The Italian's Unexpected Heir

With her trusty bag slung over her shoulder, Sylvie made her way to the stable. The earthy scents of the hay and horses, which may be a turnoff to some, grounded her. She craved that sense of peace today.

One of her passions she’d gained since moving to the estate was horseback riding. As a child she’d always dreamed of having her own horse, but living in the city made owning a horse an expensive challenge—money her mother didn’t have.

She moved to Duchess’s stall. Immediately, the horse moved to greet her. If a horse could smile, Duchess would be doing so now as she nuzzled Sylvie’s hand, urging her to fuss over the horse.

Whenever Sylvie went riding, it was always Duchess she selected. The mare was gentle and patient. In fact, this was the horse Sylvie had learned to ride on when she’d first arrived in Tuscany. But sadly, they wouldn’t be able to take one last ride together.

“I’m sorry, girl.” Sylvie ran her hand down over the mare’s neck. “We can’t go riding because I’m having a baby.”

Duchess was the second to hear her news. The words felt so strange as they crossed her lips. She was still getting used to this new reality.

The horse studied her with those big golden-brown eyes. And then Duchess whinnied as though to say she understood.

“I’m going to miss you.”

With a heavy heart, Sylvie walked away. Duchess put up a fuss, banging on her stall. She didn’t want to be left behind. The horse’s displeasure tugged on Sylvie’s heart.

Today the stables didn’t give her the comfort she’d been craving. Still feeling restless, Sylvie continued walking. With no particular destination in mind, she kept putting one foot in front of the other.

The sun was sinking toward the horizon when Sylvie came to a stop at her favorite spot on the estate. The small stream snaked its way along the edge of the estate. And in the background was a beautiful view of the rolling hills.

With autumn not far off, evenings arrived earlier and earlier. Sylvie wasn’t ready to let go of this summer—this magical and amazing season. Who’d have thought she’d have an opportunity to visit Paris? The City of Love had been on her bucket list as well as visiting the Eiffel Tower and now she’d done both—and not alone.

She’d swear that city cast a spell over its visitors—she was convinced of it. Otherwise, how else could she explain her being so bold with Enzo—starting something that spun totally and deliciously out of control?

Now that they were back in Tuscany, she could see things clearer. It was abundantly obvious to her that they didn’t belong together. Where he wanted to wipe away the past—pretend it didn’t exist, she wanted to cling to it so as not to make the same mistakes. Where he acted hastily, such as deciding to sell the estate, she liked to mull things over and make a plan. Whereas he was stubborn and refused to admit when he’d made a mistake, she accep

ted her mistakes while trying to do better.

She grabbed the blanket from her bag and smoothed it out in front of a large rock. It was there that she sank down and leaned back. For a moment she took in the beauty of the scenery from the slow-moving stream to the lingering sunshine peeking through the branches of trees on the other side of the stream to the blue sky with the puffy white clouds. She wished she could draw landscapes because this was a sight that should be replicated and shared.

She withdrew her sketch pad from her bag along with her set of drawing pencils. She flipped open her sketch pad and stared down at the wedding dress she was designing. Drawing was something she’d started to do as a child. She’d loved to draw and color princess dresses, big and puffy. Some had fairy wings. And others were more sci-fi.

But as she grew older, her drawings grew more refined and a lot more realistic. Still favoring a fairy-tale dress over the more everyday dresses, she morphed to wedding dresses. In her mind it seemed to be a natural move for her. At first, her drawings had been of dresses that already existed. The detail work of a wedding dress took a lot of studying and a lot of discarded pages. But eventually she started working on dresses of her own design. At first, they had basic lines and decorative traits. But eventually, she learned to trust her imagination and her skills.

Once she had some original drawings, she used the skills her mother gave to her. Her mother was a seamstress—one of the best in all of Patazonia. Her mother would even give her some helpful hints, but while her mother realized her daughter’s real talent, she tried to talk her into more traditional work such as being a seamstress. Her mother didn’t believe a nobody like Sylvie would ever make it designing her own fashions, no matter how pretty they were.

She knew her mother had the best of intentions. Sylvie agreed with her. Who would want to buy her fashions? But that didn’t keep Sylvie from spending her free time doing the one thing she’d been doing since she was a little girl—back in the days when she thought anything was possible—designing wedding dresses. Though these days it was rare when she had time to devote to her hobby. Today was one of those rare days.

And knowing there wasn’t much time before the shadows would grow long and she’d need to head back, she started moving her pencil over the heavy white paper. In no time she was caught up in what she was doing.

A line here. A button there. A plunging neckline. Erase. Erase. A not so plunging neckline. A layer of lace over the bodice. A fitted waistline with a sash of satin. This was definitely one of her favorite dresses by far. And maybe that was why it was taking her the longest to complete. She wanted everything to be perfect—

“Sylvie?”

Her heart lurched straight into her throat. She jumped. Her pencil skidded across the page. As her heart pounded, she turned to find Enzo alighting from his black stallion, Emperor.

“Sylvie, is everything all right?” Enzo approached her. “You look like you just saw a ghost.”

It took her a moment to regain the use of her voice. “I’m fine. I was just so caught up in...” She hesitated. She hadn’t shared this part of her life with him. “In thought.”

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” He sent her a guilty smile.

It was so hard to stay upset with him when he looked at her that way. “It’s okay. What did you need?”

“I heard you were at the stables and then you just disappeared. I... I wanted to check on you. And I knew Emperor would enjoy a ride. But I can leave if you want me to.”

“No.” The word was out of her mouth before she had a chance to decide if their spending alone time was a good idea or not.