Italian Bachelors: Irresistible Sicilians. Michelle Smart

      His daughter. His flesh and blood.

       CHAPTER EIGHT

      WHEN GRACE AWOKE, she checked the time on her bedside clock and almost fell out of bed in shock.

      Throwing the covers off, she jumped out and raced into the adjoining nursery, completely skipping the blurry-eyed, lots-of-yawning routine the morning usually brought.

      The cot was empty.

      Pressing a hand to her racing heart, she gnawed at her bottom lip and forced her frantic brain to calm down and think.

      She checked in the small fridge she’d had placed in the corner of the room. Instead of the two made-up bottles of Lily’s milk she’d put in there before going to bed, there was only one.

      Still chewing on her lip, she headed off along the corridor. Was it possible Luca had heard Lily call for her breakfast while she had slept through it? Surely not? Her bedroom adjoined the nursery, and her maternal biology was primed to hear her baby’s cries.

      The door to the master bedroom was ajar. She tapped on it lightly. Getting no response, she tapped again then pushed it open.

      Rooted to the floor, all she could do was stare, wide-eyed.

      Luca was asleep on the edge of the ultra-king bed. Lily lay on her back next to him, bang in the middle, wearing a sleep suit Grace was certain she hadn’t been wearing when she’d put her to bed. A pile of pillows had been placed neatly along the other edge, sandwiching Lily between them and Luca. On his bedside table sat an empty baby bottle.

      Heart in mouth, she swallowed away the compulsion to climb in with them, stood for an age unable to tear her eyes away.

      Her presence must have disturbed him, for Luca raised his head. ‘What time is it?’

      She cleared her throat. ‘Nine o’clock.’

      As he sat up she noticed how careful he was not to use any sudden movements that could wake Lily. All the same, the baby stirred and kicked her little feet out.

      Now fully upright, his black hair mussed, Luca reached for Lily and cuddled her to his bare chest. From Grace’s vantage point she could see the wound on his shoulder—the wound she had inflicted—was healing well, now a dark red scar. It made her stomach roll to know every time he looked in a mirror and saw that scar, he would be reminded of the time she had shot him.

      At the same time fresh guilt was kicking in, her mouth ran dry as she experienced a pang of envy, not that Lily had evidently accepted him without question, but envy that he held her so tenderly.

      How Grace had loved to nestle into that broad chest...

      ‘What time did she wake up for her bottle?’ she asked, pushing all thoughts of nibbling at his nipples and running her fingers through his black silky hair from her mind.

      ‘A couple of hours ago.’ He yawned widely.

      ‘I never heard her.’

      ‘She fell asleep not long after you went back to bed, but as soon as I put her down she woke up and started crying. I didn’t want her to wake you, so I decided the best thing to ensure you got a decent amount of sleep was to bring her to bed with me.’ He shrugged nonchalantly. ‘The bed is big enough.’

      That it certainly was.

      ‘Er, well, thank you.’

      ‘I do not require your gratitude,’ he said, a touch frostily. ‘I want to be involved in her care. Besides, it gave you a chance to catch up on some needed sleep.’

      She stared at him, too shocked that he’d done something for her partial benefit to speak.

      ‘Which is why our trip to Florence tomorrow could not come at a more opportune moment,’ he continued. ‘It will do you good to have some space. I’m guessing you’ve not spent much time apart from her since she was born?’

      ‘Of course I haven’t.’ Other than her one visit to her cottage studio, she had never been parted from their daughter. She could only tolerate Lily being in the next room by leaving the adjoining door wide open. Which was why it shocked her that she had been able to sleep so deeply. Was it because she knew Lily was in Luca’s care...?

      He had cared for her beautifully. That much she had to acknowledge. Though she didn’t want to. When she looked at Luca she wanted to know she was looking at a bastard, not at a man with the capacity to tend for a young baby on instinct alone.

      And now she needed to take Lily back to the nursery and get her ready for the day. And that meant taking her from him. It meant having to get close to his naked chest— Please, God, let him at least be wearing a pair of boxer shorts.

      As ridiculous as she knew it to be, she had to practically drag her legs over to his side of the bed. Holding her breath, she leaned down and took Lily from his arms.

      ‘What are your plans for the day?’ he asked as she took a step back.

      ‘We’ll probably go for a walk.’ It was on the tip of her tongue to question why he asked, but she stopped herself in time. The last thing she wanted was for him to invite himself along.

      Unsurprisingly, his eyes narrowed with suspicion. The only time in the whole of their marriage she had voluntarily gone for a walk and not been badgered into it had been the day she left him. ‘Another walk?’

      She shrugged. ‘It’s not for me, it’s for Lily. She needs fresh air and I really can’t have a SWAT team accompanying us if we leave the estate. Yesterday was bad enough.’ The day before, she had taken Lily into Palermo for some Christmas shopping. She hadn’t visited the discreet arcade Luca had taken her to to buy the vile dress, but went to a proper shopping centre and market. It had been so crowded her bodyguards had been tripping over the heels of her feet to keep up with them.

      ‘The minders I have assigned to you are discreet.’

      ‘About as discreet as a herd of cows dressed in pink tutus.’

      His lips twitched. ‘I’m sorry if you find them an inconvenience,’ he said without sounding the slightest bit apologetic, ‘but as I have explained to you countless times, they’re for your safety.’

      ‘Absolutely.’ She nodded with faux sweetness. ‘It was much harder to tolerate when I thought you were a legitimate businessman and an overprotective bear. But now I know it’s all because you’re worried one of your victims will get vengeance by going for me and Lily, it makes your attitude so much easier to sympathise with.’

      The humour vanished from his face. He climbed off the bed and stalked towards her, a furrow running down the centre of his brow. He wore nothing but a pair of snug black boxer shorts. All the breath in her lungs expelled in a rush.

      Luca, virtually naked, was as stunning a sight as if he had been fully nude. He was the only person for whom she had ever wished she were more proficient in sculpture, his body deserving to be immortalised on something even more substantial than canvas.

      ‘My business activities have nothing to do with my security provisions other than in respect of the scumbags it occasionally forces me to associate with. There are no victims.’

      She averted her gaze from the wonder that was his body and forced herself to meet his eyes. That was no safer place to look, his eyes holding her like a magnet. No matter how hard she tried to look away, she could not.

      This physical weakness for him enraged her and she could feel angry colour stain her cheeks. ‘You can tell me this until you’re blue in the face, but nothing is going to convince me you are anything but a gangster.’

      Luca’s rage was like a tight coil. She could see it in the way his muscles bunched under his smooth skin.

      Her breath hitched.

      ‘You are lucky you can use