suppose…’ Lorna gave a nervous smile and clasped her hands in her lap. ‘But I’m sure you’re too busy for questions—’

‘Not at all.’ Nico gave her a warm smile which softened the harsh planes of his handsome face. ‘At the moment I have nothing important to do,’ he lied smoothly, ‘and I am very happy to spend as long as you need in order to set your mind at rest. It’s important to me that you don’t worry. A worried mother means a worried baby and…’ he raised his hands expressively ‘…I don’t want either on my ward. Please, ask me anything you wish as many times as you need to. I understand that it can take a while to understand some of the things that we talk about. Hearts are complex things.’

Abby’s jaw dropped and she struggled to hide her surprise as she listened to him talk. She’d always thought that Nico Santini was one hundred per cent alpha male. She hadn’t imagined that there was a caring side to him.

But clearly there was.

She watched in fascination as he picked up Thomas with easy confidence, his hands swift and gentle as he examined the child. And all the time he spoke softly in Italian and the baby gazed up at him, his attention caught.

Even the baby can’t look away from the man, Abby thought wryly, standing quietly in the background as Nico finally returned the baby to the cot and sat down next to Lorna.

‘Please, feel free to ask me anything you wish.’

He inclined his dark head towards the young mother, listening closely as she blurted out all her worries. He was totally relaxed and attentive, nothing in his body language suggesting that there was a crowd of doctors waiting impatiently for him to finish so that he could do a teaching round.

‘Tell me why you feel guilty.’

‘He seems so well. I feel like a bad mother, deciding to make him have an operation that might—might…’ Tears bloomed in Lorna Woods’s eyes and Nico reached out and closed long fingers around her hand.

‘It is clear to me that you haven’t understood the explanations that you’ve been given so far and this is understandable. When a mother is told that her child is seriously ill, it is normal that she hears nothing more.’ He shrugged a broad shoulder in a totally Latin gesture. ‘I will explain, and you will ask me any questions you have. And then you will feel more reassured.’

Abby hid a smile. That was more like the Nico Santini she remembered. Accustomed to giving out orders.

You will be reassured or else…

Still, Lorna seemed to be hanging onto every word he said. And his hand.

‘I just feel perhaps we should wait. I know he looks a bit blue but he doesn’t seem that ill at the moment and I feel awful making him have this operation.’

Nico nodded, sympathy and understanding in his dark eyes. ‘But you are not the one making the decision, Lorna. The doctors here have made the decision that Thomas needs this operation and you are being a good mother by agreeing to it.’ He kept hold of her hand, his voice deep and level as he spoke. ‘Thomas has something called Fallot’s tetralogy, which basically means that there are a number of things wrong with his heart. Experience has shown us that if we delay the repair it puts a strain on one of the chambers of the heart. It can become enlarged and this may cause problems in later life. Also, repairing the fault early in life restores the oxygen saturation—the amount of oxygen in his blood. This is important for normal development.’

Lorna looked at her husband who shrugged his shoulders helplessly. ‘So you really think it should be done now?’

‘Definitely.’ Nico didn’t hesitate. ‘I have reviewed all his tests and I am convinced that it is totally the right thing to do.’

Lorna nibbled her lip and looked at him shyly. ‘Do you have children yourself?’

There was a long pause and Nico Santini glanced towards Abby, his dark lashes shielding his expression.

Confused by his sudden attention, she shifted slightly and felt herself colour.

Why was he looking at her?

He seemed to look at her for a long time and then finally he turned his attention back to Lorna. ‘If you are asking if I would recommend this operation for my own child in the same situation, the answer is yes. I can assure you that if Thomas were my child, I would have no hesitation in letting the operation go ahead. Do you understand the actual mechanics of the operation? What I will be doing?’

Lorna blushed slightly and exchanged awkward glances with her husband. ‘Sort of.’

Which meant no, Abby thought quickly, preparing to intervene. But Nico was ahead of her.

‘Maybe I will explain it again,’ he said smoothly, releasing Lorna’s hand and reaching into his pocket for a pad and a pen. ‘A drawing usually helps. Imagine the heart as four chambers…’

His pen moved quickly over the pad as he drew a diagram to illustrate his explanation.

‘One of the problems with Thomas’s heart is what we call a VSD—a ventricular septal defect. In other words, there is a hole between the two chambers here….’ He tapped his pen on the page to demonstrate what he meant more clearly. ‘I will put a patch on that. Here the artery is narrowed and I need to sort that out, probably by opening up the valve that leads into it.’

Nico continued his explanation and finally Lorna’s husband gave a weak smile. ‘You make it sound like DIY.’

Nico gave a brief nod. ‘In a way it is. I am a technician. Only I don’t always know exactly what will need to be done until I have a look at the heart.’ He gave another shrug. ‘You just have to trust me.’

Lorna bit her lip and he lifted an eyebrow.

‘There is something else you wish to ask me?’

‘You say we must trust you….’ Lorna hesitated and then took a deep breath. ‘Are you good?’

Nico seemed momentarily taken aback by the question and then he gave a wry smile and touched her cheek briefly with a long finger.

‘The best.’

Abby stayed silent as Lorna visibly relaxed and started to ask all the questions that had clearly been bothering her for some time.

Finally she seemed happier and Nico rose to his feet in a fluid movement and flashed her a smile.

‘I hope you feel a little better now.’

Lorna nodded and gave him a weak smile. ‘I do feel better, thank you, although I can’t pretend I’m not worried.’

‘Of course you will be worried.’ Nico slipped his pen back into his pocket. ‘You are a mother and it is a mother’s role to worry. If there are any other questions that you wish to ask me then just ask one of the nurses to contact me and I will be happy to speak to you at any time. I will come and find you after the operation tomorrow so that I can tell you how it went.’

At the reminder of what lay ahead, Lorna swallowed and he reached out a hand and squeezed her shoulder.

‘It will go well. Trust me.’

With that he strode out of the room, leaving Abby to follow in his wake, stunned by what she’d witnessed.

It wasn’t at all what she’d expected.

She’d never seen a doctor take so much time with a family before and she was impressed by how skilfully he’d translated the technical aspects of the operation into language that the family could understand. She was also impressed by the way he’d picked up the signals that Lorna hadn’t understood the previous explanations that she’d been given.

Maybe she’d misjudged him.

‘Thank you for giving them so much time. I’ve never heard a doctor give such a clear explanation. You were amazing with them,’ she admitted quietly, as she walked back along the corridor beside him.

He stopped dead and turned to face her, a frown touching his forehead, almost as though he’d forgotten she was there until she’d spoken.

His eyes locked with hers and suddenly she remembered the way he’d looked at her in the side room.

Accusingly.

Which was utterly ridiculous, she told herself firmly. What could he possibly be accusing her of?

Or maybe he’d recognised her but couldn’t place her.

Maybe she should tell him that she used to go to school with Lucia?

His gaze was cool and assessing and something in those fabulous dark eyes chilled her to the bone.

‘Are you staying for my teaching round?’

‘I can’t.’ She was off duty at four and nothing was going to stop her seeing Rosa. She’d nipped down to the crèche in her lunch-break to check that the baby was all right, but she’d be happier when they were both at home.

‘And will you be at home this evening?’ His voice was silky smooth and she nodded, taken aback by the question.

Why would Nico Santini be remotely interested in her plans for the evening?

His eyes scanned her face with disconcerting thoroughness and then he turned on his heel and walked back onto the main ward, leaving her staring after him, thoroughly confused.

Nico completed his teaching round and glanced at his watch.

‘Are you busy this evening?’ Jack Gibbs was clearly about to extend a social invitation and Nico was quick to make his excuses.

There was only one place he intended to be that evening, and that was confronting Abby Harrington. Incredibly skilled at interpreting body language, he’d instantly recognised her nervousness when they’d been introduced.

His mouth twisted into a bitter smile. After all these years he didn’t think that he made mistakes about women, but he’d certainly been way off the mark in her case.

He’d thought her extremely shy, but she’d also seemed to him to be sensible and intelligent and he’d hoped that she might be a favourable influence on his dizzy sister. She certainly wasn’t the sort of person he would have credited with telling lies or choosing to become a single mother.

It was no wonder she’d looked nervous when he’d walked onto the ward.

She was afraid that he’d discovered her secret and at this very moment she was probably pacing the floor of the tiny flat that she was being forced to vacate, dreading his next move.

And she was right to dread it.

Perfect father material.

Wasn’t that what Lucia had said when she’d persuaded him to be the donor? That they’d decided that he had all the qualities that a man should have. Looks and intellect. Unfortunately for them, they’d failed to realise that being perfect father material also included a sense of responsibility towards fatherhood and it was that same sense of duty that had driven him to check on the child that he’d fathered.

He wondered how Abby Harrington would react when he announced that he intended to claim his child.

For some reason she’d wanted a child of her own and had clearly been prepared to use any means to achieve her objective. Including persuading his sister to lie about her circumstances, he reminded himself grimly.

She’d played a dangerous game and lost.

And now she was going to pay the price.

CHAPTER TWO

ABBY tucked Rosa into her cot and stared down at her with a worried frown. Her cheeks were pink and she’d been unusually fretful again during the evening.

Abby kept trying to convince herself that it was probably just teething, but all her instincts were telling her that the child was coming down with something.

She gave a sigh and stroked the little girl’s hair as she slept.

She loved her so much…

The sound of the doorbell disturbed her and she glanced at the clock, her heart accelerating like a roller-coaster.

Was it the landlord?

He’d given her two more weeks to find somewhere else to live but so far she hadn’t found the time to start hunting.

Remembering what had happened during their last encounter, her breathing grew more rapid and she glanced at the phone.

Should she call the police?

Surely it was illegal to double the rent just because the tenant had refused sex with the landlord!

The bell went again, more insistent this time, and she walked purposefully towards the door, sparks in her blue eyes.

She didn’t need the police. This time she’d handle him herself. She didn’t even care about the flat any more. It wasn’t anything special and in the winter it was freezing. But she needed time to find somewhere else that she could afford and that was impossible in London. She already had to take two buses to get to work and if she moved further out then it would make the journey even worse and that wasn’t fair on Rosa.

But if he tried what he’d tried last time…

Determined to ask for a bit more time, Abby jerked open the front door and gasped in surprise as she saw who was standing there.

It was Nico Santini.

What did he want?

And how had he known where to find her?

For a moment she didn’t speak, too taken aback to think of anything sensible to say, then finally she found her voice.

‘Well—this is a surprise…’

Instead of answering, he stepped past her and strode into her flat, ducking his dark head slightly to avoid banging his head on the doorway.

Abby’s jaw dropped. The arrogance of the man!

Closing the front door behind her, she followed him into the shabby sitting room and paused in the doorway. He was standing with his back to her, his powerful shoulders tense as he examined a photograph.

A photograph of Rosa.

Abby bristled, outrage overwhelming her usual shyness. ‘Did you want something?’

He didn’t even look up, his dark eyes intent on the photograph.

Abby tensed. ‘That’s my daughter.’

He looked up then, his gaze lifting slowly from the photograph to meet her eyes. ‘I know exactly who she is, Abby. I know everything about her.’

Everything?

What exactly did he mean, he knew everything?

She hid her dismay. What was he saying? That Lucia had told him about her treatment at Carlo’s clinic?

She watched, struggling to think logically as he returned the photograph to the shelf with the others, his lean brown hand totally steady.

Why was Nico even interested? she wondered frantically. Why would her daughter be of interest to him? He’d never even passed the time of day with her before.

He took a final look at the photograph and then turned, supremely confident, every inch the arrogant, dominant male as he faced her across the sitting room.

Abby fought the instinct to take a step backwards. This was her sitting room, for goodness’ sake.

But his self-assured masculinity stifled her powers of speech and she dug her fingers into her palms and took a deep breath. There was something about this man that punctured her confidence levels.

‘Secrets have a way of coming out, Abby.’ He spoke slowly, his voice loaded with meaning, and she started to shake.

He definitely knew.

‘Let’s not play games. It isn’t my style. I assume you’re referring to Rosa’s conception,’ she said flatly, deciding that pretence was clearly a waste of time. ‘That should have been confidential but I suppose between siblings anything goes. What I don’t understand is why you could possibly be interested.’

‘No?’ His black eyes glinted slightly and he tossed a file onto the small writing desk by the French doors that led into the tiny garden.

Abby glanced at it, startled, realising that she hadn’t even noticed until now that he’d been carrying a file.

She stared at it now with trepidation, instinct telling her that the contents would be unpleasant.

‘Wh-what is that?’

‘Take a look,’ he suggested, his tone lethally smooth, and she looked at him with a total lack of comprehension.

What was this all about?

Staring at the file as though it were a deadly animal which might strike at any moment, she forced herself to cross the room. It had a plain brown cover which revealed nothing of its contents.

Pausing momentarily, she lifted a hand and flipped it open and then jerked her hand away as if it had been scalded.

The file was about her!

Her and Rosa.

Her whole body trembling, she flicked through the pages, nausea rising in her throat as she read intimate details about herself and her daughter. Intimate and exhaustive details.

Details that no one should know.

An intensely private person, she felt painfully exposed, flayed by the knowledge that this man was in possession of such detailed facts about her.

Appalled, she lifted her eyes to his. ‘H-how did you get this information?’

Nico lifted a broad shoulder dismissively. ‘That isn’t important.’

It was important to her. She’d always hidden the truth about Rosa’s conception from those around her. And here it was staring up at her, taunting her from the page of a file delivered by a virtual stranger.

The fact that he knew about Rosa’s history was bad enough, but to know every detail of her life…

She stared at him, seeking some clue as to the game he was playing, but he was everything that his reputation suggested. Iceberg. If he was feeling anything at all, it certainly didn’t show. There was no doubt as to who had the upper hand, and it wasn’t her.

‘Why? Why are you interested in us?’ Her words were barely a whisper, almost a plea, but there wasn’t a glimmer of sympathy in those hard black eyes.

‘Dio, you really ask me that? Are you still pretending that you don’t know why I am here?’ He walked purposefully towards her and when he finally came to a halt he was standing so close to her that she could feel the warmth from his powerful body. ‘Did you really think I wouldn’t find out the truth, Abby?’

‘The truth about what?’ She swallowed, her breathing shallow as she struggled to understand what was happening. She was obviously missing something. And whatever it was that she was missing, it was clearly something very serious.

‘Are you really pretending that you don’t know who I am?’

Her chin jerked up and she met his gaze. ‘I know who you are.’ Clearly she should have confessed straight away, but it just hadn’t seemed that important and she’d thought it unlikely that he even would have remembered her. ‘You’re Lucia’s brother. I met you a few times when we were at school.’

‘And?’ he prompted her softly, and she felt her heart hammering uncomfortably in her chest.

He hadn’t even raised his voice but somehow his tone had filled her with dread.

‘And nothing.’ She looked at him helplessly, her fingers curled into her damp palms. ‘I haven’t seen you since we left school. I truly don’t know what this is all about.’

‘But you’re not denying that you had treatment at my brother’s clinic?’ His tone was silky smooth, challenging her to dispute the truth.

‘No.’ She swallowed painfully, accepting the fact that he obviously had all the facts at his disposal. The file was nauseatingly comprehensive. ‘What would be the point of that when you’ve gone to so much trouble to find out every last detail about me? But that information should have been confidential.’

His mouth tightened. ‘And you were doubtless depending on that fact when you lied to us all. You were confident that you wouldn’t be caught.’

‘Lied?’ Abby’s eyes widened and she shook her head, totally confused by the conversation. It was like taking the lead part in a play when she hadn’t read the script. ‘I didn’t lie to anyone.’

‘Maybe not directly, but you were happy for Lucia to do it for you,’ he said harshly. ‘She lied about your age and your marital status.’

Abby blinked. ‘No, I—’

He made an impatient sound. ‘I have been intimately acquainted with your sex since I was fifteen years old and I can assure you that I am no longer taken in by a pair of wide blue eyes and an innocent expression. I know everything there is to know about female manipulation.’

Abby grabbed the back of a chair, shell-shocked. Nico was accusing her of something, but she still didn’t understand what. He was making no sense at all.

‘What am I supposed to have lied about?’ She let go of the chair and hugged her arms around herself. ‘I really don’t know what this conversation is about.’

He stared at her, his black eyes merciless. ‘No? Then let me spell it out.’ He paced across her small sitting room and she couldn’t help comparing him with a caged tiger. Only maybe a tiger would have been safer, she thought weakly. Nico in a rage was a lethal force. ‘You played a dangerous game and you have lost.’

She stared at him stupidly, her powers of speech temporarily suspended by shock.

He barely seemed to notice her lack of communication. As far as he was concerned, she’d been tried and found guilty. The only problem was, she had absolutely no idea what crime she’d supposedly committed.

‘I was willing to help you only because I believed your circumstances to be worthy of intervention. I have now found out otherwise and this changes everything.’

Was the man mad? When had he helped her?

She struggled to find her voice. ‘Perhaps you should be more specific,’ she croaked. ‘What exactly does it change?’

‘Everything. I no longer consider you a fit mother,’ he delivered in a cool tone. ‘I agreed to father your child because I believed you to be a woman in your late thirties in a stable relationship with a limited chance of producing a child naturally. That was what you and Lucia led me to believe. The truth was very different, as we both know. I never would have agreed to be the donor had I known that you were so young and on your own.’

She stared at him blankly, her brain slower than her hearing. ‘Donor?’

He ignored her croaked response.

‘You are clearly not able to give her the type of care I would wish for a child of mine, so I intend to apply for custody myself. I want my child.’

His child?

Donor?

The world stopped dead and Abby stared at him in mute horror.

Nico Santini thought that he was Rosa’s father?

She opened her mouth and then closed it again, unable to voice the words aloud because that might have given credence to his absurd claim. And it was absurd, of that she was sure.

‘Don’t bother denying it,’ Nico drawled, but Abby wasn’t listening. Her mind was locked on something he’d said a few sentences earlier.

Something about Lucia…

A hideous suspicion formed inside her mind and Abby lifted a hand to her head as she tried to clear the humming in her ears.

It was possible, just possible that…

Nausea rose in her throat and she reached out and grasped the bookshelves for support, but it made no difference. The room suddenly started to spin and she heard Nico swear softly in Italian.

‘Dio, fainting will not attract my sympathy.’

Sympathy? She didn’t want his sympathy. She just wanted him to be lying!! And she wanted him out of her house.

‘Sit down and put your head between your knees.’ His voice was rough and before she could protest he’d scooped her up into his arms and dumped her unceremoniously into a chair. Then she felt his long fingers biting into the soft flesh at the back of her neck as he forced her head between her knees.

She gulped in air, trying desperately to control the nausea that threatened to engulf her.

Finally the blackness receded and she gingerly tried to sit up. ‘You can move your hand now,’ she muttered sickly, ‘I’m fine.’

The pressure at the back of her neck eased and she sat up slowly, one palm placed across her chest. She needed to check that her heart was still beating.

Nico stood in front of her, his legs placed firmly apart in an aggressive stance, his expression brutally unsympathetic.

‘I always thought Lucia took the prize when it came to drama, but it seems I was wrong. I hate to disappoint you but I’m never impressed by female hysterics,’ he informed her. ‘Even less so in your case since you’ve always known that I might find out the truth.’

Abby was forcing herself to breathe normally in an attempt to get oxygen to her fuddled brain.

Finally she felt well enough to speak. ‘Are you really telling me that you think you’re the father of my baby?’

Her voice sounded thick, clogged with emotion. Totally unlike her own.

‘I don’t think.’ He spoke the words with dangerous emphasis. ‘I know.’

Her voice was little more than a whisper. ‘You were the donor?’

Please, let it be a mistake….

His black eyes flashed with impatience. ‘You know very well that I was. And we also know that you and Lucia fed me false information so that I’d agree. She knew that I would never agree to father a child for a woman in your circumstances. Family is something that I feel very strongly about. The two of you concocted the sort of story that you knew I would respond to.’

Abby licked dry lips. Was he telling the truth? Could Nico Santini be the father of her child?

She and Lucia had discussed the qualities that would make the ideal donor, but she’d never asked for any details.

What would have been the point? She’d assumed that the man in question would have been a stranger to her.

Had Lucia really persuaded her own brother to be the donor? Surely she never would have done that.

But if she had…

Abby sank her teeth into her lower lip, refusing to face the awful possibility that Nico might be Rosa’s father.

It was too shocking even to contemplate. She could see instantly that a man like Nico, an Italian who’d had the sanctity of the family injected into his veins from the cradle, wasn’t going to sit back and allow his child to be brought up by a single mother. What had Lucia been thinking of?

And he’d said something about taking Rosa from her.

The colour drained from her face and she lifted a hand to her mouth. She was going to be ill.

Muttering an apology, she stood up hastily and sprinted to the toilet where she was violently sick. For endless moments she hung over the bowl and then finally she sank onto the floor of the bathroom, her eyes closed, every muscle in her body aching from her body’s physical reaction to Nico’s shocking announcement.

She had no idea of how long she sat there. Time was of no consequence. All she could think of was the fact that he just might be Rosa’s father. And if he was then he was going to claim her.

Her baby.

Panic swamped her like a tidal wave and she wrapped her arms around her body, trying to settle her churning stomach. She had to stay calm, she told herself, clutching her shaking knees to her tummy and gulping in a lungful of air. Nico was exceptionally clever and so emotionally controlled that if she didn’t get a grip and concentrate, he’d run rings around her.

She was still wrestling for control when Rosa suddenly cried out.

Struggling to her feet, she splashed her face quickly and ran down the hall as fast as her shaking legs would allow.

Pushing open the door of Rosa’s nursery, she stopped dead. Nico was standing there, speaking softly in Italian, Rosa held firmly against his shoulder. The little girl lifted a chubby hand and patted his blue-black jaw, gurgling with laughter and blowing bubbles.

Abby watched in dismay.

Did her daughter have no sense of self-preservation? She should have been behaving like the child from hell so that there was no way on this planet he’d want to take her away. Instead of which, Rosa was being her usual sweet-natured self and she could see that Nico was totally enchanted by the little girl.

He held her against his broad chest with one large hand while he used the other to tease the baby gently.

Abby shook her head in disbelief as she watched them together. What a contrast. There was no sign of the hard, ruthless, male who had been prowling around her sitting room only moments earlier. With the baby Nico was a different person—incredibly gentle, tolerant and mildly amused by her antics.

Looking at the two of them together, Abby felt her heart sink into her boots.

How had she not noticed it before?

Rosa was the spitting image of Nico. They had the same jet-black hair, the same incredible dark eyes. Only the mouth was different. Rosa’s mouth was a small rosebud whereas—Abby glanced at him and then glanced away quickly, her face suddenly hot—Nico’s was tough and sensual, and it wasn’t something that she wanted to focus on. Whichever way you looked at it, physically Rosa resembled Nico closely.

Which meant that he was probably telling the truth.

The realisation hit her in the pit of her stomach and she sank against the doorframe for support. Even if she’d been thinking of contesting his claim to be the child’s natural father, one look at the two of them together would have been enough to make her realise the futility of such an exercise.

Suddenly Rosa noticed her mother and squirmed in Nico’s hold, reaching out her chubby arms towards Abby.

Distraught and not thinking clearly, Abby pulled herself together enough to cross the room and take her daughter from him.

Just feeling the familiar warmth of Rosa’s little body made her feel better. There was something so comforting about her innocent hug and the smell of her skin and hair.

‘She’s mine.’ Not wanting to upset Rosa, she spoke quietly, but her voice quivered with passion and sincerity. ‘She’s always been mine. It doesn’t matter if you’re the biological father. You can’t take her away from me.’

Her words were sheer bravado and she met his cool gaze, hopelessly out of her depth. She had no idea about the legalities of the situation and she couldn’t afford to pay anyone to tell her, not with the present state of her finances. Surely no one would give him custody? But, then again, they probably would, she reflected miserably, hugging her daughter even closer. The Santini family was loaded. When Lucia had been at school it had been bodyguards and helicopters all the way. They had enough money to buy the entire legal system if necessary. Whereas she—she closed her eyes briefly as she faced the painful truth—didn’t even have the money for one consultation with a lawyer. If she had then she probably would have already seen one about her unscrupulous landlord.

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