Rags To Riches Collection. Rebecca Winters

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      ‘But that means he must be Sophie’s father. Mel didn’t know his name, but she thought she had discovered his identity from the newspaper, unaware that the paper had made a mistake. Oh, God, I can’t believe a stupid reporting error has caused so much confusion.’ She sank onto the bed, feeling sick as the implications sank in. ‘I’m so sorry. I should have made more checks before I brought Sophie here and accused you…’

      She could not bear to look at Cesario. He had every right to be furious with her, she acknowledged bleakly. What a fool she had been. But she’d had no reason not to take what Mel had told her as the truth. And Mel hadn’t deliberately misled her—she’d made a mistake because of the misprint in the newspaper.

      She tensed when Cesario sat down on the bed, but to her relief his voice held no anger. ‘You’re not to blame,’ he said quietly. ‘You were grieving for your best friend and trying to cope with a newborn baby. Mel had asked you to find her baby’s father and you were determined to carry out her last wishes.’

      Beth stared back at the photo. ‘So who is this man who we think could be Sophie’s father?’

      ‘Luigi Santori—he was a junior executive at the bank and had been transferred to work at the London branch.’ Cesario grimaced. ‘He had a reputation for sleeping around, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he’d had a one-night stand with Mel.’

      Something in Cesario’s tone made Beth dart him a puzzled look. ‘Why do you speak about him working for the bank in the past tense? Where is he now?’

      ‘He was killed in a motorbike accident three months ago.’

      ‘Oh, no…’ A chill ran through Beth. ‘Then Sophie is an orphan.’ For a moment she felt overwhelmed by the realisation that Sophie was entirely her responsibility. ‘Poor little girl,’ she whispered. ‘At least I had my mother until I was twelve. Sophie will never know either of her parents, and I am the only person she has to take care of her.’

      ‘That’s not true.’

      Cesario jerked to his feet and walked over to the window, his hands thrust into his trouser pockets and his shoulders rigid with tension. ‘You could stay here—you and Sophie. And I could…’

      To Beth’s frustration he did not finish the sentence. She stared at his back, wishing he would turn around so that she could see his face and maybe understand what he meant.

      ‘What could you do?’ she said at last, when the silence between them had stretched her nerves to snapping point. ‘I don’t understand. Sophie is not your child—so I’ll take her back to England and make a life for us.’

      ‘What kind of life can you give her, struggling to get by as a single mother and trying to juggle holding down a job with bringing up a child?’ Cesario demanded. He swung round. ‘I care for Sophie.’ It was so alien to him to express his feelings, but when Beth had said she planned to return to England it had struck him forcibly that he did not want to lose her or the baby girl who had filled the hole in his heart left by the loss of his son.

      ‘I could pay—’

      ‘No!’ Beth cut him off instantly.

      ‘For Sophie to have ballet lessons, holidays—all the things you wished for when you were a child and that you won’t be able to afford to give her on your own.’ He ignored her interruption. ‘Is your pride more important than Sophie’s welfare, Beth?’

      ‘No, but…’ She shook her head, trying to marshal her thoughts. ‘You don’t have to support me and Sophie. We are nothing to you.’

      ‘You know that’s not true. I have grown to love Sophie.’

      Cesario felt like a blind man, trying to feel his way along a path he’d never travelled before. It was hard for him to expose his feelings, but at least talking about Sophie was easier than facing up to how he felt about Beth. He didn’t know how he felt; he just knew that he had found something with her that he’d never had with any other woman—and he wasn’t ready for their relationship to end.

      ‘What I’m suggesting is that I become Sophie’s joint guardian and that the two of you live here at the castle. I am a father without a child, and Sophie is a child without a father,’ he said deeply. ‘I want to be a part of her life.’

      Beth stared at him, shaken by the strength of emotion in his voice. ‘What about me? You can’t mean you want me to stay here? But I will never leave Sophie. I intend to be a mother to her like I promised Mel.’

      ‘Why shouldn’t you stay here?’

      Cesario strolled back over to the bed where Beth was still sitting. He no longer seemed tense, but beneath his indolent stance she sensed his formidable strength and a determined purpose that worried her almost as much as the glitter in his grey eyes. Her heart suddenly began to beat uncomfortably fast and she jumped up from the bed. She felt an urge to run from the room, from him, but before she could take a step he snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her against him.

      ‘Why not stay?’ he said again, his gaze locked with hers as if he could see into her soul. His voice dropped to a husky growl. ‘The passion we share is beyond anything I have ever experienced before. We both felt an overwhelming awareness of each other on the night you arrived at the castle and even though we both fought it ultimately we could not deny our mutual desire.’

      He lifted a hand and smoothed her hair back from her face. ‘We have become friends as well as lovers these past weeks, haven’t we, cara?’ he murmured. ‘We both love Sophie. Let me take care of both of you and help you to give her the happy childhood that we were both denied.’

      A hundred questions hurtled around Beth’s mind. How long did he want her and Sophie to stay at the Castello del Falco? Was he really offering the baby a home in Sardinia? What would his role in Sophie’s life actually be—a father figure, a benevolent uncle? She gnawed on her lip, tormented by uncertainty. What role would he expect her to play in his life? They were lovers now, but what would happen in the future when he tired of her as he surely would?

      She sensed he was waiting for her to answer, but she was finding it hard to think straight when she was desperately conscious of his big, muscular body pressed so close to hers that she could feel the hard ridge of his arousal nudging between her thighs.

      ‘I don’t know what to do,’ she whispered.

      Cesario cupped her face in his hands. She had such a beautiful face. Even when he closed his eyes her features were imprinted on his mind: her slanting green eyes, the sweep of her long eyelashes, the gentle curve of her smile. He felt a rush of tenderness that seriously undermined his determination to cling to the belief that the reason he wanted Beth to stay with him was because they had great sex.

      ‘Do what your heart tells you,’ he found himself saying. He—who always followed his head and never listened to his heart. He slanted his lips over hers and kissed her, slowly and sweetly, making him ache inside. She opened her mouth beneath his and he groaned and crushed her to him, sliding his hand to her nape and gently tugging her head back so that he could plunder her lips with heated passion. He was aware that his heart was telling him something, but he was afraid to listen. He told himself that it was just desire he felt for her—just a sexual hunger that had ensnared him and seemed unlikely to fade any time soon.

      He hooked his fingers beneath the straps СКАЧАТЬ