Rebecca Winters - The Count's Christmas Baby

IN HER mind Sami could hear Pat’s dire warning, but she hadn’t heeded it.

This situation had hit rock bottom and was exactly what she’d hoped to avoid, but this man wouldn’t let it go and had followed her to the hotel. Since she’d started this, she decided that if she didn’t want to deal with Chief Coretti again, she’d better let him in.

After undoing the chain, she hurried across the room to the crib. Once she’d picked up the baby, she cuddled him against her shoulder in a protective gesture. Kissing him, she said, “You heard noises and they frightened you, didn’t they, sweetheart? Don’t worry. It’s okay.” She flicked Mr. Degenoli a curious glance. “Our visitor will be leaving soon.”

The arresting-looking Italian had already come inside the room and locked the door behind him. She shivered a little as he drew closer to look at her baby.

Sami decided this Mr. Degenoli had to be a relative of her baby’s father. That’s why his voice sounded so familiar to her. Back at the station he’d been as cagey as she’d tried to be in her effort to protect people and reputations, even to the extent of possibly lying about his name, but with both father and son dead, there was no worry now. The only thing to do was answer his questions, then go home to Reno in the morning.

“Excuse me while I change him.” Reaching for a towel, she spread it on top of the bed and put the baby down.

“Where did you leave him while you were at the police station?”

Sami undid the baby’s stretchy blue suit. “Here, of course. Don’t you know the last place for a baby was that smoke-filled building? This hotel happens to have an outstanding child-minding service.” Sami’s sister had made the reservation for her. “That’s the reason I booked in here. They sent a qualified nurse to watch over him while I went to the police station.”

He didn’t look as if he believed her. “I didn’t kidnap him. If you’re so skeptical, call the front desk and ask them yourself. They’ll verify who I am.”

At this point his eyes were riveted on the baby. “How old is he?”

Sami used the baby wipes and discarded everything in a plastic bag. After powdering him, she slipped him into a fresh diaper. “Two months, but that information wouldn’t have any relevance for you. I couldn’t bring him to Genoa to meet his grandfather before now.”

“Grandfather—”

“Yes. Why do you seem so shocked? Most children have them. I’m heartbroken that my son is never going to know him or … his father.” Her voice faltered.

She kissed the soft baby hair that was dark and too beautiful for a boy. His handsome face was all flushed, but he stopped crying long enough to notice the intruder who was thoroughly inspecting him.

After fastening the snaps on the stretchy suit, she wrapped him in his quilt and picked him up to snuggle him. “I think you’re ready for your dinner, young man.” She walked over to the dresser for a fresh bottle of ready-mixed formula and sat down on a chair to feed him.

“Your voice sounds familiar to me, Signorina.”

So she wasn’t the only one imagining their connection. “Yours does to me, too. Strange, isn’t it, when I know we’ve never met?”

His dark brows furrowed. “More than strange. Were you in Europe on holiday recently?”

“Not for close to a year, but I’ve traveled to Europe before.”

“I’d like to see your passport again.”

“Let me feed my son first, then I’ll get it for you.”

He was a good little eater, but he’d been awakened before his nap had been over and was ready to go back to sleep. She burped him, then put him back in the crib and covered him with the quilt.

Aware of Mr. Degenoli’s eyes watching her every move, she walked over to the dresser and pulled the passport from her purse. “In case you were wondering, I applied for this passport several years before my baby was born.”

Her visitor took it from her and studied the pages with the various entry stamps. “This last one dated in January says you visited Austria—”

“Yes.”

“Where in Austria?” The inflexible male sounded in deadly earnest.

“Innsbruck.”

At the mention of it, his complexion took on a definite pallor. “Why that town?”

“Because my sister and her husband own a travel agency, and I was checking out some hotels for them there and in the surrounding areas. They’re always looking for new places to book their clients into.”

Mr. Degenoli appeared so shaken, she decided to end their inane question-and-answer session. Without hesitation she reached for her purse and pulled out a brown envelope. “Here—” Sami handed it to him. “I brought this to show my baby’s grandfather. It will explain everything.”

He eyed her suspiciously before he opened it and pulled out the birth certificate.

“As you can see there, I named my baby Ric, after his daddy. Ric Argyle Degenoli. You see, b-both Ric and his father, Alberto, were caught up in the same avalanche I was buried in last January.” Her voice faltered. “I assume Alberto was a relative of yours. Maybe your uncle?”

Her uninvited guest didn’t make a sound. It led her to believe he was finally listening to her. “I’d just stopped in one of the hotels for a minute to check it out and get a hot drink in the dining room. As I was about to go outside again to do a little sightseeing, the avalanche swept through the three-story hotel like a supersonic freight train.

“Ric and I were entombed for several hours. I knew he’d died before I lost total consciousness, but until you told me at the police station, I didn’t realize Alberto had been killed, too.

“After I woke up in a clinic, I assumed Ric’s father had survived, because only one male victim named Degenoli was listed among the fatalities. That was Ric, of course. His father must have died later from his injuries, after the list was put out.”

Sami couldn’t stop the tears from spurting. “It was a nightmarish time. My sister came to Innsbruck to get me and fly home with me. I didn’t realize until six weeks later that I was pregnant. At that point I determined that one day I’d look up Alberto and let him know he had a grandchild. But as you’ve let me know, this trip was in vain.”

The man listening to her story had gone eerily quiet.

“My sister calls my son Ricky, but I love the Italian version. I named him after his heroic father to honor him.”

“Heroic?” he questioned in a gravelly voice.

“Yes. One day when Ric is old enough, I’ll tell him how courageous his father was.”

“In what way?”

“You would have to have been there to understand. Ric was an amazing man. After the snow buried us, he kept me from losing my mind. You see, I suffer from claustrophobia. You can’t imagine what being trapped did to me. I wouldn’t be alive if it hadn’t been for him.

“We were total strangers sealed in a black tomb together We heard each other moan, but had no idea what the other one looked like. I know I was on the verge of a heart attack when he started talking to me and urged me to relax, because he believed we’d get out of there if we didn’t panic. He pointed out that by some miracle, we were trapped by beams that kept the whole weight from falling on us, providing us a pocket of air and room to wiggle.

“At first I thought I was dead and that he was an angel the way he took care of me and never let me panic. But when he reached for me and held me in his arms, promising me we’d be all right, I knew he was mortal.

“His only thought was to protect me. At first his kisses on my cheek held back my terror. I returned them, needing his comfort while we lay there slowly suffocating. We talked a little. He told me he’d just come from a wedding with his father, Alberto. I explained I was on a trip, but we didn’t go into details.