The Mills & Boon Stars Collection. Cathy Williams

cradled in her arms. She was still alarmingly conscious of the ache at the heart of her body and hot pink flushed her cheeks as she buried her face in Nicky’s tumbled curls, revelling in the clean baby scent of innocence. With a heavy sigh she sank down into the rocking chair beside the cot.

      Luciano had paused long enough to grab up a shirt and don it on his way to the nursery, but nobody seeing his bare feet and rumpled damp hair could doubt that he had recently undressed only to get dressed again in a hurry. Naked below her sensible dressing gown, Jemima could feel her face burning as if she were on fire. Their mutual state of undress was noticeable and embarrassing. She didn’t want anyone to know or guess that she had slept with Luciano. That was her private disgrace and not for public sharing. Carlotta, however, simply smiled at Jemima, clearly relieved that the baby had calmed down.

      His son’s sobs had subsided almost immediately, Luciano registered without surprise while he watched. The baby’s fingers clutched convulsively at Jemima for reassurance. Niccolò had missed her. Obviously he had missed her. How much of the little boy’s misery had been caused by the sudden change in his routine and surroundings and the equally sudden absence of the one person he trusted? Luciano paled beneath his dark skin, shaken by the reality that he had set down rules that could well have hurt his son and caused him unnecessary suffering. He had instructed Carlotta to deal with the baby alone and to involve Jemima as little as possible in his care.

      But how could he love his son and yet deny the child the one person whom he so clearly loved and wanted? Shame writhed inside Luciano, a reaction he had not experienced in more years than he cared to count. He watched her smooth the baby’s head with a tender hand and read the softness in her eyes.

      ‘He knows his mother,’ Carlotta said quietly in Italian to her employer.

      It seemed a terrible irony to Luciano at that moment that Jemima was not his son’s mother because the boy was deeply attached to her and she was equally attached to him. He realised he needed to talk to his lawyer to find out exactly what kind of woman Jemima Barber was. How could he trust his own instincts now? Nor could he have any faith in what Jemima’s version of the truth might be. Anyone determined to speak up in defence of Julie Marshall would have failed to inspire Luciano with confidence.

      As he stepped unconsciously closer to the woman in the rocking chair Nicky lifted his head off Jemima’s shoulder and stared at Luciano with wide dark eyes. And then he smiled with sudden brilliance, freezing his father to the spot in shock for it was the very first positive response Luciano had received from his son. It was significant too that the child had smiled only when he was secure in Jemima’s presence, he acknowledged ruefully.

      Resting his head back down drowsily again, Nicky fell asleep. Getting to her feet, Jemima lowered him with care into the cot, straightened his sleep suit and covered him up gently. ‘He should sleep the rest of the night now,’ she whispered.

      Luciano stared down at his slumbering son, then glanced up again and noticed that Jemima was deliberately avoiding looking at him. Annoyance skimmed along the edges of his sensitised awareness as they left the room. She tried to step past him out in the corridor but he rested a staying hand on her arm.

      ‘Jemima...we—’

      ‘I’m really hungry,’ Jemima proclaimed in a rush, jerking her arm back out of reach and addressing his shirt-clad chest. ‘Would it be too much trouble for me to have something to eat in my room? Even a sandwich and a cup of tea would do.’

      ‘Put on something in your new wardrobe and come downstairs to join me for dinner instead,’ Luciano suggested, falling into step beside her as she walked down the corridor.

      Her facial muscles clenched tight. ‘Thanks but no, thanks... I’m not in a very sociable mood.’

      As she descended the stairs she saw a huge portrait of an exquisite brunette on the landing and, already regretting her tart reply to his invitation, she said in an effort to break the pounding silence, ‘My goodness, who’s that?’

      ‘My mother, Ambra. It was painted shortly before she married my father. She probably never smiled like that again,’ Luciano breathed harshly.

      His intonation made Jemima wince. ‘When did she die?’

      ‘When I was three years old,’ Luciano admitted between gritted teeth, fighting off his terrible memories with all his might.

      ‘Did your father remarry?’

      ‘No.’

      Jemima was already scolding herself for surrendering to her low mood and turning down the dinner invite. She had allowed Luciano to believe that she was the surrogate mother of his son and had used that pretence as a means of staying in Nicky’s life. Was it any wonder that he despised her? Or that he had assumed that she was like her sister and after his money? Julie had worshipped rich men and money. Yet no matter how much money Julie had had it had never been enough and money had trickled through her fingers like water.

      ‘We’ll talk over breakfast in the morning,’ Luciano breathed in a driven undertone as he came to a halt outside his bedroom door, which was mere feet from hers.

      ‘I shouldn’t have lied to you,’ Jemima began, and then an unfamiliar stab of angry bitterness powered through her regret and she added, ‘But you had no right to insult me by suggesting that I would use sex as a means of making money!’

      Luciano ground his teeth together and watched her long, unbound mane of golden hair slide off her shoulders and fall almost to her waist as she moved her head. He wanted to run his fingers through that glossy golden hair so badly that he clenched his hand into a fist to restrain himself. So, he liked the long hair? OK, he really, really liked the long hair, particularly now that he suspected it was one hundred per cent natural. He also liked her body...and her eyes...and... With a huge effort he focused on what she had said and murmured grimly, ‘I’ve met a lot of women who sell sex like a product.’

      Jemima was so shocked by that blunt admission that she turned up her head to stare at him, ice-blue eyes visibly dismayed. ‘Seriously?’

      Teeth gritted more than ever at such naivety, Luciano nodded and wished he’d kept his mouth shut. Now she was probably thinking that he consorted with hookers and he didn’t want her thinking that. What the hell does it matter what she thinks? he snarled at himself, thoroughly disconcerted by his loss of concentration and self-discipline. What was wrong with him? Had the few drinks he had imbibed in his bad mood completely addled his brain? Telling Agnese to hold dinner, he strode downstairs to call his lawyer.

      Charles did a great deal of groaning and apologising during the lengthy exchange that followed. Nothing about the situation was quite as anyone had assumed or as clear. Charles still couldn’t answer all his employer’s questions and reluctantly gave Luciano the phone number of his own chief informant. Breathing in deep, Luciano telephoned Jemima’s adoptive father, Benjamin Barber. And not one thing that Luciano learned in the subsequent conversation made him feel happier. Instead he came off that call marvelling at the older man’s optimistic and forgiving outlook while feeling a great deal worse about his own opinions, suspicions and activities. Knowing that the least he owed Jemima was a polite warning about what he had done, he mounted the stairs again and knocked on her bedroom door.

      Half asleep after her delicious meal, Jemima rolled off the bed and lifted her tray, assuming someone was calling back to collect it. Instead she was faced with Luciano, infuriatingly immaculate again in tailored chinos and a black tee shirt. ‘Yes?’ she said discouragingly, clutching the tray and feeling horribly irritated that she had not known it would be him at her door.

      He leant down and took the tray, setting it down on the table to the side of the door. ‘I have something to tell you—’

      ‘Can’t it wait until breakfast time?’

      ‘I’m afraid not.’ Soft pink mouth compressed, Jemima grudgingly stood back to allow him into her room. Since she had no idea what he had to say to her, keeping him out in the corridor where their conversation could be overheard struck her as risky.

      ‘I spoke