Elizabeth Power - Italian Bachelors - Unforgotten Lovers - The Change in Di Navarra's Plan / Bound by the Italian's Contract / Visconti's Forgotten Heir

Yes, and she’d been sitting there in his waiting room, looking so fresh and out of place at the same time. He still remembered the black suit and the pink heels with the price tag. A twinge of something sliced into him, but he didn’t want to examine it. And he definitely wasn’t revisiting what had happened next. It might have been a mistake, but she’d had ample opportunity to tell him the truth.

Instead, she’d seen a way to gain advantage—and she’d taken it. Then she’d kept the pretense going until she’d thought she had him right where she wanted him. He could still see her face that morning, still see how pleased she’d been with herself when he’d questioned her about the case.

His reaction had been inevitable. He’d experienced all those old feelings of despair and fear and loneliness he’d had as a boy, and he’d hated her for doing that to him. For making him remember what he’d worked hard to bury. He’d had no choice but to walk out.

Because she’d blindsided him and he hadn’t seen it coming. He’d thought she was someone she wasn’t, and he’d felt something with her that he hadn’t felt in a long time. He had almost—almost, but not quite—let himself relax with her. She’d been so guileless, unlike the women he usually dated. His fault for always choosing sophisticates, but until he’d experienced someone like Holly Craig, he’d not realized he might enjoy less artifice.

That she’d fooled him, that she’d been as scheming as the most seasoned gold digger, still rankled. He did not regret throwing her out.

But he did regret that he’d let her escape without first seeing the photos. He’d thought about tracking her down once she was gone, but he’d ultimately decided it was best if he did not.

“And what did you hope to gain from a meeting with me? A job?”

She shook her head. “I had hoped you would want Colette.”

“Colette?”

“It’s named after my grandmother. It’s the last fragrance we created together. The finest, I might add. I had hoped you would buy it and market it.”

“Surely you know this is not how huge companies work.” He slid his fingers along the stem of his wineglass. “At Navarra, we employ several perfumers. We brainstorm concepts and give directions. The perfumers work to create something that meets our expectations. Sometimes, we create fragrances in tandem with celebrities. We do not, however, buy fragrances from individuals.”

Her chin lifted. “Yes, but this one is good enough you might have. And I had to try.”

He could almost admire her determination. Almost. “Why?”

She turned her head and put her fingers to her lips. He wondered if she was thinking about her answer, but when she turned back to him, he could see the sheen of moisture in her eyes. “Because my gran was gone and I didn’t want to lose her house. I wanted to honor her memory and save my childhood home at the same time.”

Inside, a tiny flicker of unease reared its head. “And did you lose the house?” He knew the answer because of how he’d found her. If she’d still had her childhood home, would she have been a cocktail waitress in a casino? Especially with a baby?

There were two fresh spots of color in her cheeks. “I did. I couldn’t make the payments against the debt, so it was sold. A nice couple lives there now.”

He hadn’t had a childhood home. The thought made him feel raw inside. But he’d wanted one. He’d been eleven when his uncle had finally wrested him from his mother’s capricious grip. Eleven when he’d first entered the Di Navarra estate in Tuscany. It was as close to a childhood home as he had.

Except, he had no memories of a mother’s love or of warmth and belonging in a place. His uncle had been good to him, and he was grateful, but he’d spent a lot of time alone—or with tutors—because Uncle Paolo had spent so much time working.

“Where are your parents?” he asked her.

“I never knew them. My father is a mystery man, and my mother died when I was a baby.” She said it so unemotionally, but he knew it had to hurt. He’d never known his father, though of course he knew his identity. He hadn’t been that lucky with his mother. She had left her imprint deep. He was still trying to cover the scars of what she’d done to him.

“And what about the father of your child?” he asked, shaking away painful thoughts of his mother. “Why didn’t he step up and help?”

Her lips flattened and she took a deep breath. “He didn’t want to be burdened, I imagine,” she finally said, her voice soft and brittle at once.

He imagined her pregnant and alone, without a home, and felt both anger and sympathy. Anger because she reminded him of his mother and sympathy because she’d lost so much. Was that what had happened to his mother? He’d never understood why she’d been so flighty, why she’d moved from place to place, always searching for something that eluded her.

She might have had to settle down if not for him. If not for the money he represented. The money his uncle gave for his care, but which she would spend taking him someplace remote and hiding him from the Di Navarras. When she would run out, she would emerge again, hand outstretched until Uncle Paolo filled it—and then they would disappear once more.

Clearly, Holly wasn’t doing that with this child—but she had been living in that dingy building and leaving the baby with strangers. His mother had done the same thing, time and again. If Holly got money from the baby’s father, would she spend it all recklessly in the pursuit of filling some emptiness inside herself? Or would she settle down and take care of the baby the way he should be taken care of?

“I am given to understand you can sue for child support in this country,” he said mildly. “At the least, you could have gotten a bit of help for your child. I wonder that you did not do it.”

Her eyes flashed hot. “You make it sound so simple. But I would have needed money for a lawyer, wouldn’t I? Since I couldn’t afford to make the mortgage payments, I couldn’t afford a lawyer, either.”

“So you got a job as a cocktail waitress.” There was condemnation in his tone. He knew it, and so did she. Certainly she could have found something else. Something safer for a child.

Her chin came up. “After I left New Hope, yes. I went to New Orleans and got a job in the casino. The tips were good and I needed the money.”

“But not good enough to afford you a decent place to live.”

“Not everyone is so fortunate as you.”

“I have had nothing handed to me, cara. I worked for everything I have.”

“Yes, but you had all the advantages.”

“Not quite all,” he said. For the first eleven years, he’d had no advantages. Hell, he hadn’t even been able to read until Uncle Paolo had taken him away from his mother and gotten him an education that didn’t require him to count out coins for supper. “Besides, when you are done here, you’ll have enough money to take your baby somewhere safe.”

“How dare you suggest I would put my baby in danger?” she said tightly. “Just because I couldn’t afford a home that meets your standards, Your High and Mightiness, doesn’t mean my son wasn’t safe.”

She was tightly strung, her body practically trembling with nervous energy. Her eyes flashed fire and her jaw was set in that stubborn angle he’d oddly come to enjoy. Such a firecracker, this girl.

They’d burned together before. What would it be like now?

He shoved the thought away and let his gaze slide over her lovely face. She was going to make Navarra Cosmetics a lot of money, if his gut was any judge. And it usually was.

He didn’t need to screw it up by getting involved with her again, however enticing the thought. Instead, he thought of where he’d found her, of the utter desolation of that apartment building, and his anger whipped higher.