December’s menu

BARONESSA GELATERIA

in Boston’s North End

In addition to our regular flavors of gelato, this month we are featuring:

 Blueberry tartGorgeous blue eyes, ebony hair just a tad too long to fit a successful millionaire, broad shoulders and long legs—Steven Conti was drop-dead handsome. But those incredible eyes…the sky-colored orbs went from liquid to flame in an instant, trapping Maria in their heat and stealing her breath….

 Baby cakes sprinkled with powdered sugarHiding herself and her unborn child in the snow-dusted pines of Big Sky Country wasn’t the answer, but Maria needed time. Time to sort out her feelings and her future. But when Steven found her, she knew the tingling inside her had nothing to do with her pregnancy. She belonged to Steven in a deep, elemental, primitive way….

 Hot toddies laced with 100 proof rumOne kiss from Steven and Maria felt drunk, light-headed, unable to stand. How could she deny herself another night in his arms? But would going to bed with Steven Conti be like sleeping with the enemy? As the Montana winds raged outside, his body heat beckoned. And it was a call she could not deny….

Buon appetito!

Dear Reader,

Thanks for choosing Silhouette Desire, where we bring you the ultimate in powerful, passionate and provocative love stories. Our immensely popular series DYNASTIES: THE BARONES comes to a rollicking conclusion this month with Metsy Hingle’s Passionately Ever After. But don’t worry, another wonderful family saga is on the horizon. Come back next month when Barbara McCauley launches DYNASTIES: THE DANFORTHS. Full of Southern charm—and sultry scandals—this is a series not to be missed!

The wonderful Dixie Browning is back with an immersing tale in Social Graces. And Brenda Jackson treats readers to another unforgettable—and unbelievably hot!—hero in Thorn’s Challenge. Kathie DeNosky continues her trilogy about hard-to-tame men with the fabulous Lonetree Ranchers: Colt.

Also this month is another exciting installment in the TEXAS CATTLEMAN’S CLUB: THE STOLEN BABY series. Laura Wright pens a powerful story with Locked Up With a Lawman—I think the title says it all. And welcome back author Susan Crosby who kicks off her brand-new series, BEHIND CLOSED DOORS, with the compelling Christmas Bonus, Strings Attached.

With wishes for a happy, healthy holiday season,

Melissa Jeglinski

Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire

Passionately Ever After
Metsy Hingle

www.millsandboon.co.uk

For Diane Hingle Anding,

sister by marriage & friend by choice

METSY HINGLE

is an award-winning, bestselling author of romance who resides across the lake from her native New Orleans. Married for more than twenty years to her own hero, she is the busy mother of four children. She recently traded in her business suits and a fast-paced life in the hotel and public-relations arena to pursue writing full-time. Metsy has a strong belief in the power of love and romance. She also believes in happy endings, which she continues to demonstrate with each new story she writes. She loves hearing from readers. For a free doorknob hanger or bookmark, write to Metsy at P.O. Box 3224, Covington, LA 70433.

Meet the Barones of Boston—an elite clan caught in a web of danger, deceit…and desire!

Who’s Who in

PASSIONATELY EVER AFTER

Steven Conti—A millionaire by age twenty-five, he had it all—the prestige, the wealth, the good looks. But he wanted something he could never have. He wanted…

Maria Barone—The feisty youngest sibling of the Barone clan, she never ran away from anything in her life—except Steven. But she had to protect her heart and her unborn baby from the legendary curse of…

Lucia Conti—Seventy years ago, as a jilted teen, she called a curse upon the Barones for all eternity. Was it enduring fact or just a Sicilian superstition?

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Epilogue

One

Her luck had just run out.

Steven had found her.

Maria Barone didn’t know how she knew that the strange black SUV parked in front of the Calderones’ place belonged to Steven. She only knew that she did. Easing her car around the bend in the road, she barely noticed the snow-dusted Ponderosa pines or the darkening December sky. All her thoughts, all her energy, were focused on the impending confrontation. Because she had no doubts whatsoever that there would be a confrontation.

Ever since her cousin Karen had phoned a few days ago to warn her that Steven was searching for her, she’d known it would only be a matter of time before he stumbled onto her hiding place in Silver Valley, Montana. Perhaps that was why from the moment she’d awakened that morning, she’d been plagued by a fluttering in her belly that had nothing to do with the baby growing inside her and everything to do with some sixth sense warning her that her days of eluding Steven Conti were about to come to an end.

Pulling her compact to a stop alongside the empty SUV, Maria sat behind the wheel of her car for several moments. For the space of a heartbeat, she considered turning the vehicle around and leaving to avoid what was bound to be a messy, emotional scene. Just as quickly, she dismissed the idea. She wasn’t a coward, she reminded herself firmly. And until recently she’d never run away from a thing in her life. Besides, in another two and a half months Steven and everyone else would know her secret. Determinedly she switched off the car’s engine.

All right. Time to face the music.

Mustering her courage, Maria exited the vehicle. After gathering her packages from the back seat, she made her way up the shoveled walkway. When she reached the front door, she drew in a deep breath, filling her lungs with the cool, crisp air in an effort to steady her nerves. She’d known for months now that this day would come—the day when she would have to tell Steven about the baby and lay out her plan for their child’s future. Yet she was no closer now to figuring out what that plan entailed than she had been when she’d left Boston more than two months ago. All she knew was that she loved Steven, and she loved her family. And no matter what she decided, someone she loved was going to be hurt. Worse, in choosing, she was going to lose either Steven or her family. Or possibly both.

Maria swallowed hard at that thought. And not for the first time, she wondered why the powers that be had played such a cruel trick on her.

Fate, the voice inside her head whispered. Perhaps it was fate, she thought. How else could she explain that the man she’d fallen in love with was a Conti—the one man in the world with whom she couldn’t possibly share a future? Maria sighed at the futility of her situation. No matter how much she might wish for things to be different, the past could not be changed. The Contis and the Barones were sworn enemies, had been enemies long before either she or Steven had been born. And the feud between their families that had begun when Marco Barone had eloped with her grandmother instead of marrying Steven’s Aunt Lucia was just as strong now as it had been nearly seventy years ago. In truth, the bad blood was probably even stronger now, Maria conceded, as she recalled all the misfortunes that had befallen the Barone family as a result of the Conti curse.

The Conti curse.

Maria shuddered at the thought of that horrid curse that had plagued her family for nearly seven decades. Even now, she still could recall sitting at her grandmother’s knee as a young girl and listening to the story of the Conti curse. She could almost hear her grandmother’s voice explaining….

“Lucia was so angry, so bitter, when Marco and I told them we were married,” Angelica Barone said as she related the tale of their elopement and how they had gone to the Contis and pleaded with them to understand.

“Understand?” a furious Lucia countered. “I understand that you have betrayed me, my brother and our family.”

“We love each other,” Marco Barone had told her. “I never meant to hurt you, Lucia.”

“Well, you have hurt me. You have hurt all of the Contis.”

“Perhaps someday when you are older, you will understand and be able to forgive us and wish us happiness,” Angelica offered.

“I shall never forgive you,” Lucia spat out. “And I shall never wish you any happiness. In fact, I curse you. You got married on Valentine’s Day, so from this day forward, I wish you and all of your descendants a lifetime of miserable Valentine’s Days—just like the miserable one you gave me.”

Then exactly one year later on the first anniversary of their wedding, Angelica Barone had miscarried the child she had been carrying. Maria shuddered again at the memory of her grandmother and the sadness that crept into her eyes when she had told her about losing her first child.

Smoothing a protective hand over her stomach, Maria couldn’t help worrying again how that curse might affect the baby growing inside her—a baby due on Valentine’s Day. Despite Steven’s claim that the tragedies her family had suffered were coincidences and that the Conti curse was nothing more than superstition fueled by overactive imaginations, Maria knew he was wrong. She had only to look at this past year for proof that the curse was real and the unhappiness that Lucia Conti had called down upon all Barones was continuing to wreak havoc.

Biting her lower lip, Maria considered the disasters that had plagued her family during the past year—disasters that all commenced shortly after she’d become involved with Steven. She winced at the memory of the sabotage of the new passionfruit gelato on Valentine’s Day and the turmoil of bad press and lost revenue that had resulted. Then there had been the fire at the plant and her cousin Emily’s amnesia. And worst and most frightening of all had been the recent kidnapping of both Steven’s sister, Bianca, and her cousin Derrick.

Perhaps Steven could dismiss the curse, but she couldn’t, Maria admitted. Besides, even if she were able to get past her fears of the curse, how would she ever be able to get past the loss of her family? How would Steven get past losing his family? Because she had no doubts that both families would disown them were she and Steven to declare that they wanted to share their lives together.

She’d grown up in the bosom of her large, boisterous family and wanted the same for her baby. For her and Steven to be together, she would have to forfeit that joy. How could she possibly condemn her baby to a life in which he or she would be stripped of that love? How could she possibly allow her baby to become caught up in the ongoing feud between the Barones and Contis?

The fact was, she couldn’t. She wouldn’t. For her baby’s sake, she would have to be strong, Maria told herself again. Somehow she had to find a way to reason with Steven, to make him see that they could have no future together because too many people would be hurt. And the one who would suffer the most would be their child. She simply had to make him see that.

Squaring her shoulders, Maria shifted her packages under her arm and reached for the doorknob. As usual, she found the house unlocked. Quickly, before she changed her mind, she hurried inside out of the cold. And for the first time since she’d arrived over two months ago, the scents of the baking bread and burning wood did nothing to soothe her spirit. Nor did the sound of Magdalene’s and Louis Calderone’s laughter coming from somewhere inside the house.

“Then my Aunt Lucia said…”

Maria started at the deep rumble of Steven’s voice and sent one of the wrapped boxes from her shopping bag tumbling to the floor.

“Oh, that must be Maria now,” Magdalene said.

Chastising herself for reacting like a clumsy schoolgirl at just the sound of Steven’s voice, Maria retrieved the fallen package and began stuffing it into her shopping bag.

“Maria? Is that you?”

“It is either Maria or a clumsy burglar,” Louis joked, his Spanish ancestry apparent in his speech.

“Maria?” Magdalene called out again.

“Yes, Magdalene. It’s me,” Maria replied, surprised that she managed to sound almost normal when nerves were tap-dancing in her stomach. “I’ll be there in a minute,” she added as she tried to calm herself.

But Magdalene was already rushing out to the foyer to greet her. “You were gone so long. Louis and I were about to send out a search party to look for you.”

“I’m sorry if I worried you,” Maria told her. “I decided to do some Christmas shopping while I was in town.”

“So I see,” Magdalene told her as she eyed the bags stuffed with gifts. “And your doctor visit?” she asked as she removed the shopping bag and packages from her fingers and set them aside. “Everything is okay?”

“Yes. Yes, everything is fine,” Maria told her as she stripped off her gloves and jammed them inside her coat pocket. She removed the scarf bundled around her neck and before she could protest, Magdalene was reaching for it and draping it over the coatrack beside the door.

“Here, give me your coat,” Magdalene instructed.

“No,” Maria said sharply, then immediately softened her voice. “I mean I want to keep it on for a while. I…I’m still feeling a little chilled,” she fibbed, deciding to delay the inevitable a bit longer by hiding her body beneath the voluminous coat.

Magdalene reached for Maria’s fingers and frowned. “It is no wonder you are cold. Your hands, they are like ice. Are you sure you feel all right, la pequeña?”

For once Maria didn’t bother pointing out to the tiny, dark-haired woman that since she was a full two inches taller than Magdalene and her stomach was beginning to resemble a basketball, the pet name “little one” really didn’t suit her. “I’m fine. Really. The sun’s beginning to go down, so it’s turned colder outside. That’s all,” she offered in explanation. “I just need a few minutes to warm up and I’ll be fine.”

Apparently satisfied, Magdalene said, “All right. If you are sure.”

“I’m sure,” Maria informed her.

“Then, come. I have a surprise for you. A visitor,” she added, her eyes sparkling. She turned and started toward the den.

But Maria remained frozen to the spot.

“Maria?” Magdalene said when she realized that she wasn’t following. “You are sure you are okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

“Then come, pequeña,” Magdalene urged and motioned for her to follow. She ushered her toward the den. In a voice filled with glee she announced, “Look who has come all the way from Boston just to see you.”

Even though Maria had known before setting one foot into the room that she would find Steven waiting there, that knowledge didn’t lessen the impact of seeing him again. Just as it had that very first time when their eyes had met across the room at Nicholas and Gail’s wedding reception nearly a year ago, the air seemed to back up in Maria’s lungs. She hadn’t known back then that Steven was a Conti. All she had known was that never before in her life had she been so drawn to a man. More than drawn, she admitted. She’d been entranced by him. One look and she’d known that he was the man she had waited for her entire life. She drank in the sight of him again now. The tall, athletic frame of his body. Those linebacker shoulders that filled the black and red sweater he wore so wonderfully. The tad-too-long dark hair that made him look more like a rebel than a dot-com millionaire. Suddenly Maria could remember all too easily the texture of his hair when she’d wound her fingers through it, the feel of that hair brushing against her bare skin while they made love.

Realizing what she was doing, Maria shut off the dangerous memories. She lifted her gaze to meet Steven’s. And her breath hitched as those piercing blue eyes of his went from cool to hot as he looked at her. For a moment, Maria couldn’t breathe. Trapped in the heat of his gaze, her pulse pounded frantically as Steven started across the room toward her. His eyes never wavered and when he captured her nervous fingers in his hands, Maria feared for a moment that she might actually faint.

“Hello, Maria,” he said, his voice like a caress.

Maria opened her mouth, intent on returning the greeting, but no words came out. As though in a trance, she simply stood there and watched as Steven began to lower his head. When his mouth was mere inches from hers, sanity suddenly came slamming back. She turned her face away and his lips brushed her cheek. The kiss was light, barely a whisper of a touch, but it might as well have been a brand, Maria thought, because she felt the burn of Steven’s kiss all the way down to her toes.

Rattled and fearful she would do something foolish like throw herself into his arms, Maria pulled her hands free and stepped back. “Hello, Steven,” she finally managed and didn’t miss the flicker of annoyance that crossed his handsome face.

“It is a lovely surprise, your Steven coming to visit you, yes?” Magdalene asked.

“Somehow I don’t think Maria’s all that surprised to see me, Mrs. Calderone,” Steven offered in her silence.

“It is Magdalene,” her friend chided him.

“My apologies, Magdalene,” Steven offered gallantly and earned another smile from the older woman.

“This is true, Maria? You were expecting Steven?” Magdalene asked.

“No, not exactly,” Maria hedged. More like she had hoped that he wouldn’t be able to find her. Aware that both Magdalene and Louis were waiting for her to explain, she said, “When I spoke to Karen the other day she mentioned that Steven had said he wanted to speak with me.”

Steven arched his brow at her understatement. But much to her relief he didn’t point out that he had sworn to Karen that he intended to track her down no matter how long it took him.

Unfortunately, it hadn’t taken him long at all. Not that she was surprised, she wasn’t. After all, Steven Conti hadn’t become a millionaire before he was twenty-five by failing to attain whatever goal he’d set for himself. And according to Karen, he had been quite determined to find her—with or without her cousin’s help.

“Well, Louis and I are happy you have come. Our Maria has been moping about since Thanksgiving. Now we understand why. Don’t we, Louis?” Magdalene asked, the twinkle back in her eyes.

“We do?” Louis asked, a puzzled expression on his dark, weathered face.

Magdalene rolled her eyes. “Men! Louis, our Maria has not only been missing her family. She has been missing Steven.”

“Is Magdalene right, Maria? Have you missed me?” Steven asked, his voice somber, his eyes serious.

Her heart ached at the longing he made no attempt to hide from her. Not trusting herself to answer him, she turned away and walked over to the fireplace. For once she failed to appreciate the beauty of the Indian blanket that hung on the wall above the stone hearth. She simply stared into the fire, scarcely aware of the heat of the flames that licked at the logs or the spit and hiss of the burning wood. She pressed a hand to her belly and searched for the right words to tell Steven about the baby.

“Pequeña, what is wrong?” Magdalene asked. “Maria?”

At the sound of Magdalene’s voice, Maria shook off her sadness and turned her attention toward the other woman. “I’m sorry, Magdalene. Did you say something?”

A frowning Magdalene marched over to her, placed a hand on her forehead, then caught her fingers. “No fever. And you don’t feel chilled anymore. Are you still cold?”

“A little,” Maria fibbed, still unwilling to reveal her protruding belly.

Magdalene’s frown deepened. “Did you tell the doctor about these chills?”

“Doctor?” Steven repeated and Maria didn’t miss the note of alarm in his voice. “What’s this about a doctor? Are you sick?”

“No. No, I’m not sick. It was just a checkup,” Maria said quickly, silently pleading with Magdalene with a look to say nothing about the baby. “I’m just not used to the Montana winters and I was a little chilled when I came inside. That’s all.”

Magdalene’s dark eyes widened slightly as understanding dawned. “Perhaps some hot chocolate will help to warm you up,” she offered, but Maria didn’t miss the reproach in the other woman’s expression.

“Yes. Hot chocolate sounds wonderful,” Maria replied.

“What about you, Steven?” Magdalene asked as she returned to the coffee table and began loading dishes onto the serving tray. “Would you care for another cup of coffee or would you like hot chocolate, too?”

“If it’s no trouble, coffee would be great.”

“No trouble at all.”

“I’ll take another cup, too,” Louis informed his wife.

“Why don’t you come help me in the kitchen, Louis?” Magdalene suggested.

“But—”

“I’m sure Steven and Maria have much to discuss. You will excuse us for a moment. Yes?” Magdalene asked and gave Maria a pointed look.

“Of course,” Maria said.

“Come, Louis.” Magdalene smiled at her confused-looking spouse and handed him the tray. “Perhaps you will sample the cinnamon rolls I baked earlier. I am thinking that maybe I should send some for the Christmas Bazaar at the church.”

“Anything to help you and the church,” a beaming Louis replied, and with tray in hand, he headed for the door.

Magdalene paused, looked back at Maria for a moment. “I will be in the kitchen if you need me, pequeña,” she said before following her husband from the room.

Steven watched the two women exchange looks and wondered at the unspoken message that passed between them. For a moment, he could have sworn he’d picked up some strange vibes in the room, but then Magdalene was closing the door and leaving him alone with Maria.

With the Calderones gone, the room fell silent, and were it not for the hiss of the logs burning in the fireplace, Steven was sure he could have heard a pin drop. But after months of being haunted by the memory of Maria, not even the unnatural silence dimmed the pleasure of being near her again.

So he drank in the sight of her now. Like a starving man, he took in every detail of her appearance. Her hair was longer, he noted, falling like mahogany silk nearly to her shoulders. Her skin was paler than he remembered, but there seemed to be a glow to it now that hadn’t been there when she’d fled from Boston. Courtesy of the mountain air, he suspected. He wasn’t sure if the flush in her cheeks was due to his presence or to the heat from the fire, and decided it was probably a little of both.

He looked into those big doe eyes of hers—eyes that he’d seen countless times in his dreams. Much to his disappointment there was the same wariness in them now that had been there the last time he’d seen her. Shrugging off his disappointment, Steven stared at her mouth. Her mouth was the same—still sultry and tempting. He couldn’t help remembering how perfectly that mouth had fit with his. How it had felt to hear those lips crying out his name when he was buried deep inside her. How those same lips had sworn that she loved him. He wanted to go to her, pull her into his arms and kiss her, hear her say those words to him again now. And because he wanted to so badly, he jammed his fists into his pockets to keep from reaching for her.

“How did you find me?” she asked, breaking the silence.

“Does it really matter? The important thing is that I did find you,” he told her, not wanting to admit that he’d broken a few rules in his quest to locate her. When she said nothing, he released a breath in exasperation. “I tracked you through your credit card. You used it to send flowers to your family for Thanksgiving.”

“But how—” she began, only to answer the question herself. “The computer. You hacked into the computer system for my credit card activity.”

“Yes,” he admitted. “And if you’re going to tell me that what I did was illegal, don’t bother. I already know that. But I was desperate to find you.”

“You could have been arrested.”

Steven shrugged. “It would have been a small price to pay.”

“You shouldn’t have risked it,” she charged.

“I would have risked a lot more than that to find you,” he said honestly. “But it seems I got away with my crime. That is, unless you’re planning to turn me in.”

“Of course I’m not,” she countered.

“For a minute there, I wasn’t sure,” he teased, wanting to lighten the mood. Much to his regret, Maria continued to look grim. “Now that I’ve answered your question, how about answering mine?”

Maria wrinkled her brow, causing the tiny crease along her forehead he’d noted whenever she was puzzling over something. “What question?”

“Was Magdalene right? Did you miss me?” When she said nothing, Steven bit back the sting of disappointment and his voice was hard as he said, “It’s a simple question, Maria. All it requires is a yes or no answer. Did you miss me? Even just a little bit?”

“Yes. I’ve missed you,” she said finally, the words little more than a whisper.

Relief rushed through him at her reply and he started toward her. “God, Maria, if you only knew how much—”

“Don’t,” she said, holding up her hand.

Steven stopped in his tracks. Frustration churned inside him. Frustration and hurt. “Don’t what, Maria? Don’t tell you that I love you? That I’ve been going out of my mind these past two months without you? That I believed you when you said that you loved me? And that you damn near cut my heart out when you ran off like you did without any explanation?”

“I left you a note,” she defended.

“Yeah, a few paltry lines saying that you needed to get away. That you needed time to think,” he said, not bothering to keep the bitterness from his voice. He paced the length of the room, jammed a fist through his hair. He whipped back around to face her. “How do you think that made me feel? I tell you that I love you, that I want to marry you and then you disappear and tell me not to try to find you. Do you have any idea how much that hurt me?”

“I’m sorry.”

“You’re sorry?” he repeated and marched over to where she stood before the fireplace hearth. “You say you love me, then rip my heart out and throw it back in my face by running away, and all you have to say is that you’re sorry?”

She stared up at him out of sad brown eyes. “Believe me, Steven. Hurting you was…is the last thing I ever wanted to do.”

“Well, you did hurt me,” he fired back. Unable to stop himself, he reached for her. “I love you, Maria. And dammit, I know you love me. So why are you doing this to us? Tell me what’s wrong. Whatever it is, I’ll fix it.”

“You can’t fix it,” she said and pulled away from him. Hugging her arms to herself, she turned her back to him and stared into the fire. “No one can fix it. No one.”

The tears in her voice ripped at him. “What is it, love? Tell me what’s wrong.”

When Maria shook her head, he turned her around to face him. Tipping up her chin, he stared into eyes bright with tears and secrets. A fist seemed to tighten itself around his heart as he studied her face. He’d always thought Maria beautiful—from the first moment he’d set eyes on her at Nicholas and Gail’s wedding. Yet there was something even more beautiful about her now, an inner glow much like the waitress at his family’s restaurant when she’d been—

Steven yanked his gaze from Maria’s and moved down the length of her body. Emotion churned inside him as he registered the subtle differences in her appearance and demeanor. He took in the shapeless red coat that swallowed her slender frame, noted the protective way Maria’s hands rested near her middle. In the blink of an eye, all the changes in her hit him like a sucker punch. “Take off your coat, Maria,” he commanded in a voice so controlled and cool, it sounded foreign even to him.

She stared at him, like a deer that had been caught in the headlights of an oncoming car, he thought. And he hated the fact that it was fear that he read in her eyes. “Steven—”

“Take off the coat, Maria,” he repeated and softening his voice, he added, “Please.”

With a patience that belied the blood racing like wild-fire through his veins, Steven watched as she slowly unbuttoned the red coat. When the last button had been loosened, she pulled off the coat and tossed it aside. She lifted her head, angled her gaze up to his and stared at him out of eyes bright with defiance.

Steven lowered his gaze and stared at her protruding stomach. Emotions pummeled through him at breakneck speed—anger, joy, hurt. When he lifted his gaze to meet hers again, he read the regret in her eyes. And it was that regret that sent a knife plunging straight through his heart.

“Tell me something, Maria,” he said, taking care to keep his voice soft while rage and pain warred inside him.

“What?”

“Were you even planning to tell me that I was going to be a father?”

Two

For a moment, Maria couldn’t speak. In the time she’d known Steven, she’d discovered a man with many layers. The smart, ambitious businessman who’d made his first million before he’d turned twenty-five. The kind and caring man who loved his family as fiercely as she loved her own. The passionate and tender lover to whom she’d given her virginity and her heart. But never once, not even when she’d refused to take their relationship public or to discuss his offer of marriage, had she seen Steven like this—in a white-hot fury made all the more chilling because he kept it so tightly leashed.

Anger emanated from every pore of his being. It was there in the tight lines around his mouth, in the ticking of the muscle in his right cheek, in the hard set of his jaw. Despite her sweater and the heat of the fire, Maria shivered beneath his icy blue glare. Not because she feared Steven would harm her physically. She didn’t. She knew he would sooner cut off his arm than hurt any woman. But the contempt she read in his eyes struck her like a blow.

“It’s a simple question, Maria. I’d appreciate an answer.”

Maria’s head swam. Squeezing her eyes shut, she wrapped her arms around herself and fought to steady herself, searched for the right words to explain.

“Look at me, Maria,” he commanded in a voice so soft she had to strain to hear it. “Were you even planning to tell me about the baby? Or did you think I didn’t deserve to know I was going to be a father?”

She snapped her eyes open and forced herself to meet his gaze. “Of course you deserved to know,” she told him. “And I was going to tell you.”

“When?” he demanded. “After the baby was born? What were you going to do? Send me a birth announcement and tack on a note saying ‘By the way, congratulations, you’re a daddy’?”

Maria wanted to cringe beneath the contempt in his voice, but she forced herself to face his anger. After all, she reasoned, he was entitled to be furious with her. She’d had months to get used to the idea of becoming a parent while Steven…Steven had been blindsided by the news because she’d kept silent. “No. I was going to tell you before the baby was born. I swear I was,” she said, hoping he believed her. “I never intended to keep it from you, Steven. I’ve been wanting to tell you for months now—almost from the moment I found out that I was pregnant.”

“Then why didn’t you?” he asked, anguish in his voice, in his eyes. “Dammit, Maria! How could you lay in my arms, make love with me and tell me that you love me, and then keep something like this a secret?”

Maria ached for him. She ached for herself and for all the pain they had both suffered during the past few months. Lifting her hand, she touched his cheek. “I didn’t want to keep it a secret. I wanted to tell you. I just didn’t know how.”

Some of the fierceness in his expression eased at her words. He turned his mouth into her palm and kissed it. At the gentle touch of his lips, Maria’s heart swelled with love for him. Oh, how she loved him, she thought. She stared at his handsome face—the sharp angles of his jaw, the proud chin, the sweep of dark lashes that covered his too-serious blue eyes. In the firelight, his black hair gleamed like polished onyx and she had to quell the urge to brush back that errant strand that always fell across his forehead. Instead she somehow found her voice and said, “I’m sorry. I never meant for you to find out about the baby this way. I had hoped…I had planned—”

“Shh. It doesn’t matter now,” he said and reached for her other hand. His eyes never left hers as he brought her fingers to his lips and kissed them again. “All that matters is that we’re together now, and that we’re going to have a baby. A baby,” he repeated, his voice filled with awe. “I still can’t believe it. We’re actually going to have a baby.”

“Steven—”

He silenced her with a kiss. “Do you have any idea what I’ve been going through these past months? All the things that went through my head when you left that note and disappeared. I was so angry with your family. I was sure that they had found out about us and forced you to go away.”

“No, they didn’t,” she began. “It wasn’t them. It was me. It was all my idea.”

“Yeah. I figured that out after talking to Karen last week. But there was a part of me that didn’t want to believe you could do that—just up and leave me the way you did, not after what we’d shared.”

Guilt tugged at her. “It wasn’t easy. I…I didn’t know what else to do. I thought if I could get away, that if I had some time alone to think…”

“That’s what Karen said. But it didn’t stop me from worrying that maybe you’d had second thoughts about us, that you’d begun to believe the things your family had been saying about the Contis sabotaging Baronessa Gelati. I thought…I was afraid that you hated me. That you’d regretted what we’d shared.” He swallowed and continued, “I was afraid that you’d regretted loving me.”

“No,” she told him honestly, and unable to stop herself, she brought her palm to his cheek. When he once again turned his face and kissed her palm, she didn’t withdraw. Regret loving him? No, she thought. It would have been easier for her to not take her next breath than to ever regret falling in love with him. Growing up with both her grandparents and parents as examples of what real love was all about, she knew what she felt for Steven was real. In fact, she doubted that she’d even had a choice when it came to loving him. She simply did—had almost from the moment they’d first met. And while she regretted the problems and the heartache their love would cause their families, she couldn’t ever regret the love they’d found with each other. How could she when the child growing inside was a result of that love? Their baby was a beautiful miracle, a gift she would always cherish, just as she would always cherish having been loved by Steven. “I’ve never regretted loving you. Never. Not even for a minute.”

“Thank God,” he said, and as though her reply had opened some floodgate of emotion inside him, he pulled her into his arms.

After so many months without him, Maria reveled in the feel of Steven’s arms around her again. This time when he lowered his head to kiss her, she made no attempt to deny him or herself.

His mouth closed over her own. Steven kissed her—tenderly, passionately, hungrily. When his tongue tested the seam of her lips, Maria didn’t hesitate. She opened to him. Tongues explored, danced, mated. He kissed her and kissed her, each thrust of his tongue fueling the need for more. By the time he tore his mouth free and groaned, Maria felt dazed. Awash in emotion and sensations, she clutched at his shoulders, fearful her knees would buckle at any moment. Then his clever, oh-so-clever mouth began to kiss the shell of her ear. Tiny, nibbling kisses that made her heart race and her blood heat. When he nipped the lobe of her ear, Maria sucked in a breath.

It was a mistake, she realized as she breathed in his familiar scent. Suddenly her senses were flooded with the smell of him. He smelled of soap and fresh snow and the forest. And Maria couldn’t help but think of how many times during the past few months those scents had triggered memories of him, had made her ache to be in his arms again like this.

When Steven began planting a string of kisses along her jawline, Maria knew she was playing a dangerous game. She wanted Steven desperately, loved him just as fiercely. Yet there could be no future for them. She knew it, had known it almost from the start. Not even the baby growing inside her could change the impossibility of them sharing a life together. To allow Steven to continue would only make him believe otherwise. And to do so would be wrong, she reasoned. “Steven,” she began, knowing she had to tell him to stop.

But then he kissed her neck and the protest died on her lips. Tipping her head back, she gave him the access he sought. As he kissed her throat, the hint of whiskers along his jaw felt like fine sandpaper brushing against her softer skin. The sensation was erotic, seductive. When Steven flicked his tongue across her sensitized flesh, Maria nearly whimpered. She curled her fingers into his sweater, marveled at the feel of hard muscle and sinew beneath the soft cashmere.

“So sweet, so incredibly sweet,” he murmured, his breath a warm rush against her fevered skin. Her heart pounded so wildly in her chest, Maria feared it would burst at any second.

When Steven nudged aside the V-neckline of her sweater and shirt to kiss her collarbone, her breath hitched. Sliding her fingers through his hair, she pulled his head up and brought his mouth back to her own.

This time when their lips met, it was Maria who groaned as he nipped at her lower lip and took control of the kiss. Maria’s head swam beneath the onslaught of his mouth and tongue, the feel of his hands sliding down her back, over her hips. When he cupped her bottom and lifted her, pressed her against his arousal, Maria trembled.

“God, Maria, I’ve missed you so much,” he said as he continued to pepper her face with kisses.

“And I’ve missed you,” she admitted, lost in the feel of his mouth and hands on her after so long without him. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the baby…that I ran away like I did….”

“I told you, it doesn’t matter,” he said, cutting off her apology with another earth-shattering kiss.

When he lifted his head, Maria could have sworn the world had tilted beneath her feet. In an effort to steady herself, she looped her arms around his neck and only then did she realize that Steven was carrying her toward the couch.

Gently he placed her atop the cushions and sat beside her. She’d barely had time to register what had happened when he cupped her face in his hands. He pressed a kiss to her forehead and said, “The only thing that matters is that we’re together now. I swear, I won’t let anything ever keep us apart again.”

His words were like a dash of cold water, instantly sobering Maria. “Steven,” she began.

“I swear to you, Maria, I’m going to be the very best husband and father,” he continued.

“Steven, don’t,” she said and struggled to sit up.

“What is it? Is it the baby? Did I hurt you or the baby?”

“No. No, the baby’s fine. I’m fine,” she assured him.

“Then what is it? What’s wrong?”

“We need to slow down. Everything is happening too fast,” Maria told him.

Steven’s gaze slid from her face to her belly. “Sweetheart, from where I’m sitting, I think we need to move fast,” he said, a note of humor in his voice. “When’s the baby due?”

“In February,” Maria said. “On Valentine’s Day, February fourteenth.” She waited several heartbeats for him to acknowledge the ominous date.

He didn’t. Instead, he said, “Then we don’t have much time to plan the wedding. I’ll be honest, I’d just as soon we elope right now with just Magdalene and Louis as our witnesses.”

“Steven, please.”

“But if you’ve got your heart set on a big wedding, I understand,” he said, ignoring her protest. “I have only one condition, that we get married before Christmas. I want us to start the New Year as husband and wife.”

“Stop it!”

He jerked back as though she’d slapped him, and narrowed his eyes. “Stop what, Maria?”

“Stop trying to railroad me into marrying you.”

Steven stood, but continued to stare down at her with accusing eyes. “Is that what I’m doing? Railroading you into a marriage you don’t want?” He didn’t give her a chance to answer. Instead, he continued, “I love you, and I thought you loved me.”

“I do love you,” she told him, feeling frustrated and confused. It was the truth. She did love Steven with all of her heart.

He knelt down beside her and captured her hands in his. “Then marry me, make a life with me and our baby.”

She tugged her hands free and looked away. “You know it’s not that simple.”

“I know it’s not that difficult either. Most people who love each other and are expecting a baby get married.”

“We’re not most people,” she reminded him. “I’m a Barone and you’re a Conti.”

“And our baby will be both,” Steven pointed out as he stood once more.

“I know that. It’s just—”

“We can make this work, Maria,” he insisted. “I know we can. We’ll get married and you can move into my apartment. Or we can buy a house and—”

“Don’t,” Maria cried out, unable to bear having Steven describe a life for the two of them that she knew in her heart wasn’t possible. Tears stung her eyes. And she immediately blamed those threatening tears on her body’s hormones—hormones that had been out of whack since she’d become pregnant. Because she was afraid if she admitted the truth—that she wanted the life with him that Steven had described—she would weaken. And she couldn’t afford to weaken now. Not when there was so much at stake. Deciding she needed distance in order to clear her senses and think rationally, Maria said, “I think it would be best if you were to leave now.”

“Forget it. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Then you’ll have to excuse me,” she said primly.

But Steven didn’t move a muscle. He simply stood there, looking tall and daunting as he stared down at her.

“Please get out of my way,” she said firmly, coolly.

His expression hardened and for a moment she thought he would refuse. Then he stepped aside and offered her his hand. Maria hesitated, then admitting that her added bulk from the baby made getting up more difficult, she accepted his help. But once on her feet, she quickly pulled away and hurried past Steven. She walked over to the fireplace. As she stared into the flames, she searched for the right words to make him understand that she couldn’t marry him. A marriage between the two of them would never work. How could it when their union would rip apart both of their families? Worse, she feared they would only end up hating each other.

“If you think giving me that ice-princess routine is going to make me give up, then you don’t know me as well as I thought you did. I’m not leaving here until I get the answer I want, Maria.”

And she wanted to give him the answer he wanted. Because it was what she wanted, too. Only she couldn’t do that. Not with the threat of the curse hanging over her and their unborn child. The idea of something happening to her own baby sent a surge of panic through her, and before she could stop herself, a sob escaped her lips.

“Damn,” Steven muttered. He could just kick himself for causing Maria to cry. And although he couldn’t see her face, he’d bet his last dollar that Maria was already regretting that outburst of tears. He knew her well enough to know that she would consider those tears a show of weakness. But then, Maria had always been her own harshest critic, he thought. Probably the result of having a family that expected far too much of her.

It simply wasn’t fair. Why did she have to be the one designated to carry on Angelica Barone’s legacy? Why couldn’t someone else run the popular Baronessa Gelateria in Boston’s North End? Why did it have to be Maria? There certainly were enough Barones to share the load. But no, for some reason, they all dumped it on Maria’s shoulders. And as far as he was concerned, the entire lot of them had taken advantage of her for far too long. It simply had to stop.

He stared at Maria’s slender shoulders, could only imagine the enormous weight of responsibility they carried. Not only had she been burdened with the problems of running the gelateria and trying to live up to everyone’s expectations of her, but she’d also had to face the pregnancy alone. He should have realized what was wrong long before now, he told himself as his own guilt escalated. But instead of helping her and relieving some of that stress she was under, he’d only managed to add to it. The realization made him feel ten times worse.

Regretful for having upset her, Steven moved behind Maria and placed his hands on her shoulders. “I’m sorry,” he said softly. “You know I’d sooner cut off my arm than hurt you. I hate knowing that I’ve made you cry.”

“You didn’t. Make me cry, I mean. I’m not crying,” she fibbed even as she swiped at her eyes.

“Well, that’s a relief.” Hoping to lighten the mood, he quipped, “Because when a fellow tells a girl he loves her and asks her to marry him, tears aren’t exactly the reaction he’s hoping for.”

“Oh, Steven, I’m sorry,” she said, tears once again in her voice.

Steven sighed. Since his attempt at levity hadn’t worked, he tried honesty instead. “Is the idea of marrying me so awful?”

“No,” she said and he didn’t miss the hand swiping at her eyes again.

“Then why the tears?”

“I’ve got something in my eye. Probably just an eyelash,” she offered in explanation.

“Want me to take a look?” he asked, hoping to get her to turn around and look at him.

“Thanks, but it’s out now. I…I’m all right.”

“You don’t sound all right. You sound sad, and I don’t ever remember you being sad—not even when things were a mess.” Even amidst the disaster of the new flavor launch in February when she’d had plenty of reason to cry, she hadn’t shed a single tear. Nor had she given any indication of feeling defeated—not like she was doing now.

She let out an audible breath. “It’s my hormones. The pregnancy has them all messed up.”

“I think we both know it’s more than just hormones at work here.” When she didn’t respond, Steven squeezed her shoulders. “Talk to me, Maria. Whatever it is, I promise we’ll work it out.”

“We can’t work it out.”

“How do you know if you won’t at least talk to me?” he asked. When she still remained silent, he pleaded, “I love you. Please, don’t shut me out.”

“I’m not shutting you out.”

“Aren’t you? What do you call running away from Boston the way you did?”

“I didn’t run away.” She straightened her spine and stepped away from his touch. Picking up the fire poker, she prodded at the logs in the grate. “I told you, I needed to get away. I wanted some time to think, to figure out what I should do about the baby.”

Steven froze at her remark. Stunned he took a moment to find his voice. “You can’t mean that you considered…that you even thought for a minute about getting rid of…”

“No!” She whipped her gaze from the fire over to him. “How could you even think such a thing?”

“You’re right. I’m sorry. It’s just that for a minute I thought…” Steven rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know what I thought. I obviously wasn’t thinking straight.”

“You obviously weren’t thinking at all. If you had, you’d know that I would never do anything to harm my baby.”

“Our baby,” he corrected.

She didn’t comment, simply turned her attention back to the fire. “Anyway, I left Boston because I needed some time by myself so I could figure out how I’m going to handle things.”

“You mean how we’re going to handle things, don’t you?” Steven asked because he fully intended to be a part of her and their baby’s future.

When his question was met with silence, Steven took the poker from Maria’s fingers and set it aside. Then he turned her around so that she was forced to look at him. But one look at her face and he realized she was under even more strain than he’d first thought. Tear streaks stained her pale cheeks and there was a sadness in those big brown eyes that ripped at him. He wanted to take her in his arms, kiss her and tell her not to worry. That he would handle everything. That he would take care of her and their baby.

Yeah right, Conti.

Considering that mile-wide independent streak of hers, he’d be damned lucky to even get the words out before she tore a strip off of him. And then she’d be even more determined to deal with everything on her own. Well, Maria wasn’t the only one with a stubborn streak. He had one, too. And he had no intention of letting her call all the shots. Besides, he reasoned, Maria was under way too much stress—which couldn’t be good for her or for the baby. Somehow he had to convince the lady to marry him if not for their sakes, then for the baby’s sake. “I think it’s pretty obvious what we need to do first.”

“You mean we should get married.”

Ignoring the fact that she’d made the idea sound as about appealing as having a tooth pulled, he said, “That’s right. And I think the sooner we do, the better.”

“I knew that’s what you’d say,” she accused and pulled away from him. “It’s the reason I didn’t tell you about the baby in the first place. Because I knew the moment you found out you’d start pressuring me to marry you.”

“I didn’t realize that you’d find the idea of marrying me to be a fate worse than death,” he countered, his ego smarting.

“You know that’s not what I meant.”

“Then why don’t you explain what you did mean?”

She sat down on the hearth in front of the fireplace and clasped her hands together. After a moment, she looked up at him. “I can’t imagine anything more wonderful than being married to you. And I think the woman who’s your wife will be a lucky lady.”

Feeling somewhat mollified and also relieved, Steven stooped down before her and captured her hands. “I’m the lucky one,” he told her and smiled. “Not only am I getting you for a wife, but a baby, too.”

Maria pulled her fingers free and stood. She moved to the other end of the hearth. “I wasn’t talking about me, Steven.”

“I was,” he informed her. He shoved up to his feet and followed her to the opposite end of the hearth. This time, he moved in, crowded her space. “There’s only one woman I plan on marrying, Maria Barone, and that’s you.”

She shook her head. “We can’t. Think of what it will do to our families, of the problems it will create.”

“We’ll deal with our families. And we’ll handle any problems that come up,” he insisted. “The important thing is that we’ll be together. I love you. I don’t want to sneak around to see you and keep our relationship a secret. I never did.”

“I know.”

“Then you should also know that I want to be able to wake up with you in the morning and go to sleep with you in my arms every night. I want to make a dozen more babies with you. I want to grow old and gray with you, Maria Barone. Marry me,” he pleaded.

“Steven, don’t,” she cried and started to move away.

He blocked her path. Capturing her hands in his own, he looked down into those big doe eyes. “Marry me. Say you’ll be my wife.”

“Oh, Steven,” she sobbed and pulled her hands free. “Why won’t you listen? Why won’t you even try to understand? A marriage between us would never work.”

“How do you know it won’t work unless we try?” he demanded, exasperation making his voice harsher than he intended.

“Because I know. Marriage isn’t the answer.”

“As far as I’m concerned, marriage is the only answer,” he spit out the words.

“Don’t be obtuse.”

How in the devil could someone so small be so stubborn, he wondered. Maybe the cavemen had had the right idea, he fumed. Because right now he was sorely tempted to toss Maria over his shoulder, drag her off somewhere and make love to her until she agreed to marry him. Surprised by the primal feelings she aroused in him, he swiped a hand down his face. Right, Conti. You go ahead and try that stunt and Maria will cut you off at the knees.

“You know very well what I’m talking about. Our families hate each other.”

“That’s their problem. Not ours.”

Maria stared at him as though he’d grown two heads. “Are you going to stand there and tell me that the bitter history between the Barones and Contis doesn’t matter?”

“It doesn’t matter. Not to me and you. The feud between our families has nothing to do with us.”

“How can you say that—especially with everything that’s going on right now?”

“Easily,” Steven said, although he knew it was much more complicated than he cared to admit at the moment. “If our families want to keep the feud going, let them. We don’t have to be a part of it.”

“No? What about the fact that your family suspects my cousin Derrick of kidnapping your sister?” And before he could respond, she continued. “What if they’re right? What if Derrick is the one responsible? Can you honestly say that it doesn’t affect us?”

Steven clenched his hands into fists at his sides. Acid churned in his stomach at the reminder of his sister Bianca’s abduction. Unlike Maria, who had a large brood of siblings, he had only his younger sister. When he’d first received word that both she and Derrick Barone had been kidnapped, he’d alternated between panic and fury. He’d turned over every stone and then some in his effort to locate them. And once private detective Ethan Mallory had zeroed in on Derrick Barone as a suspect in the kidnapping instead of a victim, Steven had vowed to find the bastard and slit his throat if he had harmed a single hair on Bianca’s head. Not even the FBI’s threat to charge him with obstruction had made him ease up on his search to find his sister. But when Ethan, too, had insisted he was getting in the way and hurting the investigation instead of helping, he had finally admitted that he needed to back off. It hadn’t been easy—not when he was going crazy with worry over his missing sister. Finally, he had done as Ethan requested. He’d backed off and let the detective and the FBI do their jobs. Unable to do anything more to help Bianca, he had resumed his search for Maria, which he’d abandoned upon news of the kidnapping. But even locating Maria and being here with her now hadn’t eased his worries about his sister. Nothing would until he knew that Bianca was safe.

“It’s obvious from your expression that you know I’m right.”

“What I know is that if Derrick is the one responsible for Bianca’s kidnapping and he’s harmed her in any way, he’ll have to answer to me.”

“You see?” Maria pointed out, her voice filled with despair. “It’s started already. What possible chance would we have together when there’s so much hate between our families?”

Cursing his own temper, Steven struggled to rein in his emotions and reminded himself that Mallory would find his sister. Right now, Maria and their baby had to be his primary concern. “We can make it work. I know we can.”

“Be realistic, Steven. There are simply too many things against us. A marriage between us would be a disaster.”

“You’re wrong,” he insisted. “We love each other. We can make this work. I know we can.”

Maria shook her head, and the motion sent his temper spiking again.

“I can’t believe you’re willing to throw away what we have all because of some stupid old feud that has nothing to do with us.”

“It’s not just the feud,” she countered. “Look at everything that’s happened to my family just since we started seeing each other.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about all the things that have gone wrong this past year beginning with that fiasco in February with the launch of the new passionfruit flavor for Baronessa Gelati. And then there was the fire at our plant. Then Derrick and Bianca were kidnapped. And now, now Derrick’s been accused of kidnapping your sister.”

“And your point is?” he asked, not liking at all the direction in which she was heading.

“The point is there’s more bitterness between our families now than ever.”

“Maybe there wouldn’t be if your family hadn’t accused mine of sabotage,” Steven defended. While he had never shared in his family’s dislike of the Barones or bought into what he considered a silly feud, he knew his family well enough to know that they would never resort to something that was both illegal and immoral. And the sabotage and fire at the Barone’s business were both.

“Can you blame them?” Maria countered. “Look at all the tragedies my family has suffered because of the Conti curse.”

Steven swore at the mention of the curse. “There is no curse.”

“Try telling that to your Aunt Lucia since she’s the one responsible for putting the curse on my family in the first place.”

Gritting his teeth, Steven said, “That so-called curse was nothing more than the foolish rantings of a brokenhearted and angry teenage girl nearly seventy years ago. It isn’t real. There is no curse.”

“Why? Because you say it doesn’t exist? Well, I’ve got news for you, Steven Conti. Just because you don’t believe in the curse doesn’t mean it’s not real. It is real. I know it is.”

“Maria, love, listen to yourself,” Steven reasoned. He searched to find the right words to allay her fears. He didn’t believe in the Conti curse, never had, never would. As far as he was concerned the curse was exactly what he’d claimed—the lashing out of a brokenhearted teenager who’d been jilted. Yet over the years the stories about the curse had taken on mythic proportions. Well, he’d be damned if he was going to let some crazy superstition stand in the way of his and Maria’s future. “Think, Maria. Think. You’re one of the smartest women I know. Surely you can see that all this talk about a curse is… It’s absurd.”

“Maybe to you. But not to me. And not to my family. The curse exists, Steven. We Barones have been on the receiving end of it for far too long to pretend otherwise.”

Steven realized that Maria’s heightened emotional state due to her pregnancy might allow her to buy into the idea of the curse more easily now than she might have under other circumstances. But he had enough obstacles to overcome in order to convince Maria to marry him. He simply couldn’t allow that blasted curse to be one of them. “I’m not saying your fears aren’t real. I know they are. But the Maria I know and love would never let fear dictate how she lives her life.”

“It’s not only my life I have to consider now. It’s the baby’s life, too.”

Steven moved closer, stared down into her eyes. “Don’t you know that I’d never let anything or anyone harm you or our baby?”

“I know you wouldn’t. But there are some things that are beyond even your control.”

“So you’re willing to throw away our future and our child’s future on the basis of an old wives’ tale about a curse,” he accused, frustration eating at him.

“I told you. It’s not just the curse that’s the problem. It’s our families. They’re enemies. And with the exception of my cousin Karen, no one has any idea that we’ve been seeing each other, let alone that I’m pregnant. Can you imagine how my family is going to feel when I tell them that you’re the baby’s father?”

They’d be as shocked as his family would be, he admitted in silence. “So, it will come as a surprise. But once they realize how we feel about each other, they’ll come around.”

“They’ll think I betrayed them.”

Her words cut through him like a knife. Worse, he had a sick feeling in his stomach that it wasn’t just her family Maria was talking about. “Is that what you think, too? Do you think you’ve betrayed your family by being with me?”

“That’s not what I said.”

“No, you claimed you won’t marry me because of our families and because of the curse. But maybe the real reason you’re putting up such a fuss is because you’ve had second thoughts about being involved with me. After all, I am a Conti.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked.

“It means that maybe you’re wondering if your family was right about us evil Contis. That maybe you too think we’re behind all the problems your family’s had this year.” Gritting his teeth, he accused, “Maybe you think that I had something to do with the sabotage and the fire.”

“I don’t believe any such thing.”

“Are you sure?” Steven pressed, temper and hurt driving him.

“I’m not even going to dignify that with an answer.”

When she started to move past him, Steven stepped in front of her, blocking her path. “Prove it. Prove you don’t believe I’m the enemy, that you don’t regret what we’ve shared.”

Maria narrowed her eyes. “How?”

“Marry me. Right now,” he said, not wanting to give her any more time to think about all the reasons they shouldn’t be together.

“Now? You expect me to marry you right this minute?”

“Yes.”

“That’s crazy. We couldn’t get married today, even if we wanted to.”

“Sure we could,” he insisted. “All we have to do is find a justice of the peace. I’m sure there’s at least one somewhere in Silver Valley.”

“But what about our families?”

“We’ll go back to Boston and tell them together. After we’re married,” he informed her.

“No. No, we can’t do that,” she said with a shake of her head. “We couldn’t spring this on them like that. I can’t even imagine how they’d react.”

“Hopefully, they’ll offer us their congratulations.”

She shot him a reproachful look. “You know they won’t.”

“They might surprise you, Maria. Your family loves you, and my family loves me. They’ll want us to be happy. Besides, my mother’s been making noises about wanting grandchildren. She’s been on me to get married for years.”

“I doubt she had me in mind.”

“Maybe not. But she’ll get used to the idea,” Steven assured her. “They all will.”

“Including your aunt Lucia?”

“She’ll come around,” Steven told her and hoped he was right.

“She hates anyone named Barone. You can’t honestly believe that she’ll ever accept me as your wife.”

“If she wants to remain a part of my life and our baby’s life, she’ll accept you,” Steven told her. But he knew Maria was probably right. His aunt Lucia wasn’t likely to accept their union. As much as he loved the older woman, he wasn’t blind to her faults—the biggest of which was her all-consuming hatred of the Barones. Unfortunately, Lucia Conti had spent nearly seventy years nurturing that hatred. He’d come to the conclusion long ago that his aunt had chosen to close herself off to any chance of ever loving again and had opted instead to make him and his sister her surrogate children. Sad as it was to admit, he suspected that he and Bianca had filled the void of a husband and children in his aunt’s life. Aside from them and the restaurant, her only passion in life was her hatred of the Barones. As much as he would hate to lose his beloved aunt in his life, he would hate even more to live his life without Maria and their baby.

“Does the same hold true for your parents and sister?” Maria asked. “If they refuse to accept me as your wife, are you going to shut them out of your life, too?”

“If that’s what it takes for us to be together, then yes, I will,” he told her without hesitation. And he meant it. While he hoped it would never come down to having to choose between his family and Maria, he would do so if necessary.

And it would be Maria that he’d choose. Maria and their baby. “So what do you say? Will you marry me?”

Three

“All you have to do is say yes,” Steven urged her. He squeezed her fingers, implored her with those piercing blue eyes. “Say yes and we’ll go right now and find ourselves a justice of the peace to marry us. Then we’ll go back to Boston and break the news to our families. Maybe they’ll be happy about it, and maybe they won’t. However they decide to handle things will be up to them. The important thing is that you and I will be together—together with our baby.”

Maria stared at Steven. He made it all sound so simple, so easy. She loved him and wanted desperately to say yes and become his wife. But even if by some miracle she could persuade her family to accept a marriage between herself and Steven, she didn’t believe the Contis would ever condone such a union. And what about the curse? Perhaps Steven was right and it was nothing more than a foolish superstition fueled by overactive imaginations. But what if it wasn’t?

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