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The vision of the two of them entwined still had the power to destroy Julie.
Though dying of the hurt, she used every bit of control she could muster not to rage in front of him. She’d done that once before and had lived in a constant state of anxiety ever since.
“You’re right,” she admitted with reluctance. She would miss Nicky so much. How could she leave him? “If you feel that strongly about it, I should probably leave by the weekend.”
“That decision is entirely up to you.”
Thanks a lot.
Almost choking with pain she said, “It’s clear to me I should never have come to your hotel. I said some outrageous things and put you in an impossible position.”
His jaw hardened. “Up to now Nicky has needed both of us.”
Up to now …
“He needs a permanent stable home. You’ve given him one, Massimo.” What could she do? After pressing her lips together she said, “Thank you for letting me come with you while you settled him in.”
Almost through the door she heard, “I’m the one who’s been grateful, particularly knowing you postponed your marriage plans to help me with Niccolo.”
Marriage plans—
Julie wheeled around and stalked back into the nursery.
“What are you talking about?”
He looked at her through veiled eyes. “The reason I went looking for you in town the other day was to tell you your fiancé had called the villa. But when Nicky became ill, everything went out of my head.”
Her body shook with anger. “Brent talked to you?”
“To Lia. She conveyed the message to me. I assumed by now he’d reached you on your cell phone.”
“Let’s get something straight.” She threw her head back. “For reasons I don’t want to go into, I didn’t bring my cell with me.” That way she could control the talks with her mother. “Furthermore and most important, there were no wedding plans. There was no official engagement. I don’t have a fiancé.”
Massimo’s hands went to his hips. “He seems to think otherwise.”
“He lied. Brent lacked certain traits that killed my feelings for him, but he has a big ego. When I told him it was over, I dented his pride and little else. No doubt he got the number of the villa from my father. Hopefully by now he realizes I’m not going to call him back.”
“You’re telling me the truth?”
Without considering the wisdom of it she said, “I guess if you told me Seraphina wasn’t your fiancée, I wouldn’t believe you, either.”
“Touché,” he muttered after a brief silence.
She heaved a frustrated sigh. “At the time Pietra told you I was involved with Brent, I thought there could be a future with him. But over the last few months I discovered a selfish streak in his nature. It all came to a head when I told him I was going to quit my job to take care of Nicky.”
Massimo moved closer to her. “I’m assuming he didn’t want to share you.”
“A man in the fast lane on his way to the top doesn’t always see what’s more important.” Brent wasn’t like Massimo. No man was.
She stared at the gorgeous male confronting her. “Before you tell me there’s still time to get my old job back, don’t! If I’d wanted it that badly, I wouldn’t have approached you. Everyone thinks they know what’s best for me. My mother, my brother, my boss, Brent, even you seem to have my future all planned out, but I have news for you. You don’t!” Her voice throbbed. “If you bothered to ask, I’d tell you Nicky is what’s best for me. I’m best for him, too. He’s my nephew as much as yours. No matter what happens, I’m not going to stop loving him.
“You said our family could come often and stay as long as we wanted. Well, I’m staying, even if Dante told me good riddance.”
Massimo’s expression turned black as a thunderhead. “When did Dante speak to you?” he demanded.
She bowed her head, wishing she hadn’t said anything.
“Tell me or I’ll get the truth of out of him myself!”
“No, Massimo—” Her head flew back. “It was just something he said as we were getting off the plane in Milan.”
“Go on.” He stood there with his hands on his hips in an aggressively male stance that prevented her from thinking clearly.
“He told me to have fun on my vacation.”
Some choice Italian invective escaped his lips. His reaction made her realize Dante’s remarks had angered him more than she would have supposed. She wished she could take comfort in the fact. But the truth remained that Massimo wanted her to leave.
Cut to the quick, she made it as far as the hall before masculine hands closed over her upper arms. He dragged her quivering frame into his chest where she felt a strong heart pounding against her back.
“I meant no offense, Julie,” he murmured in a thick-toned voice. “Don’t you understand I was only thinking of your happiness with Brent when I suggested your leaving? Nicky needs you. Anyone can see that.”
Her emotions were so chaotic right now, she couldn’t think while she was clamped to his hard body. He smelled of his own masculine scent and Nicky’s baby powder. His warmth, his lips in her hair, everything was an assault on her senses if he’d but known it.
“I need him.”
“You think I’m not aware of that?” Massimo whirled her around, his eyes blazing. “If you have any question in that regard, then you don’t know me at all,” he ground out. “No matter what happens, we’re in this together now.”
After being plunged to the depths, his words had just given her heart the workout of its life. Out of breath, she stared into his fiery black depths.
“A woman important to you might not like the arrangement, even if you and I are related through Nicky.”
He inhaled sharply. “You’re referring to Seraphina.”
“If she’s the important woman in your life, then yes.”
His hands trailed down her arms until he let go of her. The loss of contact caused Julie to moan inwardly. She stepped away, afraid to get that close to him again for fear he’d sense how much she desired him.
He folded his arms across his broad chest. “There was a time when we were intimate.” Julie knew it. “But that was over three years ago, long before I left for Guatemala.”
“From the look of it, she still wants you. I thought she must have said something about me, and that’s why you brought up the subject of my leaving.”
Their eyes met. “It appears we’ve both made erroneous assumptions. However, with you in residence, she might finally get the message.”
Julie smoothed the hair off her temple. “So now I can serve another purpose and be a buffer between the two of you?”
His body stiffened. “I’m going to pretend I never heard that.”
“Sorry,” she whispered before looking away.
“It’s my fault for frightening you about the inner workings of the Di Rocches.”
“Do you include Vigo under that umbrella? He acted terrified when you caught up to us. Is he like the others underneath?”
“Probably. I wouldn’t put it past Sansone to have sent his son on a hunting expedition.”
Her head came up. “In search of what?”
“To learn my plans. That way he can launch an offensive before I step foot in the office.”
“He’s that ambitious?”
Massimo rubbed his bottom lip with his thumb. “Sansone intends to be the head of Di Rocche’s one day.”
“He’s afraid of you. Why? He’s the first-born son.”
“Of Uncle Aldo, yes. He’s been in competition with me since I was born. When Pietra and I had to move to Milan to live with our uncle, Sansone couldn’t stand for his father to show us any attention.”
“But he’s ten years older—”
“That gave him an advantage, one he’s never failed to let his brothers or me and Pietra forget.”
“But how could he have possibly felt threatened?”
He gave an unconscious shrug of his powerful shoulders.
She shivered, knowing there was a lot more to it than he was letting on. “For what it’s worth, Vigo didn’t ask me one question about you.”
He flashed her an ironic smile. “He has eyes in his head. Like any normal male, he responds to a beautiful woman.”
“Be serious, Massimo.”
“You think I’m not?” he challenged.
Julie would love to believe him, but she didn’t dare read too much into it.
“Vigo was fun.”
“I’ll admit he’s still wet behind the ears. Maybe there’s hope for him yet.” Beneath his words Julie sensed he didn’t believe it.
She and Vigo were close in age. That probably meant Massimo didn’t consider her completely grown-up yet. Julie would do well to remember that so she wouldn’t make a fool of herself.
So far she was batting a thousand in that department. Every accusation she’d thrown at him was turning out to be unjustified.
“Since I’m back to being in your employ again, I’d better check on Nicky.”
His dark brows knit together. “I don’t like the idea of you considering yourself the hired help.”
Julie wasn’t particularly fond of it, either.
“I have an even stronger aversion to the appelation ‘nanny.’ Naturally I’ll go on paying you, but I prefer to think of you as a member of the family who has come to be with our nephew at my invitation. Capisci?”
The Italian word had slipped out. It was one she recognized. Her pulse beat a swift tattoo.
“Yes.”
“Bene. This evening when it’s cooler, we’ll take Nicky out to dinner with us. We’ve been trapped in the villa too long. Plan to wear something semidressy. It’s time the two of you were introduced to his Italian roots.”
Massimo had been away several years. He would have to be inhuman not to want to explore his own backyard again. Despite his extended family’s machinations, there had to be certain memories from his youth that were precious to him. She was already counting the minutes.
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