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Your child. The stress on the word matched the suspicion in the young woman’s eyes.
‘It wasn’t by design. At least not mine anyway,’ Mia responded, her voice a little sharper than she’d intended.
She grimaced inwardly when Allegra’s eyes widened, sharp speculation gleaming in the depths. ‘How very intriguing. What do you mean?’
Mia pressed her lips together. ‘It’s nothing that should concern you, I’m sure.’
Her gaze grew sharper, attaining malice that made the hairs on Mia’s nape tingle. ‘Oh, but everything to do with my family concerns me, Mia. I’ve learned to keep my loved ones closer, since the tragedy of my loss. I’m sure you understand.’
The lump in her throat dropped to form a rock in her belly. Was she being warned? ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
Allegra smiled but never replied. Probably because Rocco arrived beside Mia in the moment, his incisive eyes latching onto her. But more than likely, Allegra had learned the art of subtle torture from her late husband.
Either way, she rose, swayed close to Rocco and laid a hand on his arm. ‘Mia and I were getting reacquainted. It’s good to see her looking so...well, again, sì, caro?’ She flashed another sultry smile at Rocco before glancing down at Mia. ‘Mi scusi, per favore, I must go and check that the staff have done as I asked regarding preparing your suite, Mia.’ With that, she set her glass down and strode off, her hips swaying with unapologetic femininity, leaving behind the unfailing declaration that she was the one in charge of the household.
‘Is something wrong?’ Rocco enquired after a tense beat.
‘Why should it be?’ Mia demanded tightly, unable for the life of her to breathe around the knot growing in her belly.
‘Because you look like you’re about to break that glass in two.’
She forced her fingers to relax. ‘Can you blame me? This was never going to be a walk in the park.’
‘Only if you don’t allow it. Or am I misremembering that you thrive at the deep end?’
She bit back a snort of disbelief. ‘We’re not in the boardroom, Rocco.’
‘No, we’re not. And as far as I can see, you’ve been welcomed with open arms. So I ask again, is something bothering you?’
Mia looked towards the doors through which Allegra had departed, wondering if she was over-exaggerating what she’d sensed from the woman. She bit her lip and shook her head. ‘No. Everything’s fine. But I think I need to rescue your grandmother from Gianni’s exuberance before he wears her out. He’ll be a nightmare to settle down if he gets too overexcited.’
Her announcement was overly loud, she realised a second later.
A throb of silence went through the room. Then Caterina smiled. ‘Certo, Mia. Perhaps once you’re settled in, you can let me know his habits? I would not like to upset his routine too much.’
Touched by the ease with which her request was granted, Mia relaxed. ‘He’s been resisting his naps lately, but normally he sleeps for an hour or so mid-afternoon, then has his supper at six. We...we can join you when it’s time for his supper, if you want?’
Her hesitant proffer was greeted with a warm smile. ‘I would like that very much, ragazza dolce. Ciao, bambino,’ she said to Gianni, who responded with a smile, albeit one worn around the edges.
Perhaps he was as overwhelmed as her because he didn’t protest as Mia placed him in his bed ten minutes later.
‘You have made my grandmother very happy,’ Rocco rasped as they left a sleeping Gianni in the bedroom decorated with his favourite racing-car theme. Just how Rocco had managed to pull this off within twenty-four hours made her head spin.
‘That was the plan, wasn’t it?’ she said, then immediately felt rotten. ‘I... I didn’t mean it like that.’
‘Didn’t you?’ His voice was tight with displeasure, his hand frozen on the double doors that led to his private wing of the villa.
‘No, I didn’t. I just...’ She shook her head.
‘What is it, Mia? Are you going to spit out whatever’s on your mind now or ambush me with it in another boardroom three years from now?’
She gasped. ‘Excuse me?’
‘I’m talking about your suspicions about Alessandro. And why you never told me.’
She rushed after him when he threw the doors open and walked into his private living room. From memory, she knew hers was the mirror image of the large, opulently decorated room, complete with the obligatory bust of some important Roman figure, a Renaissance painting or three, and the very best of mod cons. Heck, even the walls were lined in silk in Rocco’s world. ‘You’re throwing the fact that I tried to spare your feelings regarding your cousin in my face?’
‘Spare my feelings?’ he asked, his voice chillingly amused. He continued through his living room into hers, then into the bedroom, which had been redecorated since the last time she was here. Where there’d been pleasant pastel colours before, the room was now wall-to-wall virginal white from ceiling to carpet. Mia was wondering if this was Allegra’s doing when Rocco added, ‘I’m hardly a wallflower, cara.’
