The Count's Christmas Baby

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Eliana?” he said after clicking on.

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

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

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

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

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

“Of course I forgive you, Enrico.”

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

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

“I’ll phone you from Cyprus tomorrow.”

“That had better be a promise.”

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

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

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

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

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

“A domani, Caro.”

He ended the call and turned to Sami.

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

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

Not one dark eyelash flickered. “Were you—”

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

“Did you ever tell your fiancée about us?”

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

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

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

Ric bit down hard. “And did he?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

The wedding to Eliana …

“January first.”

“New Year’s—that’s coming soon.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.