poised and elegant without being aware of it.
“Mila Ricci? May I present Irena Spiros from Athens,” he said in English. “She doesn’t speak Italian so we’ll speak in English.”
“How do you do,” Irena said and shook Mila’s hand. “You have a wonderful boy in Dino.”
“Thank you,” Mila answered in a brittle voice. She thrust Vincenzo an icy stare. In Italian she said, “How do you expect Dino to handle the situation when she can’t even speak Italian?”
“She’ll learn. Dino’s anxious to teach her.”
“I won’t stand for it, Vincenzo.”
He shrugged his shoulders. “You’re going to have to.”
“This won’t change visitation.”
She was in for a huge shock. Ignoring her warning he said, “You’re being rude in front of my fiancée, Mila.”
Her cheeks flared with color before she addressed Irena. “Do you have any experience with children?”
“No, but when Dino is with us, I’ll try my hardest to make him happy.”
Mila just found out Irena was a woman of high-class and breeding. It was impossible to fight good manners without looking like a shrew.
To Mila he said, “My attorney will be contacting yours. By Tuesday you’ll know all my plans. Ciao, Mila.”
Leaving her to digest that bit of news, he helped Irena back into the car. By the time he’d walked around to the driver’s seat, Mila had gone back into the villa.
“I feel sorry for her.” Irena spoke once they’d reached the main road. “I don’t think there’s a mother alive who wouldn’t feel threatened to know her child was going to be around the influence of another woman on a part-time basis.”
He gripped the steering wheel tighter. “Perhaps now you have an inkling of how I felt when Mila remarried.”
She nodded sadly. “Life shouldn’t be this way.”
“You mean everything should be perfect where every child gets to live with its own mother and father until he or she is happily married off and the whole wonderful process starts all over again?”
“Something like that,” she whispered.
“You’ve already gotten a taste of what it’s going to be like dealing with Mila. I’m glad she insisted on meeting you.”
“So am I.”
“In case her behavior has given you second thoughts, let me know now. I’ll phone Dino to tell him there’s been a change in plans. I don’t want him to go to sleep tonight thinking that something’s going to happen he’s been wanting for such a long time.”
“I don’t understand. Why would your getting married make such a difference to him?”
“My story’s as convoluted as yours. When I divorced Mila, I had to give up a lot to win my freedom from her. Dino was the main casualty, of course. He was so hurt by the tension in our impossible marriage, divorce was the only solution. But both our families disowned me over it.”
“Are you joking?”
“I wish I were. If I wanted to see my child, I had to agree to abide by the severe stipulations she set up.”
“Couldn’t a judge have interceded?”
“Oh, he did, in favor of both our families. He and my grandfather were close friends, like your parents and the Simonides family. The order stated that Dino had been in jeopardy in a loveless home with a father who’d shown a flagrant disregard for his heritage and prominence, therefore was a poor role model.”
“I don’t believe it,” she cried, aghast.
“There’s more. Until the time came that I could show I’d come to my senses and had reconciled with my ex-wife, the visitation rules would stand.”
“Oh, Vincenzo—that’s horrible. None of those reasons make any sense.”
“Of course not. Mila waited for me to go back to her, but she waited in vain. Finally she remarried six months ago, causing another change in Dino’s life.”
“Does he like his stepfather?”
“Not particularly. He’s fifteen years older than Mila with a grown son and daughter at university. His wife died a year ago and it wasn’t long after that he met Mila. He has nothing in common with a young boy like Dino.”
“That must tear you apart.”
“It does.”
“So what will happen now?”
“Tomorrow morning I’ll meet with my attorney to end the current visitation.”
“What will you put in its place?”
“Joint physical custody. From now on Dino will have two homes.”
“But the judge—”
Vincenzo shook his head. “Don’t worry. After my attorney talks to Mila’s attorney, everything’s going to change in a big hurry.”
“How can you be so sure?”
He sucked in his breath. “Because I’m prepared to do something I refused to do before. My father will be so overjoyed, he’ll fall over backward to accommodate all my wishes, including that of influencing the judge to rescind his decision.”
Irena had been listening between the lines. Whatever this something was Vincenzo had refused to do, it had to have been something big. So what was it the judge had meant about Vincenzo’s heritage and prominence?
From the first moment she’d met him, she’d sensed he was a man of many parts. He knew too much, understood too much, had too much savvy to be an ordinary Italian male. There was an inherent authority and intelligence he emanated without conscious thought.
When they’d been introduced at the plant, she’d been aware of a certain deference the staff exhibited around him. Like he was someone elite.
She stared at his striking features as they sped along the strada toward Cinque Terre. Beneath his black brows, his aquiline profile gave him a fiercely handsome look. He had the most beautiful olive skin she’d ever seen. As for his eyes, they were so piercing a blue her body quickened just looking into them.
Irena felt like she was experiencing second sight. His sophistication couldn’t be denied.
Who was this attractive man with unruly black hair who drove around in a secondhand car and rented a tiny apartment on a cliff? He dressed in casual clothes you could buy in any local shop and wore flip-flops like his son.
Without clothes he’d looked like a statue of a god she’d seen in Rapallo that morning. The memory of them making love six weeks ago sent a wave of heat through
