The Venetian One-Night Baby

by MELANIE MILBURNE

  But he would have to get used to not having her around.

  * * *

  Sabrina dragged herself through the next few days, worn down by sadness that her life wasn’t turning out like that of the dewy-faced brides that filed through her shop. It was like having salt rubbed into an open and festering wound to see everyone else experiencing the joy and happiness of preparing for a wedding when her dreams were shattered. Why was her life destined to fall short of her expectations? Was there something wrong with her? Was she too idealistic? Too uncompromising?

  But how could she compromise on the issue of love?

  Moving back in with her parents might not have been the wisest move, Sabrina decided. She was engulfed by their disappointment as well as her own. It seemed everyone thought Max was the perfect partner for her except Max himself. But she couldn’t regret her decision to end their engagement. She couldn’t remain in a one-sided relationship. The one who loved the most was always the one who got hurt in the end. She wanted an equal partnership with love flowing like a current between them. Like it flowed between both sets of parents, long and lasting and able to withstand calamity.

  No. This was the new normal for her. Alone.

  And the sooner she got used to it the better.

  * * *

  A few miserable days later, Max went into his study and sat at his desk. He found himself sitting there every night, unable to face that empty bed upstairs. He sighed and dragged a hand over his face. His skull was permanently tight with a headache and his eyes felt gritty.

  His eyes went to the photograph of his family before Daniel had died. There was nothing he could do to bring his brother back. Nothing he could do to repair the heartache he had caused his parents by not being more vigilant. His phone rang and he took it out of his pocket and swore when he saw it was his mother. The gossip network was back at work after a few days’ reprieve. No doubt Sabrina’s mother Ellen had called his mum to tell her the wedding was off. He was surprised Ellen hadn’t done so the moment it had happened but maybe Sabrina had wanted things kept quiet for a bit. He answered the phone. ‘Mum, now’s not a good time.’

  ‘Oh, Max. Ellen told me Sabrina called off the engagement.’

  ‘Yep. She did.’

  ‘And you let her?’

  ‘She’s an adult, Mum. I can’t force her to be with me.’ Even though he’d damn well given it a good shot.

  ‘Oh, darling, I’m so upset for you and for her,’ his mum said. ‘I can’t help thinking your father, Ellen, Jim and I have been putting too much pressure on you both. We just wanted you to be happy. You’re perfect for each other.’

  ‘I’m not perfect for anyone. That’s the problem.’ He let out a jagged sigh. ‘I can’t seem to help letting down the people I care about. You, Dad and Daniel, for instance. I do it without even trying. It’s like I’m hard-wired to ruin everyone’s lives.’

  ‘Max, you haven’t ruined anyone’s lives,’ his mother said after a small silence. ‘I know you find it hard to allow people close to you. You weren’t like that as a young child, but since we lost Daniel you’ve stopped being so open with your feelings. It was like a part of you died with him. I blame myself for not being there for you but I was so overwhelmed by my own grief I didn’t see what was happening to you until it was too late. But you weren’t to blame for what happened, you know that, don’t you?’

  Max leaned forward to rest one elbow on the desk and leaned his forehead against his hand. ‘I should have known something was wrong. You asked me to check on him and he seemed fine.’

  ‘That’s because he was fine when you checked on him. Max, the coroner said it was SIDS. Daniel might have died in the next ten minutes and there was nothing you could have done to change that.’ She sighed and he heard the catch in her voice. ‘Darling, do you think I haven’t blamed myself? Not a day goes past that I don’t think of him. But it would be an even bigger tragedy if I thought you weren’t living a fulfilling life because you didn’t think you deserved to love and be loved in return.’

  ‘Look, I know you mean well, Mum, but I can’t give Sabrina what she wants. What she deserves. I’m not capable of it.’

  ‘Are you sure about that, Max? Totally sure?’

  Max ended the call and sat back in his chair with a thump. It was slowly dawning on him that he had made the biggest blunder of his life. His feelings for Sabrina had always been confusing to him. For years he’d held her at arm’s length with wisecracking banter, but hadn’t that been because he was too frightened to own up to what was going on in his heart? She had always got under his skin. She had always rattled the cage he had constructed around his heart.

  And up until he’d kissed her he’d done a damn fine job of keeping her out. But that one kiss had changed everything. That kiss had led to that night in Venice and many nights since of the most earth-shattering sex of his life. But it wasn’t just about amazing sex. There was way more to their relationship than that.

  He felt different with her.

  He felt alive. Awakened.

  Hopeful.

  His sexual response to her was a physical manifestation of what was going on in his heart. He was inexorably drawn to her warm and generous nature. Every time he touched her, he felt a connection that was unlike any he’d experienced before. Layer by layer, piece by piece, every barricade he’d erected had been sloughed away by her smile, her touch. Her love. How could he let her walk away without telling her the truth? The truth that had been locked away until now. The truth he had shied away from out of fear and cowardice.

  He loved her.

  He loved her with every fibre of his being. His love for her was the only thing that could protect her. Love was what had kept his family together against impossible odds. Love was what would protect their baby, just as he had been protected. His and her parents were right—he and Sabrina were perfect for each other. And if he didn’t exactly feel perfect enough, he would work damn hard on it so he did.

  Because he loved her enough to change. To own the feelings he had been too fearful to name. Feelings that he needed to express to her because they were bubbling up inside him like a dam about to break.

  * * *

  Sabrina’s parents fussed over her so much each night when she came home from work that she found it claustrophobic. They were doing it with good intentions but she just wanted to be alone to contemplate her future without Max. Thankfully, that night her parents had an important medical function to attend, which left Sabrina to have a pity party all by herself.

  The doorbell rang just as she was deciding whether she could be bothered eating the nutritious meal her mother had left for her. She glanced at the security monitor in the kitchen and her heart nearly stopped when she saw Max standing there. But before she allowed herself to get too excited, she took a deep calming breath. He was probably just checking up on her. Making sure she’d settled in okay.

  She opened the door with her expression cool and composed. ‘Max.’ Even so, her voice caught on his name.

  ‘I need to talk to you.’ His voice was deep and hoarse, as if he had swallowed the bristly welcome mat.

  ‘Come in.’ Sabrina stepped away from the door to allow him to follow but she didn’t get far into the foyer before he reached for her, taking her by the hands.

  ‘Sabrina, my darling, I can’t believe it has taken me this long to realise what I feel about you.’ His hands tightened on hers as if he was worried she would pull away. ‘You’ve been in my life for so long that I was blind or maybe too damn stubborn to see you’re exactly what our parents have said all this time. You’re perfect for me. Perfect because you’ve taught me how to feel again. How to love. I love you.’

  Sabrina stepped a little closer or maybe he tugged her to him, she wasn’t sure. All she knew was hearing him say those words made something in her chest explode with joy like fireworks. She could feel fizzes and
tingles running right through her as she saw the look of devotion on his face. ‘Oh, Max, do you mean it? You’re not just saying it to get me back?’

  He wrapped one arm around her like a tight band, the other hand cupped one side of her face, his eyes shining like wet paint. ‘I mean it with every breath and bone and blood cell in my body. I love you so much. I’ve been fighting it because on some level I knew you were the only one who could make me feel love again and I was so worried about letting you down. And then I went and did it in the worst way possible. I can’t believe I stood there like a damn robot instead of reaching for you and telling you I loved you that night you came home from hospital. Please marry me, my darling. Marry me and let’s raise our baby together.’

  She threw her arms around his neck and rose up on tiptoe so she could kiss him. ‘Of course I’ll marry you. I love you. I think I might have always loved you.’

  Max squeezed her so tightly she thought her ribs would crack. He released her slightly to look at her. ‘Oh, baby girl, I can’t believe I nearly lost you. I’ve been such a fool, letting you leave like that. How devastated you must have felt when you told me you loved me and I just stood there frozen like a statue.’

  Sabrina gazed into his tender eyes. ‘You’re forgiven, as long as you forgive me for being such a cow to you for all those years.’

  He cradled her face with his hands and brushed his thumbs across her cheeks. ‘There’s nothing to forgive. I enjoyed every one of those insults because they’ve brought us here. You are the most adorable person in the world. I wish I could be a better man than I am for you, but I give you my word I’ll do my best.’

  Sabrina blinked back tears of happiness. ‘You are the best, Max. The best man for me. The only man I want. You’re perfect just the way you are.’

  He gave her a lingering kiss, rocking her from side to side in his arms. After a while, he lifted his head to look at her, his eyes moist with his own tears of joy. ‘Hang on, I forgot something.’ He reached into his trouser pocket and took out her engagement ring and slipped it on her finger. ‘There. Back where it belongs.’

  Sabrina smiled and looped her arms around his neck again. ‘We are both back where we belong. Together. Ready to raise our little baby.’

  He hugged her close again, smiling down at her. ‘I’m more than ready. I can’t wait to be a father. You’ve taught me that loving someone is the best way of protecting them and I can safely say you and our baby are not going to be short of my love.’ He kissed her again and added, ‘My forever love.’

  EPILOGUE

  A FEW WEEKS LATER, Max stood at the end of the aisle at the same church in which he and his baby brother had been christened, and looked out at the sea of smiling faces, his friends and family. He saw Zack sitting with Sabrina’s family with a grin from ear to ear, having just got back from his honeymoon. Holly was the maid of honour so Zack would have to do without his new bride by his side while the ceremony was conducted.

  Max drew in a breath to settle his nerves of excitement. The church was awash with flowers thanks to Holly. He couldn’t believe how hard everyone had worked to get this wedding under way in the short time frame. But wasn’t that what friends and family were for? They pulled together and the power of all that love overcame seemingly impossible odds.

  The organ began playing ‘The Bridal March’ and Holly, as Sabrina’s only bridesmaid, and the cute little flower girl, the three-year-old daughter of one of Max’s friends from University, began their procession.

  And then it was time for his bride to appear. Max’s heart leapt into his throat and he blinked back a sudden rush of tears. Sabrina was stunning in a beautiful organza gown that floated around her, not quite disguising the tiny bump of their baby. She looked like a fairytale princess and her smile lit up the church and sent a warm spreading glow to his chest.

  She was wearing something borrowed and something blue, but when she came to stand in front of him he saw the pink diamond earrings he had bought her after they had found out at the eighteen-week ultrasound they were expecting a baby girl. They had decided to keep it a secret between themselves and it thrilled him to share this private message with her on this most important of days. One day they would tell their little daughter of the magic of how she brought her parents together in a bond of mutual and lasting love.

  Sabrina came to stand beside him, her eyes twinkling as bright as the diamonds she was wearing, and the rush of love he felt for her almost knocked him off his feet. He took her hands and smiled. ‘You look beautiful.’ His voice broke but he didn’t care. He wasn’t ashamed of feeling emotional. He was proud to stand and own his love for her in front of all these people. In front of the world.

  Her eyes shone. ‘Oh, Max, I can’t believe my dream came true. We’re here about to be married.’

  He smiled back. ‘Our dream wedding.’ He gave her hands a little squeeze. ‘My dream girl.’

  * * *

  If you enjoyed The Venetian One-Night Baby by Melanie Milburne you’re sure to enjoy these other One Night With Consequences stories!

  Consequence of the Tycoon’s Revenge

  by Trish Morey

  The Innocent’s Shock Pregnancy

  by Carol Marinelli

  An Innocent, A Seduction, A Secret

  by Abby Green

  Carrying the Sheikh’s Baby

  by Heidi Rice

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  The Spaniard’s Stolen Bride

  by Maisey Yates

  CHAPTER ONE

  DIEGO NAVARRO HAD a bad habit of breaking his toys.

  It had started with a little wooden truck when he was a boy. He hadn’t intended to break it, but he’d been testing the limits, running behind it while he pushed it down on the ground.

  He’d ended up falling on top of it and splitting his lip open, as well as popping the wheels off his favorite possession.

  His mother had picked him up and spoken softly to him, brushing the tears from his face and taking the pieces of the truck into her hand, telling him it was okay.

  His father had laughed.

  He’d pushed Diego’s mother aside and taken the toy from her hand.

  Then he’d thrown it into the fire.

  “When something is broken,” he’d said darkly, “you must learn to let it go.”

  Those words had echoed in D
iego’s head later. When his mother was dead and his father stood emotionless over her body, laid out for burial before the funeral.

  Diego hated his father.

  He was also much closer to being his father than he would ever be to resembling his sweet, angelic mother, who had been destroyed by the hands of the man who had promised to love her.

  Her hands had been gentle. Diego’s were weapons of destruction.

  All throughout his life he had demonstrated that to be the truth.

  In a fit of frustrated rage after his mother’s death, he had burned down his father’s shop at the family rancho. His father had known he’d done it, and Diego had wondered if the old man would finally kill him too. Send him to the devil, as he had sent Diego’s mother to the angels.

  It had been worse. His father had simply looked at him, his dark eyes regarding him with recognition.

  To be recognized by a monster as being one of his own had been a fate near death. At least then.

  Diego had spent the next few years accepting it. And daring the darkness inside of him.

  His father gave him a sports car for his eighteenth birthday. Diego crashed it into a rock wall on a winding road. If he had spun another direction before the accident he would have simply plummeted into the sea, and both he and the car would have sunk down to the ocean floor.

  It would have been a mercy. For him to die young like that. Before he could create the kind of damage he had been seemingly destined for.

  But no. He had been spared.