Page 14 of The Baby His Secretary Carries

While ensuring his grandfather was settled, Gio had overheard Molly speaking to a boutique. She had arrived without luggage and was making the whole thing sound a lot more complicated than it needed to be. He’d asked her to let him speak to them.

“You have her sizes?Bene.” He’d mentioned a generous budget. “She needs everything, top to toe, every type of occasion, for several weeks. If you don’t have it, call around to one of your competitors. Whatever she doesn’t use will be returned within the month.” His name had been enough to guarantee their fullest cooperation. He’d given them the delivery address and had handed her back the phone. “Learn to delegate.”

They’d taken him at his word and, judging by the parcels and bags lined up along the wall, had spent every last euro of the amount he’d mentioned.

The rest of their afternoon and evening had been spent working late at the Genoa office.

“Do you want something?” He went to the bar.

“You have no idea.” She sounded exhausted and was staring at the parcels as though they were a fresh mountain to climb.

Pregnant, he recalled. He kept forgetting that incredibly significant detail, probably because he didn’t want to believe it. It was not only inconvenient on a professional front, but it also bothered him at a deeper level. Who was this man she had slept with? Why wasn’t he fighting for the right to be in her life and his child’s life?I would.

Gio knocked back the Scotch he’d poured, trying to erase that errant thought. Trying not to remember a kiss that had shaken his foundation.

Emotions had been running high. That’s all it had been.

The whole episode had been surreal, from the way his hands had found their way around Molly’s delicious figure to the way she had melted into him.

Through a haze of unexpectedly sharp arousal, he’d heard Nonno offer the ring he had refused to give to Gio’s father, for Gio’s mother, and had neglected to offer to Gio for his own engagement four years ago.

It had made his willingness for Molly to wear it seem doubly impactful. It meant Nonno truly expected to die.

That, too, Gio was refusing to believe. The hospital had assured him a mere thirty minutes ago that his grandfather was sleeping, his fever under control and his color good. They would call him immediately if there was any change.

Molly had removed the ring so she wouldn’t start rumors at work. He touched his shirt pocket to ensure the ring was still there, immediately feeling the weight of responsibility it entailed. He had always known he had a duty to marry and make children, but he was ambivalent about it. What if he turned out to be as feckless as his own parents? What if he broke his child? What if he failed his grandfather as gravely as his own father had failed both of them?

Molly seemed more than ready to become a parent. She was fiercely protective of her pregnancy, was off coffee and alcohol and had taken a few minutes in the afternoon to insist they pause for a healthy snack.

Had he pushed her too hard? It had already been a demanding situation before his grandfather’s illness and he had asked a lot of her today.

“Which room is mine?” She gathered a number of bags by their handles and glanced down the hall.

“What are you doing? Put those down.”

“They’re not heavy.”

“Your new assistant will put those away. Why is Nelo not here?” After weeding the applicants down to three, each with specific strengths, Molly had suggested utilizing all of them as a cohesive support team. They each happened to live in the cities where Casella Corporation had offices so they would have feet on the ground in New York, London and Genoa, which appealed to Gio.

“I sent him home.”

“Why?”

“Because you said we were finished working for the night.”

“Weare. How many times did you pick up the phone at four a.m. to order breakfast for me and Valentina while we were traveling?”

“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “Dozens?”

“Everytime. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have kept that job. You wouldn’t have this one. Call Nelo and tell him to make us a dinner reservation, then get his tail over here to put this away. If he gives you any excuse, he’s not the right man for the job.”

Molly glared a belligerent look at him, then let the bags fall to the floor.

“Do we have to go out?” she asked crossly. “If I’m off the clock, I’d rather have a bath and go to bed.”

Pregnant, damn it.

He rubbed the stubble that was coming in on his jaw.

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