The Surgeon's Surprise Baby. Tina Beckett

but the baby was still facing away from him.

      A tiny flutter of relief mixed with fear went through her midsection. While she hadn’t thought Luca would reject his own daughter outright once he knew she existed, she hadn’t been sure what his actual reaction would be.

      She carefully turned the baby, cradling her in her arms so that he could see her tiny face. A muscle worked in his jaw and he stroked her hair. “How long are you here?”

      “I have a little time left of my medical leave. I want you to get to know her. But...” she hesitated “...I want to have some ground rules in place. Come to an agreement first.”

      His fingers stilled. “The only agreement we need is that we have a child.” There was a hard edge to his voice that told her he wasn’t going to let her call all the shots here. And she wasn’t trying to.

      “I know that, Luca. I’m hoping we can—”

      “A daughter. My daughter.” The anger had melted away and in his voice was a sense of awe. “Annalisa.”

      A dangerous prickling behind her eyes made her sit up, teeth coming together in a way that forced it back.

      “Yes.”

      His head came up. “I have a few ground rules of my own. First we are going to figure out our schedules and come up with a plan.”

      His fingers flipped pages on his phone for a moment, probably looking at his caseload. “I have some free time right now, in fact. So I can drive you back to your hotel, and then we’ll sit down and talk about any concerns you might have. But I want to make one thing perfectly clear. I will be a part of my daughter’s life. No matter how much you might dislike me personally.”

       CHAPTER TWO

      PEGGY SLIPPED OUT of the room as soon as the greetings were exchanged. She promised to be back in an hour.

      A prearranged signal to keep Elyse from enduring his company?

      His gut tightened in anger, even as his eyes soaked in the sight of his daughter. Now that the shock was wearing off, he could finally look beyond his own emotions and see Anna for who she was.

      Unlike her mamma’s silky blond locks, which had always driven him to distraction, the baby’s hair was black and thick and stuck up around her head at odd angles that made him smile. A red satin bow gathered one of the bunches onto the very top of her head, where it did a tiny loop-the-loop. As dark as her hair was, her skin was Elyse’s through and through. It was as pale as the sand on the beaches of Sardinia. When she grew up, she’d probably blush just like her mamma too.

      Cieli, he’d loved the way Elyse’s cheeks had bloomed to life when he’d whispered to her at night. Realizing his gaze had moved from the baby to the green eyes of the woman holding her, he gave a half smile when color swooped into her face. Right on cue. Some things never changed.

      And neither did his reaction to them.

      Elyse cleared her throat and looked away, jiggling the baby in her arms. “So her full name is Annalisa Marie.”

      Maybe coming back to her hotel hadn’t been such a good idea after all. But he’d wanted this discussion to happen in a more private setting. He didn’t want Lorenzo or anyone walking in on them and asking questions before he had some answers.

      “Marie. After your mother?”

      Her attention turned back to him. “Yes.”

      He liked the nod to a woman he had come to admire in the few times they’d met, but there was also the sense of lost time...lost opportunities. He hadn’t even been able to help choose his own child’s name. Hadn’t been there to see the first time she’d rolled over—if she had yet—and whatever other milestones four-month-olds normally achieved. “You gave her an Italian name.”

      “It was only right. She’s half-Italian.” She smiled, although there was an uncertainty to it. Had she honestly thought he wouldn’t want his own child? Just because of some offhand comment he’d made? His reasons for saying it had had more to do with not scaring Elyse off—he hadn’t wanted her to think he was rushing her to deepen their relationship. He did want kids. Just hadn’t needed them right that second.

      And now he had one. He was already in love, after only knowing her for an hour.

      “Do you want to hold her?”

      The question made him stop. Did he? His jaw tightened. Another thing he’d missed: holding her at birth.

      He could worry about that later, though. Right now, he needed to concentrate on what was in front of him, not what was out of his control, as difficult as that might be.

      And, yes, he wanted to hold her. He held out his arms and Elyse carefully placed their daughter in them. Looping an arm beneath her legs to support her, he held the baby against his chest, her baby scent tickling his nose. A sense of awe went through him.

      He glanced at Elyse, who had taken a step back and stood watching them, arms wrapped tight around her midsection. There was a look on her face that he couldn’t decipher. Despite the bitterness and chaos of their breakup thirteen months ago, he and Elyse had at least done something right. They’d made this tiny creature. Murmuring to her in Italian, so her mamma wouldn’t understand, he turned and walked toward the hotel’s window and looked out over the city.

      “You don’t know me yet, Annalisa, but I promise you will.” Was that even realistic? How long was Elyse planning to be in Italy? She’d said she had a little medical leave left but hadn’t specified how much.

      When would she be back?

      Bile washed up his throat when he thought of going months or a year between visits. But how could it be any different than that? Atlanta and Florence might as well be on separate planets.

      He looked through the window at the city below. “This is part of your heritage, Anna. I want you to see Italy. To grow up speaking its language.” He was going to make that happen, somehow.

      A sound behind him made him look back. Elyse had moved to the front door, as if ready to push him out of his daughter’s future before he’d even planted himself into her present. What he’d said was the truth, though. He was going to be a part of her life.

      He could start by making sure they were all under the same roof for the duration of her stay. “You should come stay at the house, instead of at the hotel. I have some spare bedrooms. Your aunt will come as well, of course.”

      “I don’t know.” She bit her lip. “It might be better if we stayed here at the hotel.”

      “Why?”

      He was already booked solid with appointments at the hospital for the next month. He couldn’t just blow them all off and take a vacation. Especially not a couple of the patients who were set to undergo treatment in the coming days.

      He crossed the room. “You’ve had Annalisa to yourself for four months. I’d like you to be there when I get home. When I get up.”

      Hell, was he talking about wanting Anna there? Or Elyse? He’d better make it clear. “I want as much time with her as possible. And there’s a kitchen and more room to spread out than you have here. It’ll make it easier on everyone.”

      “I don’t...”

      He shifted the baby into one arm, tilting Elyse’s face with the crook of his index finger. “Say yes. It would mean a lot to me.”

      Something flickered through her green eyes before she said, “Are you sure? It’ll be for a whole month.”

      A month. Said as if it were an eternity, when really it was only a millisecond. But at least now he knew how long he had with his baby. “A month is nothing.”

      The