Her Sicilian Baby Revelation / The Greek's One-Night Heir. Natalie Anderson

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СКАЧАТЬ If he extended either thumb he would be touching those delectable thighs. They were as close as they’d been on the dance floor and yet not a single part of their bodies touched.

      Now he was the one to swallow, ridding himself of the moisture that had filled his mouth. ‘A threat I have no wish to act on.’

      Last night, when he’d been full of anger, all he could think about were his rights and the fact that she had so cruelly kept him from his son. While his anger was still there—her insistence that she’d intended to tell him about the birth after the fact was something he doubted he’d ever believe—he could not escape the conclusion that she was correct that he didn’t know his son. And his son didn’t know him. Tonino and his mother’s relationship might be strained these days but as a child he’d worshipped the ground she’d walked on. To have been ripped from her arms would have destroyed him.

      ‘What do you intend to do with the legal recognition?’ she whispered.

      His face inched closer to hers. ‘Be his father. Orla… I’m not going to launch a custody battle for him. All I want is to be involved.’

      Her breaths quickened. ‘You’re not going to fight me?’

      ‘Our trust issues are a two-way thing we both need to work on but I give you my word that, provided you play fair with me, I will not take Finn away from you.’

      ‘That’s still a threat. What does play fair even mean?’

      Their faces had got so close he could smell the faint mintiness of her toothpaste.

      ‘That you accept me as his father.’

      A glazed quality washed over her eyes. Her face tilted, her voice dropping to a murmur. ‘I do accept you as his father.’

      ‘Then let us start again.’ His lips buzzed and the tingles on his skin deepened as their mouths drew closer still. ‘Put the past behind us for Finn’s sake and look to the future…’

      Right at the moment their lips brushed together, the door to Orla’s suite opened and the nurse pushed Finn in.

      ‘Have you not had your shower…? Oh!’

      A bullet ricocheting through the suite could not have parted them more effectively.

      Cheeks the colour of beetroot, Orla jumped off the windowsill and hurried to Finn, frantically tucking strands of hair behind both ears. ‘Could you do me a favour, please, Rachel, and leave us alone for ten minutes?’

      The nurse looked knowingly at Tonino. ‘Sure.’

      The two Irishwomen’s conversation followed by the nurse’s abrupt departure from the suite were mere noise in Tonino’s head. The desire that had come so close to taking control of him had reversed as he stared at the tiny boy strapped in his wheelchair. Unlike the curious nurse, his innocence meant he had no idea his arrival had interrupted anything.

      Orla knelt in front of him and carefully lifted him out. She carried him over to the sofa and placed him on her lap. ‘Finn, do you remember me telling you that you had a daddy but that mummy lost him?’

      Tonino gave her credit for infusing strength into her voice.

      The little head nodded.

      ‘And do you remember me telling you that one day we would find him?’

      She’d told him that…?

      Finn nodded again.

      ‘Well… I’ve found him.’

      The dark brown eyes that were so like his own found his.

      Tonino held his breath.

      ‘Finn,’ Orla continued. ‘This man… Tonino…is your daddy.’

      There was a long moment of silence where father and son did nothing but stare at each other. Finn’s expression was one of frank curiosity.

      Tonino waited with bated breath for his son to speak, waited for the little arms to open up and demand a carry as he’d done for his uncle in the cathedral.

      He should have known better. Instead of the grand reunion he’d spent the night imagining, his son looked back at his mother and said, ‘Play blocks now?’

       CHAPTER SIX

      ORLA HAD NO idea how she’d allowed herself to be steamrollered into flying back to Ireland with Tonino on his private jet. The only fleeting satisfaction she’d found that day had been when she’d entered the jet’s opulent cabin and stared into his eyes to airily say, ‘Oh, it’s just like Dante’s plane.’

      Saying that had been a sharp but welcome reminder that Tonino might come from an immensely powerful and wealthy family, but that her brother was also immensely rich and powerful. It was a reminder to herself as well as Tonino.

      Having a brother was such a new aspect of her life that all too often she forgot that she had him in her corner as much as she had Aislin.

      Four years ago, when she’d learned she was pregnant, Dante hadn’t known of Orla’s existence. She could never have turned to him for help back then. Now, if Tonino did try to pull a fast one and launch a custody battle, she wouldn’t have to face it alone or without the means to fight back legally and financially.

      Even if she didn’t have Dante, she felt differently now than she had four years ago. Back then, she’d been a frightened wreck. If the accident had done nothing else, it had toughened her up.

      She had a feeling she would need every ounce of her newfound strength to keep Tonino at arm’s length.

      They had been moments from kissing.

      Kissing!

      Her lips still tingled in anticipation of the kiss that had never come. Tonino had caught her in a moment of weakness, she told herself stubbornly. It had been early. Her headache had gone but she hadn’t had nearly as much sleep as she needed, leaving her tired, which in itself had weakened her.

      That her insides still felt like melted goo could also be explained. She didn’t know how to explain it but there must be a rational reason for it somewhere.

      As Finn and his nurse were flying home with them, conversation between Orla and Tonino was mercifully limited to pleasantries. Conversation between Tonino and the nurse was a different matter. While Orla read Finn a story, Tonino quietly peppered Rachel with questions about Finn’s condition. There was no godly reason why this should irk Orla so much, but it did. Watching the nurse flick her hair as she answered him irked her even more. When Rachel giggled at a comment Tonino made, Orla tightened her grip on the book to prevent herself from throwing it at the pair of them.

      Her silent irritation continued for the duration of the flight. Only when they were back on Irish soil and she breathed the familiar air did she manage to regain some of her usual calm.

      She was on home territory now. This was her turf and the drive to her home in Dublin was short.

      ‘Thanks СКАЧАТЬ