Rags To Riches Collection. Rebecca Winters

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СКАЧАТЬ Beth’s voice caught in her throat as she stared at Sophie and felt a pang of grief for her friend, who had only seen her baby a few times before she had died. It still seemed impossible that Mel was gone. She had always been the strong one out of the two of them, the daring one, who had teased Beth for being a timid mouse and protected her from the school bullies with her acid tongue and fiery temper.

      She realised that Cesario was waiting for her to continue, and took a ragged breath. ‘Last autumn there was a flu epidemic in England that was especially serious for pregnant women. Mel thought she just had a cold, but within two days she was in Intensive Care, fighting for her life. The doctors decided to deliver Sophie early to give mother and baby a chance. But Sophie was tiny; she only weighed three pounds and was placed in the special care baby unit.’

      Tears choked her as she remembered watching Sophie through the clear plastic walls of the incubator, willing the tiny scrap of humanity to live. ‘For a while Mel rallied and things looked optimistic. She was even able to hold Sophie once, for a few minutes. But a few days later she died suddenly. The doctor said the flu virus had put too much strain on her heart.’

      Beth blinked hard to dispel her tears. She finally had Cesario’s attention, and she needed to convince him that he had a responsibility towards Sophie. She swallowed and forced herself to continue.

      ‘A few days before her death Mel told me she had recognised your photo in a newspaper. The paper had printed your name, and she realised that the man she had slept with at the party in London was Cesario Piras, and that you were Sophie’s father. I had already agreed that if anything happened to Mel I would look after Sophie. Mel made me promise that if she died I would try to find you and let you know you had a daughter.’

      Cesario was silent while he absorbed the information Beth had given him. She must know it would be easy enough to verify her story, and therefore it was unlikely she was lying. But even if what she had said was true, it did not prove that the child on her lap was his.

      If only he could remember the events at that party in London a year ago. But that night he had turned to drink to banish the demons that haunted him, to silence for a few hours the voice in his head that insisted he had been partially responsible for Nicolo’s death.

      His hard features revealed nothing of his thoughts. ‘What part do you play in this, Ms Granger? Why did you agree to take care of Ms Stewart’s child? Why aren’t her family involved?’

      ‘Mel didn’t have any family. Her parents died when she was young and she grew up in care—as I did, after my mother died. We met in a children’s home and became friends.’ Once again Beth’s voice was husky. ‘When Mel found out she was pregnant I promised I would help her bring up the baby. After she died I learned that she had named me as Sophie’s legal guardian.’

      Cesario swung around and rested his arm along the mantelpiece, staring at the black empty grate. He should have asked one of the staff to light a fire, he thought heavily. He could hear the rain still beating against the walls of the castle. Perhaps the room was too chilly for a small baby.

      He remembered how in the first weeks after Nicolo had been born he had felt awed by the responsibility of caring for a new life. His little son had seemed so vulnerable that Cesario had found himself constantly checking on him, and he had demanded that fires be lit in every room in the castle so that the baby was not exposed to any cold draughts.

      He had never expected to see another baby at the Castello del Falco. Four years ago he had vowed never to marry again, or have another child. It was inconceivable that anyone could ever replace Nicolo in his heart. Yet, unbelievably, he was now faced with the possibility that he had a daughter who had been conceived on the anniversary of the date he had lost his son. Was it a bizarre twist of fate? he wondered. Or a fabrication invented by a woman who claimed she had been asked by the child’s mother to find him? There was only one way to establish the truth.

      ‘I will arrange for a DNA test to be done,’ he said abruptly. ‘I admit I was drunk at the party in London a year ago, but I find it hard to believe that I slept with your friend and have no recollection of it.’

      The idea that he could have been so out of control that he’d unknowingly had sex with a woman he’d picked up in a bar did not sit comfortably with Cesario.

      ‘However,’ he continued roughly, ‘I accept that it is a possibility, and therefore a paternity test is necessary. Until it can be done, and the results obtained, you and the baby will stay here at the Castello del Falco.’

      Beth felt a spurt of shock—partly at the arrogance of the man standing a few feet from her and partly at the implication of his words. Stay here? In this grim, grey castle? With its equally forbidding owner? The idea sent a shiver through her.

      ‘Oh, no, that’s not necessary,’ she explained quickly. ‘I expected you would want a DNA test, so I booked a room at a hotel in Oliena for three days. Once the test has been done I’ll take Sophie back to England and wait there for the results.’

      She did not add that she was sure the test would prove Cesario was the man Mel had slept with. Mel had been certain she had recognised him in the newspaper.

      You must find Cesario Piras and demand financial help for Sophie, she had said in the note she had left for Beth.

      Mel must have sensed that she was not going to live, Beth thought sadly. And in her last days she had attempted to arrange some measure of security for her daughter by asking Beth to search for the man she’d believed was Sophie’s father.

      Cesario frowned. ‘It makes more sense for you and the child to stay here until we know for sure whether or not she is mine.’

      His gaze was drawn to the baby, and he felt as though he had been kicked in the gut when she turned her head and stared at him with her huge dark eyes. She was beautiful—almost as beautiful as his son had been. Was it his imagination, or did she bear a resemblance to Nicolo? Dio, was she his?

      The idea was so shocking that he could not begin to assimilate how he felt about it. But one thing struck him forcibly. If Sophie was his daughter she deserved his care and protection. He could not at this point contemplate the notion that she would also deserve his love. Losing Nicolo had almost destroyed him, and the idea of loving another child evoked a host of feelings inside him. The strongest of which, he admitted grimly, was fear. Experience had taught him that love was a bittersweet emotion. It would be better if Sophie was not his child, but until he knew the truth he wanted her to remain here at the castle.

      That meant that for now, at least, Beth Granger would have to stay too. He wasn’t sure what to make of her. On the face of it her apparent willingness to take on her friend’s child seemed amazingly altruistic. She was young—he guessed in her early twenties—and from her shabby clothes it was safe to assume that she did not have much money. Could he believe that she had agreed to act as guardian to another woman’s child out of the kindness of her heart?

      ‘Mr Piras, there’s really no need for you to go to any trouble—especially tonight, when you are busy with your party,’ Beth said a little desperately. ‘The hotel has provided a cot for Sophie, and I left our luggage there.’

      ‘I’ll send one of my staff to collect your things and bring them back to the castle.’ Cesario’s eyes narrowed when Beth looked about to argue. ‘It is still raining heavily. Surely you cannot think it a good idea to take a baby out in such weather? I am inviting you and Sophie to stay here as my guests.’ He paused, and then added, ‘Under the circumstances, I think we should drop formalities and use our respective Christian names.’

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