The Italian's Secret Baby

He was nervous! She felt every kind of insensitive idiot for not realising sooner.

‘You’re not a stranger, Roman, you’re his dad.’ She wanted to wrap her arms around him.

Their eyes met and for a moment he stared at her, then he smiled and her heart began to thud. She jumped out of the car before she did something really stupid.

The au pair had obviously been waiting for them.

‘Sam’s asleep.’ Scarlet saw the girl’s eyes widen as Roman joined her. It amused her—well, actually, it annoyed her—that as far as the girl was concerned she had become invisible. ‘If you’d like to come in, I’ll show you the way.’

She went as far as the door of the bedroom and, with a nod, left them. ‘I’ll be downstairs if you want me.’ This was said with a wistful glance at Roman, who, to give him his due, seemed totally oblivious to the effect he had.

Sam was fast asleep, his cherubic face flushed rosily with sleep.

The awed expression on Roman’s face as he looked down at the child brought a lump to her throat. Scarlet handed him the fleecy blanket she had brought with her.

‘Wrap him up in this, will you? It’s his favourite blanket.’

‘You want me to carry him?’

To see the ultra-confident Roman look nervous rung her tender heart. ‘Yes, please.’

‘If he wakes up and sees me…’

She smiled encouragingly. ‘Sam doesn’t wake easily.’

Sam did wake. He opened his eyes and looked up into the face of the man who was carrying him. He gave a sleepy frown.

‘Did you bring me a football?’

‘Next time,’ Roman promised.

Sam smiled and closed his eyes. ‘Good,’ he said as he snuggled down into the big man’s arms.

Roman shook his head. His eyes were shining; he looked as though someone had just given him the winning Lotto ticket. ‘He remembered me.’

There was an emotional lump in her throat that made her voice thick. ‘You’re not an easy man to forget,’ she said, turning away before he saw that she was crying.

CHAPTER TWELVE

SCARLET caught sight of his reflection in the steamy window: a tall man, his lean, long frame filled the doorway. She might only have been feasting her eyes on a reflection, but it didn’t stop her receiving the same shocking jolt of sexual longing she always did when he appeared—sleek and sexy and totally out of place, not just in her kitchen, but her life.

Maybe he won’t be a presence for much longer?

The prospect of Roman vanishing from their lives should have made her happy. Wasn’t it what she’d been praying for right from the start? She felt many things but happiness wasn’t one of them.#p#????#e#

Since he’d pushed his way into her life she was permanently stressed and edgy. Though she had to admit Roman’s behaviour had been impeccable. He had not even raised an eyebrow when she had produced the promised schedule, though when she’d pinned it to the notice-board in the kitchen he hadn’t been able to resist a comment about her colour coding.

Three weeks into the arrangement it was hard to remember when he hadn’t been a part of Sam’s life.

He wasn’t the problem; she was!

It had been three days since his last visit. On that visit he’d had a free afternoon and it had been agreed that he would take Sam for a walk in the park. The weather had been perfect, unlike Sam’s mood. The toddler had been tired, which always made him cranky, and the fact she hadn’t let him watch a programme on the television that looked unsuitable to her had not improved matters.

Roman had not seen his son in this mood before. He had looked uncharacteristically helpless when the toddler had struggled and thrown himself around when he had tried to put his coat on. Acting like a three-year-old who hadn’t got his own way, Sam hadn’t even looked at the gift Roman had brought for him.

Roman might be intolerant and short-tempered in his dealings with her, but Scarlet had to admit that with Sam he displayed a limitless supply of patience. When, despite his best efforts, the child had remained stubbornly cranky, Scarlet had finally taken pity on the inexperienced father—in truth she had found the usually totally self-possessed and poised playboy looking helpless dangerously appealing.

‘I’ll come, if you’d like. I could do with some fresh air,’ she heard herself offer.

Of course she ought to have let him trail Sam around the park on his own; that would have brought home big time to him that taking care of a young child was not all ice cream and fun games.

Even with her along to retrieve the toy that Sam deliberately threw from the pushchair every few yards the park thing wasn’t a raving success. Though it was worth going just to see how horrified Roman looked as he pushed a child who was having a tantrum through town.