Best Friend to Wife and Mother?. Caroline Anderson

must have been devastated—although not for himself, from what he’d said. He’d told her that marrying the wrong person was a recipe for disaster and it would be a cold day in hell before he did it again, so it didn’t sound as if his marriage had been a match made in heaven, by any means. But even so—

      ‘I need to make a quick call to sort out where we’re going to stay tonight. Can you entertain her, please, Amy? I won’t be a moment.’

      ‘Sure.’ Amy shut the door on that avenue of thought and turned her attention to amusing Ella. She’d got enough mess of her own to deal with, without probing into Leo’s.

      But Ella didn’t really need entertaining, not with her dragonfly to chew and crackle, so Amy was free to listen to what Leo was saying. Not that she could understand it, because he was talking in Italian, but it was lovely to listen to him anyway.

      She always thought of him as English, like his mother, but then this amazing other side of him would come out, the Italian side that came from his father, and it did funny things to her insides.

      Or maybe it was just the language doing that? That must be it. There was no way Leo talking Italian was sexy, that was just ridiculous. Not according to his numerous female fans, of course, but that didn’t mean she had to fall under his spell. This was Leo, after all.

      Yes, of course he was gorgeous, she knew that, and she’d had a serious case of hero-worship when she’d hit puberty, but she’d never felt whatever it was they all obviously felt—probably because she’d known him too long, knew all his weaknesses and irritating little habits as well as his strong points, like friendship and loyalty and generosity.

      He was virtually a brother, a brother she loved to bits and would go to the end of the earth for. The best friend a girl could want. And no matter where she ended up, that would never change, but sexy? Nope—

      ‘Ciao. A dopo,’ he said in that delicious Italian of his, and her heart did a little back-flip to prove her wrong.

      * * *

      He put his phone away and smiled at Amy across the aisle.

      ‘Well, that’s our accommodation sorted,’ he said with relief. ‘I phoned Massimo Valtieri to tell him I’m bringing a friend to help with the baby so we’d make our own arrangements, but he wouldn’t have any of it. He says there’s plenty of room for you, too, and they’re fine with us all staying at the palazzo, as from tonight. Problem solved.’

      ‘Palazzo?’ she squealed, and lowered her voice to a whisper. ‘They live in a palazzo?’

      Leo laughed softly at the awed expression on her face. ‘Apparently. It’s an old Medici villa. I’ve seen pictures of it, and it’s very beautiful. It’s been in the family for centuries, which is why I want to deal with them because it’s not just a business, it’s in their blood, it’s who they are. The meetings will be there and they all live very close by, apparently, so it makes sense us being there, too, so if Ella kicks off and you can’t cope, I won’t be far away. And his wife’s there, so you’ll have company.’

      ‘Oh, that’s good,’ she said, and a little worried crinkle in between her eyebrows smoothed away. She shook her head, her mouth kicking up in a wry smile. ‘I still can’t quite believe I’m going to be staying in a palazzo.’

      She looked so flummoxed it made him chuckle. ‘Well, you’ve got about four or five hours to get used to the idea,’ he told her.

      He was just relieved he’d be on hand; he didn’t know what she knew about babies, but she knew almost nothing about Ella, so having a woman around who was a mother herself could only be a good thing, especially under the circumstances. He didn’t want Amy feeling any more overwhelmed than she already was.

      She was leaning over now and chatting to Ella, telling her what a lucky girl she was to stay in a palazzo, and he settled back in the seat and studied her. She was smiling, the haunted look in her eyes retreating as she fell under the spell of his tiny daughter, and for the briefest of fleeting seconds he wondered what life would have been like for all of them if she’d been Ella’s mother.

      It took his breath away.

CHAPTER THREE

      AMY GLANCED ACROSS at Leo and frowned.

      He was staring at her with the strangest expression on his face. ‘Have I got a smut on my nose or something?’

      ‘What? No. Sorry, I was miles away. Ah, here’s Julie, we might be in business,’ he added, and he sounded relieved, for some reason.

      ‘We’re about to take off now,’ Julie said. ‘Is there anything you need to ask before we’re airborne?’

      ‘I’m fine. Amy?’ Leo said, raising an eyebrow at her.

      ‘No, I’m fine, thank you.’

      Julie left them, took herself off to her seat behind the cockpit, and then the pilot’s voice came over the loudspeaker and they were off.

      Leo strapped himself in, reached across with Ella’s bottle and began to feed her as they turned at the end of the runway.

      ‘It helps her ears to adjust to the pressure change,’ he explained, but Amy didn’t care right then. She leant back, gripped the armrests and closed her eyes. She hated this bit—

      ‘Oh!’ She gasped as she was forced back into the seat and the plane tipped up and catapulted itself into the sky.

      ‘Bit quicker off the ground than a heavy commercial jet,’ Leo said with a grin as they levelled out and settled into a gentle climb, banking out over the Thames estuary and towards the coast.

      She looked away from him, staring blindly out of the window at the slightly tilted horizon as the reality of what she’d done kicked in. They were still climbing—climbing up, up and away from England. Away from the wedding that hadn’t been, the redundant marquee on the lawn next door, the dress lying in a crumpled heap on her bedroom floor.

      And she was going to Italy. Not on her honeymoon, but with Leo and Ella. Without a husband, without a wedding ring, without the engagement ring that was sitting on her dressing table at home where she’d left it.

      She looked down at her hand. Nope, no ring. Just a faint, pale line where it had been.

      Just to check, she ran her finger lightly over the empty space on her finger, and Leo reached out to her across the aisle, squeezing her hand.

      ‘You OK?’ he murmured, as if he could read her mind.

      She flashed him a smile but it felt false, forced, and she looked away again. ‘Just checking it’s not a dream. It feels like I’m on drugs. Some weird, hallucinogenic stuff.’

      ‘No drugs. No dream. You’re just taking time to get used to it. It’s a bit of a shock, such a drastic change of course.’

      Shock? Probably. Drastic, certainly. It felt like she was falling, and she wasn’t sure if the parachute would work. She met his eyes, worrying her lip with her teeth. ‘I wish I’d been able to get hold of Nick. He wasn’t answering his phone.’

      ‘Did you leave a message?’

      She shook her head. ‘I didn’t really know what to say. “Sorry I dumped you at the altar in front of all our family and friends” seems a bit inadequate, somehow.’

      ‘He didn’t look upset, Amy,’ Leo reminded her softly. ‘He looked relieved.’

      ‘Yes, he did,’ she agreed. ‘Well, I guess he would do, wouldn’t he, not being stuck with me?’

      Leo frowned. ‘Why should he be relieved about that?’

      ‘Because clearly I’m an idiot!’

      Leo laughed softly, his eyes full of teasing affection. ‘You’re