Men of Power. Кэрол Мортимер
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attention.
“Good morning, you cute little thing.” Julie pulled the baby from his crib to give him a bath.
In a minute she’d filled the sink with warm water and had removed his sleeper and wet diaper. “You don’t have any idea how adorable you are. Your auntie loves you so much.” Before she picked him up, she couldn’t resist kissing his little cheek and neck.
“This looks fun. Can anyone join in?” sounded a familiar male voice full of life.
Massimo—His vital presence behind her set her pulse tripping. He must have just come from the shower. She could smell the soap he’d used. At a glance she saw he was casually dressed in shorts and a T-shirt like she was wearing.
“Wh-why don’t you bathe him,” she said on impulse. “He’d love it, wouldn’t you, Nicky?”
“If you trust me. This will be another of many firsts,” sounded the deep-timbred voice.
Their eyes met briefly before she looked away.
“Through trial and error I’ve discovered you really can’t do it wrong. This is his favorite part of the day. Just lower him gently into the water.”
With painstaking care Massimo followed her advice. Soon the bathroom rang with his rich laughter as Nicky kicked and splashed, soaking them both. He got so worked up, every inch of his body shook with excitement. The little noises he made sounded like he was trying to talk.
Julie poured a drop of baby shampoo on his head. Massimo rubbed it in, making a lather before carefully rinsing off the bubbles. They worked in harmony. After she dried Nicky off, he applied the baby powder and fastened a clean diaper. Then she put him in a little stretchy suit.
“That’s our big boy,” she said without thinking. Hopefully Massimo understood what she meant. “I-if you’ll hold him, I’ll clean his ears.” She reached for a cotton swab. “This is the only part he doesn’t like.”
While the baby fought her, she felt Massimo’s low chuckle to the marrow of her bones. “There!” She kissed the top of his head. “We’re all done.”
Massimo lifted him in the air. All the way to the bedroom he kissed his tummy the way Shawn used to do. The baby was all smiles. Julie could tell he loved his uncle’s attention.
She had to clear her throat to remove the lump. “I’ll get his bottle.”
“I already asked Gina to bring it along with our breakfast,” he explained.
He thought of everything, yet any more togetherness and it was going to feel as if they were a family, which they were in a sense. But they really weren’t!
This was borne out when the maid, who was probably in her early twenties, came in with a tray and a bottle. Julie noticed right away how the other woman’s curious gaze darted back and forth between her and Massimo before she left the nursery.
If you didn’t know better, you could misconstrue what was going on. A younger nanny in residence with a husband and wife was one thing, but this was a bachelor’s domicile.
Ages ago Pietra had made it clear that her brother would never marry. She hadn’t explained why, and Julie hadn’t pried because at that point in time she hadn’t met Massimo and wasn’t consumed by curiosity the way she was now.
A man like him would never marry a woman unless it was his choice, so whatever had put him off the institution, the reason went much deeper than his desire to thwart his uncle. And she mustn’t forget that getting involved with Massimo would be a mistake.
Not wanting to break up the happy twosome, Julie reached for the bottle. “You’d better be the one to feed him. Nicky’s so engrossed with you, I think I’m jealous again.” She’d said it with a smile.
But when she handed it to him, his startling black gaze pinned hers. “If this were a competition, I would have been dead in the water long before now. For someone who isn’t a mother, you could fool me.”
Coming from Massimo, it was the supreme compliment. “Nicky’s easy to love. Do you see a lot of Pietra in him?”
“Some. Oddly enough I see more of you.”
Her heart did a kick. “It’s the blond hair.”
“It’s something more. An expression he gets when he wants something. I’ve seen that same look on your face.”
“Hunger pains you mean?”
He burst into laughter, transforming him into the most handsome man she’d ever seen or known. Terrified of her feelings, which were growing more and more intense, she reached for the thermometer to take Nicky’s temperature.
“It’s still normal.”
“Better yet, his rash is gone. Mine took considerably longer to go away.”
Her head swung around in his direction. “I don’t understand.”
“At the time Nicky was born, I was bitten by a mosquito that gave me dengue fever.”
The breath froze in her lungs. It sounded hideous whatever it was. “Wh-what did it do to you?”
“Laid me up for months, gave me a rash. Luckily it wasn’t the hemorrhagic type.”
She moaned. “Were you in a hospital all that time?”
“Not all, no.”
When she recalled all the terrible things she’d said to him, she was mortified. Her fingers curled so tightly around the crib railing, it cut off the blood supply.
“How come you didn’t tell Pietra?” she whispered.
“Because she was so happy with their new baby. I knew my news would worry them unnecessarily. After explaining that the group needed me, I promised to spend the entire month of September with them so I could get to know my nephew.”
A promise he would end up keeping for a lifetime.
Moistening her lips nervously she said, “Is dengue fever like malaria?”
“You mean does it keep coming back?”
She nodded.
“Not in my case.”
Thank God.
“Happily Nicky has recovered from his rosiola much faster, and is all better now. That’s one crisis averted.”
One?
Though his words revealed satisfaction, his eyes held a disturbing glint. She noticed he rubbed the back of his neck in what seemed like a weary gesture. But the action indicated there was something else on his mind.
“Now that he’s asleep, we need to talk.”
Julie knew what was coming. It had only been a matter of time. “I-if you’re upset with me for taking him out the other day without checking with you first, I promise it won’t happen again.”
“I had no problem with your leaving the villa,” he replied calmly. “You told Gina. That was the important thing.”
“Yes, but she wanted to wake you and I told her not to. You looked so exhausted before you went to bed, I didn’t want anything to disturb you.”
“I appreciate your concern.”
His gaze wandered over her upturned features, but she couldn’t tell what he was thinking. It made her nervous, causing her mind to jump to the other possibility that might have upset him.
“In case you were wondering, Vigo invited himself along.”
“It would be shocking if he hadn’t,” came the mocking aside.
Not knowing how to take that remark, she looked away, rubbing her damp palms against the sides of her jeans.
“I know you told me to come to you if anyone