Luca was everything she shouldn’t want. He was dangerous.

He was a man who was used to people doing what he wanted them to, and he was willing to take whatever measures were necessary to make it happen.

They would come to a coparenting arrangement that suited them both, but that was it. That’s all there could be.

Claire looked up to notice Luca was watching her as he held their child. His gaze flicked over her casually, and yet she could feel the knot in her belly tighten. She wasn’t misinterpreting this. Luca made it plainly clear that he was attracted to her, as well. It might just be a negotiation strategy to soften her up, but when he looked at her that way, it almost made her feel like resistance was futile.

Luca was a man who got what he wanted. What would she do if he decided he wanted her?

* * *

The CEO’s Unexpected Child is part of Mills & Boon Desire’s no. 1 bestselling series, Billionaires and Babies: Powerful men … wrapped around their babies’ little fingers.

The CEO’s Unexpected Child

Andrea Laurence

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ANDREA LAURENCE is an award-winning author of contemporary romances filled with seduction and sass. She has been a lover of reading and writing stories since she was young and is thrilled to share her special blend of sensuality and dry, sarcastic humor with readers. A dedicated West Coast girl transplanted into the Deep South, she’s working on her own happily-ever-after with her boyfriend and their collection of animals.

MILLS & BOON

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To Those Battling Cancer —

You never expect the C word and when it shows up, your whole life turns upside down. Things that seemed so important are suddenly trivial compared to getting through this disease. I can’t even imagine the full scope of emotions that go through a person as they face that uncertain future. My wish is that this book provides you a welcome distraction and gives you hope for a happy ending of your own.

Contents

Cover

Introduction

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Epilogue

Extract

Copyright

One

“I don’t care, Stuart. I’m not letting a total stranger just take my daughter from me.”

Claire Douglas’s lawyer, Stuart Ewing, patted her on the hand. He had a grandfatherly way about him, an easygoing attitude that belied the fact that he was a courtroom barracuda. She had a lot of faith and money invested in the man, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t terrified deep down.

“We’ll work something out, Claire. I just need you to keep your cool when we go in there. Don’t let your emotions get the best of you.”

Claire frowned. Keeping her emotions in check was not exactly her specialty. She’d been bombarded with emotions over the past two years. Her life had become a roller coaster from the moment she found out she was pregnant. After years of failed fertility treatments, it had been their last chance. That moment had been the highest of highs.

Her husband dying in a car accident when she was five months pregnant was the lowest of lows. Especially the painful revelations that followed it. The birth of her daughter had been the only thing that pulled her out of that dark place, giving her a reason to be joyful and live her life again.

But she’d never expected this. The disclosure of the mistake they’d made at the fertility clinic had changed her whole life. It had made her a millionaire, and at the same time had threatened the stability of her small family.

“Mrs. Douglas? Mr. Ewing? They’re ready for you.” The receptionist at the front desk gestured to a set of double doors that led to a conference room.

There, Claire presumed, waited the man who was trying to take her child and the lawyer he’d hired to help him. She felt her stomach roll, threatening to return the coffee and bagel she’d forced down her throat that morning.

“Come on, Claire,” Stuart said, pushing up from the waiting-room chair. “Everything is going to be fine. You’re not going to lose your daughter.”

Claire nodded, trying to act calm and assured, though she was anything but. There were no guarantees. They were marching into a room where Edmund Harding was waiting for them. He was the kind of lawyer every billionaire in Manhattan had on speed dial. Harding had such a level of prestige and influence that he could probably get the courts to do anything he wanted.

Scooping up her purse, she forced her trembling hands into tight fists at her sides and followed Stuart into the conference room.

The room was elegant and intimidating, with a large rectangular glass table that cut it in two like a blade. There was no question that it divided everything into their side and their opponents’ side. There were plush leather rolling chairs lining the table, but at the moment all of them were empty.

Claire’s gaze drifted to the large, floor-to-ceiling windows on the left side of the room. A man stood in front of it, looking out over Central Park. She couldn’t make out any of his features, just the hulking shape of his broad shoulders and narrow waist. The man was tall, his arms crossed over his chest. He emitted an intense energy that Claire picked up on immediately.

“Ah, Mrs. Douglas,” a voice called. “Mr. Ewing, please have a seat.”

Claire turned toward the voice and found a man on the other side of the room. He was gathering paperwork in his hands and carrying it to the table. The man had a certain studious look about him that convinced her that he was the infamous Edmund Harding. That meant the man by the window had to be...

“Luca, we’re ready to begin,” Edmund said.

As Claire settled into her seat, the man at the window finally turned. When he did, Claire was very glad she was already sitting. The face that regarded her was like a Florentine masterpiece of the Renaissance. He had a square, clean-shaven jaw and high cheekbones that looked as if they were carved out of marble. Dark brows hovered over narrowed eyes that crinkled at the edges.

Those eyes ran over Claire for a moment, then turned away, disinterested. He strode to the conference table and sat beside his lawyer.

This was the father of her child?

She almost couldn’t believe it, and yet her daughter’s dark curls and olive complexion certainly hadn’t come from her.

“Before we begin, can my assistant bring anyone anything? Water? Coffee?” Edmund asked.

“No, thank you,” Claire said quietly.

“Coffee, black,” the man across the table demanded. No niceties, no please or thank you. He seemed very much to be the kind of man who was used to getting what he wanted.

He wouldn’t get his way this time. Claire was determined not to let this man get his hooks into her daughter. He didn’t even know Eva. How could he possibly get custody of her?

The assistant brought Luca a mug of black coffee and silently disappeared as quickly as she arrived.

“Thank you for coming today,” Edmund began as the door clicked shut. “We asked to meet with you in person because we feel as though our prior communications aren’t having the impact they should. Mr. Moretti is very serious about pursuing his joint custody filing.”

Being served with papers that said a stranger was demanding custody of her daughter had nearly floored her. When she had learned the truth about the mix-up at the fertility clinic, a part of her had hoped that the biological father would be disinterested in Eva. She found out quickly that was not going to be the case.

“Don’t you think that filing was premature?” Stuart asked. “He hasn’t even met the child, but he thinks he should have joint custody?”

“He would’ve met his daughter weeks ago if your client had cooperated with our requests. We had no choice but to do something Mrs. Douglas couldn’t continue to ignore.”

The two lawyers continued to argue, but Claire found her attention was drawn to the silent force sitting across from her. While his lawyer did all the talking, Luca Moretti leaned back in his chair and studied Claire. His dark hazel eyes ran over every inch of her. She did her best to hold still, not wanting to squirm or show any sign of weakness in front of him.

Instead, she focused on studying him just as closely. It was so easy to see pieces of him in Eva. When her daughter was born, Claire had been confused by the baby they handed her, with the head of dark, curly hair. Claire had dark honey-blond hair. Her husband, Jeff, had light brown hair. Neither was olive skinned nor had a cleft in their chin, but Eva did.

But all her confusion and worry disappeared the moment she looked into her daughter’s gray eyes. She fell in love that instant, and no longer cared what Eva looked like because she was perfect. For all Claire knew, Jeff had Spanish or Italian blood he’d never told her about.

The doubts hadn’t arisen in her mind again until the clinic called three months later. They’d informed her that their last vial of sperm was due for destruction in three months if they didn’t use it. They hadn’t opted to pay the lifetime storage fees because they’d intended to use it all fairly quickly.

The call confused her because they’d used their last dose when they conceived Eva. That information had raised red flags, and it wasn’t long until they discovered the truth—her husband’s sperm had a number transposed on the paperwork and another client’s sperm was used instead.

Luca Moretti’s, to be exact.

The thought sent a chill through her. The man had never touched her and yet a part of him had been inside her. What was a man like Luca doing at a fertility clinic, anyway? Putting himself through college by selling sperm for cash? Every inch of his body, from his broad shoulders to his hard jaw, screamed the kind of masculinity she hadn’t been exposed to in a very long time, if ever. With the right look, Claire was certain he could make a woman’s ovaries explode. If a man like Luca needed the services of a fertility clinic, a lesser man didn’t stand a chance with his own progeny.

And yet, he was there. When the news broke, Luca had focused his attention on the fertility clinic. He’d sent Edmund after them and before Claire knew it, the clinic was begging to settle out of court and keep the scandal quiet. She had instantly gone from a comfortable middle-class woman, to someone who didn’t need to work another day in her life.

But then Luca turned his legal bulldogs on her. Claire wouldn’t back down, though. She didn’t care if it cost her every penny of her settlement battling in court. Eva was her baby. It was hard enough trying to deal with the revelation of her daughter’s paternity. She was still trying to work through her anger and confusion about Jeff’s death. How could she tell Jeff’s parents that Eva wasn’t their biological granddaughter? She had a lot on her plate already. She didn’t need Luca coming out of nowhere and making demands about her child.

“There’s got to be a happy medium,” Stuart said, pulling her attention back into the conversation.

“My client isn’t open to negotiating any terms that don’t involve providing him with visits with his daughter.”

“My daughter.” Claire spoke up with all the force she could muster. She felt Stuart’s hand covering hers, trying to calm her, but it wasn’t going to help. “Eva is my daughter. I’m not just going to hand her over to some stranger. I don’t know anything about this man. He could be a serial killer or some kind of pervert. Would you just hand over your child to a stranger, Mr. Harding?”

Edmund was startled by her outburst, but the sound that caught her attention was the snort of laughter from the man beside him. It was the first noise Luca had made since he demanded his coffee. When she turned to look at him, she noticed a sparkle of interest in his eyes and a hint of amusement curling a corner of his full lips. He was no longer just studying her, he actually seemed...intrigued by her.

“I can assure you that my client is no criminal, Mrs. Douglas. He is the CEO of the nation’s largest family-owned Italian restaurant chain, Moretti’s Italian Kitchen.”

Claire turned away from Luca’s intense stare. It was unnerving her, and this was no time for her to be compromised. So, he was a hotshot restaurateur. Good for him. But what difference did that make when it came to his character? Success didn’t make him a saint. “So you’re presuming that rich businessmen can’t be murderers or child molesters? I counter that they just have better lawyers.”

“My client is willing to cooperate to soothe your concerns, Mrs. Douglas. We’re not the bad guys here. We’re just trying to ensure that Eva is in Mr. Moretti’s life. We welcome you to have a background check conducted. You won’t find anything questionable. But when you don’t find the skeletons you’re looking for, you’re going to have to let him see Eva.”

“And if Mrs. Douglas doesn’t cooperate?”

Claire held her breath, waiting to see what they would say. Would they push her or back down until their court date?

“Then,” Edmund explained, “we stop playing nice. I’ll file an emergency visitation motion to compel access to Eva and let the courts decide. You can be certain the judge will give my client even more time with his daughter than we’re requesting. It’s your choice, Mrs. Douglas.”

* * *

So this was Claire Douglas.

Luca had to admit he was surprised. Her name had been on his mind and crossed his desk a hundred times since the mix-up came to light. He didn’t know what he was expecting the widowed Mrs. Douglas to look like, but young, slender and blonde had not been on the list. It had taken everything he had to hold his composure when he turned from the window and saw her standing there.

Her practical gray suit clung to every delicious curve and almost exactly matched the shade of her eyes. Her honey-colored hair was twisted back into a professional bun at her nape. He wanted to pull out the hair pins and let the blond waves tumble over her shoulders.

The longer he sat watching Claire, the more curious he became about her. How had a woman so young become a widow? Was she always this uptight, or was it just because she didn’t like him? He wanted to run his thumb between her eyebrows to smooth the crease her serious frown had worn there.

It made him wonder if their daughter looked more like him or her. Did she have Claire’s porcelain skin and pert nose? Did her ears turn red when she got angry the way her mother’s did? The furious shift in Claire had immediately caught his attention. There was more fire in her than the bland gray suit would indicate.

“Can they do that?” Claire asked, turning to her lawyer. She looked completely panicked by the thought of Luca having access to their child.

Their child.

It seemed so wrong for him to have a child with a woman he’d never met. Luca hadn’t even given any serious thought to having a family. He’d only stored his sperm to make the doctors and his mother feel better. He hadn’t actually expected to use it.

But now that he had a living, breathing child, he wasn’t about to sit back and pretend it didn’t happen. Eva was probably the only child he would ever have, and he’d already missed months of her life. That would not continue.

“We can and we will.” Luca spoke up at last. “This whole thing is a mess that neither of us anticipated, but it doesn’t change the facts. Eva is my daughter, and I’ve got the paternity test results to prove it. There’s not a judge in the county of New York who won’t grant me emergency visitation while we await our court date. They will say when and where and how often you have to give her to me.”

Claire sat, her mouth agape at his words. “She’s just a baby. She’s only six months old. Why fight me for her just so you can hand her over to a nanny?”

Luca laughed at her presumptuous tone. “What makes you so certain I’ll have a nanny for her?”

“Because...” she began. “You’re a rich, powerful, unmarried businessman. You’re better suited to run a corporation than to change a diaper. I’m willing to bet you don’t have the first clue of how to care for an infant, much less the time.”

Luca just shook his head and sat forward in his seat. “You know very little about me, tesorina, you’ve said so yourself, so don’t presume anything about me. Besides, even if I have a nanny, it doesn’t matter because Eva is my daughter, too. I’m going to fight for the right to see her even if all I do is pass her off to someone else. Like it or not, you don’t get any say into what I do when I have her.”

Claire narrowed her gaze at him. She definitely didn’t like him pushing her. And he was pushing her. Partially because he liked to see the fire in her eyes and the flush of her skin, and partially because it was necessary to get through to her.

Neither of them had asked for this to happen to them, but she needed to learn she wasn’t in charge. They had to cooperate if this awkward situation was going to improve. He’d started off nice, politely requesting to see Eva, and he’d been flatly ignored. As each request was met with silence, he’d escalated the pressure. That’s how they’d ended up here today. If she pushed him any more, he would start playing hardball. He didn’t want to, but he would crush her like his restaurants’ competitors.

“We can work together and play nice, or Edmund here can make things very difficult for you. As he said, it’s your choice.”

“My choice? Hardly.” She sniffed and crossed her arms over her chest.

The movement pressed her abundant bosom up against the neckline of her jacket, giving him a glimpse of rosy cleavage. Her blush traveled lower than he expected. It made him want to know exactly how much lower.

“Mr. Moretti?”

Luca jerked his gaze from Claire’s chest and met her heated stare. “I’m sorry, what?”

“I said, you have my hands tied. You aren’t even listening to me. How can we negotiate when you aren’t listening?”

Luca swallowed his embarrassment, covering it with the confident, unaffected mask he usually wore. It had been a long time since he’d lost his focus during business discussions, much less because of a beautiful woman. Apparently, he had been working too much and needed some companionship so he didn’t lose his edge. “And how are we to negotiate when you refuse to move from your position? You won’t listen to anything that isn’t just the way you want it.”

“That is not—”

“Claire,” her lawyer interrupted in a harsh whisper. “We need to consider what they’re offering.”

“I don’t want to consider it. This whole thing is ridiculous. We’re done here,” she said, pushing up from her seat to stand.

“That’s fine,” Luca said, sitting back in his chair. Time to turn the screws. “I think you’ll look lovely in orange.”

“Orange?” Claire asked, some of her previous fire starting to cool.

“Yes. Prison jumper orange to be exact. If the judge orders visitation and you don’t comply, you could end up in jail. That’s fine with me, really. That means I’ll get full custody of Eva.”

“Sit down, Claire,” Stuart said.

Her brave facade crumbled as she slipped back down into her chair. Finally, he’d gotten through to her. The last thing he wanted to do was to send a young mother to jail, but he would. He was not the kind of man who bluffed, so it was a wise time for her to listen.

Claire sighed and leaned forward, folding her delicate, manicured fingers together on the glass table. “I just don’t think you understand what you’re asking of me. Do you have nieces or nephews, Mr. Moretti?”

Did he? He was from a big Italian family. With five brothers and sisters he had more nieces and nephews than he could count on two hands. The newest, little Nico, was only a few weeks old. “I do.”

“And how would you feel if one of your sisters was in my position? If her husband died and she was blindsided by the news that he wasn’t the father of her child? Then to be forced to hand over your niece to a stranger because of circumstances outside her control?”

That made Luca frown. He ran the family enterprise with his brothers by his side. His whole life revolved around Moretti Enterprises. Family—blood—was everything to him. That’s why Eva was so important. Regardless of circumstances, she was family. The idea of letting Nico go off with someone they didn’t know was unnerving, even if that man had the right. Perhaps he needed to change his tactics with Claire. Bullying would not change her mind any more than it would change his sister’s mind.

“I understand how hard this must be for you. Despite what you might think, Mrs. Douglas, I’m not keen to snatch your baby from your arms. But I do want to get to know my daughter and be a part of her life. I’m not backing down on that. I think you will be more comfortable with the entire situation if you get to know me better. A lot of your concerns about me and how well I’ll care for Eva will be gone if we spend some time together. By that I mean time with all of us together, so you can be there for every moment and be more at ease with my ability to be a good father.”

Claire’s frown started to fade the more he spoke. “Do you mean like playdates? I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but it’s going to take a long time for me to be comfortable if we’re just spending an hour or two together every Saturday afternoon. How much can I learn about you during the occasional walk through the park?”

Luca shook his head. “Actually, no, that’s not what I mean. You’re right. It’s going to take more time than that.”

“What are you suggesting, Mr. Moretti?” her lawyer asked.

“I’m suggesting we both take a little time away from our jobs and spend it together.”

“Tiptoeing around your penthouse apartment?” Claire asked.

He shrugged. He hadn’t given much thought to where or how. “Why not?”

“I would prefer more neutral territory, Mr. Moretti. I won’t be comfortable in your home, and I doubt you’ll enjoy the mess a baby and all her things can make in your fancy apartment. You’re not going to be happy coming to Brooklyn, either.”

“Okay. What do you think about us taking a vacation together? Renting a beach house or something?”

“Luca, I’m not sure that’s such a good—”

“I’m listening,” she said, interrupting Edmund’s complaint. Claire’s delicate brows then drew together in confusion. “It sounds nice, but how long of a vacation are we talking about, here?”

If they were going to do this, and make it work, they couldn’t skimp. She was right; a few hours here and there wouldn’t get them anywhere. He needed to get to know the mother of his child, to bond with his daughter and to make Claire at ease with him and his ability to care for Eva. That would take time.

“I think a month ought to do it.”

Two

“A month?” Claire was stunned. “Mr. Moretti—”

“Please, call me Luca,” he said with a smile that made her pulse quicken in her throat.

That was a dangerous smile. It was charming. Disarming. Combined with his movie star good looks, it was enough to make her forget that he was the enemy, not a potential paramour. She almost preferred that he return to his cold, businessman expression.

“Luca, I have a job. I’m a curator at the Museum of European Arts. I can’t just leave for a month, especially on short notice.”

“Do you think it will be easy for me to simply turn over the reins of my family company for a month? It will be a hardship for both of us, but it has become very clear that it is a necessity to make this work. We need time away, just the three of us, to get comfortable with one another. Don’t you think Eva’s welfare is worth the sacrifice?”

Nice. Now Luca was the good guy and Claire was the one being unreasonable because she wouldn’t do whatever it took for her daughter. “Of course she’s worth the sacrifice. My daughter is my whole life.”

“Then what’s the problem? The way I see it, our court date with the judge is in six weeks. After spending four of those weeks together, perhaps we can come up with an arrangement that makes both of us happy and can present that to the judge.”

Claire felt Stuart squeeze her knee beneath the table. She didn’t have to look at her lawyer to know that he liked this idea. No one wanted to go up against Edmund Harding in court if they could avoid it. Going to see the judge with both parties on the same page would make things easier on everyone. Including Eva.

That was the thought that won her over. Her boss wouldn’t be happy, but he would understand. He knew what she had been going through the past two years. He’d be the first to tell her she deserved a vacation. Maternity leave was hardly a break. That was just a six-week introduction to the hard life of a single mother.

“Okay. If you agree to take the emergency visitation filing off the table, I’ll agree to your proposal.”

Luca nodded slowly and gestured to his lawyer. “Okay. I’ll make the arrangements for a location.”

“I’d prefer it not be too far away,” Claire said. “Long trips with a baby are difficult, and I’m not sure I’m ready to take her on a plane.”

“I have an old friend from college who has a place on Martha’s Vineyard. Would that suit you?”

Claire tried not to react. Martha’s Vineyard was the summer playground of the rich. Until recently, she’d been solidly middle class, and a vacation locale like that had always seemed out of her reach. The sudden increase in her checking account balance hadn’t changed her mind-set along with her tax bracket. “That would be suitable,” she said, coolly.

“Very well. I’ll speak to Gavin and make sure it’s available. How long will you need to prepare for the trip and arrange the time off?”

It was Monday. At the best, she could leave this weekend. “I’m not sure, but it will take a few days.”

“I’ll give you my contact information. Let me know when you find out¸ and I’ll have a car sent to pick you up.”

“That’s not necessary. I can arrange my own transportation.” Claire was never the kind of woman who sat back and let people take care of her. Not Jeff, and certainly not Luca. She had the capacity and the money to handle this herself.

“Ridiculous. We’ll ride together and start getting to know each other as soon as possible.”

Claire clenched her jaw. He spoke as if everything was law. It made her crazy. She had to pick her battles, though. If he wanted to send someone all the way out to her brownstone in Brooklyn to pick them up, then fine. “Very well. Are we done here?”

Luca’s lips twisted into an amused smile. “We are.”

Good. Claire was in desperate need of getting out of this room. The spacious conference room closed in on her the longer Luca stared at her. Those dark hazel eyes had the slightest hint of gold twinkling mischievously in them. He seemed to look right through her, seeing all the secrets and shame she was desperate to hide.

Picking up her bag, she pushed up from her seat and turned her back on Luca Moretti. She needed some distance between them. She wanted to breathe air that wasn’t scented with leather and the spice of his cologne. Claire moved with purpose out of the conference room, exiting Edmund’s law offices with Stuart on her heels. She didn’t stop until she was standing on the sidewalk, looking at the traffic buzzing down Lexington Avenue.

Claire took a deep breath and felt the muscles in her neck and shoulders finally start to loosen. It wasn’t just what he saw in her. It was how he made her feel. Luca lit a fire inside her that licked at her cheeks and made her think about the needs she’d ignored for longer than she could remember.

When she and her husband decided to have a child and it didn’t happen easily, sex with Jeff became a chore. Mechanical. When that didn’t work and they went to the clinic, it was even worse. Desire and arousal went out the window with sterile rooms and medical procedures. Their relationship changed as their failures became all they could focus on.

It was no wonder Jeff strayed.

Claire had been so wrapped up in getting pregnant, and then obsessed with preparing for the baby’s arrival, she didn’t notice anything was wrong. Jeff was working later, going on more business trips, but a lot of people worked long hours. Even she did from time to time, especially when a new exhibit was getting ready to open at the museum. But she also ignored the fact that he took a shower the minute he got home, the distant look in his eyes and the complete disinterest in physical contact. She was so adept at justifying every red flag that if his mistress hadn’t died in the car with Jeff when he wrecked, she might never have accepted he was having an affair.

It had taken time to come to terms with the truth, but knowing that her relationship with Jeff would’ve ended no matter what had helped her cope with his death. She had lost her husband long before that night. If Jeff had lived long enough for the truth about his infidelity to come to light, they probably would’ve divorced. And if by some miracle they had fought through the rough patch, finding out that he wasn’t Eva’s father would’ve been the end. His ego never could’ve taken a hit like that.

Realizing all this had been a major blow to her confidence in her ability to make good choices. She had thought Jeff was the perfect man for her and she’d been wrong. She’d thought a baby would help give her what she was missing from her life and her marriage, and it wasn’t. She loved Eva more than anything and didn’t regret having her, but a baby hadn’t been the answer to their problems. In the end it made them worse.

Being attracted to Luca Moretti was another bad decision. Even as she could feel his gaze raking across her skin, she knew it was a terrible idea. And yet, she hadn’t felt that alive in years. He hadn’t even touched her and she’d reacted to him like no other man before him.

“Claire, are you okay?” Stuart came up behind her, placing a soothing hand on her shoulder.

“Yeah, I was just ready to get out of there.”

He nodded, looking out at the passing cars. “Let me take you to lunch.” They turned and started walking down the sidewalk. “All things considered, I think it went okay today. Edmund’s not filing an emergency visitation petition, so that buys us some time. He’s willing to work with us to come up with an agreement before we go to the judge. It isn’t going to get any better than that.”

“Yes, but it cost me four weeks of my life.” She would pay more than that for Eva and her well-being, but she was still a little shell-shocked from everything that just happened.

“Claire...it could be worse. You’re going to spend a month at a beach house on Martha’s Vineyard.”

“With Luca Moretti,” she pointed out. Somehow that made it seem like less of a vacation and more of an obstacle course she needed to survive.

“So what? Between you and me, I think you need the break. Get out of New York, sit on the beach and breathe in the sea air. It’s beautiful up there this time of year. It’s early in the season, but that means it won’t be too crowded or hot. Let Luca take care of Eva under your watchful eye and be grateful for the time off. How does Japanese food sound for lunch?”

This trip sounded good on paper, but she was certain that the reality would be very different. She’d barely made it through a half hour with Luca with both their lawyers present. What would she do when she was alone with him for a whole month?

* * *

Luca strolled down Park Avenue, heading toward his apartment. He could’ve called a car to pick him up, but he needed the walk. It helped him focus, or in this case think about something else. It took about ten blocks before he could get the sound of Claire’s sigh from his mind. Her steel-gray eyes haunted him.

He hadn’t expected to have a reaction to her like this. He didn’t want to, either. That woman had been nothing but difficult, despite how politely he’d tried to handle this mess of a situation. And yet, he couldn’t help pushing her buttons just to see the fire in her. Under that prim suit and tightly wrapped bun was a passionate woman, he was certain of it.

Of course, what did it matter? He was pretty sure that Edmund would advise him strongly not to get romantically involved with Claire. He knew it was the smart thing, but Luca didn’t always follow the advice of others.

Turning the corner, Luca finally reached his building. Standing beneath the dark green awning was Wayne, the second-shift doorman.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Moretti. You’re home early today. I hope everything is okay.”

Luca smiled at the doorman who had worked here longer than he had owned the apartment. “No worries, Wayne. All is well. I’m actually home a little early to start planning a vacation.”

“You, sir? I don’t think you’ve had one of those since you moved in.”

Was it that obvious that he was a workaholic? “Probably not. I’ve been working pretty hard lately. I’m going to be gone for a month, though, up to Martha’s Vineyard if all goes to plan. Will you let the building manager know I’ll be away? I’ll need my mail and packages held until I return.”

“I will, sir. May I ask if you’re doing something fun on your trip?”

The thought of the rosy blush running over every inch of Claire’s porcelain skin instantly came to mind. That could be fun. Or it could be four weeks of bickering by the beach. “Maybe. It depends on how it goes. I certainly hope so.”

Wayne pulled open the shiny brass door and took a step back. “Well, I hope you enjoy your time away. You’ve certainly earned it, sir.”

“Thanks, Wayne.”

Luca crossed the marble lobby floor to his private elevator. He smiled as he pressed the button that would take him up to his apartment. Claire thought she knew so much about him, but she was wrong on several counts. For one thing, he didn’t live in the penthouse. He lived on the tenth floor of his building. The penthouse apartment was just too large for his needs. His apartment had three bedrooms and an unused maid’s quarters. That was more than enough.

When he’d purchased the place a few years ago, he was pretty certain he would live there alone for the rest of his life. Despite the fact that he had bent to the will of his doctors and his mother as a teenager by storing the potential for future children at the clinic, he had no intention of ever using it.

A wife and a family were the furthest thing from Luca’s mind. He’d found that people who lived through what he had reacted one of two ways—they were either desperate for family or terrified by the idea of it. Luca fell into the latter category, although he hadn’t always felt that way.

The doors of the elevator opened to the marble foyer of his apartment. He unlocked the door, stepping into his living room. Luca slipped out of his coat and headed for his study. There, he poured himself a finger of Scotch and settled down in his favorite leather chair.

As the oldest of six kids, he’d presumed he’d have a family of his own someday. He enjoyed the camaraderie and the chaos of his childhood home. Then, at age sixteen, those presumptions went out the window when his whole life was derailed by an unexpected illness. The illness turned out to be testicular cancer. The treatment for his cancer was aggressive—surgery and several rounds of chemotherapy and radiation. The majority of patients who went through the treatment were sterile when it was over. Although the idea of it was mortifying, he’d made several donations to be frozen at the fertility clinic for the future. His mother paid the clinic big money for them to hold on to it for as long as Luca might be in need of it.

Luca knew when he was doing it, however, that he would be storing, but not using it, forever. Despite assurances to the contrary, he knew he was a damaged commodity. At any time, the cancer could come back or spread. Physically, he wasn’t the complete man he’d once been. Plastic surgery had corrected the aesthetics, but he knew the truth. He couldn’t knowingly go into a relationship with a woman knowing that he was limited in what he could offer her.

And he was limited. He knew that in his heart. The one time a woman had claimed to have given birth to his child, he’d let himself get his hopes up. His whole family got their hopes up. When the miracle baby turned out to belong to someone else, everyone was disappointed, including the baby’s gold-digging mother, Jessica. He had always been adamant about using protection, just for safety reasons, but after that he was almost militant. He didn’t want another woman to even get the idea that she could have his child.

Sipping his drink, he looked around his study. It was a part of his perfect bachelor pad, decorated with masculine touches of leather and dark wood. The shelves were lined with books he’d never read. On one wall was a framed portrait of the world, reminding him of all the places he’d never been. He’d gone from being a child, to a cancer patient, to a college student, to a CEO. That didn’t leave room for much else.

It was just as well that Jessica’s baby hadn’t been his. Even if he wanted a family, he didn’t have time. From the day he was born, he’d been groomed to take over Moretti’s Restaurants. His great-grandfather had started the company eighty years ago with a small restaurant in Little Italy. By the time his grandfather took over, they had another restaurant in Brooklyn and one in Queens. It snowballed from there. His father’s goal of having a Moretti’s in every state had been achieved not long after Luca was born.

After he got sick, his mother had homeschooled him from the hospital to help him keep up with his studies while he received his treatment. When he graduated from high school in remission, Luca went to Harvard to get his business degree and started working at the corporate offices with his father. His MBA earned him the title of vice president, and his father’s retirement two years ago had turned the reins over to him entirely.

Luca had put his own stamp on the empire by diversifying their restaurants. Not everyone had the time for a long, sit-down Italian feast. He started a fast-food Italian chain called Antonia’s, after his mother. That had exploded, becoming one of the fastest growing chains in that market.

Overseeing this monster took all the time he had. And he liked it that way. When his life was so full, he didn’t miss the family he was lacking.

And now, suddenly, he found he had a family he never expected—one that had been confirmed as actually being his. Thankfully the apartment could accommodate Eva, in terms of size and space. There would need to be some childproofing and redecorating, but that was the least of his worries. The harder part would be seeing to it that the rest of his life could accommodate his newfound daughter, as well.

That started with this trip. The first thing he needed to do was to call his old friend Gavin Brooks. He and Gavin had met at Harvard and hit it off immediately. Like Luca, Gavin was the heir to a family empire of his own—Brooks Express Shipping. They both understood what it was like to have that kind of pressure on their shoulders. The difference was that Gavin had managed to run BXS and have a family. He and his new wife, Sabine, had two small children, including a baby girl named Beth, who was only a few months older than Eva.

Perhaps Gavin could offer Luca more than just a vacation house. He could use some advice, as well.

Reaching for his phone, he dialed Gavin’s number.

“This can’t really be Luca Moretti calling me,” Gavin answered abruptly. “I mean, that’s what my phone says, but my friend Luca never calls me.”

Luca sighed. “That’s because your friend Luca works too much and is never sure when he can call without waking up your kids.”

Gavin laughed. “It’s a crapshoot. Jared is an early bird and Beth is a night owl. We pretty much never sleep around here. How are you, Luca?”

“To tell you the truth, I’m overwhelmed.” It was nice to be able to talk to someone who truly understood what his days were like. He and Gavin were members of an elite club of young, successful businessmen in Manhattan.

“The restaurant business giving you trouble?”

“No. Work is fine. I called because I need your help for a more...personal matter.”

“I thought you didn’t have personal matters.”

“So did I, then it got dropped in my lap.” Oddly enough, this was another situation that Gavin could sympathize with. He didn’t learn about his son, Jared, until the boy was almost two years old. “I need your help, Gavin.”

“Sure, anything. What is it?”

“Okay. If I tell you something, will you promise not to tell anyone?” At this point, Luca couldn’t risk the news of Eva’s existence getting out. He’d worked hard to keep the lawsuit under wraps so far.

“Sounds serious,” Gavin said. “I’ll keep it to myself.”

“Thanks. I’m trying to ensure this whole situation stays quiet for the next few weeks, primarily because of my family. You know how they are. I need to deal with all of this without their interference.”

“Your cancer has come back,” Gavin said in a grave tone.

“No, thankfully. I’ve actually found out that I’m a father.”

“A father? For real this time?”

In retrospect, Luca had wished he’d kept the situation with Jessica quiet until he knew for certain. He’d never expected her to lie about it. He should’ve known when he saw the look on her face after Edmund demanded a paternity test. As though he’d just take her word for it. “Yes, this time it is tested and established to be my child. I have a daughter named Eva.”

“But wait,” Gavin argued. “I thought you couldn’t...”

“I can’t,” Luca confirmed. “But I had some sperm frozen before my treatment. There was a mix-up at the clinic and a woman ended up pregnant with my child instead of her husband’s.”

“Holy hell. What are you going to do?”

“Well, first I sued the crap out of the clinic. Now I’m trying to negotiate custody terms with the mother. I can assure you it hasn’t been easy. She’s not happy about all this.”

“I can imagine her husband isn’t that happy, either.”

“I’m not sure if it makes all this easier or more complicated, but her husband is actually deceased. Apparently he was in a car accident when she was pregnant.”

“I thought my situation with Sabine was complicated, but you take the cake, Luca.”

“Thanks. This brings me to the favor. I’ve proposed that all three of us spend some time away to get to know each other. She’s not very confident in my ability to take care of a baby and I’ve got to convince her everything is going to be all right.”

“Why don’t you just tell her that you helped raise your younger siblings and have spent time with a dozen nieces and nephews? The last time you came over, you handled Jared like a pro.”

That was a good question. “I doubt she would believe me. She’s a feisty woman, and to tell you the truth, it’s more fun to aggravate her.”

“It sounds like this vacation might prove a little dangerous. Where are you going?” Gavin asked.

“That’s where you come in. I was hoping that we could stay at your beach house for a couple weeks. A month, actually.”

Gavin only hesitated a second before he answered. “Sure thing. We’re not going back up there until after Memorial Day. But why wouldn’t you stay at your family’s place in the Hamptons?”

That had occurred to him. They had a huge place in Sag Harbor where the family liked to gather. But it was too big. And at this point, he didn’t want to run the risk of crossing paths with his family. “To do that, my mother would find out. As it is, I’ve got to feed my brother an excuse to run the business while I disappear for a month. I will tell them, and soon, but I need to spend time with Claire and Eva without Mama circling like a shark around her granddaughter.”

Gavin laughed. “Fair enough. When are you going up? I’ll have the place cleaned and the pantry stocked before you arrive.”

“I’m not exactly sure. We both have to make arrangements with work, but I’m hoping in the next week.”

“So, four weeks in a beach house with the woman you accidentally impregnated and the child you’ve never met? And the woman doesn’t like you, at that.”

Luca sighed. “That pretty much sums it up.”

“Well, good luck to you, man,” Gavin said. “I’ll have a bicycle messenger bring you the key tomorrow. And just in case, I’ll have the cleaning company hide anything breakable.”

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