Baby Mine (4 page)

She glanced up at his voice, and
he winced at the open joy in her expression. She cast down long,
thick lashes and smiled. “
Bion
giorno
, Renzo. I hoped
I would see you before you left.” She approached him and laid a
possessive hand on his arm before leaning up on her tiptoes to kiss
him. Renzo just turned his head in time, but her lips landed just
beside his. The disappointment in her gaze radiated, and he chided
himself for not making his intentions plainer. Now that he stood
here, he wondered if this was the time. If she became emotional, he
could not be rude and cut her off simply because he would be late for
work.

“
I have a full day, but I
wanted to talk to you,” he began.

She gazed at him with expectance
and then stepped closer. Her small breast brushed his arm. He cleared
his throat, irritated this wasn’t going as smoothly as he
thought it would. In business dealings he intimidated others to get
what he wanted. Hell, in his personal life he had no trouble wrapping
the women he chose to give attention to around his little finger.
However, he had no wish to hurt Nicoletta.

“
You are a very good friend
of my family. Your father was instrumental in helping my father
purchase his first winery, and my father bought out yours within a
few years. That’s how successful he was at growing the company.
He went on to expand his holdings until—”

Nicoletta pressed closer, if that
were even possible. “Renzo, why are you giving me a history
lesson?”

He frowned. “I’ve
always felt responsible for you. The direction your family took in
business wasn’t the wisest after your father let go of the
winery.” He stopped, not wanting to remind her of financial
trouble. Just recently her father had come to him for a loan.

The confusion on Nicoletta’s
face cleared, and she radiated more happiness than she had moments
earlier when he greeted her. “Renzo, you’re asking me to
marry you.”

Renzo stared. Words escaped him.
The gasp and the sound of shattering glass startled them both. He
turned from Nicoletta to find Jada standing there with a teacup on
the path in front of her, the contents spilled, and the china in
bits. The curse he’d avoid earlier slipped out now.

“
Jada—” he
began.

“
Oh damn, I’m so
sorry.” Jada bent over the mess and started gathering pieces of
the teacup. For an instant he saw a quiver in her hands, but
questioned if he was seeing things when it disappeared. “I bet
that was expensive. I’m going to replace it. I promise.”

Renzo rushed to her side and
pulled her away from the mess. “Leave it. I’ll get a maid
to handle it.”

She struggled in his hold. “No,
I did it, and it’s my responsibility.”

He tried looking into her eyes,
but she wouldn’t meet his gaze. He held on to her upper arm,
wanting to keep her near so he could explain, but he also needed to
disabuse Nicoletta of her wrong conclusion. Irritation rose in him.
He should have handled this better, and of all times for Jada to show
up just when he spoke with Nicoletta. He realized now it must have
been Jada on the elevator. “Hold on a second,” he
insisted. “Stay right there, and I will get a maid. Do not
move.”

Even before he spun away, he
caught the frown and stubbornness coming into her eyes. She would not
be ordered. He regretted walking out on her the night before, knowing
her reaction to his high-handed treatment. The entire time in Italy,
he had carefully wooed her. The only explanation he could give
himself now was that he had felt more relaxed, confident she was
where she belonged—with him.

He pushed a hand through his hair
as he went in search of someone to clean up the mess. Only after he
reached the kitchen did he recall he’d left both women alone
together. “For the love of—”

“
Renzo!” His mother
glared at him. Her English did not extend far, but she’d
learned quickly, probably because she’d raised two boys, the
usual ways one might swear in a foreign language. Renzo would never
disrespect his mother by deliberately uttering one in her presence,
but she’d caught him out a few times in the past.

“
Mi dispiace
,
Mamma
.”
He breathed a sigh of relief to find Marie in the kitchen. He gave
the maid instructions and turned on his heel to return to the women
he left behind. He could only hope Jada hadn’t fled and
Nicoletta hadn’t confronted the woman he truly intended to make
his wife.

* * * *

Jada stooped to place bits of
broken china in her palm. She kept her gaze focused on the task at
hand because if she didn’t she’d either attack the woman
in front of her or cry like an idiot. Neither Nicoletta nor Renzo
were getting the satisfaction. What she should have done was crack
Renzo upside the head. Sure, Nicoletta was nothing to him except a
family friend. What a load of crap. The bastard had asked her to
marry him. At least she knew the truth now, but did it have to make
her feel like someone had stabbed her in the heart and twisted the
knife? Why the hell did she have to fall for him?

A shadow fell over her, and she
peered up, sunlight blocking her vision. She paused in her movements
to shield her gaze. Nicoletta, the delicate sweet beauty, stood there
with a hard expression making her lips look too thin. Not that the
change in attitude surprised Jada.

“
I don’t know why
you’re here, but I can guess.” She put long, slender
fingers on hips that must fit in size two jeans or smaller. Well, if
she
wore
jeans. Right now she stood in a soft, flowing dress that revealed a
modest amount of long, shapely legs. Demure on one hand, sexy on the
other. “You’re one of the many women Renzo slept with
while he was away on business, and now you’re here hoping to
get a little piece of his money. Don’t you think we’ve
seen this a million times? We’ve sent them all away with
nothing.”

Jada stood slowly. “Is that
right?”

“
Oh yes. As you overheard,
I’m going to be his wife. I don’t mind him having a
little extra fun. He does have a big appetite. What I do mind is them
coming here thinking they will get even a cent of the Mariani
fortune.”

“
Because that’s all
yours,” Jada quipped. “Look, bitch, I don’t care
about you or your fiancé. Got that? I don’t want or need
his money.”

The disbelief stood stark in
Nicoletta’s face, pissing Jada off even more.

“
I came here to give him
some information. I did that, and now I’m out. You can stay
here and allow your husband to cheat on you. By all means, continue
to enjoy yourself!” She spun on her heel to walk away. Let him
get a maid to get the teacup. She no longer gave a damn.

After crossing the room she’d
used to get outside, she spun around the corner only to smash face
first into Renzo’s massive chest. His hands came up to her
waist to steady her, and she began struggling to get away on
instinct.

“
Get your hands off me!”

“
Jada, I need to talk to
you,” he insisted.

The thought of being one of many
women sharing his bed surged through her mind, and she fought him
harder, forgetting about the glass in her hand until the pain
registered. She winced at the sting, and Renzo released her in an
instant. Tiny strands of blood dripped over the side of her clenched
fist, and she eased the hold.

“
Cara
,
what have you done?” The concern in Renzo’s tone made her
heart ache.

He yanked her close and bent over
her hand. The gentle touch as he unfolded her fingers and picked the
shards of glass from her palm brought tears to her eyes, but she
blinked them away.

“
Come, we’re going to
the hospital,” he announced.

“
It’s just some tiny
cuts, Renzo. You don’t need to panic.” She tried to pull
away, but he held on, and the next instant they were in the bathroom
with her in front of him at the sink while he ran cool water over her
hand. She had no choice but to wait in silence while he cleaned her
wounds and searched for any more glass. In the mirror, she studied
his handsome face. He drew her to him without a word. She wanted to
be near him, hear his voice and see his smile. His touch sent her
into orbit, but this man could consume her whole in more ways than
one. If she gave in to him, she’d lose herself. Of that she was
certain.

Back in Venice, they spoke often,
but she couldn’t remember anything of consequence. She’d
known nothing of his family except that he had siblings. She’d
not learned his father had passed, and there was only his mother and
an uncle left. Not that she’d asked him. She didn’t want
to know because she viewed it as a step toward falling in love. In
the same way, she never told him she was an only child and that she’d
lost her parents within a year of each other a decade ago. That time
had been hard because she’d been only nineteen. Yet, it made
her strong and more determined to make her own way in the world. She
had, as a paralegal. She enjoyed most of it, doing legal research,
drafting documents for court, and most of all interviewing people.
She couldn’t give legal advice since she wasn’t a lawyer,
but she had a great repertoire with the men and women in her office
who were, and she had connections with others associated with the
field like private investigators. That was how she’d been able
to find Renzo. She loved her life and didn’t need anything from
her former lover or his family.

“
Renzo, I think we’re
done here,” she said, meeting his reflected gaze.

“
I’m not marrying
her, Jada.”

She shook her head. “What
you do is your business. I just came to tell you about the baby.”

“
You keep saying that, but
if all you cared about was meeting an obligation you felt about
telling me, a phone call could have sufficed. You came across the
country to see me.”

She chewed the inside of her lip.
He wasn’t supposed to notice that, and she kicked herself for
the millionth time for giving in to her emotions. She’d done so
well leaving the first time.
Well,
I’ll do it again and get it right.

Renzo turned the water off at the
sink and raised her hand. She started to protest, but he touched his
lips to the sensitive skin before she could stop him. Tingles of
pleasure vied with the sting of the cuts and raced over her arms and
down toward her pussy. She resisted snatching away so he wouldn’t
suspect how he affected her.

“
Don’t you think you
need to be out there setting your little girlfriend straight?”
she demanded.

He caressed her cheek and then
raised her chin. “I’d rather be in here, setting you
straight.”

She opened her mouth to tell him
where to go, but he covered her lips in a searing kiss that drew her
up to the tips of her toes. She forgot about the pain in her hand as
she slipped her arms around his neck and pressed in close to his
chest. Her nipples tightened, and Renzo brushed her side with his
hand until he reached one aching peak. His thumb plucked at the small
bud through her blouse, and she whimpered.

Sanity flooded back when he
squeezed her ass and slid fingers lower until they just reached her
pussy. She jerked away, panting, and dragged a hand over her mouth.
“Stop it, Renzo. I told you we’re not doing this
anymore.”

She stepped past him, expecting
to be halted, but when he didn’t lay a finger on her, she kept
moving as quickly as possible until she made it back to her room.
While she folded the clothes she’d taken from her suitcase into
the carrier, a knock on her door interrupted her. She grunted and
rolled her eyes. “Come in.”

When she turned, instead of Renzo
this time it was his sister standing in her doorway. Jada searched
her memory for the woman’s name.

“
I’m Zita.”
With a determined step, Zita strode into the room and shut the door
behind her.

Here we go again.

Chapter
Four

“
Was there something you
needed? I’m about to leave, and I don’t have a lot of
time.”

The frown put her in her place
without a word. Jada was being rude, but she didn’t give a
damn. These people had smiled in her face while they thought she was
a lost tourist. Now they all seemed to think she was beneath them
because she’d had an affair with Renzo. They could think what
they liked.

“
I wanted to ask you to
stay.”

Jada blinked. “Come again?”

Zita shrugged and floated over to
the window to peer out. Jada had a flashback to the historical
romances she used to read for years. Zita could be one of the
heroines, exotic and beautiful, and there was an innocence about her
too.

“
I don’t care why
you’re here and if you’re just trying to get my brother’s
money. It doesn’t affect me at all. My inheritance can’t
be touched. My father made sure of that.” Zita swung to face
her. “What your presence does do is get my brothers and my
uncle’s focus off of me. I saw that in one night, and it’s
great. With all their arguing last night, I was able to…
Anyway, stay. Get whatever it is you want. After all, doesn’t
your baby deserve the best life it can get?”