Reunited by a Baby Secret. Michelle Douglas
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The Vineyards of Calanetti Saying “I do” under the Tuscan sun …
Deep in the Tuscan countryside nestles the picturesque village of Monte Calanetti. Famed for its world-renowned vineyards, the village is also home to the crumbling but beautiful Palazzo di Comparino. Empty for months, rumors of a new owner are spreading like wildfire … and that’s before the village is chosen as the setting for the royal wedding of the year!
It’s going to be a roller coaster of a year, but will wedding bells ring out in Monte Calanetti for anyone else?
Find out in this fabulously heartwarming, uplifting and thrillingly romantic new eight-book continuity from the Mills & Boon® Cherish™ series!
A Bride for the Italian Boss by Susan Meier
Return of the Italian Tycoon by Jennifer Faye
Reunited by a Baby Secret by Michelle Douglas
Soldier, Hero…Husband? by Cara Colter Available October 2015
His Lost-and-Found Bride by Scarlet Wilson
The Best Man & the Wedding Planner by Teresa Carpenter
His Princess of Convenience by Rebecca Winters
Saved by the CEO by Barbara Wallace
Reunited by a Baby Secret
Michelle Douglas
MICHELLE DOUGLAS has been writing for Mills & Boon since 2007 and believes she has the best job in the world. She lives in a leafy suburb of Newcastle, on Australia’s east coast, with her own romantic hero, a house full of dust and books, and an eclectic collection of ‘60s and ‘70s vinyl. She loves to hear from readers and can be contacted via her website, www.michelle-douglas.com.
With thanks to my fellow Romance authors for creating such a strong and supportive community. I can’t begin to tell you how much I appreciate it.
Contents
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
MARIANNA AMATUCCI STARED at the door of the Grande Plaza Hotel’s Executive Suite and swallowed. With her heart pounding in her throat, she backed up to lean against the wall opposite. A glance up and down the corridor confirmed she was alone. Up here at the very top of the hotel all was free from bustle, the very air hushed.
She patted her roiling stomach. You will behave. Usually by mid-morning her nausea had eased.
It wasn’t morning sickness that had her stomach rebelling, though. It was nerves. She stared at the door opposite and her skin broke out in a cool sheen of perspiration. She twisted her hands together. She had nothing to fear. This was Ryan—blond-haired, blue-eyed, tanned surfer boy Ryan.
An image of his long-limbed beauty and sexy smile rose in her mind and her heart started to flutter in an altogether different fashion. She pressed one hand to her abdomen. Mia topolino, your papà is utterly lovely.
She moistened her lips. No, she had nothing to fear. Her news would startle him of course. Heavens, the shock of it still reverberated through her own being. But he’d smile that slow, easy smile, pull her into his arms and tell her it’d all be okay...and she’d believe him. He’d come to see that a child would be a blessing.
Wouldn’t he?
The corridor swam. She blinked hard and chafed her arms, the chill of the air-conditioning seeping into her bones. She stared at the door and pressed steepled hands to her mouth? It was just...what on earth was Ryan doing in the Executive Suite? She couldn’t square that with the man she’d met on a Thai beach two months ago. A man more at home in board shorts and flip-flops and his own naked skin than a swish hotel that catered to Rome’s elite.
Stupid girl! What do you really know of this man?
That was Angelo’s voice sounding in her head. Not that he’d uttered the words out loud, of course. But she’d read them in his eyes in the same way she’d read the disappointment in Nico’s. As usual, her brothers had a point.
What did she know of Ryan? She moistened her lips. She knew he made love as if he had all the time in the world. He’d made love to her with such a mixture of passion and tenderness he’d elicited a response from her that had delighted and frightened her simultaneously. She’d never forget their lovemaking. The week of their holiday fling had been one of the best weeks of her life, and while they’d made no plans to see each other again—too complicated with her in Italy and him in Australia—but...her head lifted. Maybe this was fate?
Or maybe being pregnant has addled your brain?
And standing here wondering why on earth Ryan was currently ensconced in the Executive Suite wouldn’t provide her with an answer. Fortune smiled on men like Ryan—men that oozed easy-going good humour and warmth. The check-in clerk could simply have taken a shine to him and upgraded him, or a friend of a friend might’ve owed him a favour or...something. There’d be a logical explanation. Standing out here tying herself in knots was crazy, a delaying tactic.
She was no coward!
Marianna pushed away from the wall, wiped her palms down her skirt and straightened her shirt before lifting her hand and finally knocking. A thrill coursed through her. She and Ryan might not have made plans to see each other