Rags To Riches Collection. Rebecca Winters

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СКАЧАТЬ hooded gaze. ‘What will happen if the DNA test reveals that you are Sophie’s father?’ she asked desperately. ‘You said that you will want her to live here at the castle. But I have been a mother to her since the day she was born and she needs me. You can’t send me away from her. It would be too cruel.’

      The glimmer of tears in Beth’s vivid green eyes had an unsettling effect on Cesario. He knew nothing about her other than what she had told him, and until he’d heard back from the private investigator he’d called an hour ago to check her out he had no reason to trust her or believe her story. But her emotive outburst had struck a chord in him.

      ‘Nothing can be decided until the results of the test are known,’ he said tersely. He moved away from the cot. ‘For now, I suggest you get to bed. Will Sophie sleep for the rest of the night?’

      ‘She’ll probably wake at about three for a feed. Because she’s so tiny she still needs a bottle during the night,’ Beth explained. ‘But then she usually sleeps soundly for six or seven hours.’ She could not hold back a yawn. ‘Actually, her sleep pattern works well for me because in England I start work at 5:00 a.m and finish at nine every morning. I leave Sophie with my neighbour.’

      Cesario frowned. ‘What work do you do that early in the day?’

      ‘I clean offices for a big company close to where I live. My neighbour Maureen’s husband is a postman. She’s used to getting up early when he goes to work, and she babysits until I get home from my shift.’

      ‘You work as a cleaner?’

      Something in his tone made Beth flush. ‘It’s not easy to find a job which fits in with caring for a baby,’ she said defensively. She was usually mild-natured, so perhaps it was because she was tired but his disdainful expression sent a spurt of anger through her. ‘There’s nothing wrong with being a cleaner. It’s a vital service. You must employ dozens of domestic staff to look after this huge castle—it’s not done by magic, you know.’

      Cesario’s dark brows winged upwards. So the little brown mouse had a temper. Twin spots of colour briefly flared on Beth’s cheeks, but they faded, leaving her looking deathly pale. His mouth tightened.

      ‘I was not expressing a criticism of your job—merely thinking that it is no wonder you resemble a wraith when you clearly get little sleep. And from the look of you—’ his eyes skimmed over her slender figure ‘—not enough time to eat regular meals.’

      Beneath his scrutiny Beth was conscious that her faded old dressing gown was fit for the bin. Looking down, she realised that the front was gaping open and she quickly drew the edges together. Not that her body was very exciting, she acknowledged ruefully. Cesario looked distinctly unimpressed by her lack of curves. She guessed he favoured voluptuous blondes. Presumably it had been Mel’s provocative sex-appeal that had attracted Cesario to sleep with her a year ago.

      For some reason the thought evoked a corrosive burning sensation in the pit of Beth’s stomach. How on earth could she feel jealous of her best friend who was no longer alive? she asked herself disgustedly.

      It suddenly seemed to have been a very long day and she was desperate to be alone. ‘I do eat,’ she told him curtly. ‘But I’m naturally scrawny. I admit I’m very tired, though, so I’ll say goodnight, Mr Piras.’

      Scrawny was not the word he would have used to describe Beth Granger, Cesario brooded. He could not understand why her fragile figure and elfin features were having such a profound effect on him, but the stirring of sexual desire in his groin was as insistent as it was unexpected.

      Irritated with himself, he strode towards the door. ‘My name is Cesario,’ he reminded her. ‘Buonanotte, Beth. I hope you and Sophie both sleep well.’

CHAPTER FOUR

      AFTER checking on Sophie, Beth went straight to bed. She resolutely pushed all thoughts of Cesario to the back of her mind and fell asleep almost instantly.

      A strange rumbling noise dragged her from a disturbing dream where she had been running down a long corridor lined with evil-looking stone gargoyles which turned into living creatures. She sat up, her heart racing, and switched on her bedside lamp.

      Her watch showed that it was 2:00 a.m. The castle was silent, and she wondered if the noise had been part of her dream. But then it came again, as loud and violent as thunder. The storm must have moved closer. But she had never known thunder to growl continuously for so long. Going back to sleep was impossible when the noise was so loud.

      Another booming crash seemed to make the walls of the castle shake. She leapt out of bed and hurried through to the nursery. Sophie was still sleeping peacefully and Beth was loath to disturb her. It seemed safer to leave the baby in the sturdy wooden cot while she went to investigate what was happening.

      The corridor outside the nursery was illuminated by wall lamps which cast long shadows and flickered over several portraits housed in ornate frames. The haughty-looking men and women must be Cesario’s ancestors, she guessed. Their black eyes seemed to follow her, and she could not repress a little shiver as she walked towards the head of the stairs.

      There were no signs of life. Cesario and his staff must all be in bed. A terrible noise, louder than anything that had gone before, resounded through the castle. Panic-stricken, she screamed, and at that moment a door on the other side of the landing flew open.

      ‘What’s happened?’ a gravelly voice demanded.

      Cesario stood in the doorway, his big broad-shouldered frame silhouetted in the light that streamed from the room behind him. He must have been in bed and on hearing the noise had dragged on his trousers. But his chest was bare, and in spite of her terror Beth felt a little tremor of something that was definitely not fear run down her spine.

      He was devastatingly sexy, with a toned, muscular physique that made her feel weak at the knees. Darkly tanned skin gleamed like burnished copper in the lamplight. His black tousled hair brushed his shoulders and his chest was covered with a mass of wiry hairs that arrowed down over his abdomen.

      ‘Are you hurt?’

      Suddenly conscious that she was staring at him, Beth hastily dropped her gaze.

      ‘No. I…I was scared. That noise—what is it?’

      ‘I don’t know.’ He walked towards her, frowning when another thunderous crash rent the air.

      ‘At first I thought it was the storm, but it sounds as though the mountain is falling down,’ Beth said shakily. ‘Should we leave the castle?’

      ‘Definitely not. The Castello del Falco has stood for seven hundred years and we’re safer here than anywhere.’ Cesario looked grim. ‘You may be right about the mountain, though. The heavy rain that has been falling for the past few days could have triggered a landslide.’

      Beth gasped. ‘But if part of the mountain is falling surely the castle will fall too?’ Her heart was racing so fast that she found it hard to breathe, but her mind was focused on one thing. ‘I left Sophie in the nursery. I must go and get her.’

      She spun round, intent on racing back to the nursery, but a wave of dizziness like the one she had experienced when she had climbed the stairs earlier swept over her. The walls of the corridor seemed to be closing in on her, and she cried out as СКАЧАТЬ