Page 27 of A Baby Scandal in Italy

A short while later, Rafa joined her. ‘Bertie drank all the milk and he is asleep now. Arturo asked if we are ready to eat.’

‘I’m not hungry.’ Ivy’s voice cracked. ‘I miss Gemma so much. When I started chemo and my hair fell out, Gem shaved all her hair off. She said we would beat my cancer together. She was the best sister, and I am determined to look after her son the best I can. But I didn’t know why he was crying, and I’m worried about managing on my own. It’s heart-breaking that Bertie will grow up without his parents.’

‘You are not on your own. Bertie is my responsibility too, and we will be his parents,’ Rafa told her.

‘How can we be his parents?’

‘I think we should both adopt Bertie.’

‘I don’t see how us adopting him will help,’ she said wearily. ‘For a start, I live in England and you live in Italy. Are you suggesting that we pass him between us like a parcel?’

Rafa’s silence for some reason made the hairs on the back of Ivy’s neck prickle. ‘I am suggesting that we make our engagement real—and get married.’

‘You can’t be serious.’ Ivy was dismayed by the way her heart had leapt at Rafa’s proposal. The little girl inside her who had believed in fairy tales until she’d been ten, when her father had left and she’d realised she would have to fight off the big bad wolf by herself, had briefly hoped that Rafa was the prince of her childhood daydreams. Achievable goals, she reminded herself firmly. ‘Neither of us wants to get married,’ she reminded him.

‘In ordinary circumstances, I would not choose to marry again,’ he agreed. ‘But the situation is far from ordinary. Bertie deserves to grow up with two parents who will love and care for him.’

‘We can’t lie to him. He has a right to know who his mother and father were.’

‘When he is old enough we’ll tell him about his real parents. But it will be some years before he can understand. By then, my mother will no longer be here. At least she’ll have been spared knowing that her husband had betrayed her.’

Rafa raked his hand through his hair. ‘My father was a decent man, and his behaviour was out of character. I believe he would have wanted me to protect my mother’s feelings. It sounds as though your sister was a special person.’

‘She was.’ Ivy brushed a tear off her cheek.

‘When the time is right, we will tell Bertie about them. We are his family now. Our marriage will be a sensible arrangement to allow us to be Bertie’s parents, and I believe it will work, because we do not have any expectations of each other.’

‘We don’t have to be married in order to adopt him.’

‘True, but I’m not planning to have children of my own and I want to make Bertie my heir. That can only happen if he is legitimate. Under the rules created by my great-grandfather, it is allowed for the heir to the Vieri fortune and the company to be adopted. Would you deny Bertie his birth right?’ Rafa challenged her. ‘If we marry, he will be my successor as the head of Vieri Azioni with the wealth, privilege and prestige that goes with the position. Just as importantly, we will give him a stable and secure childhood.’

‘It’s a crazy idea,’ Ivy muttered. She must be crazy to contemplate agreeing to marry Rafa even for a second. But her conscience had pricked when he’d asked if she would deny Bertie his birth right. Her sister’s baby was related to the powerful Vieri family and his destiny was in her hands.

‘How can you be sure you won’t want a child of your own in the future?’ She could not bear for Bertie to feel abandoned by Rafa, the way she’d felt when her father had left home and started a new family.

He scowled. ‘It damn near destroyed me when I learned that Lola was not my daughter. I’d married Tiffany in good faith and believed she was pregnant with my baby. When I discovered how she’d lied to me, I vowed never to trust another woman enough to have a child.’

Ivy moved away from Rafa and stared over the dark garden. It was impossible to think when her senses were assailed by the spicy scent of his aftershave. Rafa knew because she had told him that she was unable to have children. Had he factored her infertility into his decision to ask her to marry him? He had been adamant that he did not want a child of his own.

But what about her? She couldn’t deny that over the past weeks, when they had been living at the castle and she’d spent time with Rafa, her awareness of him had increased. But what she felt was more than sexual attraction.

She liked being with him and discussing his plans for the renovation of the castle. She had seen how gentle he was with Bertie, and she lived for one of his unguarded smiles that made her think she had broken through his barriers. She could easily fall for him, but he had insisted that their marriage would be a sensible arrangement. If she accepted his proposal, it would be like jumping into the abyss. Was she brave enough, or foolish enough?

‘Marriage is a huge step. I need to think about it,’ she told him.

‘You need to think about marrying a billionaire?’ The cynicism in his voice chilled her.

Ivy spun round to face him. ‘I don’t care about your money. All I care about is doing the right thing for Bertie, and I’m not going to rush into making a decision that will affect him for the rest of his life.’ She closed her eyes to block out Rafa’s arrogantly handsome face. ‘I think I’ll go to bed. It’s been a long day.’

‘It’s only eight o’clock. Why don’t you relax in the hot tub for a while? The jets might help your shoulder.’ When she nodded, Rafa took out his phone. ‘I’ve asked the staff to prepare the pool house and spa,’ he said seconds later. ‘I’m going to my study to catch up on some work.’

The pool house was at the side of the castle in what must once have been the orangery. At night, the glass roof revealed the canopy of stars in the inky sky. Potted ferns and other plants gave the room a tropical feel. The groundsman was leaving when Ivy arrived. He had switched on the jets in the hot tub and the water foamed and bubbled, creating a cloud of steam.

Ivy expected to find her swimsuit hanging on the hook, but it was missing, and she remembered that she had been wearing it when she’d walked back to the castle after her swim the previous day. There was no one around and, after hesitating briefly, she shimmied out of her dress and panties and stepped into the sunken spa.

The warm water was heavenly when she slid lower into the bubbles and positioned herself so that a jet was directed at her aching shoulder. She closed her eyes and tried to block out the debate in her head as to whether or not she should marry Rafa for Bertie’s sake.

She had no idea how long she had been in the tub when a shaft of cool air stirred the fronds of the giant fern, and her heart missed a beat when she looked over at the door as Rafa strolled into the pool house.

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