The Surprise Conti Child. Tara Pammi

coming off Lake Como, and the glitterati of the Italian society dressed in designer wear and elegant diamonds, it was a sensory assault.

      Fiercely intimidating, too.

      Alex ran a hand over her white silk button-down blouse nervously, not that she could ever compete with this crowd. Dark blue jeans and white pumps finished her simple attire.

      She was glad she had called Valentina. The lie had fallen so easily off her lips—that she was touring Italy again and would love to see her. Valentina had sounded delighted, pretending as if they had remained friends after that summer instead of Alex calling her out of the blue. Had even sent Alex a car to pick her up.

      But she hadn’t mentioned that Alex would be arriving at the villa the night of, what seemed like, a big party.

      Thanking the driver, Alex exited from the car and looked up. Now that she stood there, anxiety made her empty stomach heave. Her mouth felt dry.

      How was she supposed to locate him amid this crowd, much less tell him about Izzie?

      Alex swayed, some primal instinct urging her to turn around and flee. But Izzie’s welfare and her own peace of mind depended on this.

      Shaking at the warring logic and instinct, she froze.

      “Alex? Alexis Sharpe?”

      Luca Conti stood at the top of the steps, looking dashing in a black tuxedo. The usual, ornamental blonde on his arm was such a familiar sight that Alex felt a burst of affection. She had a feeling he’d been on his way out.

      While she tried to get her vocal chords to work, Luca dismissed the blonde and came down the steps.

      Vitality radiated from him, an easy smile on his lips. As he came closer, the cast of those similar features left her reeling afresh.

      Before she could blink, she was enfolded in a tight hug. Alex returned it slowly, her throat thick, her limbs shaking.

      Why hadn’t she tangled with this easy man, the desperate and shameful thought popped up.

      Luca pulled back, studied her at leisure with those deceptively mocking black eyes. His grip around her waist tightened, in comfort, she realized as her shaking refused to cease.

      “You’ve become stunning, bella. I knew I shouldn’t have let you go that summer.”

      Alex smiled, grateful for his tease. “Thank you, Luca. Valentina knew I was coming. I...”

      “But, of course, you are welcome, Alex.” She could see the curiosity in his eyes, but he didn’t press. Instead he offered her his arm. “Come, let us find something for you to drink and then we find Valentina, si?”

      Alex shook her head. She had almost lost her nerve earlier, but not anymore. “I will see Valentina later, maybe. Luca...will you take me...can you please arrange for me to see your brother?”

      “Leandro...” Shock reflected in his gaze as it met hers. “You came to see Leandro.” It was not a question.

      “Yes.”

      “It is not anything I could help with, bella?” he sounded sympathetic.

      “No.”

      Something flickered in his gaze before he looked up at the villa, and then back at her but this time, his look was different, the playfulness gone. Alex was sure he’d deny her.

      “Then let us go find my esteemed brother.” Relief made her shiver. “I have to warn you, though, cara, that he is quite in demand, especially tonight. It will take us some time to reach him. Have patience, si?”

      “Yes.”

      Her legs barely holding her up, Alex half leaned on Luca’s arm. Her thudding pulse was a violent cacophony in her ears as they walked into the marble floored foyer and searched for that tall, lean frame that had haunted her dreams for seven years.

      * * *

      Alexis...

      He’d thought he’d seen her an hour ago, her face paler than the simple, white silk blouse that clung to her curves.

      Leandro had never been quite so shocked in his entire life as he’d been the moment he spied that lithe figure on Luca’s arm.

      For a few minutes, he had stood there, stock-still, wondering if he was hallucinating. Wondering if the eve of his engagement to Sophia had unlocked the one face he had tried to bury in the deepest recesses of his mind.

      Wondering if his one sin was finally catching up to him.

      Until Sophia had put a hand on his shoulder slightly and called his name.

      He’d turned to her, offered a quick smile and then slowly, his very sanity up for question, searched that same spot again.

      There had been no Luca or her.

      The long evening dragged on and on until Salvatore Rossi had paraded him in front of all the guests, boasting quite shamelessly that his daughter had snared a dynastic connection like Conti.

      And Leandro Conti of all.

      Even Sophia had cringed at some point. Who, Leandro admitted, he liked.

      There was something self-sufficient and intelligent and very contained about her. At least, he would have a comfortable marriage, he realized halfway through the evening, free of all the marital drama he’d seen between his own parents.

      Valentina’s innocence or not, he couldn’t take a marriage like that.

      Within minutes of meeting her, Sophia had put his mind at ease.

      He’d danced with her as the band played a slow jazz, then with his sister, who had chatted on and on about some old friend.

      It was past ten and Leandro found himself in the private sitting lounge on the first floor, away from the still celebrating guests.

      Salvatore Rossi and Sophia, Valentina, his grandfather, two of his aunts and two of his dissolute cousins were present. Luca had acted strangely, even for him, ever since Antonio had announced this merger.

      Leandro was about to go looking for him when he appeared at the entrance and behind him, walked in the one woman Leandro never ever wanted to see again in his entire life.

      The woman who’d known his one moment of weakness, the loss of his control...

      Valentina’s cheerful greeting reverberated loud in the silence of the room, the clatter of her heels on the parquet floor as she went to the woman deafening.

      It was Alexis he had seen earlier.

      A neatly cut black jacket delineated slender shoulders. A silk blouse clung to a lush figure that he didn’t quite remember like that. She had been lithe, almost gaunt, breakable in his large hands...and yet so violently passionate...as if only Leandro could give her what she needed most.

      Maledizione!

      He was mad to be wondering about her body and yet his gaze continued its perusal of her with a mind of its own.

      Dark blue jeans hugged her long legs, legs she had wrapped around him as he...his blood drifted south slowly, a heady thrill filled his veins, a feeling he had never known except that night...

      Leandro gritted his teeth, willing his body under his command. One look at her and he was ready to react like an uncouth youth.

      He lifted his gaze to her face, and stared in shock.

      A jagged scar began somewhere beneath her hairline and went through her left brow, the skin puckered. Yet didn’t minimize her appeal. If anything, it added even more character to the strong lines of her face.

      She was no dazzling beauty, then or now.

      Hers was more insidious, seeping under one’s skin before you realized, the kind that enthralled the more you looked.

      It lay in that high forehead, the intelligence that shone in those tilted,