‘Holy Moly,’ breathed a woman’s voice.
Annah glanced to her left. Harriet, a frazzled but good-humoured mother of five, stood with her youngest—a little girl with ginger ringlets—balanced on her hip.
Harriet, like Ethan, stared across the road. So did several other mothers as they trotted along the street and bundled their kids into cars. Annah couldn’t blame them. Luca Cavallari was a knee-weakening mix of smouldering sex appeal and unadulterated machismo.
‘Who is that?’ said Harriet.
Ethan leaned around Annah’s legs. ‘That’s my daddy,’ he said proudly.
Oh, God. The footpath swayed beneath Annah’s feet. She closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them, Harriet was looking at her, bug-eyed.
‘Wow,’ said Harriet. ‘That’s...unexpected?’
This time she couldn’t stop the nervous laughter escaping. ‘You could say that.’
Harriet put a hand on Annah’s arm and squeezed gently. ‘Let me know if you need anything, hon.’
Annah managed a smile. ‘Thanks.’
Harriet headed off to her car, and Annah looked across the road again. Luca wasn’t even looking at her. His gaze was fixated on Ethan.
‘Mummy?’
‘Yes?’
‘You’re holding on too tight.’
‘Oh!’ Annah loosened her grip on Ethan’s hand and looked into his upturned face. ‘Sorry, sweetheart.’ She smiled, hoping it looked less strained than it felt, and he beamed back.
‘Are we crossing now?’
His little voice rang with eagerness, and Annah’s heart clenched. Ethan was excited to meet his father, but she was still grappling with shock and anxiety. She would have appreciated a few days’ grace—time to get her emotions under control before introducing Ethan to his father—but Luca had different ideas.
Annah had tried to put herself in his shoes. He had missed out on the first four years of his son’s life. Wanting to meet his child without further delay perhaps wasn’t unreasonable.
Reminding Ethan to look both ways for traffic, she crossed the road with him. Luca waited on the other side. He wasn’t wearing his coat, and his all-black attire combined with his sheer size and the intense expression he wore made him look rather intimidating. But as they drew close he squatted down, bringing his face level with Ethan’s, a smile curving his lips that not only softened his hard features but caused Annah’s pulse to hitch.
‘Hello, Ethan,’ he said. ‘My name is Luca.’
Ethan blinked and then looked to Annah, shyness overtaking him now that he was face to face with the commanding figure of his father.
Annah smiled reassuringly. ‘It’s okay, sweetheart. Say hello.’
He turned back to Luca. ‘Hello.’ His hand reached out and touched Luca’s bent knee, as though to make sure he was real. He pulled his hand back, broke into a grin, and boldly announced, ‘You’re my daddy.’
Luca shot Annah a surprised look.
She lifted one shoulder. ‘I thought honesty was best.’ She could have made something up. Introduced Luca as her ‘friend’. But then what? Ethan would learn the truth eventually, and then he’d know she’d lied to him.
Their eyes held for a moment.
‘Thank you,’ he said quietly.
Annah gave a single small nod, his gratitude sparking a warm glow she hadn’t expected—and wasn’t sure she should welcome. Not when she and Luca could be headed for opposite sides of a custody battle.
His attention returned to Ethan. ‘I am,’ he said. ‘Although where I come from we say papà.’
‘Where are you from?’ Ethan asked, and Annah suddenly realised she had no idea how far Luca had travelled to get here or where he lived these days. New York? London? Sicily? Rome?
Her stomach tightened. How would a shared custody arrangement work if she and Luca lived in different countries?
‘A long way away,’ Luca said.
‘Is that why you haven’t come to see me before?’
Annah winced inwardly. Seeing the discomfort on Luca’s face, she stepped in to rescue him. ‘Come on, sweetheart. The ducks will be wondering where we are.’
Ethan turned back to his father. ‘Are you coming to feed the ducks?’
Annah held her breath. In his handmade Italian shoes and tailored trousers, Luca wasn’t exactly dressed for a walk in the reserve, but she’d thrown the invitation out there anyway. This was part of her and Ethan’s weekly routine; Luca could fit in or not.
‘Yes.’ He straightened up. ‘Your mother invited me. Is that all right with you?’
Ethan clapped his hands. ‘Yes!’
Annah forced herself to smile. It was stupid, but Ethan’s enthusiasm towards his father felt like a kick in her ribs. ‘Come on, then,’ she said, imbuing her voice with a cheerfulness she didn’t feel. ‘Let’s go before it gets too cold.’
* * *
Half an hour later, Annah sat on a bench seat carved out of an old gnarled tree trunk and hunched her shoulders inside her jacket.
It wasn’t all that cold. This part of the nature reserve was sheltered from the cool breeze, and the early spring sunshine lent a modicum of warmth to the afternoon.
The chill was inside her. A cold knot of anxiety that wasn’t going to shift any time soon, at least not until she knew what Luca’s long-term intentions were.
She watched him and Ethan at the water’s edge, scooping handfuls of oats, seeds and food pellets out of a paper bag and tossing them into the midst of a noisy gathering of ducks. Farther out, a pair of white swans glided across the calm surface of the landscaped lake.
It was a pretty spot and one of her and Ethan’s favourite haunts. Throughout the reserve, wild daffodils already bloomed in bright patches of cheerful yellow. In another few weeks, spring would start throwing its confetti of colour across the countryside in earnest. The wedding season would gear up, and work would get busy. Annah and Chloe had made a name for themselves specialising in wedding flowers and event styling. Last year they’d even won an award for South West Wedding Florist of the Year.
She wished Chloe were here now. She wasn’t only Annah’s business partner, she was her best friend. Her only close friend really. Annah knew plenty of people, was friendly with most, but she struggled to make that leap from acquaintance to friend. Learning to rely on herself as a child had made her fiercely independent, inclined to put walls up when she didn’t necessarily mean to.
But walls could be good. Especially if you didn’t know who to trust.
Could she trust Luca?
According to Chloe’s ex, Franco Cavallari had been a corrupt and powerful businessman with ties to organised crime. Just because Luca had fallen out with his father, it didn’t mean he wasn’t a bad guy, too.
And bad guys didn’t mind doing bad things, did they? Things like...kidnap their own children?
Oh, Lord.
Annah jammed the brakes on her imagination. Luca’s behaviour so far had been perfectly civilised, she reminded herself. He’d sat down and had a cup of tea with her, for goodness’ sake!
And now he stood on a muddy lakeside feeding a bunch of ducks with Ethan. It almost made her smile. She’d bet his fancy leather shoes were toast.
‘All gone, Mummy,’ Ethan called to her, tipping the paper bag upside down to show it was empty. ‘Can we go see Sandy now?’
‘Yes.’ Annah stood and pushed a smile onto her face as Ethan and Luca came towards her. Seeing them together like this, side by side, made her jumbled emotions even more difficult to untangle. The physical similarities—dark hair, brown eyes, olive skin—brought a lump to her throat.
Shoving the empty paper bag at Annah, Ethan said to his father, ‘Sandy’s got eight babies!’
Luca returned a suitable look of surprise. ‘Eight?’ he said, raising a quizzical eyebrow at Annah.
‘Puppies,’ she clarified. ‘Sandy’s a golden retriever. She belongs to the family who runs the café and lives in the house up by the entrance.’
‘They were too small to hold last time but they might be big enough now,’ Ethan chipped in, then chattered excitedly all the way to the café, something like awe lighting up his face every time he tipped his head back to gaze up at his father.
As they stepped into the warmth of the café, Annah wrestled down a pang of jealousy. She didn’t need to compete for Ethan’s affections. He loved her. She was his mummy. Luca’s sudden arrival didn’t change that.
Going straight to the window table where she and Ethan usually sat, she unzipped her puffer jacket and then hung it on the back of a chair. Not until she glanced up did she notice Luca’s burly associate sitting at a table in a back corner.
He got to his feet, and Annah’s pulse did a nervous skitter. While he wasn’t the same man who had wrapped a bruising hand around her arm five years ago and ‘escorted’ her from the Cavallari Enterprises offices after Luca’s father had carelessly dismissed her, the likeness was enough to make the hairs on the back of her neck lift.
Instinctively, without taking her eyes off the man, she reached for Ethan and dragged him close.
* * *
Luca narrowed his gaze on Annah’s face and watched her complexion go from peaches and cream to chalky white. Her hands clutched Ethan’s shoulders and she stared at Mario as if expecting him to try to snatch up her child and steal him away.
Gripped by an urge to reassure, Luca set his hand against the small of her back and felt her flinch. She darted him a look that made his stomach harden. There was no weapon in her hand now, but the wariness and distrust in her eyes told him she was still afraid.
How many times in the months since he’d returned to Sicily had he seen that same expression of trepidation and fear?
Too many.
His father’s legacy had tainted the Cavallari name, and many people assumed Luca was cut from the same cloth. Changing that perception and rebuilding trust was proving a slow process.
Luca motioned Mario over. ‘Annah, this is Mario Russo, my driver,’ he said. ‘Mario, this is Annah Sinclair. And this...’ he placed his hand on Ethan’s head ‘...is our son.’ Saying the words aloud for the first time sent a quiver of something like pride through Luca’s chest.
A smile wreathed Mario’s face, transforming him from grizzly bear to teddy bear. ‘Nice to meet you, Miss Sinclair,’ he said, extending a beefy hand.
Annah hesitated, then put her hand out for a shake. Mario’s enormous paw engulfed her slender hand entirely. ‘And you,’ she said.
Mario looked towards Ethan, who blinked, round-eyed. ‘Hello, Ethan.’
Luca said, ‘Mario has a daughter about your age, Ethan.’
Ethan’s gaze shifted back and forth between the two men. ‘What’s her name?’
‘Liliana,’ said Mario.
‘That’s a pretty name,’ Annah remarked, her features relaxing into a smile.
Mario beamed and then, with a nod to Luca, politely took his leave, returning to the SUV.
Annah’s eyes met Luca’s and her mouth opened, but whatever she intended to say was halted by the approach of a smiling, curly-haired brunette from behind the café’s counter. Luca stifled a flare of frustration.
‘Hi, Annah,’ said the brunette. She sent Luca a polite smile laced with a hint of curiosity. When Annah didn’t offer an introduction, the woman ruffled Ethan’s hair. ‘Hey, young man. Want to see the puppies?’
Ethan grinned. ‘Yes!’
‘Yes, what?’ Annah said gently.
‘Yes, please!’
The woman smiled. ‘Come out the back, then. Laura’s just home from school and having a play now.’ She looked at Annah and Luca. ‘What can I bring you? Coffee? Something to eat?’
Luca ordered a coffee, and Annah a pot of Earl Grey tea.
Once they were seated and Ethan had disappeared with the woman, Luca said quietly, ‘You need to trust me, Annah.’
Her gaze dropped to the blue-and-white-checked tablecloth. ‘I’m trying,’ she said after a moment. ‘It’s just...’
‘Just what?’ he prompted when she didn’t finish.
Her eyes came back to his. ‘I don’t know you, Luca.’
‘Then give me the benefit of the doubt,’ he said, fighting to keep frustration out of his voice, ‘and believe me when I tell you that neither myself nor anyone in my employ will ever harm you or Ethan.’
Her teeth trapped her bottom lip for a moment, drawing his gaze to a mouth he’d tried to forget over the years but hadn’t succeeded in banishing from his fantasies.
‘What is it?’ he said gruffly, shifting slightly in his chair, shocked to find himself aroused by something as simple as Annah biting her lip.
‘I heard things,’ she said finally, her voice lowering a notch. ‘About your father. Things that...scared me.’
‘From whom?’
‘A friend of a friend—an Italian who has relatives in Sicily.’
‘What sort of things?’ he said, though he had a fair idea already.
She kept her voice low. ‘That he was corrupt. Involved with the wrong kind of people. That he was ruthless, and anyone who got on his bad side needed to watch their backs.’ She stared at him, her expression expectant, as though waiting for Luca to brush aside the claims as nothing more than idle gossip.
If only he could.
The café owner arrived with their hot drinks. Luca thanked her and waited until she’d gone before he spoke. ‘My father is dead,’ he reminded Annah bluntly. ‘He is no longer a threat to you or to Ethan. I control Cavallari Enterprises now—and I assure you, things are done very differently under my watch.’
She blinked, but before he could discern either trust or doubt in her eyes, her thick golden-brown lashes swept down and she picked up the teapot and filled her cup. ‘So, are you living back in London?’
‘No.’ He sipped his drink and suppressed a grimace; the English made coffee only marginally better than the Americans. ‘Palermo. I moved back in January after my father died.’
She put down the teapot but didn’t pick up her cup. ‘Are you planning to stay in Sicily, then?’
‘For the foreseeable future, yes.’
‘Mummy, look!’
At the sound of Ethan’s voice, they both turned their heads. He walked over to them, a small golden puppy snuggled in his arms.
Annah smiled and stroked the puppy’s head. ‘She’s adorable.’
‘He’s a boy,’ Ethan corrected. The puppy wriggled and licked Ethan’s chin. He giggled. ‘I wish we could take him home,’ he said, his voice full of longing. ‘I think Mister Pickles would like him.’
Annah’s smile faltered. Gently but firmly, she said, ‘We talked about why we can’t have a dog, remember? This little fella will grow big one day, and big dogs need to have a garden and lots of room for running around.’
Ethan sighed heavily. ‘I know.’ He kissed the puppy’s head. ‘I better take him back to Sandy.’
When Ethan had gone, Luca raised an eyebrow at Annah. ‘Mister Pickles?’
‘Cat,’ she said.
‘Ah.’
Animal, not man.
‘Who’d be even less impressed than our landlord if we took home a dog,’ she added.
But Luca only half heard that last bit. Why had he not already considered the possibility of a man being on the scene? Annah was a beautiful, desirable woman. Granted, some men balked at taking on another’s child. But even so, what was the likelihood of her not having attracted at least one suitor in the last four years?
Nil.
His gut clenched. He had no claim on Annah, yet the idea of her sharing her bed with another man was about as palatable as battery acid.
/> A brazen demand to know whether or not she had a lover sprang to the tip of his tongue, but then the café door opened and a middle-aged couple entered on a waft of chilly air. The man went to the counter; the woman glanced around and then sat at the window table behind Annah, close enough to overhear their conversation.
Luca bit back the question. ‘We need time alone to talk,’ he said instead. ‘In private, without interruptions. Can you dine with me tomorrow night?’
Annah hesitated. ‘I’d need to arrange a babysitter, but...yes.’
‘I’m staying at Fendalton Hall. Do you know it?’
Her eyes widened. ‘I do.’
‘I’ll have Mario collect—’
She cut him off. ‘No. I’ll drive. It’s only twenty minutes from Hollyfield, and I’m familiar with the route.’
‘All right.’ He nodded, satisfied.
Ten minutes later, he waited beside Annah’s hatchback while she strapped Ethan into his car seat. Luca had already said goodbye to his son and promised he’d see him again soon—a promise he intended to keep.
Annah straightened and shut the door.
‘Give me your phone,’ he said.
Her brow puckered.
He added, ‘So I can programme my number in.’
She hesitated a few seconds longer but then, with a sigh, pulled her mobile from her jacket, unlocked it, and handed it over.
He thumbed his number in, sent a text to himself, and passed the phone back. ‘Now you can reach me any time, day or night.’ Then he leaned in and brushed his lips against her temple, allowing his mouth to linger a few pleasurable beats longer than he should have before pulling back. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow night, yes?’
‘Um... Yes.’ And then she hurried round to the driver’s side, got in without another word or even a glance in his direction, and drove off.
Luca stood and watched until the hatchback was out of sight.
He climbed into the back of the SUV.
‘Everything okay, boss?’ Mario asked.
Luca relaxed against the seat. ‘It will be.’
The Sicilian's Secret Son Page 4