Page 26 of A Baby Scandal in Italy

Dio!Bertiewashis father’s child. Rafa was stunned by the revelation even though he had realised it might be true. Reading his father’s confession that Rafael had been unfaithful to his mother was painful. He had respected his father and looked up to him, but now he had evidence that Rafael had been fallible and imperfect.

Rafa’s jaw clenched as he read what his father had written to the young woman who had been the mother of his illegitimate son. Rafael explained that his wife had been diagnosed with a terminal illness and he must take care of her. He was unable to have a role in his baby son’s life, but he would arrange for a generous financial settlement to be paid to Gemma.

Rafa frowned. Ivy had not said that her sister had received money from his father. The date on the letter caught his attention and he realised that it was the date of his father’s death. His father must have written to Gemma literally just before he’d died. The letter had not been sent, which was why it was included with the documents Beatriz had kept.

When Gemma had been killed in a tragic accident and Ivy had become Bertie’s legal guardian, she had mistakenly believed that Rafa was the Rafael Vieri with whom her sister had had an affair.

Rafa pinched the bridge of his nose. His priority must be to protect his mother from ever discovering the truth, and for that reason he had allowed everyone to think that he was Bertie’s father.

Itmusthave been Ivy who had told the story to the news reporter. Other people in the boardroom had heard her accuse him, and it was true that some of the directors had doubted his suitability to be his father’s successor. But he could not believe any of them would have risked the company’s reputation by involving the press in the scandal. Carlo Landini, the only other person who had been present that day, despised the paparazzi.

Rafa did not know what Ivy had hoped to gain by telling the reporter that she was the baby’s mother instead of her sister. He could not trust her. There was a risk that when he ended their fake engagement she might tell the press the true identity of Bertie’s father. He would have to keep a close eye on her, but he doubted she would agree to remain at the castle indefinitely.

He stood up and paced around the study. A shocking idea had come into his mind. If he made their engagement real and actually married Ivy, the media would be convinced that Bertie was his child, and his mother would not discover the truth. After his disastrous marriage to Tiffany, he had vowed never to marry again. But he was desperate to protect his mother from learning about his father’s betrayal. Rafa grimaced. He had never been able to make his mother happy, but now it was in his power to prevent her from being heartbroken.

And then there was Bertie, who Rafa now had proof was his half-brother. He had a responsibility to the baby, who was an innocent child and an heir to the Vieri fortune. Rafa felt protective of him. Every child deserved to be loved and Bertie was not responsible for the circumstances of his conception.

What the hell was he going to do? He needed a drink and took a bottle of single malt from the cabinet, pouring a generous amount into a glass. Disillusionment had left a bitter taste in his mouth. He was disappointed with his father. Once again, his faith in someone who he’d trusted had been shattered. It reinforced his belief that trust was a fool’s game, Rafa thought grimly.

The cat jumped down from the chair and padded over to him. Rafa bent down and held out his hand to the animal, cursing when he felt sharp claws rake across his skin. A hissing noise similar to the sound of a kettle coming to the boil came from the cat before it shot under the desk.

‘Very wise. Never trust anyone,’ Rafa muttered.

Rafa had returned to the castle in time for dinner. Ivy had spent the last twenty minutes deciding what to wear. She’d settled on a pale blue dress which left one shoulder bare and showed off her slim waist. The hem of the chiffon skirt floated around her ankles when she walked, giving a glimpse of her strappy silver sandals.

Was the dress too obvious? Her reflection in the mirror revealed a hectic flush on her cheeks and a sparkle of excitement in her eyes. She felt like a teenager on a first date, and in truth she had barely any more experience of men than she’d had at seventeen when she’d become ill. But she had recognised desire blazing in Rafa’s eyes when he had caught her in his arms in the ballroom.

She knew he had wanted to kiss her. Perhaps he was waiting for her to give him a sign that she wanted him to take her to bed. He had backed off after she’d told him she was a virgin, but sometimes she caught him looking at her with a gleam in his eyes, which had restored the self-confidence that cancer had stolen along with her hair and her first boyfriend when she had been a teenager.

Her seductive dress sent a signal that he would have to be blind not to see, Ivy thought as she gave a final twirl in front of the mirror and the side-split in the skirt opened to reveal her lace stocking top.

The sound of crying from the baby monitor alerted her that Bertie was awake, and when she hurried into the nursery he was red-faced and tears glistened on his dark eyelashes. Usually he went to sleep after his last feed, but he had been unsettled, and Ivy was worried that he was unwell.

‘What’s the matter, Bobo?’ she crooned to the baby as she lifted him out of the cot. Anxiety made her tense, and she winced when her shoulder gave a twinge. It had felt much better since she’d had a few sessions with the physiotherapist Rafa had arranged for her to see, but she must have strained a muscle while she’d been dancing earlier.

She turned her head when the nursery door opened and Rafa walked in. He was still wearing his business suit, but his tie was missing, and he’d undone the top few buttons on his shirt. It looked as if he’d been running his fingers through his hair, and his jaw was tense, but nothing detracted from his devastating good looks.

‘It’s unusual for Bertie to be awake at this time,’ he commented.

‘I don’t know what’s wrong with him. Anna would probably have an idea, but she has driven to L’Aquila to have dinner with friends and will be back later tonight. I’ve changed Bertie’s nappy, he doesn’t seem to have colic, and his temperature is normal. He is crying like he does when he’s hungry, but he had a bottle of formula an hour ago.’

‘He might be hungry. Babies often have a growth spurt at around four or five months old. I read a lot of parenting books when Lola was a baby,’ Rafa said in a gruff voice.

Ivy felt guilty that she had stirred up painful memories for him. ‘I don’t have any experience of looking after a baby and I feel so useless,’ she admitted.

‘You shouldn’t, you are brilliant with him. Is your shoulder hurting? Here, let me take Bertie. Make up another bottle of formula and hopefully it will settle him.’ Rafa cradled the baby in his arms and a curious expression flickered on his face. ‘I know for certain that Bertie is my half-brother.’

Ivy tipped the contents of a carton of ready-made formula milk into a bottle. She gave Rafa a startled look. ‘Have you had the result of the extended paternity test?’

‘I received confirmation in an email from the clinic an hour ago, just after I had seen a letter which my father had written to your sister, accepting that Bertie was his child.’

‘Gemma told me before she died that she hadn’t heard from Bertie’s father.’ Ivy handed Rafa the bottle of milk and watched him feed the baby. ‘I don’t think she was surprised. A few years ago, her ex-boyfriend had swindled her out of her savings that she’d hoped to use for a deposit to buy a house. That’s why we were living in a rented flat. Your father abandoned her. It’s what men do,’ she muttered.

‘I have evidence that my father had arranged for a financial settlement to be paid to Gemma, but he would not have known that she had been killed by the time he wrote to her. He never sent the letter because he suffered a fatal heart attack. His personal assistant had kept the letters, but Beatriz decided that I should have them.’ Rafa sighed. ‘A cruel twist of fate meant that Bertie was an orphan when he two months old.’

Ivy still suffered flashbacks of the terrible night when Gemma had died. Memories of kissing her sister for the last time before she’d been rushed to the operating theatre, and her disbelief when the surgeon had explained that Gemma’s life couldn’t be saved, would always haunt her.

She gave a low cry and ran out of the nursery. Her feet took her downstairs to the small, informal dining room where Arturo planned to serve dinner. The French doors were open, and Ivy stepped outside onto the terrace. Dusk had fallen and stars pinpricked the purple sky.

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