Castiglione's Pregnant Princess (Vows for Billionaires) Read online

  Charles Russell, on the other hand, was a regular visitor, particularly when the family were vacationing at the farmhouse where he too enjoyed relaxing. He was a great grandparent, always ready to put his book down to enter the world of small children and entertain them.

  After dinner that evening, Jazz stepped gratefully into the candlelit bath awaiting her and smiled widely when Vitale brought her lemonade in a wine glass.

  ‘You’re not supposed to climb in until I’m here in case you fall,’ Vitale censured, his lean, darkly handsome face full of concern.

  ‘I’m not as big as I was with the twins,’ Jazz murmured softly. ‘I’m not going to fall.’

  Vitale smoothed a coiling ringlet back from her damp brow. ‘Naked in candlelight you look incredibly sexy, bellezza mia...’

  ‘Don’t call me beautiful like this,’ Jazz scolded with a slight grimace down at the swell of her stomach. ‘Or sexy.’

  ‘But it’s the truth.’ Vitale levelled stunning dark golden eyes on her and smiled again. ‘You want me to lie?’

  ‘Oh, for goodness’ sake,’ she muttered, passing him her empty glass and rising to leave the bath.

  Vitale wrapped her in a fleecy towel and scooped her out.

  ‘You’re getting wet!’ she cried crossly.

  Vitale grinned wickedly down at her. ‘I won’t be keeping my wet clothes on for long.’

  Jazz rolled her beautiful green eyes. ‘Now there’s confidence for you,’ she teased as he carried her back into their bedroom, a big airy space with a cosy corner by the fire for their winter visits.

  ‘Am I wrong?’ Vitale husked, pressing a kiss to the pulse point at her throat, sending her body haywire with response.

  ‘Sadly, no. I’m always a pushover,’ she sighed, finding his beautiful mouth again for herself and exulting in the love he gave her so freely and the happiness they had found together against all the odds.

  * * * * *

  Coming soon

  CLAIMING HIS HIDDEN HEIR

  Carol Marinelli

  ‘We were so hot, Cecelia, and we could have been good, but you chose to walk away. You left. And then you denied me the knowledge of my child and I hate you for that.’ And then, when she’d already got the dark message, he gave it a second coat and painted it black. ‘I absolutely hate you.’

  ‘No mixed messages, then?’ She somehow managed a quip but there was nothing that could lighten this moment.

  ‘Not one. Let me make things very clear. I am not taking you to Greece to get to know you better, or to see if there is any chance for us, because there isn’t. I want no further part of you. The fact is, you are my daughter’s mother and she is too young to be apart from you. That won’t be the case in the near future.’

  ‘How near?’

  Fear licked the sides of her heart.

  ‘I don’t know.’ He shrugged. ‘I know nothing about babies, save what I have found out today. But I learn fast,’ he said, ‘and I will employ only the best so very soon, during my access times, Pandora and I will do just fine without you.’

  ‘Luka, please…’ She could not stand the thought of being away from Pandora and she was spinning at the thought of taking her daughter to Greece, but Luka was done.

  ‘I’m going, Cecelia,’ Luka said. ‘I have nothing left to say to you.’

  That wasn’t quite true, for he had one question.

  ‘Did you know you were pregnant when you left?’ Luka asked.

  ‘I had an idea…’

  ‘The truth, Cecelia.’

  And she ached now for the days when he had been less on guard and had called her Cece, even though it had grated so much at the time.

  And now it was time to be honest and admit she had known she was pregnant when she had left. ‘Yes.’

  Copyright ©2018 by Carol Marinelli

  Continue reading

  CLAIMING HIS HIDDEN HEIR

  Carol Marinelli

  Available next month

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