you and your father want to throw more money away talking to your attorney, I can’t stop you, but I promise you’ll be wasting your time.”
“You won’t be so smug when I tell your father and he gets the judge to alter the stipulation.”
“That’s not going to happen. Ciao, Mila.” With Irena’s arrival, Vincenzo now held the trump card and he would use it.
“Don’t you walk out on me yet!” Her strident voice had risen higher. “I’m not finished!”
“If you aren’t, you should be. Dino has missed you. Don’t keep him waiting.”
He left the villa, knowing he’d put the handcuffs on Mila for now. It was always a wrench to walk away from his son, but for once someone was waiting for him. He found himself somewhat breathless as he got back in the car and turned to Irena. Elation filled him that they were finally alone.
The richness of her black hair held his gaze, but it hid part of her features. He leaned closer to smooth it behind her ear, unable to resist touching her before starting the car. He studied her beautiful Grecian profile for a prolonged moment before pulling beyond the gate and out onto the main road.
“I took this week off from work to be with Dino and don’t have to report until tomorrow morning. Let’s make the most of the time.”
She stirred restlessly. “Vincenzo—I think we need to talk. You need to know the reason why I came…I didn’t want to say anything in front of Dino.”
“It’s enough that you’re here.”
“I’m being serious.”
“I never thought you weren’t.”
“Please listen to me. I won’t be staying in Riomaggiore. I’m on my way to Toronto. If you’d be kind enough to drive me to the airport, I’ll be grateful.”
She was running away again. This time he wouldn’t let her. “I thought you quit your job at the newspaper.”
“I did.”
“Then what’s in Canada?”
“Another job away from Greece.”
“If that’s what you’re looking for, I could offer you a public relations position at the plant in La Spezia.”
He watched her hands clench together. “I don’t speak Italian.”
“I would teach you.”
“Vincenzo—” she cried in frustration. “I stopped to visit you because I knew you would see the headlines about Andreas’s marriage to Gabi. It was important to me that you didn’t think I was a total liar.
“When I left Riomaggiore, I went back to break it off with Andreas. After I met you, I knew that my relationship with Andreas was doomed—you were right about that. Andreas figured it out for himself, too.”
Vincenzo was silent for a moment before speaking. “Be thankful Simonides acted on his instincts.”
“Whether he did or didn’t, I acted on mine and slept with you. That was the turning point for me.” The attraction between them had been too powerful. They’d just gone with the moment.
He turned onto a road leading into a park. As soon as he could, he pulled to the side and shut off the engine before giving her his full attention. “Now tell me why you showed up at my door. The truth.” Vincenzo was no one’s fool.
“You’re so sure I had an agenda?”
His penetrating blue eyes searched hers. “Let’s just say you and I have a strong chemistry. Whatever the camouflage, I believe it brought you back.”
He was right about the intensity of their physical longing for each other. “What if I told you the camouflage is hiding a compelling problem that has caused me to veer off course and fly alone?”
“I’m listening.” He knew she was referring to the analogy about the geese.
Her heart thudded at the thought of her own daring. “Were you serious when you said you thought we should get married?”
“Perfectly.”
She moaned. “That wasn’t a fair question to ask you since the circumstances aren’t the same as they were two months ago. I didn’t know you already had a son and a troubled marital history.”
“That’s one way of putting it.”
“I—I’m sorry your first marriage didn’t work out—” her voice faltered “—but it’s not just that. There is something else I need to tell you, something…”
“What is it, Irena? What is it that has changed since our last meeting?” Vincenzo was again silent for a moment, clearly in deep thought, before his gaze shifted to Irena once more. “Irena, are you pregnant…with my baby?”
Shocked at his insight, Irena lowered her head, hating what she had to tell him. “I’m pregnant, Vincenzo, but I don’t know if the baby is yours. I’ve been to two OBs for opinions. Both worked out the timetable with me and came to the conclusion that we can’t be sure either way who the father is.”
“Simonides doesn’t know?” Vincenzo was a proud man. She’d been expecting that question and was prepared for it.
“I only came from the second doctor yesterday afternoon before I flew here.”
“And he’s on his honeymoon…” Vincenzo’s eyes narrowed on her face. “How soon do you plan to tell him?”
“I don’t.”
“As in never?”
“If you think that makes me an evil woman, I’ll understand.”
“Since I know you’re not, why in heaven’s name wouldn’t you tell him? He has the right to know.”
“It’s a long, complicated story.”
“I doubt it rivals my own.” There he went again alluding to a life that she knew next to nothing about. “Go on.”
“Look, Vincenzo. I’ve wasted enough of your time. I shouldn’t have come here. Please just drive me to the airport.”
“Not until you explain.”
Irena threw her head back, causing her hair to resettle around her shoulders, and closed her eyes. Then she took a deep, cleansing breath before she began to speak. “It all started over a year ago when Leon, Andreas’s brother, and Deline, Leon’s wife, had a very serious quarrel. He was working long hours as Andreas’s assistant, was hardly ever at home and it hurt Deline a lot. She accused Leon of neglecting their marriage and her. She wanted to start a family, but hadn’t been able to get pregnant and things were bad between them.
“They separated for a couple months. When Deline told him she was thinking of making the separation permanent, Leon was so hurt he got his friends
