AllFreeNovel
Share Us
MIA HELD ELLA to her as she stepped out of the limo into the warm spring morning. Sunlight glinted off the terracotta tiles of Alessandro’s villa, the Tuscan hills now covered in verdant green and bright blossom.
The place was huge and sprawling, made of white stucco, with terraced gardens on the hillside, bursting with colourful blooms. She could hardly credit that she was going to live in such a magnificent place, if just for three months.
Or maybe for ever.
Alessandro gently placed his hand on the small of her back as he guided her towards the imposing entrance. Mia’s eyes felt gritty, her body aching with fatigue and jet lag despite the few hours’ sleep she’d snatched on the plane, waking up so unsettlingly in Alessandro’s arms. For a second, before she’d woken up completely, she’d lain there, warm and comfortable, snuggled and safe.
Happy.
She’d been completely wrong-footed when she’d realised just how much she’d cosied up to Alessandro, and meanwhile forgotten Ella entirely. He still had that devastating effect on her, she realised. Perhaps he always would—the ability to melt her insides like butter, even as he fanned her to flame. It scared her, the power he could have over her if she let him.
After they’d landed, Mia had done her best to find a cordial but formal middle ground, although he suddenly seemed intent on being close to her whenever he had the opportunity, such as now, when he gently pressed his palm to the small of her back, sending shivers of awareness rippling through her, before he took Ella from her.
‘I’ll hold her for a bit. You look shattered.’
She was shattered, but Ella felt like her safety shield. Without her, Mia was exposed, unsure what to do with her arms, how to look or feel. Everything about this was so incredibly strange. Whether for three months or for ever, she couldn’t believe she and Ella were going to live here, with Alessandro, as a family.
She glanced around the soaring marble foyer in amazed disbelief. Several doors led off to various impressive reception rooms, and a sweeping double staircase led to the second floor.
‘This feels like a castle,’ she couldn’t help but say.
‘And you’re the princess,’ Alessandro told her as he hefted Ella against his shoulder. Already he was starting to handle Ella with more confidence, although he still carried her as if she was so fragile she’d break…or explode.
The flashes of uncertainty Mia saw on his face as he held their daughter made her melt in an entirely different way—he could affect her heart as well as her body. Both were dangerous.
‘You may do whatever you like to the place,’ Alessandro continued, a look of nervousness crossing his face as Ella began to fuss. ‘Redecorate however you want…it is your home, Mia. Yours and Ella’s and mine. Ours.’ He jiggled Ella uncertainly, and as their baby started to settle down he looked up at Mia with a small smile.
‘Do you think she knows me yet?’
‘She’s starting to.’ Ella gave Alessandro a gummy smile that made him grin back in delight.
‘She smiled. She actually smiled.’
Mia couldn’t help but laugh. ‘So she did.’ Watching Alessandro and Ella bond over something as simple as a smile made her heart ache. How could she ever contemplate ending this? Walking away from a family life that neither she nor Alessandro had ever had before?
It was just a smile, she told herself, and in any case, she didn’t yet know what kind of family life they would have. How it would work. No matter what assurances Alessandro made, she wasn’t yet convinced.
‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘Where…where is my room?’
‘Our room is at the top of the stairs, to the right.’
She turned to him, appalled even as a treacherous excitement made her stomach flip. ‘Our room?’
‘It will be our room,’ he amended somewhat reluctantly. ‘For now you may have it. But I look forward to the day when we might share it.’
‘If,’ Mia couldn’t help but say and Alessandro gave her a knowing look.
‘When,’ he repeated firmly. ‘Definitely when. Now, why don’t you go upstairs and have a bath, relax for a bit? I’ll watch Ella, especially since she seems to like me now.’ He smiled down at their daughter.
‘She needs a feed…’ Mia began, torn between wanting to rest and needing her daughter.
‘I’ll come and get you if she fusses.’
‘You mean when,’ Mia returned wryly, and Alessandro laughed.
‘True enough. When.’ He smiled at her, and Mia found herself smiling back. Maybe she needed to relax…not just in a bath, but with everything. With Alessandro. It was going to be a long, tense three months if she didn’t.
Upstairs Mia wandered into the first room at the right, gaping at the sheer opulence of what was clearly the master bedroom. As Henry Dillard’s PA, and then, briefly, Eric Foster’s, she’d seen more than her fair share of luxury, even if she hadn’t partaken in it directly. But this room exceeded all her expectations.
