Marie Ferrarella – The Baby Bombshell: The Billionaire's Baby Swap / Dating for Two / The Valtieri Baby (страница 16)

Paolo and Stanzie were out in the garden that bordered the swimming pool, tending Ric. They waved when they saw him climb out. But he hadn’t come alone. When they caught sight of Valentina, Stanzie cried with excitement and hurried toward her with Ric.

“Welcome, Valentina!”

“It’s good to be back, Stanzie.”

Ric heard her voice. Just like Vito, he started wiggling to get to her. This time Giovanni’s eyes filled to see the way he cried and burrowed into her neck. His son knew exactly where he wanted to be. He took after Giovanni in that department. This moment was one he’d treasure all his life.

Valentina rocked Ric in her arms. Over his little head with its black hair she looked at Giovanni. Without being able to resist he said, “Remember that bet I made you a week ago?”

She nodded. “They do remember us and it’s been a lot longer than two days.”

“If you hadn’t been such a terrific mother, Ric wouldn’t have suffered so much. I say we all go for a swim.”

“Won’t the water be too cold for them?”

“We’ll pull them around on the rafts.”

Her blue eyes lit up. “That sounds fun. I’ll hurry inside and change. Come on, Ric. You can help me.”

Stanzie wasn’t ready to give up Vito.

Giovanni followed Valentina into the house with her suitcase. After he set it inside her room, he headed for his own room to change. He threw off his suit and tie, so anxious to get outside he didn’t care about anything else. After pulling on a pair of brown-and-white trunks, he grabbed some towels and hurried out to the back patio.

A couple of children’s toy plastic rafts rested against the wall. He tossed them in the water.

“Come on, Vito. We’re going for our first pool ride.”

He smiled at Stanzie, who gave him up. Hugging him to his chest, he carried him into the pool. After settling him on his back in the middle of one of the rafts, Giovanni started moving it around at the shallow end.

“Don’t be scared. Your mommy’s going to be out here in a minute with your brother.” That was the second time the word had slipped out. While he moved him around he caught sight of Valentina walking toward the pool with Ric. Her long legs and the way she filled out her white one-piece bathing suit knocked the wind out of him. She walked down the steps into the pool and put Ric on his back on the other raft.

* * *

Giovanni pulled the raft over to her. “I told you guys this was going to be fun.”

The babies were so shocked by what was happening, they forgot to cry. Valentina saw their expressions and laughed so hard it infected him. From the beginning they’d shared the same sense of humor. It was just one of the many things he loved about her. If there was heaven on earth, this was the place.

The next half hour of play was pure delight. As long as the babies could see both of them, they were mesmerized. Valentina had put him in the same condition. When he saw those eyes glittering like sapphires above the water as she watched him, he almost had a heart attack.

He swam over to her. “What do you say we take them in and feed them?”

“I was just going to suggest it. One dark head and one blond. Aren’t they adorable?”

Giovanni’s emotions were running all over the place. He grabbed Ric while she reached for Vito. Together they took the babies inside and up the stairs. Then she carried Vito and headed for the nursery in the pants and top she’d worn earlier. Giovanni had slipped into his room to put on shorts and a shirt.

They sat down and fed the babies. Ric finished first. His eyes were closed as Giovanni placed him in the crib with the fish mobile and turned it on. Very soon after Vito had finished, too. As she left the nursery to put him down, she said in a hushed voice, “We’ll have to get a mobile for Vito so he won’t feel left out.”

“Shall we drive into town and get one? While Stanzie and Paolo keep watch, let’s eat dinner out.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t leave the children yet.”

“We won’t be gone long, and I’m the one starving now.”

“So am I,” she confessed. “Give me a minute to change into something more appropriate.”

* * *

Valentina freshened up and decided to wear one of her sundresses with cap sleeves in a pale pink. She met him at the Maserati parked at the side of the villa where a garden of white moonflowers gave off a beguiling scent.

“I feel like I’m wandering in a fantastic dream.” Her eyes had fastened on Giovanni. He looked incredible in charcoal trousers and a silky dark vermilion sport shirt. Open at the neck, she could see the dark hairs on his well-defined chest. She wanted to be in his arms so badly it was killing her.

“I’m taking you to my favorite restaurant at a hotel where Grieg stayed during his travels here. It’s rumored he never wanted to leave Ravello.”

“Of course he didn’t. I adore Grieg. During my pregnancy I must have listened to his first piano concerto dozens of times.”

He drove them out to the main road past flowered terraces and hanging gardens to the village center and pulled into the parking area reserved for the hotel patrons. Twilight had descended.

The maître d’ showed them out to a patio with candlelit tables overlooking the spectacular villa gardens. Sculptured topiary trees surrounded the fountain playing below. The sight took her breath. Grieg’s music, “Wedding Day at Troldhaugen,” could be heard in the background, adding to her sense of entrancement.

Giovanni’s eyes gleamed like jet between black lashes as he reached for her hand across the table. “Will you let me order for you?”

“I’d love it.”

“Some women wouldn’t like that.”

“I’m not some women.”

“No, you’re not.” He squeezed her hand before letting it go.

Soon they were feted with swordfish piccata, a dish wrapped in ham and roasted almonds. The sumptuous meal came with kale, polenta and risotto.

After one bite, she exclaimed, “I’ve never tasted anything so delicious. The presentation looks too good to eat, but I plan to devour everything anyway.”

Giovanni’s laughter warmed her heart. They lingered over the predessert and the dessert served at the end with coffee. She passed on the wine, too drunk on the atmosphere with a man like Giovanni to get any more euphoric, but he fed her the last chocolate petit four. Her lips tingled as they brushed his fingers, causing her to hunger for his kiss.

Quite a few of the diners who recognized him nodded and stopped to shake hands. He introduced Valentina, but made no explanations about her. One of the men who’d come to their table assessed her in a way that made her blood curdle. Giovanni noticed and cut the other man off. The gossip would already be starting, but Giovanni didn’t worry about lighting his own fires and made no excuses.

Female heads turned everywhere they walked. His striking features, not to mention his tall, well-honed physique made her the envy of the evening. With hands clasped, they strolled through the winding alleyways filled with flowers and shops. Valentina had reached a new high with this incredible man.

Before they left the town, they visited a children’s shop. The young woman at the counter where they bought a mobile and some toys for the boys to chew on couldn’t take her eyes off Giovanni.

Before heading back to the car, they stopped at another shop for two bottles of limoncello, a favorite product in this land of lemons. “One of these is for Paolo and Stanzie. The other is for us.”

“I had it once years ago.”

“From the lemons here in Ravello?”

“I’m sure not.”

“Then you’re in for a treat. Tonight is a special occasion. After we get home, I thought we’d drink a toast to our time together. May it last.”

If only that were possible.

Right now Valentina couldn’t relate to the life she’d led before meeting Giovanni. She felt like she’d been brought to an enchanted mountain by a prince right out of a fairy tale. Everywhere she looked, bursts of flowers in every color hid exquisite villas and palazzi. Cypress trees formed picturesque silhouettes against the night sky. From dizzying heights she looked down the many sloping gardens to the sea and breathed in the delightful fragrance of citrus and rose.

But the most tantalizing fragrance of all came from the soap Giovanni used, combined with his own male scent. She was drawn to it the way a bee zoomed in on an orange blossom, wanting its nectar, the food of the gods.

He could be a Roman god, but she was thankful he wasn’t. Otherwise he wouldn’t have brought her to dinner or fed her dessert from his own hand. The contact had sent spirals of desire through her body.

As they reached the villa, she noticed a thumbnail moon climbing in the velvet sky. “This has been a perfect day and a perfect night, Giovanni.”

“Almost perfect,” he muttered. “I’m sorry Claudio made you uncomfortable. He’s a gossip, and he’s known as a womanizer, who wished he’d been the one sitting next to you tonight.”

“Please don’t apologize for his behavior. It—”

“It happens all the time?” he finished her words. “I know. A man wouldn’t be a man if he didn’t notice you. I’m the lucky one.”

She sucked in her breath. “You’re very good for a woman’s ego. Thank you for tonight. It’s one I’ll never forget.” She heard her own voice quiver from emotion.