* * *
‘I can’t say how much longer I’ll be staying in London. I’m not certain of my plans,’ Sergio told his brother, aware as he spoke that his meticulously organised schedule had just altered radically. ‘I’m sorry to hear that Tito is unwell, but it sounds like the situation is under control.’
‘This latest lung infection is an indication that age is catching up with Papà, and he is becoming frailer. But he is responding to the antibiotics and there is no need for you to rush back. Whoever this woman is, she must be quite something for you to have interrupted your schedule for her,’ Salvatore commented drily.
The image of Kristen spread half-naked across his bed slid into Sergio’s mind and he felt a tightening in his groin. But he had no intention of confiding to Salvatore that he’d just had the best sex of his life. ‘What makes you think it’s a woman?’
A sardonic laugh sounded down the phone. ‘With you it’s always a woman, Sergio.’
He would be the first to admit that he was no angel, Sergio acknowledged as he ended the call. He had a high sex drive and a low boredom threshold. Only one woman had warmed the coldness inside him but he was pretty sure that the reason Kristen had lingered in his mind for the past four years was because he had never found the same intense sexual compatibility with anyone else. Having sex with her again had proved that theory. Dio, he had been so hot for her that he had behaved like a rutting bull tonight, he thought grimly. There had been no finesse in the way he had made love to her, but next time he would take things slower and satisfy all her needs as well as his own.
He was not unduly surprised to find the bedroom was empty when he strolled in. He assumed that Kristen was in the bathroom, but when she did not reappear after five minutes and there were no sounds to indicate she was running a shower or bath he tried the door and discovered it was unlocked.
Where the hell was she? His stomach gave a sickening lurch of disappointment as it became clear that she had gone. His earlier good mood gave way to frustration. He couldn’t understand why she would take off without a word. Sergio raked his hand through his hair and dismissed an uncharacteristic flash of self-doubt. The sex had been as good for her as it had for him, of that he was certain. Just thinking about the little moans of pleasure she had made when she had come was having a predictable effect on his body.
But maybe, inconceivable though it was to him, she was shy and felt embarrassed that they had fallen into bed within minutes of seeing each other again. It hadn’t been something he had planned when he had invited her into his hotel suite, Sergio thought ruefully. But it wasn’t surprising when their passion for each other four years ago had been as scorching as a Sicilian summer. Now that Kristen had reappeared in his life he did not intend to let her go until his desire for her was utterly sated. And fortunately he would easily be able to find her. She was an employee at the hotel and her details would be on file.
Reassured that she could not slip away from him, he poured himself another glass of champagne and put a call through to the Hotel Royale’s manager requesting information on a waitress named Kristen Russell. Half an hour later, when it became clear that there had never been a woman of that name employed at the hotel, his ice-cold anger made the hapless manager more nervous than if he had given vent to his temper. And, after he had dismissed the man and was alone again, Sergio stared out at the London night sky with eyes that were hard and empty of emotion.
* * *
Monday morning brought rain and grey skies that ended the previous week’s promise that summer was on the way. The postman delivered a pile of bills which Kristen opened while she simultaneously ate a piece of toast, loaded the washing machine and packed Nico’s lunch box.
‘Do you want to take an apple or a banana to nursery?’ She sighed when he made no response. ‘Please choose, sweetheart. We must get going or I’ll be late for work.’
‘Don’t want to go to nursery.’ Nico’s bottom lip trembled ominously. ‘We can stay home today, Mummy.’
Kristen glanced at the clock and took a deep breath, determined to remain patient. It didn’t help matters that she was tired and the house was a mess after Steph and a few other friends had come over on Sunday evening and stayed until late. Steph had needed cheering up after she’d received her decree absolute, and had brought several bottles of wine with her—which had all been drunk.
She would have to take a trip to the bottle bank after work, Kristen thought ruefully. At least trying to help her friend had kept her mind from dwelling on what had happened when she had met Sergio on Friday evening. But memories of making love with him had kept her awake for most of last night and consequently she had a thumping headache.
‘Today is a work day for me and a nursery day for you,’ she explained gently to Nico. ‘You’d better put your Wellingtons on as it’s raining.’
It took another five minutes to persuade Nico into his coat and locate keys, her handbag and his backpack. The rain was falling harder, bouncing off the pavement and drumming loudly onto her umbrella as she clasped Nico’s hand and tried to hurry him along the street, but they had only gone a few paces when he stopped dead.
‘I don’t want to go.’ Two fat tears slid down Nico’s cheeks and as Kristen looked at his unhappy face she felt a clenching pain deep in her stomach that reminded her of the contractions she had felt when she had given birth to him. More than anything in the world she wished she could spend the day with him, but she couldn’t rely on a fairy godmother to pay the gas bill and the council tax demand.
‘Sweetheart, you know you have to go to nursery while I’m at work. I’ve got an early appointment and I can’t be late.’
Out of the corner of her eye Kristen caught sight of a sleek black saloon car driving past. It was noticeable because of the slow speed it was travelling and, for some inexplicable reason, she felt a tiny flicker of unease when she realised that the car’s heavily tinted windows hid the occupants from view. Her sense of trepidation increased as the car pulled into a parking space a little further up the road. Stop being paranoid, she ordered herself angrily. After her desperate flight from the Hotel Royale on Friday night her nerves had been on edge all weekend, but her fear that Sergio would find her had faded when she had reminded herself that he had no idea where she lived.
She was jerked from her thoughts as Nico tugged his hand free and ran back up the street. ‘Hey...where are you going?’ Kristen hurried after him and caught hold of him as he reached the garden gate.
‘I don’t want to go to nursery,’ he said mutinously.
Sensing a tantrum brewing, Kristen knew she had to regain control. ‘Well, I’m sorry but you are going,’ she told him firmly.
Nico began to cry loudly, his chest heaving with the force of his sobs, and as Kristen stood in the pouring rain, knowing that she was going to miss her train and would have to reschedule all her morning’s appointments, she felt like howling too. ‘That’s enough, Nico.’ Her voice sounded sharper than she had intended and guilt swamped her when he wept harder.
‘Kristen, what the hell is going on?’
Dear heaven! Her heart slammed against her ribs. She had believed she was safe, felt sure that she would never see Sergio again. But against the odds he had found her. Squaring her shoulders, she spun round to face her nemesis.
‘Why did you run away the other night?’
She could almost believe he sounded hurt, but she must have imagined it, Kristen told herself. She, better than anyone, knew that Sergio did not waste his time and energy on emotions. She tore her eyes from his, shaken and confused by the intensity of his gaze. It did not help her equilibrium that he looked gorgeous in a pale grey suit and navy silk shirt. Dark patches were forming on his jacket as he stood in the rain, and his hair was already soaked and fell forwards onto his brow.
‘How did you find me?’
His eyes na
rrowed at her cool tone and he raked a hand impatiently through his wet hair.
‘With considerable difficulty,’ he said tersely. ‘You lied to me, Kristen. You don’t work at the hotel.’
‘I never said I did. You just jumped to the conclusion that I was an employee.’ She flushed at his derisive look. Despite the protection of the umbrella, her long braided hair was damp and stray tendrils were stuck to her face. She shot Sergio a glance and quickly looked away again, hating her body’s involuntary response to him. ‘Look, I can’t stop. I’m late.’
‘You can’t stop! Dio, I haven’t come here for a chat!’ he exploded, and Kristen suddenly realised that beneath his icy control he was furious. ‘I take it you haven’t seen this morning’s headlines?’
She gave him a puzzled look. ‘No, I haven’t. Why?’
Instead of replying, he unbuttoned his jacket, pulled out a newspaper and thrust it at her. The headline, in bold print, seemed to leap off the page.
Billionaire Dumps Debutante for Domestic!
Kristen stared in horror at the photograph beneath the headline, which showed her leaning against Sergio, clinging to his shirt front and staring up at him like a love-sick idiot.
‘What on earth...?’ The picture had been taken when Sergio had chased after her to stop her fleeing from his party, she realised. She had stumbled on her stupid high heels and grabbed hold of him for support. Frantically she skimmed the newspaper article.
Sicilian love-rat Sergio Castellano has certainly lived up to his reputation as a serial playboy. Feathers flew when his fiancée and mistress both turned up at a party at the Hotel Royale. Felicity Denholm was said to be distraught when Sergio left the party to chase after the mystery blonde who is believed to be a waitress at the hotel.
‘Oh, heavens,’ she said faintly.
‘Is that all you can say?’ he demanded savagely. ‘Thanks to your little escapade on Friday evening, my business deal with Earl Denholm is threatened, my personal reputation is on the line and the price of the Castellano Group’s shares has plummeted.’
Kristen bit her lip. ‘I’m sorry. I don’t know what else to say.’
‘My PR manager is frantically putting a damage limitation plan into action and has written a statement for you to make to journalists.’ Sergio glanced at his watch. ‘I’ve arranged a press conference for nine o’clock. If we go now we should make it on time. My car is over there.’ He swung round and took a few steps but, realising that Kristen was not following him, he glanced back at her, impatience etched onto his hard features. ‘Come along. What are you waiting for?’
‘I can’t go with you. I have to take Nic...’ She broke off and watched tensely as Sergio walked back to her. He seemed to realise for the first time that she wasn’t alone and glanced over her shoulder to the child standing behind her. Kristen was thankful that Nico’s baseball cap hid his face but, as Sergio continued to stare, she gripped her son’s hand.
‘Is he your child?’ There was a curious note in his voice she could not define.
Kristen swallowed. ‘Yes.’ She tried to step past Sergio and her tension escalated when he did not move out of her way. ‘Please excuse us. I need to get him to nursery.’
‘So are you married? You have a different surname, which is one reason why it took me forty-eight hours to find you,’ he revealed with an edge of impatience. ‘I was searching for Kristen Russell, but your name now is Lloyd. Is that the name of your child’s father?’
Nico had been standing silently, his gaze fixed curiously on the stranger. But, perhaps conscious of Sergio’s scrutiny, he suddenly pulled off his cap and held it out to him. ‘My hat’s got Bertie Bear on it—see?’ he said innocently.
The ensuing silence only lasted for a few seconds, but to Kristen it seemed as though time was suspended and it was a lifetime before Sergio reacted.
‘Santa Madonna!’ His breath hissed between his teeth and he jerked his head back as if he had been slapped. He flicked his eyes to Kristen’s white face and then back to the child by her side. ‘It’s not possible,’ he said hoarsely. ‘You lost the baby. I was with you at the hospital when you had the miscarriage.’
CHAPTER FOUR
KRISTEN DID NOT reply—could not, when there was no oxygen in her lungs—but she held Nico’s hand tighter as Sergio crouched down so that he could study the little boy’s face.
‘He is my son.’
It was a statement, not a question, and there was a note of awed wonder in his voice that made Kristen’s stomach clench. She had felt the same sense of amazement when she had looked at her son for the first time minutes after she had given birth to him. But she was startled by the raw emotion when Sergio spoke. She did not understand his reaction. It had been obvious when she had suffered the miscarriage that he had not shared her devastation, and in fact had been relieved that she was no longer carrying his child.
There was no point in denying the truth, yet Kristen hesitated. Three days ago she had made the decision to tell Sergio he had a child, so why did she now feel such trepidation and an urge to snatch Nico into her arms? She forced her throat to work and whispered, ‘Yes, he’s yours.’
Sergio straightened up and growled something ugly in a low tone meant for Kristen’s ears only. ‘I don’t understand. You were bleeding when I rushed you to the hospital.’
His words brought back painful memories of that terrible day. She had felt so scared, Kristen remembered. She had not known she was pregnant until a doctor at the hospital explained that she had lost the baby, but she had been overwhelmed with sadness and guilt that perhaps the miscarriage had somehow been her fault.
She bit her lip. ‘When I had the miscarriage I lost Nico’s twin. But at the time I was unaware that I was carrying two babies,’ she explained shakily. ‘I only found out I was still pregnant after I returned to England.’
‘But you didn’t think to tell me?’ Sergio’s expression was coldly contemptuous. His barely controlled anger sparked Kristen’s temper and helped to lessen the feeling of guilt churning inside her.
‘I did think of letting you know but, before I could contact you, I saw the announcement of your engagement to a woman in Sicily. I read about your engagement in a magazine at my doctor’s surgery, but the magazine was a few weeks out of date,’ she explained shakily. ‘By the time I read the article I realised that you must already be married and...and I guessed you would not welcome the news that I was expecting your illegitimate child.’
Sergio’s jaw clenched. His skin was drawn so tight over the bones of his face that his cheekbones were sharply prominent.
‘He is my child,’ he said hoarsely. ‘What right did you have to keep him a secret from me?’
‘You had married someone else!’
Kristen felt Nico give a start at the sound of her raised voice and she silently cursed herself. She gave him a reassuring smile and replaced his cap on his head to protect him from the rain.
‘I can’t talk now,’ she muttered to Sergio. ‘Nico is getting soaked, and I don’t want him to spend all day at nursery school in damp clothes.’
Nico’s bottom lip trembled. ‘Mummy, I don’t want to go.’
Somehow she managed to keep her voice calm. ‘Sweetheart, we’ve been through this and I’ve explained that you have to go today.’ Her heart sank when Nico started to cry again, and she tensed when Sergio stepped closer to prevent her from walking away from him.
‘Surely he’s too young to go to school? He can only be a couple of months over three years old.’
‘He was three in March. He doesn’t go to school yet, but he attends a day-care nursery.’
‘Which he clearly doesn’t enjoy,’ Sergio said tautly. ‘Does he cry like this every day?’
Kristen stiffened at the note of censure in his voice. ‘He loves it once he’s there,’ she said
defensively. ‘It’s just the thought of going that upsets him.’
‘Then why send him?’
‘Because I have to work.’ She lifted her chin and met Sergio’s unreadable gaze, her own faintly challenging. ‘Bringing up a child is expensive.’
‘If I had known you were pregnant, naturally I would have supported you and my son.’
‘How would you have done? Would you have told your wife about your illegitimate child?’
Kristen could not hide the bitterness in her voice. They were going round and round in circles, she thought wearily. ‘This is a pointless conversation. In case you hadn’t noticed, you’re soaked to the skin.’ She tore her eyes from the front of his shirt, which was now so wet that she could clearly see the delineation of his six-pack beneath the navy silk. ‘I’m late for work, and Nico should be at nursery, so please move out of the way and allow us to pass.’
Sergio’s cold eyes flashed with sudden fire as his hand shot out and fastened like a band of steel around her wrist. ‘Don’t you dare dismiss me,’ he said savagely. ‘This conversation is far from over.’
He glanced at Nico and must have realised that his aggression was scaring the little boy for he said in a softer voice, ‘I’ll drive you to his nursery and then to your workplace. Where do you work, anyway? Your name wasn’t on the list of staff at the Hotel Royale, so why were you working as a waitress there the other night?’
Kristen flushed. ‘It was a misunderstanding. I’m not a waitress...I’m a physiotherapist.’
His eyes narrowed. ‘Then what were you doing at my party?’
‘Can we talk about it another time?’ she said desperately. Now was not the moment to admit that she had intended to ask him for a financial contribution for Nico.
‘You can be sure we will talk later,’ Sergio promised grimly. He turned his head from her as if the sight of her disgusted him and crouched down in front of Nico once more.
His Unexpected Legacy Page 5