Modern Romance September 2018 Books 5-8. Heidi Rice

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СКАЧАТЬ by taking off only his shirt. He stretched out on the sofa beneath the blanket. He folded his hands on the pillow, behind his head, and stared at the ceiling, his jaw set.

      His life didn’t need to change, he told himself. He could simply tell his lawyers to arrange a generous financial settlement for Tess and the baby, and he could fly off to London as planned.

      Tess was obviously a good mother. He could trust her to take care of Esme. Once they had unlimited money, they’d be fine. Tess would be free to do whatever she wanted. They didn’t need Stefano.

      Still, Stefano tossed and turned, remembering how alone he’d felt as a child, abandoned by his parents. Would Esme always think her father had deliberately chosen to abandon her? And if she did, wasn’t it true?

      Stefano woke from an unsettling dream to hear his phone ringing. He wrenched it to his ear. “Hello.”

      “It’s Dr. Miller. I hope I didn’t wake you. You said you wanted to know as soon as possible.”

      Looking out the windows, Stefano saw the light of early dawn. He gripped his phone. “Yes?”

      “Esme Foster is your daughter. There can be no doubt.”

      Stefano closed his eyes. Part of him had already known—from the moment he’d really looked into the baby’s dark eyes, exactly like his own.

      You’re Esme’s father, Tess had said. I have no reason to wait all night to get the news. I’ve waited for you long enough.

      “Your Highness?” the doctor said.

      “Thank you,” Stefano said flatly. “Send me your bill.” He hung up.

      Blinking, he sat up on the sofa, staring at the gray dawn over New York City, at the fine mist of September drizzle. Rising to his feet, he rolled his tense shoulders. He quietly went into the bedroom, careful not to wake Tess, who was sleeping half-upright, with their baby cuddled on her chest.

      After taking clean clothes from the wardrobe, he went into the en suite bathroom. He closed and locked the door behind him, and took a shower so hot it scalded his skin. He shaved. He brushed his teeth. He wiped the steam off the mirror. He met his own eyes.

      Nothing had to change, he repeated to himself. Nothing at all. He could still leave for London today. Let his lawyers handle this. He could continue to live his life as always.

      A life of power and money.

      Where he risked nothing.

      Felt nothing.

      Stefano’s expression in the reflection was emotionless and cold. It was a trick he’d perfected long ago, imitating his father.

      Once he was dressed in a crisp white shirt, dark trousers and a dark jacket, he went back into his bedroom. Reaching out, he gently shook Tess’s shoulder.

      Her eyes flew open, startled. When she saw him, standing over her in the shadows beside the bed, for a moment, she smiled in pure joy, as if all her dreams had come true.

      Then she blinked, remembered and looked sad.

      “What is it?” she said.

      “The baby’s mine.”

      She gave him a wistful smile. “I know.” She waited, with painful hope in her eyes.

      For what? What was Tess hoping? That he could settle down? Marry her? Help her raise the baby? Give them a home? A name?

      Ridiculous.

      Stefano had no idea how to be a good husband or father. He’d never even seen it done. Money was all he had to offer them. He’d give Tess a fortune and set her free.

      But his body was fighting that decision. Even now, desire shuddered through him as he looked at her. She’d just woken up, but even in her rumpled clothes, tired and cuddling their sleeping baby in her arms, she was the most tantalizing woman he’d ever known.

      What would it be like to wake up with her every morning? To have her in his bed every night? What would it be like to possess her completely?

      Stefano pushed the thought aside savagely. Setting them free was the right thing to do. It would give Tess and their daughter the chance to be cherished and loved. By someone else.

      And Stefano—

      He’d focus on his upcoming negotiations. As Tess had said earlier, it was unacceptable that Stefano no longer even owned the corporate rights to his own name. He’d focus on that. Only on that.

      And that was final.

      “Come on, Tess,” he said roughly, turning away. “I’ll take you home.”

       CHAPTER THREE

      TESS COULDN’T BELIEVE IT.

      She glanced at Stefano out of the corner of her eye. They were sitting in the back seat of his expensive Rolls-Royce, with their baby in a car seat between them, as his uniformed driver maneuvered the morning rush-hour traffic already clogging the streets and avenues of New York in every direction.

      She’d thought—really thought—that once he had proof he was Esme’s father that he would offer to help her somehow. Hadn’t he said that if he was the father, it would change everything?

      Instead, he was taking her and Esme back to Brooklyn, to drop her off at her uncle’s bakery on his way to the airport. Leaving Tess to face her uncle’s wrath alone, while he flew off to London as planned.

      Stefano had changed nothing.

      Her disillusionment was complete.

      “You’re very quiet,” Stefano said.

      She couldn’t even talk to him right now. Leaning forward, she spoke to the driver. “Thanks for the ride. I can’t even imagine what it’s like to drive in Manhattan.”

      “You don’t know how to drive?” Stefano said.

      She shook her head, still not looking at him. “I’m a New York girl. I take the subway.”

      But, as she spoke, her hand unconsciously stroked the smooth leather of the seat. It was a strangely sensual experience. But she’d only been in a luxury car like this once before. The night he’d seduced her. The night she’d conceived Esme.

      “Ba-ba-ba,” the baby said wonderingly beside her, waving her fat arms. Tess looked down at Esme with a tender smile.

      “Yes. Exactly.”

      After Stefano had woken her up that morning, she’d fed and changed Esme, and brushed her own hair and teeth. A chauffeured Rolls-Royce had been waiting at the curb as they’d come out the front door of the Campania Hotel, and she’d found a brand-new infant car seat had already been installed in the back seat.

      This must be what it’s like to be rich, Tess thought. Your path СКАЧАТЬ