met her. She might be a great mother.’
‘I know everything I need to know about her,’ Nico said flatly, ‘and the more I know, the more determined I am to take the child away from her. She isn’t a fit mother.’
‘Calm down.’ Carlo leaned back in his chair. ‘That’s a pretty serious accusation. What’s the woman done?’
Nico gritted his teeth. ‘Apart from conspiring with Lucia to lie to me so that I’d agree to father the baby? Well, for a start she puts the child in a crèche while she works as a nurse. If she wanted a child so badly, why is she working?’
‘Nico, this is the twenty-first century,’ Carlo pointed out quietly, his tone reasonable. ‘Women work. Even women with children. And working mothers need child care.’
‘She shouldn’t have chosen to become a single mother if she didn’t have the means to support the child,’ Nico growled, and Carlo’s eyes narrowed.
‘Well, not everybody has unlimited funds. Maybe she had good reasons for wanting a child—’
Nico made an impatient sound. ‘Why are you defending her? What possible reasons could justify a twenty-two-year-old wanting a baby? She has plenty of reproductive years ahead of her in which to marry a man and produce babies naturally.’
Carlo looked him straight in the eye. ‘I’m defending her because I know that this isn’t about her and the baby. Not really. It’s about you,’ he said softly. ‘You are making this personal.’
‘Dio, of course I’m making it personal!’ Nico flashed him an impatient look. ‘How do you think I feel, knowing—?’
He broke off and Carlo rose to his feet, watching his brother closely.
‘You can’t take her child, Nico.’
‘Watch me.’ Nico’s expression was grim. ‘And you’re forgetting that it isn’t just her child, it’s my child. And according to my sources, the girl is in big trouble. She earns next to nothing as a nurse and she obviously doesn’t manage her money well. At the moment she has been given two weeks’ notice to find somewhere else to live because she can’t keep up the rental payments. My sources tell me that she doesn’t have enough money for anywhere else. Soon my child will be homeless. Do you expect me to sit and watch while that happens?’
Carlo let out a long breath. ‘I can see that the situation is less than ideal, but—’
‘My child does not deserve a nomadic existence with a mother who clearly can’t manage her finances well enough to keep a roof over her head,’ Nico growled, and Carlo watched him thoughtfully.
‘She might not be willing to give the baby up,’ he pointed out, and Nico frowned dismissively.
‘The girl is clearly struggling to bring the baby up alone. I suspect that she will be only too pleased to take a financial incentive in exchange for the baby. Clearly having a baby was a whim and the reality of life as a single parent has proved less romantic than she expected.’
‘I think you underestimate the attachment between a mother and her child,’ Carlo said quietly. ‘Especially a mother who went to the trouble of having artificial insemination in order to conceive. She would have had a counselling session at the clinic and her reasons for wanting a child must have been good. I doubt that she will give the baby up lightly.’
‘You’re wrong.’
‘Maybe.’ Carlo gave a brief smile. ‘But my advice is stick to mending hearts, and leave the serious business of baby-making to those of us with some understanding of the emotions involved.’
‘I understand the emotions better than most.’ Nico’s teeth were gritted and Carlo gave a sigh.
‘Sì, I know you do.’
Nico shrugged, his black eyes hard and cold. ‘Then you’ll understand why I am right to go after the baby.’
‘I understand, but I don’t condone it.’ Carlo picked up the file again. ‘Answer me one question. If Abby Harrington had turned out to be in her late thirties and happily married, would you be threatening to take the baby?’
Nico frowned as if the question was completely superfluous. ‘Of course not. I would have checked that they had everything they needed and walked away.’
But it would have been the hardest thing he’d ever had to do in his life.
‘Then do the same thing now,’ Carlo said quietly. ‘You cannot take a child from its mother. Let it go, Nico. If you want family life, find a nice girl and marry her.’
Nico’s eyes were hooded. ‘Like you have, you mean?’
‘I’m still auditioning for the role.’ Carlo’s dark eyes flashed wickedly and Nico raised an eyebrow in mockery.
‘You feel the need to audition the whole female population?’
Carlo gave a rueful smile. ‘All right, I’m the first to admit that, like you, I’ve never found a woman who can see further than my wallet.’ His smile faded. ‘But that fact doesn’t make this right, Nico, and you know it.’
‘I’m not seeking your approval.’ Nico’s tone was harsh. ‘I came here because I wanted the answer to a question.’
‘Which was?’
‘I wanted to know if you were aware of her deception.’
Carlo shook his head. ‘No. I didn’t deal with her case and you should know me well enough to know that I wouldn’t do that to you.’
Nico’s expression darkened. ‘Lucia did.’
Carlo shrugged. ‘As we both know, Lucia is young and impulsive. And very spoilt by our parents. This was probably another one of her whims.’ He walked towards his brother and laid a hand on his shoulder. ‘I know you don’t take advice from anyone, but I’m going to give it anyway. Whatever reasons this girl had for deceiving us, she clearly wanted that child. Don’t jump to conclusions. Are you absolutely sure she knows you’re the father?’
‘Of course she knows.’ Nico was back in control, his emotions buried under the icy exterior for which he was renowned. ‘Lucia told me at the time that her friend drew up a list of qualities that she wanted in a father and I was the perfect match.’
His tone was bitter and Carlo sighed.
‘Lucia adores you, Nico. She probably genuinely did think you’d be the best father in the world and you know that all her school friends worshipped you. She just didn’t think it through.’
Nico’s mouth tightened. ‘She never thinks things through.’
‘And as for the friend—if she does know, she clearly didn’t want you to find out.’ Carlo rubbed a hand across the back of his neck, clearly concerned. ‘This is going to come as a shock to her, Nico.’
Nico’s mouth tightened. ‘Good.’
Abigail Harrington had deceived him. She was clearly a calculating, manipulative woman who was
