it’s what my parents were looking for at the time.’ Her deadpan humour clearly didn’t amuse him. His raised eyebrow was replaced by a distinct frown.
’Felicità.’
‘Pardon?’
‘That is “Bliss” in my language. Felicità. But I think I prefer it in English.’
Oh, my Lord! Do you have to smile at me like that? Bliss felt as if she’d been locked in a pitch-black room only to be let out blinking into the blinding gaze of the sun. What on earth was God thinking of when he made a man as devastatingly irresistible as Dante di Andrea? What he’d said was perfectly innocent, but in that sexy Italian intonation it had sounded to Bliss as if he were making love to her with words. Crossing her arms in front of her shirt, she anxiously strove to conceal the fact that her nipples had shockingly peaked to shameful steel buds inside her bra and the sharp tingling sensation that ensued in them was almost bordering on pain. ‘Well. I wish both you and your sister and little Renny all the best. I’ll be going now.’
‘Your address, Miss Maguire. Please?’ He’d juggled the child against his chest and produced a small notepad and pen from his inside jacket pocket. Wordlessly Bliss took it and scribbled down her address and phone number, though it was only after she handed back the notepad that she wondered why she’d capitulated so easily. She’d told him thanks weren’t necessary and she’d meant it. Now she’d gone back on her word and maybe Dante would think that she expected something because of it? She hoped not. She’d hate him to imagine that she’d helped his sister in the hope of some kind of reward.
‘Well…goodbye.’
With an awkward little smile that a shy teenager would surely have despaired of, Bliss allowed herself one final glance at the stunning Italian and the equally beautiful little girl, then turned and walked quickly away towards the double-doored exit.
CHAPTER TWO
ALTHOUGH Bliss was convinced that the repetitive ringing sound that permeated her subconscious was a referee blowing the half-time whistle on a soccer match, it quickly transformed into the more insistent peal of a ringing telephone, and she rubbed at her eyes and dazedly sat up in bed. Reaching for the cordless receiver on the small oak cabinet beside her, she stifled a yawn before uttering a weary ‘yes’ into the mouthpiece.
‘Bliss Maguire?’
All drowsiness was banished in an instant and her violet eyes pinged wide open. If she wasn’t mistaken, that deeply knee-trembling pronunciation of her name belonged to the Italian hunk she’d met yesterday in the hospital. Dante di Andrea. Pushing her fingers shakily through her hair, Bliss concentrated hard on getting her jaw to work in order to reply. ‘This is she.’
‘It is Dante di Andrea speaking…you remember? From yesterday at the hospital?’
Did she remember? She’d replayed their meeting over and over in her head like a videotape stuck on rewind. Especially when she’d rung the hospital only to be told that Tatiana Ward had been discharged to go home and was not being admitted as an in-patient or even transferred to a private hospital.
‘I remember.’ Somehow her voice had acquired a disturbingly husky quality and Bliss coughed a little to clear her throat. ‘Excuse me,’ she quickly apologised. ‘I found out that your sister was sent home. How is she today?’
‘Depressa ed afflitta. I am sorry…depressed and heartsick. I have ordered her to stay in bed for today. She has not been getting a lot of sleep lately under the circumstances. That is why she passed out in the store. Her husband died only six weeks ago and she is finding life very difficult at the moment.’
‘I’m so sorry to hear that.’
‘Can we meet?’
‘I beg your pardon?’ Her heart had started to throb alarmingly and Bliss wondered for a moment if her brain were so addled, she’d simply misheard him.
‘I will be blunt with you, Miss Maguire. My sister needs some help. Matt—her husband—had no living parents and until my mother can get here from Italy again, she will be on her own with Renny and myself. I have taken some time off from my business to be with Tatiana, but I am no expert with children and until she fully recovers, she will need some help taking care of my niece.’
Pushing up the defiant shoestring straps on her silky cotton nightie, Bliss took a few moments to absorb what he was saying, surprise and trepidation vying equally for precedence inside her chest. Where was this leading? Was he asking her to come and help take care of Renata? Did he not realise she already had a job? Of course he did! He knew she worked at the store where his sister had fainted, which was how she had come to be at the hospital in the first place.
‘Mr di Andrea, if you are asking what I think you are asking, I’m afraid it’s impossible. Much as I think the little girl is utterly adorable, I have to work for my living. If your sister needed some help in the evening I might be able to—’
‘If you come and stay with Tatiana and Renny for a while until my mother comes from Italy, I will pay you a more than generous fee for your services and the disruption to your schedule. If your place of work will not grant you time off, then I will endeavour to acquire a better position for you somewhere else. I have lots of contacts in the business world, Miss Maguire. It will not be difficult.’
Bliss didn’t doubt that he had contacts, and that he could get her any job he damn well pleased. One brush with Dante di Andrea’s confident, self-assured persona and you knew straight away that he was a man who could move mountains if he had to. But did she really want to give up her job and her livelihood on the word of a man she had only just met, albeit only briefly? If things didn’t work out she could always temp, she supposed. She was used to using temporary work as a fall-back when things didn’t turn out as she’d hoped. If she was honest, retail really wasn’t her thing anyway, and if push came to shove she had just about enough money in the bank to tide her over for a very short while until she found another position. Her palm felt clammy where it clung too tightly to the phone.
‘You said “stay” with your sister. Could I not just come over in the mornings and stay until the evening, and then go home?’
‘Since her father has been gone, Renny wakes in the night sometimes. Tatiana is not in a fit state to see to the child properly on her own. Therefore it would be best if you packed a few things and came to stay indefinitely.’
‘Mr di Andrea…this may sound obvious, but have you thought about approaching a child-care agency for help?’
‘I do not want a stranger taking care of my niece!’ came back the vexed reply.
Puzzled, Bliss frowned. ‘But I’m a stranger. You only met me yesterday, remember?’
‘I could tell from the moment I saw you with her that you are a person my niece feels drawn to. Because you comforted her yesterday, she will remember you.’
‘But she didn’t seem to remember you, if you don’t mind my saying.’
There was a harsh indrawn breath at the other end of the phone. ‘I have not spent a lot of time with Tatiana since she had the child and therefore, yes…I am a virtual stranger to Renny. I have been busy with my business in Italy. Yesterday was the first time we were together since the funeral a month ago. I had to return almost immediately to Milan, along with
