AS THEY LEFT the doctor’s private office downtown later that night, Hallie was in despair.
She couldn’t marry him. She couldn’t.
But how could she not?
Closing her eyes, she leaned back in the seat of the SUV and tried to picture herself as Cristiano’s wife. She imagined Cristiano in a tuxedo, striding through his luxury skyscraper while she trailed after him in a dumpy maid’s uniform.
How could the two of them ever marry? What did they even have in common?
Just one thing. Her gaze fell upon the baby in the car seat beside her.
What would it be like for Jack to be raised as a tycoon’s son, wealthy beyond belief? To go to all the best schools, with the best tutors? To be proficient at all the sports of the wealthy, like skiing, tennis, lacrosse? Every door in the world would be open to Jack.
A lump rose in her throat. But would her son be happy? Would he grow up to be a good, honorable man?
“Would you like me to take you home?” Cristiano said in a low voice.
Hallie looked at him over the baby seat in the back seat of the SUV. He’d taken off his tuxedo jacket and loosened his tie. His dark good looks and smoldering gaze burned through her.
“Home?” she whispered.
Cristiano lifted an eyebrow. “Whatever you might think of me, I’m not a total bastard. Now that I have proof of paternity I want you to be comfortable.”
He was willing to take Hallie home? He’d given up his ridiculous plan of forcing her to marry him?
A rush of relief flooded through Hallie; it was so great she almost cried.
“Thank you,” she choked out.
“Give Matthews your address.”
Her address. Remembering what had happened with her landlord that morning, she gulped. She didn’t want to face that horrible man again. Plus, if Cristiano saw where she’d been living, he might change his mind and refuse to let the baby live there. Hallie barely wanted to go back herself.
“Um...in the East Village,” she said vaguely.
Cristiano looked at her expectantly, dark eyebrows raised. Reluctantly she gave Matthews the address.
I just won’t let Cristiano go in, she told herself. The apartment building looked respectable enough on the outside. Plus, maybe her landlord was very sorry for what he’d done. Maybe.
She looked down at her baby, who’d been fed and changed at the clinic and was now happily babbling. She stroked his downy dark hair, looking into the eyes that were exactly like his father’s.
Then she suddenly remembered. Reaching into her diaper bag, she grabbed her phone. Just as she’d expected, she saw multiple messages from her friends.
Are you all right? Is he being nice?
From Tess.
Did he agree to pay child support? How much?
From Lola.
Why aren’t you answering?
Are you being held hostage?
Should we call the police?
Quickly Hallie typed out a response to them both.
All well. Just got a paternity test. He says he wants to be a father to Jack. More later.
She tucked her phone away. Rolling down her car window, Hallie took a deep breath, looking out into the warm, humid July night as their SUV drove into the Lower East Side. She felt sick at the thought of seeing her landlord, who wasn’t a proper landlord at all, just a guy who’d been willing to rent her a room in his apartment at a cut-rate price.
But the man had made it clear to her that morning that he expected her to pay in other, less tangible ways. She gulped. She never would have wanted to come back here, except she’d left behind all her most precious possessions. Her old family photos from West Virginia. Her grandmother’s homemade quilt. Her father’s watch. It was everything she had left of her family now.
Hallie took a deep breath. She’d just pay the landlord off, take all her stuff and then she and the baby could check into a hotel.
“Um...” Hallie bit her lip. “Do you think we could stop somewhere so I could cash my check?”
“You waste no time.” The corners of Cristiano’s lips twitched. “You think some check-cashing store is going to count you out a hundred thousand dollars in twenty-dollar bills?”
“Maybe a bank...”
“The banks are closed. Why do you need money?”
“I’ve been having a small problem with the landlord,” she said quietly. He stared at her.
“Are you under the impression that I’m leaving you and Jack at your apartment?”
She drew back, bewildered. “Aren’t you?”
“We’re getting your things. Jack’s things. Then we’re going back to my penthouse.”
“Oh,” she whispered.
“Put that check away. Rip it up, invest it, cash it tomorrow, whatever you want. But I’ll be providing you and my son with everything you could possibly need.”
His voice was autocratic. Clearly he thought he was still the boss of her. She felt shaken.
“I thought, now that you have the results of the paternity test—now that you have some legal rights—you wouldn’t need to get married.”
“You thought wrong.” The SUV pulled up at the curb in front of the five-story building. “Get what you need for tonight. Tomorrow, I’ll arrange for your lease to be paid in full. That should take care of your landlord. My staff will return to collect anything big or heavy. Cribs, furniture. Or we can leave all that behind and buy new. Whichever you prefer.”
“Um,” said Hallie, who owned neither a crib for the baby nor any actual furniture.
“I’ll wait here with the baby and give you your privacy. Don’t be long.” When she didn’t move, his gaze sharpened. “Well?”
Turning, she blurted, “I don’t need anything. Let’s just go straight to your hotel.”
“But you need clothes—”
“No, I’m fine.”
He looked at her as if she’d lost her mind. “But we’re already here.”
“I don’t want to go in!” Her voice was shrill.
Cristiano looked at her for a long moment. When he spoke, his voice was surprisingly gentle.
“What’s really going on, Hallie?”
With an intake of breath, she looked away. Even at midnight the street was busy, and the neon lights of pizzerias and Laundromats littering First Avenue lit up the sultry summer night.
“After you fired me,” she said softly, “it was hard to find a job. I finally worked as housekeeper for a couple on the Upper West Side. The job included room and board. But when I brought Jack home from the hospital they let me go.”
His eyebrows lowered. “Why?”
She gave a humorless smile. “They said Jack’s crying was causing psychic trauma to their two Chinese Crested show dogs.”
“Are you serious?”
“With a newborn, I couldn’t find a new job. I’ve lived off my savings for the last three months. Even the cheapest apartments were too much.” She looked down at her hands. “So last month, I rented a room in a stranger’s apartment. From an online site. I was amazed it was so cheap. Then...”
She stopped, biting her lip.
Eyes narrowing, Cristiano leaned forward in the back seat.
“Then?” he demanded.
“The man wasn’t bad at first. But over the last few weeks, he started brushing up against me in the kitchen. Trying to catch me coming out of the shower. That sort of thing.” She looked away. It was surprisingly hard to go on. “This morning, he...grabbed me.”
Silence fell in the SUV.
“He attacked you.” Cristiano’s voice was toneless. It gave her the courage to meet his eyes.
“Maybe attack is too strong a word.” She tried to smile, failed. “He tried to kiss me and reach his hand under my dress. When I pushed him away, he told me I wasn’t paying my fair share of the rent so I should pay in other ways.” Trembling, she looked away. “I grabbed the baby and my diaper bag and ran. He yelled after me that I’d signed a lease and he’d be keeping all my things as payment. The only reason I have the stroller is because I’d left it downstairs.” She whispered, “He has everything I own. But I’m not sure I can face him again.”
Silence.
Slowly she looked up.
Then Hallie saw Cristiano’s expression. The fire in his dark eyes. The cold fury that threatened imminent death for the man who’d scared her.
“I’m fine. Really.” Putting her hands on his taut arm, she said hurriedly, “I hardly own anything. All my clothes would fit in a single duffel bag. It’s just family photos and an old quilt...” She realized she was babbling and took a deep breath. “He didn’t hurt me. He never threatened the baby...”
His voice was low and deadly. “He tried to force himself on you.”
“I got away. Everything’s fine, we’re all fine—”
“I’m not fine,” Cristiano bit out, and got out of the vehicle. He looked back at her, his handsome face as implacable as granite. “Which apartment number?”
“Promise you won’t hurt him—”
“His number,” he ground out.
“Four C,” she whispered.
His face was half-hidden in shadow in the gleam from the neon sign of a nearby bar. “Wait here.”
He slammed the car door.
Hallie’s wait seemed to last forever. She nervously watched the minutes pass by on the dashboard. She stroked her baby’s cheek as he smiled up at her from the reverse-facing baby seat. “It’s fine,” she reassured Jack, who in response lifted his chubby arm to bat blindly at the giraffe toy dangling from the handle of his car seat.
Oh, she was being ridiculous. Most likely the two men were having a civilized chat, that was all. Cristiano was likely calmly writing a check—which was, after all, what he did best—and requesting that Mervin Smith, the man who possessed the rent-controlled apartment, would kindly pack up all her things and bring them down.
Right. Not even Tess would have believed that.
Nervously she looked up at Matthews, the driver, who was still sitting at the wheel. “I don’t need to worry about what Cristiano might do, right? He wouldn’t do anything violent. Right?”
Matthews peered up through his window at the building. “Luther’s not here. That’s a good sign.”
“Luther?”
“His bodyguard.”
Hallie brightened. “That’s true.”
“But Mr. Moretti was a brawler, back when he was young. He fought his way out of the streets of Naples.”
“Oh.” She swallowed. “But that was a long time ago. I’m sure Cristiano has changed—”
“And just last year—” Matthews stroked his beard thoughtfully “—two punks tried to jump him as he was jogging real early through Central Park. He put them in the hospital. And then there was the time—”
“That’s good,” Hallie said in a strangled voice, holding up her hand sharply. “You don’t need to tell me more.”
“Glad to help,” the driver said, straightening his old-fashioned black cap. Then he sucked in his breath and got out of the vehicle.
Hallie jumped as her car door was suddenly wrenched open. She saw Mervin, with dried ketchup still on his chin and his too-tight T-shirt pulling up over his huge belly, on his knees on the sidewalk. He looked terrified.
“I’m sorry,” he choked out. “I’m so sorry, Hallie—”
“Miss Hatfield,” Cristiano corrected coldly, standing behind the man like a dark angel.
“Miss Hatfield,” the man repeated desperately. “I brought down your stuff. Everything is there, totally perfect, I swear—”
“Thank you,” she said anxiously. Her eyes lifted to Cristiano’s. Even after what her landlord had done to her, she’d never wanted him humiliated like this. “It’s all right now.”
Cristiano looked down at the man with a sneer. “If I ever hear that you’ve attacked any woman ever again—”
“Never, ever, I swear,” Mervin cried. Stumbling to his feet, he hurried into the building with one final terrified glance back.
As Matthews stacked the few boxes into the SUV’s trunk, Cristiano calmly climbed into the back seat beside her and the baby. Matthews closed the trunk with a bang. Two minutes later, they were driving north through the streets of Manhattan.
Her heart was still pounding. “What did you do to him?”
Cristiano shrugged. “I asked him to apologize.”
“You just...asked?”
“I asked nicely.”
She thought about pushing the issue, then decided she didn’t want to know. She hadn’t seen visible signs of injury. That was the best she could hope for—and that the man had been sincere when he’d said he’d never try to force a kiss on any woman again. She took a deep breath.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “I don’t care about the clothes. But the pictures of my family mean the world to me.”
He looked at her, then set his jaw. “I’m surprised you even care about your family after they turned their backs on you.”
“What do you mean?”
“They left you and Jack to struggle alone.”
Hallie blinked at him in surprise, and said gently, “They didn’t have a choice. They died five years ago.”
Cristiano’s eyes widened. “Died?”
She swallowed over the lump in her throat. It was still hard to speak of it. “Back home, in West Virginia. I grew up in a tiny village in the mountains. I was nineteen, still living at home, working the overnight shift at a grocery store in a nearby town. A fire had burned much of the forest the previous summer. After a week of hard rain, one night a flash flood came down the mountain and ripped our cabin off its foundation. If I’d been sleeping in my bed, I would have died with my parents and brother.” She looked down. “For a long time, I wished I had.”
“I’m sorry,” he said quietly.
Blinking back tears, Hallie looked blindly out her window. “I came home at dawn and found fire trucks where my house had been. It had floated down the river, knocked to one side, crushed into wood. They found my family later...”
She couldn’t go on, remembering how she’d felt at nineteen when her whole world had fallen apart, when she’d lost her home and everyone she loved without warning.
Suddenly she felt Cristiano’s hand over her own.
With an intake of breath, she looked up. His eyes were black as jet.
“My mother died when I was eighteen,” he said quietly. “The night she kicked me out, I decided if she still wanted her lover even after he beat her, if she cared about him more than me, then fine, I’d go. But at three in the morning, I went back. I found the house on fire.”
“Arson?” Hallie breathed.
He shook his head, his lips twisting. “Nothing so deliberate. Her lover had been smoking in bed. He passed out drunk, and they both burned to death.” He gave her a crooked smile. “It’s funny, really. Your family died of water. Mine of fire.”
“Funny,” she said over the lump in her throat. All this time she’d hated Cristiano, believing him arrogant and ruthless and cold. All of which he was. But she’d never stopped to ask why.
“I’m sorry.” She twined her hand in his, trying in turn to offer comfort. “You know how it feels to lose family, too. To lose a home.”
For a moment, he looked at her. Then he turned, pulling his hand away. Lights moved over them in patterns as they drove toward Midtown.
When the SUV pulled up to the grand porte cohere of the Campania Hotel, Cristiano lifted the baby’s carrier from the back seat. Holding the handle with his powerful arm, he turned back to Hallie, extending his other hand to help her out of the car.
Nervously she put her hand in his. Just feeling his palm against hers as he helped her out made her shiver from her scalp to her toes.
He held her hand as they walked through the lobby with its soaring ceilings and elegant midcentury furniture. The space was filled with glamorous people, hotel guests and patrons of the lobby bar or the jazz club. She saw a sexy sheikh, pouting models and starlets.
All of them turned to stare at Cristiano as he passed. Then their gazes slid in confusion to Hallie, makeup-free and wearing a limp cotton sundress. Even more shocking was the baby carrier hanging from Cristiano’s arm.
People stared and whispered as they passed. A few dared to approach Cristiano with questions in their eyes. He just nodded at them and kept walking.
He stopped only briefly to speak to Clarence Loggia, the hotel manager, as Matthews and a porter headed for the elevator with Hallie’s boxes.
“Good evening, Mr. Moretti.” Mr. Loggia was too well trained to show even the slightest surprise at seeing either a baby or a former hotel maid on his employer’s arm.
“How is it tonight, Clarence?”
“I am pleased to report the hotel is currently at ninety-six percent capacity. The Sultan of Bataar just arrived. He’s taken the presidential suite for the entire summer, along with the rest of the floor for his entourage.”
“Excellent. Please send him my regards and a collection of his favorite brandy and cigars with my personal compliments.”
The man smiled. “Already done, sir.” He hesitated, then lowered his voice. “Also, I thought you would want to know. Prince Stefano Zacco di Gioreale just checked in.”
“Why does he insist on staying here?” A shadow crossed Cristiano’s face, then he shrugged. “I suppose his money is as good as any other’s.”
“I thought you’d say that.” The manager gave an impish smile. “But in light of your past history with the gentleman, I did take the liberty of adding a surcharge to his nightly rate.”
“He deserves it, the Sicilian bastard. Nicely done, Loggia. Anything else?”
“Nothing that requires your attention.”
“I see I’ll be leaving the hotel in good hands when I depart. Buonasera.”
“Good night, sir.”
Cristiano turned back to her. As they walked to the elevator, suddenly Hallie felt very tired. Without a word, he stepped ahead of her to press the elevator button.
“Hallie Hatfield!”
A woman’s shrill voice behind her made her jump. Turning, she saw Audrey, who’d once been her supervisor. Not just that. She’d once been a trusted mentor and friend.
“What are you doing here, Hallie?” the other woman demanded. “Looking for another rich man to seduce? You’re no longer employed here and not allowed to be loitering in the lobby with the guests. Get out before I call the—”
Audrey sucked in her breath as Cristiano suddenly turned around.
“Hallie’s with me,” he said mildly. “And I own the hotel, so that makes it all right, does it not, Ms....” He looked at her name tag. “Ms. Johnson?”
Audrey’s shocked face went white, then red.
“Yes, of course. I’m so sorry, Mr. Moretti,” she stammered, backing away. She bowed her head repeatedly. “I didn’t realize Hallie was with you. I’ll, um, return to my duties—”
The woman fled. As Hallie and Cristiano got into the elevator with their baby, he frowned. “That was your old supervisor.”
“Yes.”
“Did she always treat you so poorly?”
She gave a brief smile. “No.”
“Do you want me to fire her?”
Hallie gaped at him. She couldn’t tell if he was joking, but just to be safe she quickly said, “No, of course not. I feel bad for her.”
“Why?”
“When you ordered her to fire me directly, without going through HR, then gave her the mysterious severance envelope she wasn’t allowed to read...” Hallie shrugged. “She’s not stupid. She guessed we’d slept together.”
“Why would she care?”
Did he really not know? “Because she’s in love with you.”
“Is she?” he said carelessly. Hallie gave him a wistful smile.
“Most women are, I imagine. Even I almost was, once.”
Cristiano focused abruptly on her. She felt the intensity of his gaze burn through her soul. “You were in love with me?”
She swallowed.
“For a year, I often cleaned your penthouse—did you know that?”
He shook his head.
“Anytime your regular housekeeper, Camille, was sick or needed to take her grandchildren to school.” She gave a wistful smile. “Dusting your pictures, I used to look at your face and wonder what it would be like to...”
“Yes?” he said, drawing closer, putting his hand on her bare shoulder above the straps of her sundress. A hard shiver went through her.
The elevator reached their floor, and the door slid open with a ding.
“But that was before I knew you,” she said steadily. “Now nothing on earth could make me love you again.”
She walked out of the elevator, head held high. Cristiano reached past her to unlock the penthouse door with his fingerprint, still holding their baby’s carrier on his arm.
The city skyline, sparkling through floor-to-ceiling windows, was the only light in the penthouse.
The darkness was suggestive. Intimate. Setting down the baby carrier, Cristiano turned to face her.
“I don’t know about love,” he said in a low voice. “It’s not something I’ve ever felt, or wanted to feel.” Reaching out, he tucked a tendril of Hallie’s hair behind her ear. “But from the moment I first heard you sing, I knew you were different from any woman I’d ever known.”
“Thank you.” Shivering from his brief touch, she tried to smile. “That’s why I came to New York. Did you know? I dreamed of becoming a world-famous singer.”
For all his praise, he looked surprised. “A singer?”
Hallie gave a low laugh. “Did you think I came all the way from West Virginia because my big dream was to be a maid in your hotel?”
“No?” Cristiano smiled. “You certainly have the voice, cara. The heartbreak and longing of your song—you made me feel it. Your voice was the first thing I noticed about you.” His eyes slid over her face, to her bare shoulders, down her curvy body beneath the cotton sundress. “Do you want to know the second thing?”
A wave of heat went through her. Her cheeks burned as she whispered, “No.”
Maybe he wasn’t doing it on purpose, she thought. Maybe he flirted without thinking, like breathing. He couldn’t really still want her. But something in his eyes made her think—
He turned away, picking up the baby carrier. Beckoning Hallie to follow, he pushed open the first door down the hall.
“You can sleep here tonight.”
Confused, she followed him into the pristine guest room that she’d cleaned many times long ago. “Who’s in charge of cleaning this now?”
“Still Camille. I have no idea who her backup is.” He gave her a crooked grin. “They’re more careful than you were not to be seen.”
With a snort, Hallie looked around the guest room. “Every time I changed these sheets, they seemed untouched. I used to wonder if the room was ever used.”
He set the baby carrier gently on the floor. “It isn’t.”
Frowning, she turned to look at him. “Never?”
“You’re my first guest.”
“But surely you’ve invited family, friends—”
“I have no family,” he said. “When friends visit, I give them their own suite downstairs.”
“Oh.” No family, she thought. And though he lived in a luxurious hotel, he had no real home. In some ways, they were the same. Strange. For a moment their eyes met. Then she saw the boxes stacked neatly in the corner. “My things!”
She rushed over and started digging through the boxes. Relief poured through her as she found the family pictures, her father’s watch, her brother’s old baseball trophy, her mother’s music box. All the photos, still warped and faded, found on the banks of the river. Blinking away tears, she leaned back on her haunches and looked up at Cristiano.
“Everything is here. Thank you.” Her voice choked. “You don’t know what this means to me.”
“So I’m not still an indecent excuse for a man?”
She blushed. “I never should have said—”
“It’s all right.” He turned away. “I’ll leave you and the baby to rest.”
“You’re not afraid I’m going to try to run away with him in the middle of the night?”
He glanced back. “Are you planning to?”
Hallie thought of the fierce joy in Cristiano’s face when he’d gotten the paternity test results that proved Jack was his son. How he’d been so protective of her. How he’d gotten her precious possessions back for her. He, too, had experienced the pain of losing family and home.
She could no longer imagine stealing Jack away when Cristiano wanted so clearly to be part of his life.
“You’re Jack’s father,” she said in a small voice. “I wouldn’t try to hurt you.”
His shoulders relaxed. He motioned around the guest room and en suite bathroom. “It should be equipped with everything you require.”
“And then some,” she said, noticing the crib and a co-sleeper both set up on the other side of the king-size bed.
Following her gaze, Cristiano said awkwardly, “I didn’t know how you and the baby prefer to sleep. My assistant said both of those were popular with new mothers.”
“Thank you.” She gave him a smile. “It’ll be fun to use a co-sleeper that’s new. The crib looks nice, too.”
He gave a brief nod. “If you get hungry or need anything, just lift up the phone and dial one. It’s an express line to the front desk and will be prioritized above all other calls. The staff pride themselves on answering on the first ring.” Coming forward, he put his hand gently on Hallie’s bare shoulder. She felt his touch race through her entire body, setting her nerves aflame.
“Until tomorrow,” he said in a low voice.
After Cristiano left, closing the door behind him, Hallie took the baby carrier with her into the en suite bathroom. As Jack babbled contentedly from his carrier nearby, she took a quick, hot shower. She let all the sweat and anxiety of the long day wash off into steamy bliss. She washed her hair with the expensive shampoos and conditioners she’d once just stocked as a housekeeper. Afterward, she stepped into a soft, thick white terry-cloth robe from the heated stand. Her skin was pink and warm with steam as she came out and saw Jack was still happy in his baby carrier, cooing at the soft giraffe dangling from the handle.
“Now your turn, little one.” Unbuckling him from the carrier, she cuddled him close, kissing his soft head and chubby cheeks. She gave him a warm bath in the baby bathtub she found in the bathroom cabinet along with baby shampoo. Drying him off, she put him in a new diaper and clean footie pajamas.
Cuddling her baby close, she went to the soft new glider chair by the bedroom window and took a deep breath, relishing Jack’s sweet, clean baby smell. After reading him a short baby book from a collection on the shelf, she fed him and rocked him to sleep, then tucked him snugly into the co-sleeper.
Hearing her stomach growl, Hallie tried to remember the last time she’d eaten. A stale cookie at the single mothers support group? It seemed a year ago. Which reminded her. She grabbed her phone from her bag and messaged Tess and Lola.
I’m staying at his penthouse tonight. He got everything back from the landlord. I think everything’s going to be fine.
Plugging her cell phone in to recharge, she turned to the bulky phone plugged in to the wall. Hungry though she was, she couldn’t imagine calling room service, especially so late. She’d never ordered it herself, but her parents had told her about room service after they’d gone to a hotel in Cincinnati for their twenty-fifth anniversary.
“It was so expensive!” her father had exclaimed.
“With a required twenty-percent gratuity,” her mother had breathed in shock, “and a delivery fee on top of that!”
“And the food arrived cold!” he’d added indignantly. “Room service is for suckers who want to burn money!”
Hallie smiled at the memory. Her smile faded as she felt all over again how much she missed them. Then she shook her head decisively. No room service. She’d just have to find something in Cristiano’s kitchen.
Tightening the belt on her white terry-cloth robe, she peeked out into the penthouse’s dark hallway, telling herself that Cristiano was already asleep in his own bedroom. But when she crept into the kitchen, she saw him sitting on the white sofa in the great room, his handsome, intent face shadowed by the glow of his laptop.
Looking up, he saw her, and the smile that lit up his hard, handsome features made her heart skip a beat.
“Can’t you sleep?” Closing his laptop, he rose to his feet. He must have taken a shower, because his hair was wet. His chest was bare, revealing the defined curves of his muscled torso in the moonlight streaming through the windows. He wore only low-slung drawstring pajama pants. Very low-slung, clinging to edges of his hips, revealing the trail of dark hair on his taut belly.
Her mouth went dry. She had to force her eyes up.
“I’m, um, hungry,” she croaked, praying he couldn’t read her thoughts. Licking her lips, she gazed around the room, desperate to look anywhere but at his powerful bare chest, the flat plane of his stomach or the drawstring pants barely clinging to his hips.
“Did you call room service?”
What did room service have to do with anything? Oh, yes. She’d said she was hungry. Her eyes met his, and he gave her a sensual, heavy-lidded smile. She blushed to realize that he had caught her looking after all.
“It’s not necessary. I’ll just rummage in your fridge if that’s all right.”
Cristiano looked amused. “Go right ahead.”
But as she opened the door of his sleek, commercial-grade refrigerator, she was disappointed to see only an expensive bottle of vodka and some martini olives.
She turned back with a frown. “Where is your food?”
“I don’t cook.”
Peeking in his freezer, she saw ice cubes. That was it. No ice cream or even frozen broccoli past its sell-by date.
She’d known from her time cleaning the penthouse that Cristiano Moretti wasn’t exactly a chef, but the level of emptiness shocked her. Hallie looked through the cupboards with increasing desperation. They were empty except for a few items that belonged in a wet bar. Disappointed, she looked at him accusingly.
“Don’t you even snack?”
He shrugged. “I lead a busy life. Why own a hotel if I don’t use the amenities?”
“No one can hate cooking this much.”
He gave her a sudden grin. “I prefer to think of it as quality assurance. What can I say? I’m a workaholic.”
“I know,” she sighed.
“Get room service.”
She shook her head. “It’s the middle of the night. And do you know how much it costs?”
He looked amused again. “You do know I own this hotel?”
She tried not to stare at the curve of his sensual lips. Then she realized she’d just licked her own. Her blush deepened. She croaked, “That’s no excuse to—”
“I’ll order it for you.” He went to the kitchen phone on the marble counter. Picking it up, he looked at her in the shadowy kitchen. “What do you want?”
Want? What a suggestive question. Hallie’s gaze lingered on his broad shoulders, his powerful arms, his muscular chest dusted with dark hair. She could see the outline of his powerful thighs beneath the thin knit fabric of his drawstring pants. He gave her a wicked smile. She realized he’d caught her looking again.
Quick, say something intelligent to distract him! she told herself desperately.
“Um...what do you recommend?”
No!
His eyes gleamed. “Shall I tell you?”
Her heart was pounding in her throat. “I’ll have a cheeseburger and fries,” she said quickly. “And a strawberry shake.”
Cristiano’s sensual lips curved, as if he knew exactly how her blood was racing and her heart was pounding. She was suddenly afraid to even meet his gaze. Turning to the phone, he gave the order swiftly, then hung up. “Your dinner will be here in nine minutes.”
Hallie looked at him incredulously. “Nine minutes? That’s impossible.”
“Know all about room service, do you?” He sounded amused again.
“My parents told me horror stories. Cold food, small portions, no ketchup, then a big bill.”
“Let’s test out your theory.” He lifted an eyebrow. “Care to place a friendly wager?”
“What kind of wager?”
Going back to the sofa, he sat down and patted the cushion beside him.
She sat down hesitantly beside him, perching awkwardly on the edge of the sofa. She was suddenly aware that she was naked beneath her bathrobe. Nervously she pulled it a little tighter around her. “What do you have in mind?”
“If your food arrives within—” he glanced at his platinum watch “—seven minutes and forty-eight seconds, I win. If it doesn’t, you win.”
“What do I win?”
His eyes flickered. “What if I cook breakfast for you tomorrow?”
She snorted. “Cereal?”
Cristiano shook his head. “Eggs and bacon. Belgian waffles. Anything you want.”
She was impressed in spite of herself. “But you hate cooking.”
“I won’t have to do cook.”
“You won’t?”
“Because I’m not going to lose.”
The man had confidence, she’d give him that. “And if you do win, what would you want from me?”
His dark eyes glinted wickedly.
“A kiss.”
A rush of need crackled through her body as her lips tingled in anticipation. She croaked, “What?”
“You heard me.”
She couldn’t risk placing this bet. She hated him. Didn’t she? Not exactly. Not anymore. But she definitely didn’t want him to kiss her. Did she? Okay, maybe she did, but she knew it would lead to disaster. On that, her body and brain and heart agreed. She could not let him kiss her again.
Yet Hallie was unable to look away from his hungry gaze. “Why would you want to kiss me?”
“Why not?” he said lazily.
Was he bored? Or just suggesting it to throw her off-kilter and make clear his power over her? “No, thanks. I’m not the gambling kind.”
“I think you are. If you refuse my wager, then you’re admitting that you might be wrong.” He leaned toward her on the white sofa, almost close enough to touch. “And I might be right.”
Her heart was in her throat. “About room service?”
“About everything,” he whispered, his lips almost grazing her cheek.
She shivered at his closeness. Then she realized what he was saying and that he was talking about far more important issues than food.
“I admit no such thing.” Still, as she drew back sharply, his gaze fell to her knee, and she realized that her robe had slipped open to reveal her crossed leg all the way to her thigh. Cheeks aflame, she covered her legs.
His eyebrow lifted. “Then take the bet.”
“Fine,” she snapped. “I’ll enjoy watching you cook for me tomorrow.” She lifted her chin. “But in addition to the food being delivered on time, to prove me wrong it also has to be the best cheeseburger, fries and shake I’ve ever had.”
“It will be,” he said without hesitation, and held out his hand. She stared at it for a moment, then shook it as quickly as she could, desperately ignoring her body’s reaction at that brief touch.
And so it was that exactly five minutes and four seconds later, a full fifteen seconds before the deadline, she found herself looking despondently at the white linen-covered room-service tray resting on the coffee table. As Cristiano got up to chat with the smiling room-service waiter, she sighed. Even the incredible smell of hot French fries wafting through the air could offer no comfort. She knew she was about to lose their bet.
A kiss.
Hallie put her hands on her forehead. Why had she ever agreed to it? Why? How could she have been so stupid? Cristiano got room service all the time! He knew how long it took! He knew how good the food was!
Did she want him to kiss her?
But that was a question Hallie didn’t want to answer, not even to herself, as the waiter left and Cristiano came back. Turning on a lamp, he looked down at her. His cruel, sensual lips curved. “Don’t look so frightened.”
She lied. “I’m not.”
“You’re terrified.” Lifting the silver lid off the tray, he said idly, “Do you think I intend to take my kiss now, and ravish you against the wall?”
With a flash of heat, images came to her mind. Mouth dry, she croaked, “I—”
“Why don’t you try it?” he murmured, sitting beside her on the sofa. “See if you like it?”
Her heart nearly stopped. She looked at him, lips parted.
He held out a French fry.
“Decide,” he said huskily, “if it’s the best you’ve ever had.”
She stared from the French fry to the challenge in his eyes. Snatching the fried potato from his fingers, she licked off the salt, then popped the whole length into her mouth. It was so hot, salty and delicious that she gave an involuntary groan of pleasure.
“So...good...” she breathed, briefly lost in ecstasy.
A strangled noise came from the back of his throat. Looking up, she saw his handsome face looked strained.
Clearing his throat, he rose from the sofa. “I’ll leave you to enjoy it.”
“Wait. I haven’t tried the rest.” Although she knew, even before she picked up the cheeseburger, that it would be the best she’d ever had. She took a big bite, licking a splash of ketchup and mustard off her lips, then washed it all down with a milkshake of fresh strawberries whirled into vanilla ice cream. The milkshake was so thick she had to suck hard on the straw.
Finally she looked up, defeated. “All right, you win—”
Her voice cut off when she saw his face. He looked hungry, ruthless. Something in his eyes was dark and wild. He took a step toward her, his hands gripped at his sides, and the memory of his words flashed in her mind.
Do you think I intend to ravish you against the wall?
She shrank back from the fire in his eyes. “No.”
That one word, whispered soft as a breath, seemed tangible in the air, like a wall between them. He blinked. His expression changed as if a shutter had gone down. His civilized mask slid back into place.
“Good night,” he said hoarsely. Turning, he hurried down the hall toward the master bedroom.
Hallie sat alone on the sofa, shivering from what had just happened. Except nothing had happened, she told herself, struggling to calm her breath. Nothing at all.
After turning off the lamp, she stared out blankly at the lights of the moonlit city. Woodenly she ate the rest of her meal. All she could think about was how badly she’d wanted him in that moment. But the word that had escaped from her lips was no. Because she was afraid.
Before her night with Cristiano, Hallie had barely been kissed. She’d had a few awkward kisses with her boyfriend in high school, who’d never tried to press the issue—with good reason, as it turned out, because as soon as he left for university he announced on Facebook that he was gay. And one time, Joe Larson, the mine owner’s son, had tried to force his tongue down her throat at a company Christmas party. Before Cristiano, that had been the sum total of her sexual experience.
And now he wanted to kiss her?
Now he wanted to marry her?
She was way out of her league.
Rising from the sofa, she walked heavily back to the guest room, where she found Jack sleeping peacefully. Putting on underwear and pajamas, she brushed her teeth and crawled into the bed next to her baby, knowing she wouldn’t sleep a wink.
But, somehow, she did. She rose only once in the night, to feed the baby. When Jack next woke her with a hungry whimper, she saw golden light flooding the window. She sat up in shock, realizing that she’d just had the best night’s sleep in months. How was that possible?
“Good morning, sweetheart,” she said, smiling at the baby, who gurgled and waved his arms at her.
When mother and baby came out into the main room some time later, both of them were dressed—Hallie in a soft pink sundress of eyelet cotton and sandals, the baby in a onesie and blue knit shorts. She stopped when she saw Cristiano sitting at the kitchen counter. Her cheeks went hot at the memory of last night. But why? she said to herself. Nothing had happened!
“Good morning.” Cristiano’s voice was gravelly as he set down his newspaper. “I trust you slept well?”
Hallie shifted her baby’s weight on her hip as she stood uncertainly in the kitchen, beneath a shaft of golden light from the windows. His eyebrows lifted as he waited. His handsome face was courteous, his dark eyes civilized. Nothing like he’d looked last night...
She shivered.
“Hallie?”
She jumped. “I slept well. Thank you.”
Hallie wondered when he would kiss her. She felt the weight of that debt between them. It’s just a kiss, she told herself, but she couldn’t quite believe it. She tried to tell herself that now that he’d had time to recover from the shock of learning he was a father, Cristiano probably wouldn’t repeat his demand for marriage. But looking into his hard-edged face, she couldn’t believe that, either. Cristiano Moretti was the kind of man who would stop at nothing to get what he wanted.
He wanted to secure possession of their child. She knew that. But now she knew he wanted more.
He wanted her.
Nodding toward the marble countertop and holding out a china cup edged with fourteen-karat gold, he said gruffly, “Have a seat.”
“Thanks.” Sitting down on one of the high barstools, keeping her baby securely in her lap, she watched in surprise as he poured her a cup of steaming hot coffee from a silver carafe. “You made coffee?”
“Room service.” He nodded at the tray. “There’s cream and sugar.”
“Thanks.” Too late, she saw the wheeled carts nearby and felt foolish. Adding copious amounts of cream and sugar to her coffee, she took a sip and sighed with pleasure. Glancing at him, she said shyly, “Would you like to hold the baby?”
Cristiano hesitated, looking down at the plump, babbling three-month-old. He shook his head. “Maybe later.”
“All right.” She was surprised anyone could resist holding Jack, with his adorably goofy smile and his fat little cheeks.
“I ordered you a breakfast tray. It’s been here an hour, so it might be cold.” Cristiano turned back to his newspaper.
“Thanks.” She didn’t feel hungry at all. She gave him a sideways glance. “You’re reading in Italian.”
He didn’t look up. “Yes.”
“And on paper rather than on a tablet.”
“So?”
“It’s very retro,” she ventured.
He didn’t answer. He seemed barely aware of her, while her hands were shaking from being this close to him. Had she somehow imagined the way he’d looked at her last night? Had he already forgotten that he’d demanded a kiss—and marriage?
Sitting at the marble counter that separated the sleek kitchen from the great room, Hallie looked slowly around his penthouse. Modern art was splashed across the walls. Strange, heavy sculptures were displayed on columns. Once Jack started to pull himself up and walk, those would be dangerous.
But such unimaginable luxury and style. So different from how she’d grown up. A flash of memory came to her of the cabin in the West Virginia hills, with its worn wood exterior, sagging furniture and peeling linoleum.
But so comfortable for all that. So full of love. Her beloved home. Her parents. Her older brother.
Gone. All gone.
They would never know her son.
A sudden pain, like a razor blade in her throat, made her gasp as fresh, unexpected grief ambushed her.
Setting down his newspaper, Cristiano looked at her sharply. “What is it?”
Blinking fast, she looked at him. She swallowed. “I was just remembering...”
“What?”
Jack fussed a little in her arms. She was grateful for the excuse to turn away. “Nothing.”
Getting up, she set the baby down in his new play gym with a padded blanket on the floor, so he could bat at the brightly colored mobile overhead. She felt Cristiano’s gaze on her as she went to the room-service carts and lifted a silver lid. Taking the plate of food and silverware, she returned to sit beside him at the counter. She forced herself to take a bite, then another. The waffles and bacon were indeed lukewarm, and all she could feel was sad.
“Can I ask you something?” Cristiano asked, setting his fork down on his own empty plate.
“What?”
“Why did you refuse my marriage proposal yesterday?”
She glanced at him. “I told you—”
“That we hate each other. I remember.” He took a drink of black coffee. The dainty china cup looked incongruous in his large, masculine hands. “It’s just funny. I always thought if I ever asked a woman to marry me, the reaction would be very different.”
“But you didn’t ask. You told.” Hallie looked at her limp waffles. “And I’m not convinced you know what commitment means.”
“How can you say that?”
Setting down her fork, Hallie stared out at the view of the city and bright blue skies. “My parents married straight out of high school. They fought all the time, but never threatened to leave. We were a family. And family means sticking together, no matter what.” Her voice choked, and she looked down at the marble floor. “After they died, it was all I dreamed about. Having a family again. A home.”
“That’s why you were still a virgin when we met,” he said slowly. “You were waiting for the man you could give your life to. Not just your life. Your loyalty.”
She nodded, unable to meet his eyes, bracing herself for his cynical, mocking response.
Instead, his voice was quiet. “I destroyed all your plans by seducing you.”
Hallie’s gaze lifted to his. Then she looked at their baby in his play gym. Jack was stretching out his chubby arms, waving them like a drunken sailor as he tried to reach the mobile hanging over his head. With a trembling smile, she shook her head.
“How can I blame you, when that night brought our baby? Besides.” She stared down at her hands. “What happened wasn’t just your fault. It was also mine.” With a deep breath, she said, “If I had really wanted to wait for marriage, I wouldn’t have let you or anyone else change my mind. No matter how badly I wanted you. Because I knew even then that I could never be more than a one-night stand to a man like you.”
“You’re wrong.” His voice was low. “You were always more than a one-night stand to me.”
“So that’s why you had me fired and tossed out of the hotel?” Her lips lifted humorously. “Because you wanted to spend more time with me?”
“You were an employee. A virgin. But from the moment I first heard you sing, from the moment I saw you, floating my sheets softly through the air, I had to have you. I smashed every rule.”
“You knew I was a virgin?” she breathed.
He gave a slow nod. “I could tell when I kissed you. But I still couldn’t stop myself from taking you to my bed. And once I had you,” he said softly, “I only wanted more.”
“Then why did you send me away?” she said, trembling.
His eyes met hers evenly. “I was afraid you’d want a relationship. That you’d ask for a commitment.”
His words burned her pride. “But I didn’t.”
“No,” Cristiano agreed. He leaned toward her at the counter. “But now I’m asking you. I want us to give our son a home. To be a family.” Leaning forward, he took both her hands in his own, his eyes intense. “I’m asking you to marry me.”
She sucked in her breath as all her childhood dreams clamored around her. Could it truly happen? Could a night of passion turn them unexpectedly into a family?
A home.
Loyalty.
Family.
He was offering her everything she’d ever wanted, and unimaginable wealth and luxury, too.
For a moment, Hallie was tempted. Then she shook her head slowly.
“Why?” he demanded.
She turned away from his arrogant gaze, busying herself with tackling a thick, salty slice of bacon. “A marriage of convenience? How would that even work?”
“I never said it would be a marriage of convenience.” His black eyes pierced hers. “Our marriage would be very real, Hallie.”
Beneath his gaze, she felt hot all over. She swallowed the bacon, barely tasting it. Her full breasts were suddenly heavy, her nipples aching and taut. Tension coiled, low and deep, in her belly.
Swallowing, she pushed the plate away. “You could have any woman for the asking.” She looked at Cristiano’s elegant penthouse, and the wide windows that showed all New York City at his feet. “Why not wait for someone you love? Someone—” her voice faltered “—who loves you?”
“I’m thirty-five years old, and I’ve never loved anyone. I never thought I had the ability.” Cristiano looked at Jack, wriggling happily on the soft quilted mat of the baby gym. “Until the day I found out I had a son.”
Hallie felt her heart constrict as she saw the way he looked at Jack. In their intense love for their child, they were the same.
He turned back to her. “And now I know this. My duty is to protect you both. To provide for you. To give you a home. To give you my name. I offer you my loyalty, Hallie. For a lifetime.”
“Your loyalty,” she whispered.
Cristiano looked at her, his eyes black as night. “I will protect our son. No matter the cost.”
His words sounded strangely like a warning. But that didn’t make sense. Why would he warn Hallie that he intended to protect their son?
So much she’d thought about him was all wrong. He actually wanted to commit to her. To be a father to Jack.
Her son would have financial security, the best schools, the promise of a brilliant future.
And, even more importantly, Cristiano would always protect him and watch his back. If anything ever happened to Hallie, Jack would still be safe. She’d learned the hard way about loss.
Cristiano was offering her everything and, still, some part of her hesitated. “You’re asking me to give up love—all hope of it forever.”
“Have you ever been in love?”
“No,” she was forced to admit.
“Then how can you miss what you’ve never had?”
His words were starting to make the impossible seem reasonable. “A marriage implies faithfulness...”
“Which I would be.”
Her breath caught in her throat. She hadn’t expected that. Cristiano Moretti, the famous billionaire playboy, was promising total fidelity. To her.
That thought was too outlandish to believe. She shook her head, her lips curving up at the edges. “Have you really thought this through? No more Russian supermodels?”
“You persist in underestimating me,” he said softly. Reaching out, he tucked hair behind her ear. “When will you learn the truth?”
Hallie swallowed. “What’s that?”
His gaze cut through her. “I want only you.”
Her heart was pounding. A year ago, when he’d tossed her to the curb, she’d thought she’d made the worst mistake of her life. For the last year, she’d barely held on sometimes, trying to keep a roof over her baby’s head. Security had seemed like a fairy tale.
Now Cristiano was offering her everything she’d dreamed of. She could secure her son’s comfort and give him two parents and a stable home for a lifetime.
The only cost would be her heart. Their marriage would be about partnership and, yes, passion. But not love.
Could she accept that? For the rest of her life?
Or would her heart shrivel up and die?
Getting up from the barstool, Hallie crossed the great room uncertainly. She looked down at her sweet baby, cooing and playing happily. Holding her breath, she stared out the windows at the gray city and brilliant blue sky.
Silence fell in the penthouse. She felt the warm morning sun against her skin, the rise and fall of her own breath. Then she heard him cross the floor. Putting his hands on her shaking shoulders, he turned her to face him. His dark eyes burned like fire.
“One more thing,” he said in a low voice. “Before you decide.”
And pulling her roughly against his body, he lowered his mouth to kiss her.