Brunetti's Secret Son

She encountered Eva emerging from her own suite and pinned a smile on her face.

‘Oh, good, were you going to check on Lucca? We can share story time and be done in half the time,’ Eva said with an engaging grin.

They entered the large guest suite where the children had been relocated after Lucca refused to be parted from his new friends and took turns reading until all three fell asleep.

In the living room, they found the men sipping whiskies. Romeo crossed to the drinks cabinet and returned with a mineral water for Eva and a glass of champagne for her, which he handed over with a rigidly blank look on his face.

Her breath caught painfully and she looked away as Eva smiled and patted the bump covered by her stunning jade-green gown. ‘Sorry I conked out on you earlier. These two kept me up during the flight with their incessant kicking.’

Maisie’s eyes widened. ‘You’re having another set of twins?’

Eva grinned. ‘Turns out twins run in both our families. My great-grandmother was a twin, and Zaccheo’s mother told him his grandfather was a twin, too. Something to be thankful for, since he’s determined to not stop knocking me up until he has a full football team. That means I get to do this only half a dozen times.’

Zaccheo broke off his muffled conversation with Romeo and strolled over to his wife. ‘You know you love carrying my children, dolcezza.’

‘Yeah, keep telling yourself that, champ. After these two I’m taking an extended leave of absence from getting pregnant.’

Zaccheo lifted a brow. ‘As long as it’s merely a leave and not a resignation.’

Eva rolled her eyes but curled into his side when he sat down next to her.

The conversation turned to children. Romeo maintained brooding silence throughout, and only offered brusque opinions when Eva forced him into the conversation. Zaccheo seemed perfectly at ease with Romeo’s mood, but Maisie couldn’t help her breath catching whenever Romeo slid her an icy glance.

The tense atmosphere continued through dinner, the men chatting about business and Eva attempting to engage Maisie in general conversation. She couldn’t remember because she was concentrating on keeping the sob at the back of her throat whenever she looked at Romeo.

And how pathetic was that? To know she’d been nothing more than a plaything in his bed while he got to know his son, and yet still feel as if her world were caving in on itself every time she remembered that in a handful of days she would walk away from him for ever.

‘Oh, for goodness’ sake. Can we sort this thing out once and for all? Can’t you see how distressed this is all making Maisie?’

Her head jerked up at Eva’s sharp retort to find the other woman glaring at her husband.

Zaccheo turned to her with one brow tilted. ‘Don’t get yourself worked up, dolcezza. Everything’s under control.’

Eva snorted. ‘God, you men can be so blind at times! Can’t you see we’re tearing ourselves apart here? Tell them, Maisie.’

Both sets of male eyes turned towards her, one grimly amused and the other as icily brooding as they’d been all evening.

Painfully pulling her gaze from Romeo’s, she pursed her lips. ‘Sorry, it seems I no longer have a vote.’ Not that she ever did. Or ever would.

Eva sighed heavily and pulled her fingers through her wild, curly blonde hair. ‘What do we have to do to get through to you two?’ she demanded, exasperated.

‘Eva, mia, I won’t have you this distressed,’ Zaccheo all but growled.

‘Then stop this stupid cavemen course of action.’ She threw her napkin down, winced when her babies also made their thoughts known about the effect her distress was having on them. Zaccheo started to rise, but she waved him away. ‘I’m fine. I think Maisie and I will go for a walk, leave you two to ponder the wisdom of your ideas.’

The excuse to be out of Romeo’s oppressive presence was too great to turn down. Rising, she took the arm Eva held out after kicking off her shoes. Following her, Maisie kicked off her shoes, too, and they headed outside.

‘I hear there’s a stunning waterfall here somewhere. I’d love to see it.’

Maisie stumbled to a halt. ‘Um...do you mind if we don’t?’ she pleaded raggedly, unable to bear the thought of returning to where she and Romeo had made love. She knew she’d given herself away when Eva’s eyes widened.

‘Of course,’ she murmured softly. ‘We’ll go down to the beach instead.’

They walked in silence for a while, taking in the lush vegetation gleaming under strung-out lights, and the view of a night-lit Maui in the distance, before Eva glanced at her. ‘You’ll have to take the bull by the horns at some point, you know. Men are obtusely blind sometimes—even the cleverest, billion-dollar-empire-commanding ones can fail to see what’s right in front of their faces.’