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CHAPTER FOUR

AN HOUR AFTER getting settled in the fabulous guest bedroom she’d only glimpsed yesterday, Belle heard a tap on the door. She’d been drying her freshly washed hair with her blow-dryer, and turned it off to go answer. Dinner wouldn’t be for another hour.

“The signore sent me to find out if you need laundry service or would like something ironed for tonight,” said the maid standing there.

Belle had never had service like this in her life. Since she wanted to look perfect for her mother, she decided to take advantage of Leon’s incredible hospitality. But she couldn’t forget for a second that his life and the lives of their parents were unique in the annals of Italian history.

“Just a moment, please.”

She hurried over to her suitcase, which he’d placed on a chest at the end of the king-size bed. After opening it, she pulled out the short-sleeved, lime-colored suit with white lapels and white trim.

“This needs a little touching up to get out the wrinkles,” she explained as she handed it to the maid.

“I’ll be right back.”

“Thank you very much.”

While Belle waited, she finished brushing her naturally curly hair and put on her pearl earrings. Fastening the matching pearl necklace presented problems because she was all thumbs. Tonight would be the culmination of her dreams. Despite Leon’s compliments, the fear that she’d be a disappointment to her mother wouldn’t leave her alone.

She was glad she’d brought her low-slung white heels. When she’d packed for her trip, she hadn’t really imagined having an opportunity to wear them.

Before long, the maid brought Belle’s suit to the bedroom. “The signore said you should join him on the patio whenever you’re ready,” she announced.

Just the thought of him sent Belle’s heart crashing to her feet. She could still feel his mouth on hers, filling her with an ecstasy she didn’t know was possible.

Trying to pull herself together, she thanked the maid again. One more glance in the ornate, floor-length mirror after fastening the buttons, and she felt ready to join her host. Would he approve?

What if he didn’t? Did it matter to her personally?

Yes, it mattered. Horribly. Those moments of intimacy at the pension had been a revelation to her. The way he’d kissed her had brought every nerve ending to life. The fact that he was her stepbrother didn’t matter once they’d crossed the line. What happened between them had shaken her so badly she could hardly function right now, but she had to!

Not wanting to keep Leon waiting, she gave one more glance to the photo she’d placed on the dresser, then left the room and started down the hall. She knew her way out to the patio, but before she reached the open French doors, a darling brown dog rushed over to greet her. As she paused to rub his head, she saw that Leon wasn’t alone.

Her eyes traveled to the dainty, dark blonde baby he held in his arms. She was wearing a pink pinafore and tiny pink sandals, the colors of which stood out against the black silk shirt he was wearing. The child cuddled to his chest couldn’t be more than six or seven months old and possessed features finer than bone china.

He was walking her around the patio. As he talked to her, he kissed her cheek and neck over and over again. The scene with the baby was so sweet it brought hot tears to Belle’s eyes. To be loved like that…

She shivered. She knew what those lips felt like on her mouth. To her shame, she hadn’t wanted him to stop. Right now she longed to feel them against her own neck.

Was the baby his child? Or could she be Dante’s? Belle didn’t know much about his family. Their coloring was so different, given Leon’s vibrant black hair, but his affection for the little girl touched Belle to the core.

He must have sensed Belle’s arrival. When he turned, their gazes fused. She felt him taking in her appearance. In that moment his eyes glowed a crystalline gray that made her legs go weak in response. It was that same smoldering look she’d glimpsed back at the pension after she’d pulled away from him.

“I can see you’ve already met Rufo. Now come and meet my daughter, Concetta.”

“Your baby?” Belle cried in wonder. That explained the love he showered on her. “Oh,” she crooned softly, “you sweet little thing.” She touched the hand clutching her daddy’s shirt.

“I’ve seen a lot of babies in my life at the orphanage, but I never saw one who had your exquisite features and skin. You’re like a porcelain doll.” She looked up at Leon. “She must have gotten those dark brown eyes from her mother.”

“Concetta inherited my wife’s looks.”

“Obviously she was a beauty.”

He pressed a kiss to his daughter’s forehead. “Before you judge me too harshly, I didn’t mention my daughter to you before now because we had a greater issue on our minds. I planned to introduce you after you agreed to follow through and meet Luciana.”

“You don’t have to explain. I understand. Would you think me too presumptuous to ask how your wife died?”

“No. She passed away giving birth.”

“Oh no! How awful for her—for you…” Belle’s gaze traveled back to the baby. “You lost your mommy? No little girl as sweet as you should grow up without your mother. I—I’m so sorry, darling.” Her voice broke. “At least you’ll always know who she was, because you have your daddy, who loved her so much. And you have pictures.”

Without conscious thought Belle kissed that little hand before she looked up at Leon. “What went wrong during the delivery?”

He cuddled his daughter closer. “Soon after our marriage Benedetta was diagnosed with systemic lupus.”

A moan escaped Belle’s lips before she could prevent it. “One of the sisters at the orphanage had that disease.”

He kissed the baby’s head. “My wife was the daughter of the now deceased head of the kennel on my father’s estate. She and I had been friends throughout childhood. Later on, after I came home from college and had been working at the bank for several years, we fell in love, and got married in a small, quiet ceremony, out of the public eye.

“Before long her illness became more aggressive. She developed a deep vein thrombosis in the leg, which was hidden at the time. A piece of blood clot broke off and ended up in her lung. It caused it to collapse, and heart failure followed.”

“Oh, Leon…”

“Concetta came premature. My great sadness was that Benedetta’s life had been snuffed out before she’d been able to hold our baby.”

Belle’s heart ached for them. “Will Concetta get lupus?”

“No. Thankfully, the pediatrician says my daughter is free of the disease. It doesn’t necessarily follow that the child inherits it.”

“Thank heaven!” Belle exclaimed. “How lucky she is to have her daddy! Every girl needs her father.”

Leon’s glance penetrated to the core of her being. “You think it’s possible to do double duty?” he rasped.

In that question, she heard a vulnerability she would never have expected to come from him. The dark prince who’d kissed her hungrily had a weakness, after all. A precious cherub, the reminder of the woman he’d loved and lost. “With her father loving her more than anyone else in the world, she won’t know anything else, and will have all the love she needs, to last her a lifetime and beyond.”

He hugged his daughter tighter. “I hope you’re right.”

“I know I am. Do you think she’d get upset if I tried to hold her?”

“She isn’t used to people except my staff and family. If you try, you’ll be taking your life in your hands, but if you want to risk it…” He didn’t sound unwilling, just skeptical.

“I do.” The operation at the orphanage was such that the older children always helped with the infants and toddlers. Belle had no hesitation as she plucked the baby from his powerful arms.

By now Concetta had started to cry, but Belle whirled around with her and sang a song that so surprised the baby, she stopped crying and looked up at her. The dog followed them. It was then Leon’s little girl discovered the pearls, and grabbed them. Belle laughed gently. “You like those, don’t you.”

At this point Leon attempted to intervene. She felt his fingers against her skin while he tried to remove his daughter’s hands, but she held on tighter. After a slight tug-of-war, the necklace broke and the pearls rolled all over the patio tiles. The sound sent Rufo chasing after them.

“Uh-oh.” Belle chuckled again, because the surprise on the baby’s dear face was priceless. “Where did they go?” Concetta turned her head one way, then another, trying to find them.

“I’m sorry about your necklace, Belle,” Leon murmured, while his gaze narrowed on her mouth. Heat radiated through her body to her face.

“It’s nothing,” she said in a ragged voice.

“Once the pearls are gathered, I’ll have them restrung for you.”

“Don’t you dare,” she said, to fight her physical attraction to Concetta’s father, who suddenly looked frustrated. His baby made him so human, her heart warmed to him. “This is costume jewelry I bought for twenty dollars on sale. We don’t care, do we, Concetta.” She kissed her head and kept walking with her, to put Leon out of her mind. Of course, it didn’t work.

“Let’s watch that boat with the red-and-white sail.” She pointed to it, but by now the baby was staring at her. There were no more tears. “I bet you’re wondering who I am. My name is Belle Donatello. I can’t believe I know my last name. Your generous daddy is letting me stay here for a few days.”

I’m staying at my peril.

She lifted her head to find Leon standing a few feet away. “How do you say daddy in Italian?”

“Papà,” he answered in a husky tone.

Belle turned so Concetta could see him. “There’s your papà.”

All of a sudden his daughter started to whimper, and reached for him. Belle closed the distance and gave her back to him. But the baby quickly looked around and kept staring at Belle in fascination.

Leon’s sharp intake of breath reached her ears. “If I hadn’t witnessed it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed what just happened.”

“What do you mean?”

“She didn’t break into hysterics with you. Anything but.”

Belle’s mouth curved upward. “I learned in the orphanage that all babies have hysterics. It’s normal. The trick is to get their attention before they become uncontrollable. The sisters were lucky, since between their habits and crucifixes, they were able to quiet the babies down fast. My pearls did rather nicely, don’t you think?”

Leon had a very deep, attractive chuckle. “I think the next time you hold her, you’d better keep her hands away from the pearls in your earlobes. Inexpensive as they might be, the rest of you is…irreplaceable.”

A certain nuance in his voice made her realize he’d been remembering what had gone on earlier. It wasn’t something you could forget.

“Did you hear that, Concetta?” She poked the child’s tummy and got a smile out of her. Lifting the hem of the pinafore, she said, “Pink is my favorite color, too. I bet your papà bought this for you because he couldn’t resist seeing you in it.” The gleam in his eyes verified her statement. “Even if you weren’t a real princess, you look like one.”

For the first time since she’d joined him, his features hardened. “There are no titles under this roof and never will be.”

Meaning even after his father died? It followed that, being the elder brother, he would be Count Malatesta one day, but he’d just made it clear he wanted no part of it.

“After what I’ve learned of my mother’s tragic history, I think that’s the wisest decision you could make as her father.”

He switched Concetta to his other compact shoulder. “Before she and my father arrive, this little one needs her dinner. I’ll take her to the kitchen.”

“Can I come, too, and help feed her?”

A quick, white smile transformed him into the kind of man her roommates would say was jaw-dropping gorgeous. He was that, and so much more Belle couldn’t find words. “If you do, you may have to change your outfit.”

She sent him a reciprocal smile, attempting like mad to pretend she hadn’t experienced rapture. “That’ll be no problem.”

Together with the dog, they walked through the dayroom and down another hall. Belle glimpsed a library and an elegant dining room on their way to the kitchen. From one of the windows she could see a swimming pool surrounded by ornamental flowering trees. A vision of the two of them in the water after dark wouldn’t leave her alone.

In the kitchen three women were busily working. Leon introduced her to his housekeeper, Simona, the maid, Carla, and the nanny, Talia, who reached for the baby. If they knew who Belle really was, rather than simply being a guest, they showed no evidence.

After tying a bib around Concetta’s neck, Talia placed her in the high chair next to the table and drew a chair over to feed her.

Belle shot Leon an imploring glance. “Could I give her her dinner?”

He looked surprised. “You really want to? Sometimes she doesn’t cooperate.”

“That’s all right. I’d love it! I moved out of my adoptive parents’ house at eighteen and haven’t tended a baby since.”

To her joy, he said something to Talia in Italian. She smiled at Belle, then brought the baby food jars to the table. Belle opened the lid on the meat.

“Hmm…smells like lamb.” She glanced down at the dog, who sat there begging her with his eyes. “Sorry, this food isn’t for you, Rufo.” The other jar contained squash. “Oh boy, Concetta. This all looks nummy.” Belle took the spoon and dipped it in the vegetable. “Here it comes.”

Slowly, she lifted it in the air and did a few maneuvers. Those black-brown eyes followed the action faithfully. Belle brought the spoon closer to the baby, who’d already opened her mouth, waiting for her food. Belle saw Leon in the shape of his daughter’s mouth and felt an adrenaline rush that almost caused her to drop the utensil.

He burst into laughter. “You’re a natural mother.”

“Not really.” She began feeding Concetta her meat while the women watched. “I fed the babies at the orphanage. This is the only thing I have a natural aptitude for.”

“The CEO at TCCPI has told me otherwise,” he stated.

If she wasn’t careful, she might start wanting to hear more of his compliments. And believing them, Belle?

“When you’re on your own and forced to earn a living, you learn a trade fast.”

A troubled expression entered his eyes. “Your adoptive father never helped you after you left home?”

She shook her head, with its dark, shiny mass of flowing hair, and continued to feed the baby. “But I’d be ungrateful if I didn’t acknowledge that he and Nadine fed and clothed me for eight years while I lived under their roof. Some of my friends in the orphanage never got adopted, and lived their whole lives there until they were old enough to leave. I was one of the luckier ones.”

Concetta hadn’t quite finished her food when she put her hands out as if to say she was full. She was so adorable, Belle could hardly stand it. “I think you’ve had enough.” Without thinking about it, she untied the bib. After wiping Concetta’s mouth with it, she put it on the table and lifted the baby out of the high chair.

“Uh-oh. I can tell you need to be changed. Where’s your bedroom?”

Leon had been lounging against the wall, watching them. “Upstairs.”

Belle darted him a glance. “If you’ll show me, I’ll change her, but only if it’s all right with you.”

One black brow lifted. “Since you’ve got her literally eating out of the palm of your hand, I have a feeling she’d have a meltdown if anyone else dared to interfere at this point.”

“Leon…” The man had lethal charm. It had been getting to her from the first day and had worked its way beneath her skin.

“Follow me.”

The only thing to do was concentrate on the baby. “You have the most beautiful home, Concetta. I always wanted to live in a house with a staircase like this. I wonder how long it will be before you slide down the banister when your papà isn’t looking.”

She heard the low chuckles trailing after him, and it was impossible to keep her eyes off his hard-muscled frame. She knew what it was like to be crushed against him, and came close to losing her breath, remembering. In father mode, Leon was completely different from the forbidding male she’d first met. Like this he was irresistible.

Rufo darted ahead of them. They entered the first room at the top of the stairs. “I might have known you’d live in a nursery like this. Your father has spoiled you silly, you lucky little girl.” Belle felt as if she’d entered fairyland. He’d supplied everything a child could ever want.

There was a photograph on the dresser of a lovely, dark blonde woman who had to be Leon’s deceased wife. Concetta would always ache for the mother who hadn’t lived through childbirth. The thought made Belle’s heart constrict. She knew what it felt like to want your mother and never know her.

She carried the baby over to the changing table against the wall and got busy. After powdering, she put a clean diaper on her. Concetta’s cooperation made it an easy operation.

Leon stood next to Belle. The scent of the soap he used in the shower lingered to torment her.

“You’ve mesmerized my daughter.”

“It’s the lime suit.” She picked up the baby. After giving her a kiss on her neck, she placed Concetta in her father’s arms. “I’m wearing a different color than she’s used to seeing.”

“So that’s your secret weapon?”

When Belle raised her head in query, the crystal gray eyes she remembered had morphed to a slate color. Just now she’d detected an edge in his tone, and didn’t understand it. If he hadn’t wanted her to feed or change the baby, he should have told her.

As her spirits plummeted, she heard a male voice, and spun around to discover Leon’s father in the nursery doorway. Rufo had already hurried over to him. She recognized him from the photographs, but since the time those pictures were taken, his dark hair had become streaked with silver.

His presence meant Belle’s mother was here! Her mouth went dry.

Leon saw the shock on his father’s face. Normally, he headed straight for Concetta, but not this time. The count was staring at Belle. Her beauty stopped men in their tracks, but he’d also seen the resemblance to Luciana and was obviously speechless for a moment.

His father wasn’t the only one. Leon had felt out of control since their first meeting. Just now her easy interaction with Concetta, and his daughter’s acceptance of Belle, had caught him unaware. It had to be because Belle reminded her of Luciana. To his chagrin he’d experienced a ridiculous moment of jealousy.

“Papà? May I introduce Belle Peterson. Belle? Meet my father, Sullisto.”

The older man walked over to Belle with suspiciously bright eyes. “It’s like seeing your beautiful mother when she was in her twenties.” He kissed her on both cheeks and grasped her hands. “My wife’s not going to believe it. I’m not sure I do.”

“I don’t believe it, either,” Belle answered in an unsteady voice. “It’s like a dream. I’m so happy to meet you.”

He studied her features for a long moment. “How do you want to do this, my dear?”

Leon appreciated his father’s sensitivity and stepped in. “Where’s Luciana?”

“I left her in the living room, playing the piano.”

“Why don’t you entertain Concetta up here while I take Belle downstairs to meet her?” He kissed the baby and handed her over. “I’ll come back for the two of you in a few minutes and we’ll go down together.”

His father hugged the baby to him before looking at Belle. “Take all the time you need.”

“Are you sure this is the right thing to do, signore?” Her question went straight to Leon’s gut.

“Call me Sullisto. You’re going to make a new person of my wife,” his father reassured her.

A hand went to her throat. “Thank you for being so kind and accepting.”

Leon could only wonder at the emotions gripping her. “Let’s go.”

She followed him out of the room and down the stairs. The sound of the piano grew louder. When they reached the front foyer, he turned to her. “Ready?”

Belle nodded. “I’ve been waiting for this all my life, but I’d like you to go first.”

Taking a deep breath, he opened the French doors. “Good evening, Luciana.”

The playing stopped and she got up from the baby grand piano looking lovely as usual in a draped midriff jersey dress in a blue print. Though her daughter wasn’t wearing Versace, Belle had the same sense of style and good taste as her mother.

She hurried across the Oriental rug toward him. “Thank you for inviting us, Leon. Where’s your precious baby?”

He noticed the two women had the same little tremor in their voices when they were nervous. They were both the same height, but Luciana wore her hair short these days in a stylish cut. After giving her a kiss on both cheeks, he said, “Upstairs with Papà. But before he brings her down, there’s someone I want you to meet.”

“A special woman?”

He knew what she was thinking. His father had Leon’s love life on his mind and no doubt had been discussing the list of eligible titled women with Luciana. “This one is very special. You’ll have to speak English. Come in,” he called over his shoulder.

After Belle stepped into the living room, he watched Luciana’s expression turn to incredulity, then shock. She went so pale he put an arm around her shoulders and helped her to the nearest love seat. “Your daughter has come all the way from New York looking for you.”

A stillness enveloped both women before Luciana cried, “Arabella?”

Tears splashed down Belle’s cheeks. She, too, had lost color. Fear that she might faint prompted Leon to help her sit next to her mother.

“That’s my real name?” she asked in wonder. “Arabella?”

“Yes. Arabella Donatello Sloan. Your father was English. Arabella was his grandmother’s name. She told him it meant beautiful lion. You are so beautiful. I don’t know how you ever found me, but oh, my darling baby girl, I’ve missed and ached for you every moment since I gave you up. You’ve been in my every prayer. Let me hold you.”

It was like a light had gone on inside, bringing Luciana to life, illuminating her countenance. Like her mother, Belle glowed with a new radiance. They weren’t aware of anyone else.

The sight of the two women clinging desperately while they communicated and wept and made dozens of comparisons brought a giant-size boulder to Leon’s throat.

The explanation of Belle’s name reminded Leon of his conversation with her the day before, about his own name meaning lion. Belle remembered, too, because she darted him a quick glance. It was an odd coincidence.

“I want you to know about your father. I have pictures of him back at the palazzo.”

Belle flashed Leon a smile. He knew what seeing a picture of him would do for her.

“Arabella was the grandmother who raised him before she died. We talked about names before you were born. That’s the one we liked the best. You would have loved him, but he was killed before we could be married. I was so terrified he’d been murdered that, when I had you, I made the decision to give you up because the danger you might be killed, too, was too great.”

Leon moved closer to them. “We now know that no one was murdered, and Robert’s death had to have been an accident.”

“Yes, but I didn’t know it until a few months ago. When I think about the years we’ve lost…” Her mother broke down sobbing.

Belle held her for a long time. “What happened to my father?”

“Robert and I had been in downtown Newburgh and we’d just left each other. He’d started across the intersection when this car crossed over the lines and came at him at full speed. The driver just kept going, leaving Robert lying there lifeless.”

Belle’s groan filled the room.

“It was so horrifying I went into labor and was taken to the hospital. You came a month early, Arabella. You were still in the intensive care unit when I had a graveside service for Robert. The police never found the man who killed him.”

“How terrible for you.” Belle reached out to hug her harder.

“It was terrible, since I couldn’t tell my father. He didn’t know about Robert. I knew if I took you back to Italy, he wouldn’t let me keep you at the palazzo. Worse, I was afraid you wouldn’t be safe with me anywhere.

“When I made arrangements for you at the orphanage, you still needed a lot of care. But my father sent for me to come home. He wasn’t feeling well, because of his heart, and hinted that he wanted me to meet Count Malatesta, who’d recently lost his wife to cancer. My father wanted him for a son-in-law.

“We married on my twentieth birthday. The fact that he still wanted me after I confessed everything to him in private proved to me he was a good man. But while I was still in New York, I couldn’t imagine ever marrying again. It was agony, because I had to rely on the sisters to watch over you. I told them I’d named you Belle. That way no one could ever trace you to Robert or me. I also told them they had to promise that whoever adopted you would take you to church.”

“Nadine always took me.”

“Thank heaven for that.”

In all the years Leon had known Luciana, she’d never made such long speeches. In one breath he’d already learned enough about her past to erase the lies he’d heard whispered by the staff and others who lived on gossip. Those lies about her being shallow and of little substance had colored his thinking for years.

He left the living room and remained outside the doors for several minutes to get a grip on his emotions, before taking the stairs two at a time. When he entered the nursery, he found his father helping Concetta stack some blocks. Sullisto saw him in the doorway. “Well…I guess I don’t have to ask how it went. Your eyes say it all.”

Leon nodded. “You were right. This was one reunion that was meant to be. Come downstairs and see for yourself.”

He plucked his daughter from the floor, still clutching one of her blocks, and they headed out the door with Rufo. When they’d descended the staircase and entered the living room, he discovered the two women still seated on the love seat, deep in conversation punctuated with laughter and tears.

“Forgive us for barging in on you, but my daughter wants to join in.”

“Concetta…” Luciana rushed over to take her from Leon’s arms. Belle was right there with her. Both women fussed over his daughter, laughing, and his little girl broke out in smile after smile. She’d never had so much loving attention in her life.