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“Grace?”
“I need time,” she informed him. She fought to cloak herself in the calm, collected air she’d spent eleven long months cultivating. It was more of a struggle than she ever thought possible. Where had her control gone? Her detachment? “Once our lives get back to normal, I’ll give you my answer.”
“By Thanksgiving?”
After a brief hesitation, she nodded. “By Thanksgiving.”
“And between now and then?”
She cast him a direct look. “You’re not to touch me. Not a kiss. Not so much as a hug. I don’t intend to be seduced into a decision.”
She could tell he wasn’t pleased. “And if I don’t agree?”
“Then you can explain to social services why your wife doesn’t live with you.” Not waiting for his reaction to her threat, nor allowing herself time to change her mind and tumble back into his arms, she practically ran from the room.
The nextfive days proved to be the longest of Grace’s life. Now, a mere forty-eight hours from their Thanksgiving deadline, the final days of her tenure at Salvatore’s crept ever closer, as did the day of Dom’s return. True to his word, Luc didn’t lay a finger on her, which stretched both their frustration levels to the limit. As a result, she didn’t know whether to thank him for keeping his promise or hit him. But since she’d been the one to set the rules, she was stuck with them.
How she wished she’d had a chance to talk to her father and get his help and advice. But they’d been out of touch for the past couple of weeks, and though she’d left messages, they kept missing each other.
The doorbell rang. “Luc!” Grace called, struggling to wrap a diaper around Toni—a determinedly wiggly Toni. “Get the door. It’s probably the case manager. Can you answer it?”
“What?”
She raised her voice. “The doorbell!”
“I’ll get it.”
She sighed, snapping and buttoning as quickly as she could. “You don’t give your uncle this much trouble when he changes you. I think it’s very unfair of you to fight me, since I’m the one who just filled you up with a nice, warm bottle.”
Toni responded with a string of bubbles and a determined pumping of limbs. Just as Grace finished, she heard the front door crash shut. An instant later, Luc raced into the room. One look warned it was bad news.
“Quick!” he said, snatching Toni off the changing table and dumping her into a laundry basket of clean baby clothes that was sitting on the bed. “Come with me. Hurry.”
“You can’t put Toni in there! Luc! What’s wrong? What’s happening?”
He didn’t answer, simply clutched the basket and dashed toward his bedroom. Grace gave chase. The doorbell rang again, a strident, urgent sound. Flinging open the door to his walk-in closet, Luc kicked a mahogany shoe rack to one side and set the laundry basket on the floor. Toni gurgled happily. Propelling Grace in beside the basket, he slammed the door.
“Stay there,” he ordered. “Don’t move and don’t make any noise.”
“Luc!” She thrust the door open and poked her head out. “What is going on?”
“In case you weren’t aware of it, when you open your mouth and speak, you make noise. You’ve got to be quiet!” The doorbell rang again, short, multiple, staccato rings. Kissing her swiftly, Luc pushed her toward the back of the huge closet. “My father’s here. Now keep it down.” He closed the door.
Grace opened the door. “Dom’s here?” she asked in a panicked whisper. “He’s not due back for another week.”
“I don’t have time for this,” he said through gritted teeth.“Papàcan’t find out about Toni until Brand and Carina are married or he’ll disown the lot of them. Which means you two have to stay hidden.”
“I understand that. But why here? Why not the guest room?”
He ran an impatient hand through his hair. “This is the safest place in the house. He hasn’t been in my bedroom since the time he walked in without knocking and caught the maid making my bed. So you should be fine if you keep quiet.” He slammed the door shut.
She opened it, staring at him in bewilderment. “What was wrong with the maid making your bed?”
He spared her a brief grin. “She was naked at the time.” The doorbell was ringing nonstop now. “Grace, for crying out loud! Open this door again and I’ll haul you out there, introduce you as my wife and tell him Toni is yours!”
Without another word, she slammed the door shut. To her disbelief, Toni had fallen asleep. How could Toni possibly nap through all the confusion? Grace shook her head in amazement. Babies were such strange, little creatures. She heard the front door crash again. Had Dom left already? Did she dare sneak out and see?
Infuriated Italian burst from the direction of the living room. Well, that answered that question. Unable to resist, she pressed her ear to the door. Dom was still speaking—or rather, yelling—in Italian.
