by Anna DePalo
Melody tilted her head and waited.
“Even though this pregnancy was unexpected,” she went on, “I’ve always wanted children. And, you know, I’ve learned you can’t plan everything in life.”
“You were dating a stuntman working on one of your movies. Rick Serenghetti?”
“Yes. Rick did me an enormous favor. It started as a PR stunt. Rick was supposed to pose as my boyfriend to distract the press from stories about my father and his gambling. I know celebrities aren’t supposed to admit to doing things for publicity, but I want to clear the air.”
This was so hard. But she had to do it. Odele had convinced her to talk honestly about her feelings for Rick, but Chiara had thought it was important to come clean publicly about the whole charade. Risky, but important.
“You say started...”
“Even though I didn’t know it, Rick signed up for our make-believe because he also wanted to protect me from a stalker. It was a threat that I wasn’t taking seriously enough.”
“But Todd Jeffers is now charged with serious crimes. Are you relieved?”
“Yes, of course. And I’m so grateful to Rick for tackling Jeffers when he broke into my house.”
“And how is your father doing?”
“Great. We met, and he agreed to go into rehab for his addiction. I’m proud of him.” She had Rick to thank there, too.
Melody leaned forward. “So with your father addressing his addiction, and your stalker behind bars, you and Rick are...?”
Chiara gave a nervous laugh. “Somewhere along the way, I fell in love with Rick. I love him.”
Melody leaned forward and shut off her voice recorder. “Perfect.”
Chiara blew a breath. “You think so?”
The reporter gave her a sympathetic look. “I know so. A headline will appear on the WE Magazine site in a few hours, and then we’ll go to press with the print edition for the end of the week.”
Hours. That’s all she had before Rick and the world would know what lay in her heart.
Best to keep occupied. She still needed to put in motion the last part of the plan, which she’d suggested to Odele.
* * *
Rick nearly fell out of his seat. I love him.
He’d followed the news link to WE Magazine in Odele’s text and got a sucker punch.
Looking around his now nearly bare and sparsely furnished rental, he felt the swoosh of air that he normally associated with a high-altitude stunt.
His cell phone rang, and it was Melody Banyon from WE Magazine.
“Do you have a public comment on Chiara Feran’s interview with us? She confirmed her pregnancy.”
Yes. No. I don’t know. “I won’t ask how you got my number.”
“I think you know the answer,” Melody replied, amusement in her voice.
Odele, of course.
And then with sudden clarity, he realized going for broke was the thing to do. His concerns about privacy, getting manipulated by the press, or even publicity-hungry actresses, flew out the window. He didn’t have time to think about whether this was another of Odele’s PR moves. He was done with charades, make-believe and pretend.
“Anything you’d like to say for the record?” Melody prompted again.
“Yes. My feelings for Chiara were real from the beginning. There was no pretending on my part.”
“And the baby news?”
Yeah, wow. Somehow tomorrow was today...but he couldn’t be more elated with every passing day. “It may not have been planned, but I’m happy about it.”
“Are you Prince Charming?”
He laughed ruefully. “I’ve enjoyed my privacy up until now. And I’ve liked keeping my aliases under wraps, but things are becoming public knowledge.”
Melody cleared her throat. “Okay, off the record now... I wouldn’t let Chiara get away if I were you. She’s scared, but I’ve seen you two together. You belong together.”
“And here I thought Chiara and I had done a good snow job convincing you that we really were a couple.”
“Not as good a snow job as you two have done on each other,” Melody replied.
Yeah. And suddenly he knew he had to follow through on the idea that Jordan had given him...
“Give me until tomorrow before you publish my comment, Melody. I want Chiara to be the first to know.”
“Of course!” the reporter responded with a smile in her voice.
Rick barely heard her. His mind was already buzzing with ideas for props for his next stunt.
* * *
Chiara was tense. Controlling one’s image was paramount in Hollywood, and she’d just blown her cover. I love him... And the entire world knew. There was nowhere to hide.
She wrung her hands as she stared out her kitchen window. WE Magazine had published parts of her interview online late yesterday. It had been hours...and still no word from Rick.
He could humiliate her. He could issue a stunning rejection that handed her heart back to her.
Picking up the phone, she made a lifeline call to her manager.
“Oh, Odele, what have you gotten me into?” she moaned.
“Have you looked at social media?”
“Are you kidding? It’s the last thing I can bring myself to peek at.”
“Well, you should. The confirmation of your pregnancy has taken the internet by storm, of course.”
“Great,” she said weakly.
“Yup, but the viral storm is turning in your favor, sweetie. People are applauding your honesty.”
“About being a fraud?”
“You were honest about the phoniness of celebrity culture.”
Chiara closed her eyes. She’d gone viral as a recovering liar...and people loved it. “I’m afraid to leave the house.”
“You weren’t scared when you had a stalker, but now you are?”
Of course she was. She hadn’t heard from Rick. The ax could still fall.
Then a distant sound reached her, and she frowned. “Hold on, Odele.”
It sounded like hoof beats. Impossible.
She peeked out the window. A rider on a white horse was coming up the drive.
The clomp of hooves sounded louder as horse and rider came closer. It couldn’t be...but her heart knew it was. “Odele... I’ve got to go.”
“What’s the matter, honey?” Chiara could practically hear the frown in her manager’s voice. “Do I need to send the police?”
“Um, that won’t be necessary. I think I’m being rescued...”
“What...?”
“It’s Rick on a white horse...bye.”
“Well, I’ll be damned. And he didn’t even give me a heads-up so I could send a photographer to snap the moment.”
“We’ll do the scene over for you.”
“Great, because romances are my favorite.”
“I’d never have known from the way you’ve pushed me to do action flicks—”
“And you met a hunky stuntman in the process.”
“Odele, I have to go!”
Her manager laughed. “Good luck, honey.”
Rushing to the front door, Chiara took a moment to glance at herself in the hall mirror. Her eyes were bright, but she wished she could have looked more polished than she did in stretch pants and a T-shirt. Still, at least these clothes continued to fit her.
She took a deep breath and opened the door, stepping outside.
Rick stopped his horse in front of her, a smile playing at his lips.
Chiara placed her hands on her hips. “You got a horse through my front gate...really?”
“I still have the code. You’ve got to change it if you don’t want to keep having unexpected visitors.”
She nodded
at the animal that he sat astride, her insides buzzing. “And you rode him along canyon roads to my house?”
“Hey, I’m a stuntman.”
She met his gaze head-on. “And this is one of your stunts?”
“Jordan told me to get on a horse. Before I could do it or go with the backup plan of coming by with a wood boyfriend for Ruby, you had your interview with WE Magazine,” he said, not answering her directly. “But I thought I’d...accommodate you anyway.”
She tilted her head. “Accommodate how?”
He swung down, all lithe physique, and then pulled her into his arms and kissed her.
She leaned into him, kissing him back.
When they broke apart, he said, “I love you.”
She blinked back sudden emotion, and joked, “You should if you rode a horse here.”
“It took me a while to recognize it, but then you were put in danger by Jeffers.” His face blazed with emotion. “Damn it, Chiara, I could have lost you.”
She nodded, swallowing against the lump in her throat.
“I let my experience with Isabel color my perspective even though it was becoming increasingly obvious you couldn’t be more different.”
She gave a watery smile. “Well, you can be forgiven for that one. Thanks to Odele, I was using you to manipulate the press, too.”
“In the beginning, yeah. But you had guts and determination. Plus more and more layers that I wanted to uncover even though I kept trying to pigeonhole you as just another evil starlet.”
“Who, me? Snow White?” she said playfully.
He cracked a smile and then gave her another quick kiss.
She braced her hands on his chest. “Thank you for tackling Jeffers...twice. I didn’t take the risk seriously enough because I wasn’t going to let you tell me what to do. But you helped me save my father from himself.” When he started to say something, she placed a finger on his lips to stop him. “Thank you for coming into my life and dealing with all the craziness of fame. I was so afraid of being vulnerable and getting hurt.”
He grasped her wrist and kissed her hand.
“I love you. I was falling in love with you and it scared me to feel so much,” she finished.
“We’re getting married.”
She gave an emotional laugh—happiness bubbling out of her. “Before or after the baby is born?”
“Before. Vegas, even. Your father can give you away.”
“He doesn’t want to give me away. He just got me back! And I can’t be an actress eloping to Vegas. It’s too clichéd,” she protested.
“You’re a pregnant Hollywood actress who’ll be a few months along at the wedding. You’re already a cliché.” He winked. “We’ll leave people guessing about whether we’re taking our stunt to the extreme by actually getting married.”
“So our love isn’t real?”
“Snow, if my feelings were any more real, they’d be jumping around like the Seven Dwarves.”
“Funny, Serenghetti.”
And then he proceeded to show her just how real they were...
Epilogue
Two months later...
Chiara mingled with other Serenghettis who’d gathered for Serg’s sixty-seventh birthday barbecue on a hot August afternoon in Welsdale. She was still getting used to these family get-togethers. They were a world apart from her past experiences with her own family. Serg and Camilla’s home brimmed with animated voices and laughter.
Still, her relationship with her father had come a long way. Her father was in rehab, but he’d already announced he’d like to become an addiction counselor. And Odele had been and continued to be like a second mother. She’d already started shopping for baby clothes. And now, of course, Chiara had the Serenghettis, as well.
“The food is delicious,” Marisa announced as she stepped onto the patio bathed in late-afternoon sun. “I feel even more like an overstuffed piñata.”
Chiara smiled at her sister-in-law. “Now, there’s a metaphor for being pregnant I haven’t heard before.”
In a nice surprise, shortly after her own pregnancy had gone public, Cole and Marisa had quietly announced they were expecting, too. Her sister-in-law was only a month further along. Naturally, Chiara thought, there’d be another female Serenghetti to take this journey with.
Marisa sighed. “I know what a chicken cordon bleu feels like.”
“A ham?” Jordan asked, having overheard.
His sister-in-law shot him a droll look. “Funny.”
“Just don’t have a surprise birth,” Jordan teased. “Mom wants a chance to plan for a big event for once.”
Chiara bit back another smile, and then looked down at her plain platinum wedding band and large canary diamond solitaire engagement ring. She and Rick had had a quick wedding in Las Vegas with just immediate family present. It had been small, intimate and private, just like they’d wanted. There’d been no press, though they’d given Melody an exclusive after the fact.
Now as Marisa and Jordan stepped away, Rick came up and settled his hands on her shoulders, kneading them gently. Chiara nearly purred with contentment.
“How are you feeling?” Rick asked in a low voice.
“Like my next role should be as a pregnant stuntwoman,” she responded.
“You’d be great. I’ve got just the vehicle.”
“I feel like a starlet who has slept her way to the top with the studio boss.”
He chuckled. “Snow, we’re partners now.”
At home and at the office. She and Rick were starting their own production company. He’d vowed to support her career in any way he could, and that included helping her find appropriate acting roles. For her part, she wanted to respect Rick’s preference to not be in the glare of celebrity. She’d done interviews herself, but he’d insisted that as her prince, he needed and wanted to be her escort to public events.
Just then, Serafina, Marisa’s cousin, stepped onto the patio and then frowned as she spotted Jordan.
“Uh-oh,” Rick said in a low voice for Chiara’s ears only. “Trouble.”
As if on cue, Jordan gave a lazy grin, and then sauntered toward Serafina with a gleam in his eye.
Chiara smiled. “Only the best kind for those two.” Then turning, she snuggled against Rick as he draped an arm around her shoulders. “Don’t you agree?”
Her husband winked and gave her a kiss. “Definitely. You’re the best trouble I ever had, Snow. And then love had walked in for us.”
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from UNBRIDLED BILLIONAIRE by Dani Wade.
If you loved this story, don’t miss
Cole Serenghetti’s story
SECOND CHANCE WITH THE CEO
Then pick up these other sexy and emotional reads
from USA TODAY bestselling author Anna DePalo!
HAVING THE TYCOON’S BABY
UNDER THE TYCOON’S PROTECTION
TYCOON TAKES REVENGE
CAPTIVATED BY THE TYCOON
AN IMPROPER AFFAIR
CEO’S MARRIAGE SEDUCTION
HIS BLACK SHEEP BRIDE
ONE NIGHT WITH PRINCE CHARMING
IMPROPERLY WED
Available now from Harlequin Desire!
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Unbridled Billionaire
by Dani Wade
One
“You can take me on a stroll through the gardens...”
Kane Harrington glanced toward the large arched windows along the back hall of Harrington House, darkening from gray to black as the sun disappeared. “I don’t think there’s quite enough light for that.”
The little imp—Joan was her name, if he remembered correctly—sidled a little closer. “I don’t mind.”
I do. And so did all the eligible women and their mothers who had hoped for a few minutes of his time. After all, he was the only Harrington man who was still single. That made him the center of attention at this open house for the new estate and stables he and his brother, Mason, were holding for prominent local families. Suddenly the four hours he’d already endured started to wear on Kane.
“I’m sorry, hon,” he said, trying to infuse his normally stern expression with a sincere regret. “I just remembered I need to make a business call tonight. I’ll be right back.”