Married for His Secret Heir

She sighed and turned. “He or she will live with me in Paris. You can visit as much as you like.”

“And that’s it?” he ground out between clenched teeth. “I’m just going to be the absentee father?”

She moved the sand around with her foot. “I thought about it, and I just don’t see any other alternative—at least not until the child is older.”

“And by then I’ll be a stranger to them.” His voice was filled with anger. He hadn’t even realized until this moment just how passionate he was about playing an important role in his child’s life. “Is that what you want?”

“I...I don’t know. What else can we do?”

At this point, he was the one to turn and walk away. He had to put distance between them, because he didn’t trust himself to pick the right words in the heat of the moment.

Didn’t Elena understand what she was asking of him?

Sure, maybe he’d never expected to be a father, but that choice had been taken out of his hands. And now, well, he was starting to imagine a little boy, inquisitive and daring, or a little girl with her mother’s forget-me-not blue eyes and blond locks. He was starting to put images to the concept of Elena being pregnant. With each passing day, it was becoming more of a reality to him.

And he wanted to do more for his child than give them his name. But now Elena was blocking him from doing that. She’d essentially written him out of her life as well as the baby’s. Now what was he going to do about it?

* * *

He’d really mucked things up.

Later that evening, Luca sat at the enormous wooden desk in the palace library. The remainder of the lemon grove’s financial reports had shown up while he was out. Now it was his job to formulate a plan to salvage his legacy. He needed to turn things around. He just couldn’t fail his family again.

But instead of figures and projections, all he could think about right now was Elena. After telling himself that he’d keep his cool and watch what he said, he’d blown it. He just couldn’t stand the thought of not playing a vital role in his child’s life. That fact should shock him after telling himself for years that he wouldn’t have a family, but instead the decision to be an active part of his child’s life came easily to him—as natural as breathing.

And for Elena to try to cut him out of that experience was unthinkable. He’d thought he knew her, but perhaps he was mistaken. Could that be right? Was Elena really a stranger to him?

“How does it look?” his father asked as he strode into the room.

Torn from his thoughts, Luca glanced up. “Are you sure this is everything?”

“Of course. Why? What are you missing?”

“Profits. And your debt ratio is astronomical.”

His father’s face was pale and drawn. As he looked at his father, Luca could see the toll the years had taken on the duke. He didn’t look good. Luca truly had been gone too long. It had been easier to be secluded from his family than to have to deal with all the problems and responsibilities family entailed—like the problems facing him now.

But those days were over. If he were honest with himself, that decision had been made when his sister invited him back to Mirraccino for this celebration. He hadn’t fully realized it then, but where he normally avoided family gatherings, he was drawn to this one. Of course, that might have had something to do with the fact that his sister had also told him that Elena had been invited.

Luca just never imagined that he would arrive to find out that his father was in such deep financial trouble. It would be a miracle if they’d be able to keep their home.

His father pulled a wooden chair next to the desk and settled on it. “I tried. It just got away from me. I thought I could turn things around.”

Luca focused on the summary spreadsheet that he’d created on his laptop. “I’ve done an overview of your debt, expenses and revenue. Without a major influx of cash, I don’t see being able to turn things around.” When he glanced over at his father, he caught him blinking repeatedly. This display of emotion from his stalwart father shook Luca to the core. “I’m sorry.”

His father sniffed back the rush of emotions. “You have nothing to be sorry for. I am to blame.”

“I should have come back sooner instead of letting you deal with it all on your own.”

“What can we do?”

Luca leaned back in his chair and rubbed his jaw. “I’ll be honest—it isn’t good. If you were one of my clients, I’d tell you to sell everything, make settlements with your creditors and start over.”

“But our home—I couldn’t bear to lose it. It’s full of memories

...”

Of Luca’s mother? Was it possible that his parents cared more for each other than he would ever know? Perhaps relationships were more complicated than he’d imagined. He was certainly learning that with Elena.