Сара Морган – Mistletoe Brides: Italian Doctor, Sleigh-Bell Bride / Christmas Angel for the Billionaire / His Vienna Christmas Bride (страница 20)

‘All of it. It’s not a house, it’s an apartment. I own the whole of this floor. Come on, I’ll show you your bedroom.’

‘All of it? All of this is yours?’ Max tilted his head back and stared up at the endless glass and spacious elegance. ‘It’s bigger than the hospital.’

Stefano picked him up and lifted him onto his shoulders. ‘There—now it doesn’t seem so big.’

‘Wow, this is terrific!’ Max whooped with excitement and dug his fingers into Stefano’s hair. Liv winced but part of her was overwhelmed with gratitude because he’d made her little boy smile.

With her son on his shoulders, his bronzed hands holding the child steady, Stefano seemed nothing like the intimidating consultant she worked with in the emergency department.

‘I’ll show you the bedroom I think you’ll like, but you can choose a different one if you prefer.’ He strode across the pale wooden floor, opened a door and lifted the boy off his shoulders in an easy movement. ‘What do you think?’

‘It’s like mine,’ Max said in wonder. ‘Only bigger. It’s a space capsule, Mum.’

‘Yes. Aren’t you lucky?’

‘I have twin nephews the same age as Max.’ Stefano strolled across to the window. ‘They chose the décor.’

‘They like the same things as me.’ Max clambered onto the cabin bed and vanished under a canopy of moons and stars. ‘This is so cool. It’s just like being at home only better.’ His little head peeped round the side of the canopy. ‘Is it OK to say that Mum? That doesn’t make you sad, does it?’

‘You never make me sad,’ Liv said quickly. ‘I’m pleased you like it. It’s very kind of Stefano to have us.’

Stefano steered her out of the bedroom and back into the glorious living room that overlooked the park.

Beneath them she could see horses cantering sedately along a track, their breath forming clouds in the freezing air. Mothers wrapped up in scarves and long elegant coats pushed buggies and watched toddlers romping in the snow.

‘It’s a fabulous place.’

‘You make it sound like a problem.’

She gave a wry smile, her eyes still on the view. ‘I’m hoping that it won’t be too much of a wrench for Max to go back to his real life after this.’

‘Don’t think about that and anyway, you’re his real life. You’re his security. As long as you’re all right, so is he.’ Stefano put his hands on her shoulders and turned her towards him, a frown in his eyes as he studied her face. ‘You’re exhausted. Can you stop thinking and worrying for just five minutes and let me sort things out? Max and I are going to buy a Christmas tree and you are going to lie in a hot bubble bath for an hour.’

‘An hour?’ She was horribly aware of him, her heart thudding in a crazy rhythm against her chest. ‘I wouldn’t know what to do in a bath for an hour.’

‘That’s the point.’ Amusement gleamed in his eyes. ‘You do nothing.’ He gave a slow smile and then his gaze slid to her mouth and lingered.

‘Mum?’

Liv jumped backwards. ‘Yes?’ Flustered, she licked her lips, as if Stefano’s gaze had left a mark she had to remove. ‘You’re going to buy a Christmas tree. Don’t buy a big one.’ Reaching for her bag, she pulled out her purse. ‘This is our budget. Don’t argue.’ She stuffed the money into Stefano’s hand. ‘Thank you.’

For a moment he didn’t respond. He simply looked at the money in his hand and then glanced at her face. Then he smiled and slid the money into a soft billfold, as if he knew that to refuse would make her uncomfortable.

‘Grazie. Now go and relax and leave everything to us boys.’

‘Do you like that one?’ Stefano watched as Max gazed at the huge, glittering Christmas tree in the window of the exclusive Knightsbridge store.

‘It’s amazing,’ Max breathed, his head tilted backwards as he scanned it all the way to the top. ‘Like something out of a Christmas movie.’

‘Good.’ Wishing all decisions were as easy, Stefano strode through the doors and into the store, Max by his side.

Within seconds he found an assistant, briefed her on what he wanted and then looked down at Max who was tugging at his sleeve. ‘What’s the matter? You’ve decided that you want a different one?’

‘No, but—you can’t buy the one in the window,’ Max whispered. ‘It isn’t for sale.’

Stefano smiled. ‘It is now.’

‘Really?’ Max glanced over his shoulder, as if checking that his imagination hadn’t been playing tricks. ‘What about the decorations?’

‘Those too.’

‘But what about the decorations you already have at home? Aren’t you going to use those?’

‘I don’t have any decorations at home.’

Max looked startled. ‘But what do you usually put on your tree?’

‘Nothing.’ Stefano handed his credit card to the assistant. ‘I don’t usually have a tree.’

‘You don’t have a tree?’ Max looked shocked. ‘Not even a small one?’

‘No.’

‘Why not?’

‘I don’t bother with a tree because I usually spend Christmas on my own.’

There was a long silence while Max digested that fact. ‘That’s terrible,’ he said in a hushed voice. ‘Mum told me that some people are on their own for Christmas and that’s just the worst thing.’ His expression sympathetic, he slid his arms round Stefano and gave him a hug. ‘Well, this year you won’t have to be lonely,’ he said solemnly, ‘because we’re going to keep you company. We can stay as long as you need us.’

Oblivious to the team of sales assistants who were casting him covetous glances as they busily collated the decorations for the tree, Stefano stood still, too stunned by the child’s warmth and generosity to answer immediately. Then he put his hand on the boy’s shoulder and squeezed gently. ‘Grazie,’ he said softly, ‘thank you.’ The child was like his mother. Always thinking about other people.

‘You’re welcome. Mum always makes Christmas amazing.’ Max’s eyes widened as the assistant wrapped the boxes of decorations. ‘I hope it isn’t costing too much,’ he whispered. ‘It can’t cost too much or Mum will just worry.’

‘Does she worry a lot?’

‘All the time. She thinks she’s hiding it but I just know.’ The child glanced up. ‘Girls don’t always say what they mean, do they?’

Stefano hid a smile. ‘No,’ he said wryly. ‘They certainly don’t.’

‘It’s weird really,’ Max said frankly. ‘I mean, if I’m worried about something I just say it straight out. Mum tries to hide it. Why does she do that?’

‘I expect she doesn’t want to worry you.’

‘But I always know when she’s worried because she has a different face. Her smile is bigger when she’s really worried, like she’s trying extra hard to hide the fact that she’s worried. And when it’s money that’s worrying her she makes lots of lists and does a lot of adding up. Just to check she doesn’t run out. But if something new comes along she has to cross something out.’

Stefano digested that information for a moment. ‘So what do you think she’d like for Christmas?’

‘Oh that’s easy.’ Max looked smug. ‘A hug.’

‘A hug?’

‘Yes.’ Max picked up a frosted bauble from the display and examined it closely. ‘Whenever you ask Mum what she wants for Christmas, she always says “a really big hug”. Which is a bit weird, to be honest. I mean, I love anything with a remote control, but she’s just happy with cuddles. Girls are pretty easy to please, aren’t they?’

Never having encountered a girl who was easy to please, Stefano gave a sardonic smile. ‘Your mother is easy to please.’

The assistant cleared her throat and returned his credit card. ‘Could you give me a delivery address, sir?’

‘We haven’t finished shopping yet.’ Making an instantaneous decision, Stefano took Max’s hand. ‘Come on. We need to replace some of the things you lost.’

Max hung back. ‘Where’s the money coming from? Did Mum sell her tickets to the ball or something?’

Tucking his credit card back into his wallet, Stefano looked at the child. ‘She had tickets to a ball? The hospital ball?’

‘Yes, she won them. But she doesn’t want them so she’s going to sell them to someone who can go. She can’t go because she’s not Cinderella.’

Stefano exhaled slowly and squatted down next to the little boy. ‘Did she tell you that?’

‘Yes. She said it the morning the tickets arrived in the post.’ Max shrugged. ‘She sort of looked at them in a funny way, said that she’d never won anything in her life before, and then put them back in the envelope. Then she said something like “I’m not Cinderella and I’m not going to a ball.” But she hasn’t given them away. They’re in her handbag. I saw them when she gave me my pocket money.’

Stefano digested that information and then straightened, ‘I don’t know about you, Max,’ he said idly, ‘but it seems a terrible waste not to use those tickets.’

‘She doesn’t want to go because she thinks her bottom is too big and she doesn’t have anything to wear. Girls really care about things like that,’ Max said sagely and Stefano smiled.

‘Then we’d better fix that, hadn’t we? Are you any good at keeping secrets?’

Hearing laughter and Max’s excited chatter, Liv emerged from the bathroom self-consciously, wrapped in a large soft robe that Stefano had given her.

‘Mum, Mum come and see this tree!’ Max was almost exploding with excitement and he darted across Stefano’s apartment as if it had been his home all his life. ‘We’re going to decorate it together.’