Chapter One

      SHE could not possibly be pregnant. Valentina D’Angeli’s fingers shook as she studied the test stick, the blue line very clearly trying to tell her she was indeed expecting a baby.

      It was too crazy to be believed, and yet …

      A chill slid down her spine. The night of the masquerade ball had been the wildest she’d ever experienced; the one night where she’d determined to let down her hair and be the person she’d never been able to be. The free spirit who could sleep with a man and leave him in the morning without a shred of remorse.

      For one night, she’d planned to be bold and seductive. She would experience passion and conquer her shyness once and for all. She would be like other women her age—sophisticated, experienced and utterly in control.

      Tina set the test stick down and opened another. Surely the first had been damaged somehow. The second would give her the correct answer.

      That night had been a good idea in theory, yet even with the anonymity of the mask, she’d been unable to let herself