Her Sicilian Baby Revelation / The Greek's One-Night Heir. Natalie Anderson
Чтение книги онлайн.
Читать онлайн книгу Her Sicilian Baby Revelation / The Greek's One-Night Heir - Natalie Anderson страница 18
Название: Her Sicilian Baby Revelation / The Greek's One-Night Heir
Автор: Natalie Anderson
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Современные любовные романы
Серия: Mills & Boon Modern
isbn: 9780008900113
isbn:
He arched a brow. ‘Are you not going to invite me in?’
Oh, how badly she wanted to give him a blunt, ‘No,’ but knew how ungracious that would seem. She tried to put herself in his shoes. She would want to see the home her child lived in if she were wearing them.
‘If I must,’ she answered, immediately feeling horrible for her churlish response. The horrible feeling lasted less than a second for Rachel visibly brightened.
‘You can stay for a coffee,’ Orla added, then immediately panicked as she thought of the jar of instant that had moved to Dublin with her from Kerry and had to be at least a year old.
‘This is a nice house,’ Tonino commented when he walked into the spacious entrance room. Set in a pretty, quiet, tree-lined street, Orla’s home was airy and open-plan, cluttered with toys and books but nonetheless clean. It had a homely feeling he warmed to immediately.
‘Thank you,’ she muttered.
Crouching down to Finn’s level, he touched the tiny hand lightly. ‘How would you like to show me your room?’
Finn immediately looked to his mother for guidance. She gave a short but reassuring nod. ‘You’ll have to carry him—he can’t do stairs, I’m afraid. His room’s the first on the left.’
‘I’ll come with you,’ the nurse offered.
‘I’m sure Finn and I can manage,’ he rebuffed pleasantly. His curiosity about the specifics of his son’s condition had driven him to ask the nurse in detail about it, which he felt certain had annoyed Orla and contributed to the foul mood she’d fallen into on the flight over. For his part, Tonino felt liberated. Leaving Sicily with his child and future wife—he had no doubt that Orla would come round to his way of thinking on marriage—had lifted his spirits immeasurably.
Tonino unstrapped his son and gently lifted him into his arms. He didn’t think he had ever held anything so precious and fragile and his heart bloomed to feel the tiny beating heart pressed against his chest. It bloomed even more when a skinny arm hooked around his neck.
Dark brown eyes that were a replica of his own stared at him solemnly. Tonino stared back, suddenly finding himself dumbstruck at the powerful emotions crashing through him.
Before he took the first stair, he looked at Orla and felt another crash of emotion punch through him.
Taking a deep breath, he carried his son upstairs and entered his bedroom.
It took a few moments before he could take another breath. Finn’s bedroom was everything a child’s room should be, with its dinosaur curtains, walls covered in dinosaur stickers and ceiling covered in glow-in-the-dark stars. A vast array of stuffed toys was crammed on shelves and in boxes, along with boxes of puzzles and games, boxes of building blocks, books…
But there was no escaping the bed with its bars, there to prevent Finn from rolling out, and no escaping the unobtrusive but recognisable cameras there to monitor him while he slept and no escaping the medical equipment Tonino would have to become familiar with.
There was no escaping that this was a room for a child with disabilities. His child. And, as Tonino took stock of it all, he made a vow to himself that he would do everything in his power to make his son’s life as comfortable and as happy as he could.
For the second time in a day Orla had no idea how she’d come to allow Tonino to steamroller her into something, this time finishing the day together eating a Chinese takeaway. Indeed, at one point she’d thought she’d got rid of him—he’d taken one sip of his coffee, wrinkled his nose and then excused himself, saying he would be back. When he hadn’t returned an hour later, she’d thought he’d checked into wherever he was staying and decided to stay put.
He’d returned while she was clearing up the mess made while feeding Finn his dinner, carrying a large box, which was revealed to be a coffee machine.
‘Where did you get that from?’ she’d asked in astonishment. ‘It’s Sunday. All the shops are closed.’
He’d had the audacity to wink at her before disappearing again, returning an hour later with the takeaway and a bottle of wine. ‘I thought you must be hungry too,’ he’d explained while making himself at home turning the oven on. ‘I saw you only cooked for Finn.’
‘I’ve not had a chance to go shopping,’ she’d replied defensively while turning off the grill and switching the actual oven on.
A memory of the two of them sharing a Chinese takeaway in his Palermo apartment had hit her. For some unfathomable reason, tears had blurred her vision.
While their food had kept warm in the oven, he’d helped her give Finn a bath and put him to bed. Having him there in the close confinement of the bathroom then the confinement of Finn’s bedroom had put her on edge. As hard as she’d tried only to concentrate on her son, she was acutely aware of every movement Tonino made.
It was only the shock of being in his orbit again and the shock of how close they’d come to kissing making her feel so edgy around him. That would lessen as she became accustomed to his presence in their lives. Sooner or later the tightness in her chest would lessen too and her heartbeat would find its natural rhythm when with him, rather than the erratic tempo it adopted every time she caught his eye or captured a whiff of his spicy cologne. He’d clearly meant what he’d said early that morning about them starting over. He’d spoken to her with only courtesy since. If he still felt anger towards her, he hid it well.
And now they were sitting at her dining table, Tonino clearly so ravenous he didn’t care that their food had lost much of its moisture, comfortably drinking his way through the wine while she stuck to water. Orla ate as much as she could manage but it was hard to swallow when her insides were so cramped, hard to work her fork from her hand to her mouth while fighting her gaze from staring at the hunk of a man devouring his food opposite her.
It was the first time they’d been alone since Finn had returned from his walk nearly thirteen hours ago. Since they’d nearly kissed. Without Finn or his nurse’s physical presence to distract her, Orla found her awareness of Tonino becoming more than a distraction, throwing her back four years when she’d spent ten days with her entire being consumed by this one man.
‘Do you feel better now?’ he asked after he’d demolished the leftovers.
‘What do you mean?’
He shrugged nonchalantly. ‘Only that if looks could kill, the looks you were giving me on the plane over would have struck me dead.’
She had the grace to blush. Not looking at him, she muttered, ‘I just wanted to get home.’
He nodded musingly. ‘Of course. You were missing your home.’
‘Exactly.’
‘Have you lived here long?’
‘Four months.’ Orla, mortified that he’d picked up on her earlier bad mood, mustered something she hoped resembled a smile.
‘Dante bought it for you?’
‘Aislin bought it.’ СКАЧАТЬ