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  And Toby.

  And Mia . . . Toby’s half-sister.

  Half-sister.

  Chapter 12

  When Nick pulled to a stop in the driveway the sun was well gone and the night had turned chilly. He got out of his car and climbed the steps to the front door. He didn’t bother knocking, as Maria would only have to leave whatever duties she was performing to answer and he had his own key, so a pointless exercise, really.

  Maria hated when he let himself in but she’d have to get over it. There was enough new gossip in the family to keep the housekeeper happy for years to come. She’d adored Toni and had aged considerably since his death. Her heart was massive but not always on show and Nick grimaced as some memories flashed into his head while he walked, slowly now, to the dining room. So many memories these last few days. Since Caroline had produced her son.

  Since Toby.

  It was uncanny and a not a touch unnerving seeing the boy, seeing Toni as a boy again. Nick knew the DNA test would prove conclusively that Toby was a di Luca, but he’d be damned if he’d let Caroline off the hook that easily. Not after disrupting their lives and not after keeping Toni’s son from not just Toni, but also the whole family. He didn’t believe one blasted word about letters and emails, or the sob story of her attempted phone calls. If she’d wanted to contact Toni, she would have. That incommunicado thing? That was complete bollocks.

  He heard the voices from the dining room and paused briefly outside to settle himself. Settle himself? Mentally shrugging off that nonsense – he didn’t need settling – he opened the door and walked casually to the head of the table to greet his aunt and uncle.

  Oh shit. He hadn’t realised Elena was going to be here, too – that always stirred things up. She had a knack of putting people on edge, honed over years of practice. He greeted each of the women and Mia in turn with the obligatory kisses but paused in front of Toby. The boy turned slightly towards him and held out his hand to shake.

  Hmm.

  That took maturity. Guts, even.

  Nick shook the long-fingered small hand and was surprised at its strength and grip. Another point to the kid. Caroline, he ignored completely. He couldn’t even look at her. Couldn’t catch her eye without a feeling of betrayal washing over him. He pulled out his seat – damn, right opposite the very person he was trying to avoid – and apologised to the table at large for his tardiness.

  “Don’t worry, darling. Eat,” Valentina said. “But we are speaking English for Caroline’s sake.” She smiled around the table.

  Nick jerked his head towards Caroline, his brow raised in surprise. Apparently, she hadn’t mentioned her fluency or her lessons. She met his gaze imploringly and his heart skipped a beat. She wanted to keep it quiet. She was hiding it. Why? He clenched his jaw briefly and turned to tell his beloved aunt and uncle all about her weekly lessons but then caught Toby’s eye. He, too, looked pleadingly at him and Nick hesitated.

  Just long enough for Toby to speak.

  “She is trying,” he said fluently in Italian, “but isn’t as good as me yet.”

  He smiled at his grandparents, who obviously thought he was an adorable cherub. A lying, sneaking, albeit clever cherub, more like. Nick snapped his mouth shut and leaned back when Maria put a plate of food in front of him.

  He’d ponder his own compliance in this little covert affair later, but for now he needed to see how much everyone knew about everyone else. Had Antonio explained that Marianna was Toni’s widow and Mia his child? And if so, did Caroline now realise that her “cherub” wasn’t the heir to the di Luca fortune? And how was that working out for her? The only way was to ask directly. Find out the mood of the table. Though even he could feel there was some serious tension already, but who was emanating the most was anyone’s guess.

  Mia seemed to be the least concerned. She swirled her pasta and ate hungrily, enjoying every bite as the sauce sprinkled across her face. Toby laughed and handed her his napkin just as Elena glowered at her grandchild.

  “Mia! Not so much food. Remember the waistline. And, child, where is your own napkin?”

  Every word was dripping with censure. Elena could sure lay it on thick.

  Marianna said nothing and continued eating quietly. It was ever thus. Nick sighed. He didn’t understand why Mia’s own mother wouldn’t interfere in that kind of verbal nastiness. It was so different from his own home. His gran had practically force-fed her brood of grandchildren. Delighted in their healthy appetites and enjoyment of a mealtime. To give young Mia her due, she seemed unfazed by Elena’s attitude and just kept eating.

  Toby slid down under the table and retrieved her lost napkin. In a gesture of an old woman, he tucked it into her T-shirt under her chin.

  “Probably the best place for it,” he laughed. “You’re as messy as me.” He sat back into his own seat and took up his fork again. “Isn’t this sauce delicious? I must ask Maria for the recipe.”

  Caroline leaned around Marianna, who appeared oblivious to the undertones, and agreed with Toby. The conversation continued and the meal was eaten in relative restraint.

  Nick noticed Elena darting several dagger looks at Caroline and then at Toby, but in all honesty, there was no way anyone who’d ever known Toni could say Toby wasn’t his child. What he had done, just now, to help Mia? Pure Toni. Kind and thoughtful of others’ feelings.

  Even as a young teen Toni had made sure his friends were happy, that they had enough to eat, their concerns met. He should have been a bloody counsellor, Nick thought, not a hotel manager. Though he’d done that very well, turning his concern for friends to guests and staff alike. It had only been in the last year or so of his short life that he’d changed. Became moody and irritable. Unhappy. Discontented. And no one, not even Marianna, it seemed, knew why.

  And that bugged Nick. Big time. He’d known, both by looking on from the outside and from snippets that Toni had said in unguarded moments, that his and Marianna’s marriage wasn’t one made in heaven, or even close to it. They were friends, after a fashion, but Toni had begun finding solace in the arms of other women – hence the no big surprise with the other women looking to cash in following his death.

  If Marianna knew about his extramarital affairs, she kept her own counsel. But Toni had intimated that he and his wife hadn’t had a sex life for years. If, like Nick, a guy chose to live celibately every once in a while that was one thing, but to be in a long-term relationship, be it marriage or partnership, and not have a healthy, active sex life? That didn’t bode well for happiness in Nick’s admittedly single-minded opinion.

  Fuck.

  He should not be thinking about sex. And especially not the hot, active sex he and this usurper sitting across from him had been having not that long ago. He shifted a bit in the seat as he felt himself harden just remembering the moans, the touches, the wetness . . .

  “Nickki!”

  The voice cut sharply into his wanderings and he swung his head towards Elena, who was glaring at him pointedly. He raised an unapologetic eyebrow at her – she wasn’t his mother and she could stop her attempts at treating him like a child right now.

  “I wish you would pay attention, Nikki. This is about the future of the hotel business, after all,” she droned.

  Nick glanced at the youngsters seated towards the end of the table. They were engrossed in some napkin-folding activity and seemed oblivious to the adult conversation happening around them.

  “I expect to see a copy of the DNA results myself, the very minute they come in,” Elena insisted. “It is in all our interests to have this sorted out as quickly and as painlessly as possible, for Antonio and Valentina, of course.” She patted her mouth with her napkin and laid it down next to her plate.

  Nick looked directly at her as he spoke, still in English.

  “I would have thought your concern, if it is indeed any concern of yours, would be for Marianna’s and Mia’s welfare. They,” he added, “are the ones whose lives will be irrefutably disrupted
. My aunt and uncle may gain a grandchild, but that puts your daughter’s position in the family as tenuous at best.

  “The business has always been passed, rightly or wrongly, to the male heir, and Mia, if Tobias is indeed Toni’s son, would be out of her inheritance. Just saying.” He finished as the audible gasps, followed swiftly by a cacophony of protests, came from everyone seated at the table. The only one Nick tuned into was Caroline’s.

  “How can you say such a thing!” she declared in an angry tone. “Toby doesn’t want or need any inheritance from his grandparents. That’s not why we’re here. Not at all. We don’t need or want any handouts, either. I can’t believe you, any of you, would ever think such a thing.” Caroline swung her head from his uncle’s face to Nick’s. “Oh, but wait,” she sneered – actually sneered at him – before continuing. “You already excel at sleight of hand and living a lie, so I can see how you might think others would stoop to your despicable level.”

  She rose from the table, her cheeks becomingly flushed, gorgeous blue eyes flashing. Nick was enjoying the show – God, she looked fantastic all fired-up. He knew Elena and his uncle were also speaking but he didn’t care to listen. His attention was all on her. Caroline. Mother bear protecting her cub. It was a stirring sight. Her breasts were heaving in her rage and his eyes were riveted by the swell. He flicked his eyes up to hers and realised she’d seen where his mind was located.

  “You are unbelievable!” She pushed her chair back and turned to Valentina. “Thank you for the lovely supper, but we should go. I feel we’ve overstayed our welcome.”

  As Caroline reached for her bag and spoke briefly to Toby, who was shovelling the last of his dessert into his mouth, Nick heard his uncle and aunt try to calm a very angry Elena. Why did they bother?She was always angry about something.

  A movement caught his eye and he noticed Marianna anxiously pleating and re-pleating her napkin. Maria would be pissed at her ironing being ruined, Nick thought, but the image worried him all the same. Marianna never stood up for herself. Not like Caroline. Nick shook his head as he also stood and edged around the table to follow Caroline out of the room. An unfair comparison, he knew. They were both single parents and yet everything about them was so very different.

  His prey was hurrying down the hall towards the large foyer, pulling her phone from her pocket. He lengthened his stride and grabbed her by the arm.

  “Back off!” she snarled, trying to pull away.

  “No. Wait.” Nick kept his grip firm. “I know you’re pissed at me, but let me give you a ride back into the city. You’ll be ages waiting for a taxi.” He turned her around, his other hand gripping her shoulder, holding her still.

  Her mouth a mutinous line, she bit out, “The signal out here is a load of crap, but I’d rather walk than sit in a car with you, you self-serving, job-hiding, DNA-seeking piece of sh—”

  He kissed her. He couldn’t help himself. She was so mad, so beautiful, so irritated with him, so, damn it, justified in her anger that he needed to feel her mouth under his. Feel that sizzling connection. The heat he knew was simmering beneath the surface. Feel the movement of her lips responding to his touch, his tongue. It was crazy but it was like he needed to connect with her so she’d somehow know he wasn’t the bastard she thought he was. That she’d remember the pull that drew them to each other.

  For a moment she returned the kiss. Opening swiftly to his pressure and inhaling his heat.

  “Ouch!” He pulled back as she broke the kiss and slapped him hard across the face.

  “Bastard!” she hissed. And rubbed her hand where it had connected with his cheek. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Her voice was low, urgent. “Toby’ll be walking down the hall any second. He could have seen us! Jesus!”

  Nick smoothed his hand over the burning skin. She could pack a punch – her brothers taught her well – and he chose to pick up on the one positive thing from this mess. She hadn’t said he couldn’t kiss her, just not while Toby was in the vicinity . . .

  “Mum.” The young voice spoke into the silence of the two glaring adults. “Are you okay?”

  His tone was worried and Nick kicked himself for making things worse. Christ, he needed to keep a lid on his libido.

  “Your mother was just accepting a lift from me for you both to get back to the city, weren’t you, Caroline?”

  Sneaky, he knew, but one worked with what one had, right? He quirked his eyebrow at her, daring her to insist on a taxi.

  “Oh, great,” Toby said. “I’m wrecked and just want to go to bed. Thanks, Mr Sullivan,” he added soberly.

  Caroline swung her head and glared at her son. “Mr Sullivan?” she queried. Her head flipped back to Nick’s, her eyes squinting together in anger. “Of course it is – Nick Sullivan, what was I thinking?” She couldn’t have added more sarcasm to her usually honeyed tones if she’d tried.

  Nick grinned at her. “Well, you never asked,” he said, his back effectively blocking Toby’s view of his face.

  “And you never said, you bas—”

  “Now, now,” he chuckled, enjoying himself again, “we don’t want young Tobias listening to his mama talk dirty, do we?”

  “God, you’re impossible! Toby, have you your coat? And did you say goodbye and thank you to the di Lucas?”

  Caroline literally gave Nick her very cold shoulder as she focused on getting herself and Toby out of the door. Just as they were about to leave, Maria came bustling out of a side entrance, an envelope in her hands.

  “For Tobias Antonio,” she said and handed it to him. “Mia says you like my sauce. Toni, he liked my sauce, too.”

  She blinked a few times, whether from emotion or some stray dust particles, Nick couldn’t say – Maria was hard to read at the best of times – and Toby thanked her, stuffing the folded paper into his pocket.

  Caroline was getting impatient. She probably didn’t want Antonio and Valentina, let alone Elena, arriving for more farewells. It wasn’t like his aunt and uncle not to see their guests off, so Nick assumed Elena was waging war on Mia’s behalf and not allowing them to exercise their usual courtesy. Someone needed to have words with that woman. And soon. The DNA results were imminent and she needed to get on board with the outcome, whatever way the chips fell.

  Nick settled Caroline and Toby into his car and drove down the driveway, the wheels of his Lexus crunching loudly on the gravel. His eyes met Toby’s in the rear-view mirror. Instantly, Toby’s shifted away, out of the window then to the floor. Anywhere but meeting Nick’s.

  “I’m sorry about Elena and her carry-on,” Nick said in a low voice for only Caroline to hear.

  “You’ve a funny way of showing it,” Caroline replied.

  “Look, I pretty much know what the test results will be.” His gaze flicked back momentarily to the young man huddled sleepily on the back seat. “Anyone can see he’s Toni’s son.”

  “Thank you.” Caroline turned her head slightly, her eyes meeting his for a second before she continued. “But you still think I’m trying to cheat them, don’t you?”

  Nick was silent for a beat. Did he? He had, at first. When Caroline had produced this Toni lookalike it had seemed farcical that he could be a di Luca. Nick had assumed this was just another, however potent, mean and clever scam against his extended family. Now, he wasn’t so sure. He didn’t know if he could trust her. He wanted her. He craved her. But trust? That was something else. He didn’t trust many people and other than his immediate family, no women. Once, or even twice, bitten . . .

  But, damn it. He wanted to trust this woman. He wanted her to be innocent, a victim, even, in the fiasco that was turning out to be his cousin’s life. There was a lot of money at stake, too. Did Caroline even know how much the business was worth?

  Maybe, when all was confirmed by science, he’d set about discovering just how much Miss Fitzgerald and her son knew about the di Luca fortune.

  Maybe it was time he did a bit of digging on her family to see
what kind of financial pressure they were under. It couldn’t be easy being a single parent on a lone income. It was different for Marianna and Mia, they lived with his aunt and uncle and had absolutely no worries of that sort either now or for their future.

  Maybe he should take his dick out of the equation and start thinking with his brain. Be the problem-solver he prided himself on being.

  He turned to Caroline and finally answered her question.

  “Truthfully? I don’t know what, or who, you are, Miss Fitzgerald. Cheater, liar or innocent put-upon bystander. But I intend to find out. Of that you can be completely sure.”

  Chapter 13

  The kiss.

  All Caro could think about was the damn kiss. How on God’s earth could she be so attracted to someone who’d behaved so intolerably? The taste of him, the feel of those lips, that tongue insistently entering her warmth, the speed of her heartbeat, of his . . . And he’d been intolerable. He’d turned from hunky man-whore to cold, arrogant head honcho of the “family” business in a heartbeat. And, damn him, Toby was his family now and that sucked big time. How was she supposed to resolve that little conundrum?

  She glanced over at Toby as they walked around the grocery market while he chose vegetables and fruit for the apartment. Toby seemed . . . okay. Not his usual chirpy-old delightful self but better than the last few days, anyway. Meeting new relatives had cheered him, made him feel connected, he’d said the previous evening as they’d brushed teeth, busied themselves for bed after the di Luca dinner.

  He and Mia had hit it off, laughed together, and for that Caro was hugely grateful. Antonio and Valentina had taken him into their hearts, but that Elena? Man, she was some woman!How could she be so cold to her own daughter, let alone her granddaughter and the new heir presumptive – okay, she could definitely be cold to him, understandably, but Marianna and Mia? So weird. From Caro’s own perspective, a mother’s love was unconditional. Just that. You didn’t have to like or even approve of everything your offspring did, but you absolutely were obliged to love them, regardless.