Alicia merely smiled as Jake and his men led her away. Shelby’s head fell back on Logan’s shoulder and whether he was conscious of it or not, his arms tightened around her making her feel safe and warm. There was still the matter of seeing a doctor and somewhere along the way Logan would coax her awake long enough to make her eat something, but she didn’t mind.
Since neither of them wanted to sleep in their own bed tonight, they’d probably have to make the drive to Vittorio Enterprises and spend the night in the Penthouse, but she didn’t mind that either. They were together and Logan would do what he loved most; he’d take care of her. As for herself, Shelby would do what she loved most; she’d let him.
****
Shelby lay back against the hospital bed, exhausted but blissfully happy. “We make beautiful babies together,” she said as Logan laid their daughter in her arms.
“She is almost as exquisite as her mother.” Logan leaned down and brushed his lips across the baby’s forehead then kissed his wife as well. “She is perfect, cara mia, perfect.”
“You’re not disappointed I didn’t give you a son?”
His heart swelled as he stroked the side of his little girl’s face with his fingertips. “I adore her already, how could I possibly be disappointed? How is it possible to love someone so much when she has only been a part of my life for a few hours?”
“Because she’s a part of us, that’s how. It was our love that created her.”
Logan grinned. “And all this time I believed it was the endless hours we spent in bed together that gave her life.”
“I’m not even going to dignify that with an answer,” Shelby quipped. “Now be a good husband and tell me what you’ve decided to name your daughter.”
“You honestly trust me to choose her name by myself?”
“Why do you look so surprised? I trusted you with my heart and look how wonderfully that has turned out.”
Logan reached out to smooth back a stray curl. “That is two precious gifts you have given me.”
His attention shifted to the baby in her arms. He would have loved it if their daughter had inherited Shelby’s hair color, but his baby girl looked every inch a Vittorio. Thick, dark hair framed her angelic face and she had his eyes, but her lips were definitely Shelby’s and so were her delicate features. She was going to be a heartbreaker that was for sure.
“Chelsea,” he finally said.
Tears misted Shelby’s eyes. “After my mother,” she said in a strangled whisper. “Thank you, Logan, that means a lot to me.”
For a several minutes they simply looked at each other, saying with their eyes what was embedded so deeply in their hearts. But it wasn’t enough, looking but not touching, and it wasn’t long before Logan kicked off his shoes and crawled into bed with her. Easing his arm beneath her head, he held Shelby close to his side with Chelsea safely nestled between them.
“This is Heaven,” he sighed.
“You always say that when we’re in bed together,” she teased.
“Because it is true.”
“But that wasn’t what you meant.”
“No, carissima, it is not what I meant.”
Shelby tilted her head back. “It’s because we’re a family now. Having a baby together has bound us together as nothing else ever could.”
“It is just one of the many things that bind us together, mi amore, but I am glad you understand how I feel.”
“Everything will be different now.”
“This is just the beginning of many changes in our lives. There will be more children, then grandchildren, and if we are lucky enough we will be around to see our great grandchildren born.”
“Just…promise me that one thing will never change between us, Logan.”
“What is that, my beautiful wife? That we will always love as we love now?”
Shelby drew his mouth down to hers. “I already know that will never change,” she whispered against his lips.
“What else is there to promise?”
She didn’t answer right away. She kissed him first, kissed him until his heart was hammering in his chest and she could feel the heat of passion rising higher and higher. She kissed him until she was drowning in the taste of him, until their bodies were trembling so bad they were forced to stop for fear of waking the baby.
“Promise me that all our children will be conceived the same way Chelsea was.”
“Out of our love for each other?”
“No,” Shelby said with a sexy smile, “from the endless hours spent together in bed.”
“Trust me, cara mia,” Logan whispered as he pulled her closer, “that is one promise I shall have no problem keeping.”
Shelby did trust him. Because he was a man of his word, and because Logan's promises were as golden as his heart.
The End
VITTORIO'S RUNAWAY BRIDE Page 20