The Count's Christmas Baby

“What did this man mean to you?”

Wouldn’t he just love to know, but he’d be so wrong! She took a fortifying breath. “Since he’s dead … nothing.”

“How did you hear of him?”

Sami had heard of him through his son, but he was dead, too. If this man was the only living Degenoli in Genoa, then what the chief of police had said was probably true. She should fly to Geneva to start her search there before flying home.

“It no longer matters.” She tried to swallow, but the sudden swelling in her throat made it difficult. “Forgive me for bothering you.” She spun around and made a quick exit.

As she flew down the hall to the entrance of the police station, she suddenly realized what had been bothering her. The man she’d just left had the same kind of voice as her baby’s deceased father. That’s why it had sounded so familiar and disturbing … except for one thing.

This man didn’t have that tender, caring quality in his voice. His tone and manner had been borderline accusatory. Her body gave a shudder before she stepped into the first taxi in the line-up in front of the building.

Ric had caught only a glimpse of tear-filled green eyes before she dashed from Coretti’s office. Could there be two American women in existence who sounded that identical? He supposed the coincidence was possible, since he’d never seen this woman in his life.

For months he’d looked for the woman he’d been trapped in the snow with, hoping she would come looking for him, but by summer he’d decided she must have died in that avalanche.

He closed his eyes for a moment, remembering the way this woman’s husky voice had trembled. Much as he hated to admit it, a part of him had felt her emotion was genuine. The classic features of her pale blond beauty, so different from his own countrywomen, already bothered him in ways he was reluctant to admit.

But great as her acting had been, Ric was convinced Signorina Argyle had lied to him, or at least hadn’t told him the whole truth. Whatever her secret, he was determined to find it out.

Running on pure adrenaline at this point, he buzzed Carlo, his head of security, and told him to follow the twenty-six-year-old blonde American woman leaving the police station. When she reached her destination, he wanted to know exactly where she went from there, so he could arrange a private meeting.

Now hadn’t been the time to stop her. The conversation he intended to have with her needed to be someplace where they could be strictly alone with no chance of anyone else walking in on them.

With his visit to the chief’s office accomplished, he went out to the limo. Within a few minutes he learned she was booked in at the Grand Savoia—one of the best, if not the best hotel in Genoa. It was expensive any time, but especially over the holidays. He told the driver to take him there. Carlo indicated Ric would find her on the third floor, to the right of the elevator, four doors down on the left.

Before long he alighted from the limo and entered the hotel. Deciding to take her by surprise, he dispensed with the idea of phoning her and took the stairs two at a time to her floor. When he reached her door, he knocked loudly enough for her to hear.

“Signorina Argyle? It’s Signor Degenoli. We need to talk.” He got no response, so he decided to try a different tactic. “Why were you trying to find Alberto? I would like to help you if you’d let me.”

Carlo had told him she’d gone into her room and hadn’t come out again, but she might be showering. He gave her another minute, then knocked again. “Signorina?”

A few seconds later the door opened as wide as the little chain would allow. He saw those green eyes lifted to him in consternation, but they were red-rimmed. By the look of it, she’d been crying. That much was genuine.

The champagne-gold of her collar-length hair gleamed in the hall light. She’d discarded her jacket. From the little he could see, a curvaceous figure was revealed beneath the silky white blouse she’d tucked in at the waist of her navy skirt. Every inch of her face and body appealed strongly to him.

“I didn’t realize the police chief had had me followed.” The natural shape of her mouth had a voluptuous flare he’d noticed back at the station. But right now it was drawn tight. She hugged the door, as if she didn’t trust him not to break in on her.

Ric lounged against the wall. “Don’t blame him. I asked one of my men to keep an eye on you until I could catch up with you.”

“Your men?”

“My bodyguards. If you’ll invite me inside, I’ll be happy to explain.”

A delicate frown marred her features. “I’m sorry, Mr. Degenoli, but as I said at the station, there’s nothing more to discuss and I have other plans.”

“As do I.” He was already late leaving for Cyprus. “But we have unfinished business,” he rapped out. To his disgust, he wondered what her exact plans were. Deep inside, his gut twisted to think that he could be this intensely attracted to a stranger. His interest in her made no sense, but the sound of her voice and the way she talked still played with his senses.

A sound of exasperation escaped her lips. “Please believe me when I tell you how badly I feel that you were called into the police station for nothing. If you’d like me to pay you for the inconvenience, I could give you fifty dollars to cover the gas money. It’s all I can spare.”

If that were true, then she’d chosen too expensive a hotel to stay in. “I don’t want your money. To be frank, I knew you were upset when you left the station.” He cocked his head. “I can tell you’ve been crying. Now that we don’t have Chief Coretti for an audience, you can speak freely with me.”

“I probably could, but there’d be no point.” She wiped her eyes with the back of her hands. “I’ve come to the end of my search. I have to say goodbye now.”

There was no question in his mind she was holding back something vital. He put his foot in the door so she couldn’t close it. “Not until I get more answers. For one thing—” He only got that far because he heard a baby fussing. The sounds came from the other side of the door. I knew it!

“Not so fast.” Ric put his weight against the door so she couldn’t shut it on him. “Whose baby is it?”

“Mine.”

“And Alberto’s?” With his mind firing, all Ric could think was that his father had made love to this woman and she’d come to present him with the fruit of that union, but it was too late.

“No—” she cried.

“Then prove it to me.”

CHAPTER TWO

IN HER mind Sami could hear Pat’s dire warning, but she hadn’t heeded it.

This situation had hit rock bottom and was exactly what she’d hoped to avoid, but this man wouldn’t let it go and had followed her to the hotel. Since she’d started this, she decided that if she didn’t want to deal with Chief Coretti again, she’d better let him in.

After undoing the chain, she hurried across the room to the crib. Once she’d picked up the baby, she cuddled him against her shoulder in a protective gesture. Kissing him, she said, “You heard noises and they frightened you, didn’t they, sweetheart? Don’t worry. It’s okay.” She flicked Mr. Degenoli a curious glance. “Our visitor will be leaving soon.”

The arresting-looking Italian had already come inside the room and locked the door behind him. She shivered a little as he drew closer to look at her baby.

Sami decided this Mr. Degenoli had to be a relative of her baby’s father. That’s why his voice sounded so familiar to her. Back at the station he’d been as cagey as she’d tried to be in her effort to protect people and reputations, even to the extent of possibly lying about his name, but with both father and son dead, there was no worry now. The only thing to do was answer his questions, then go home to Reno in the morning.

“Excuse me while I change him.” Reaching for a towel, she spread it on top of the bed and put the baby down.

“Where did you leave him while you were at the police station?”

Sami undid the baby’s stretchy blue suit. “Here, of course. Don’t you know the last place for a baby was that smoke-filled building? This hotel happens to have an outstanding child-minding service.” Sami’s sister had made the reservation for her. “That’s the reason I booked in here. They sent a qualified nurse to watch over him while I went to the police station.”

He didn’t look as if he believed her. “I didn’t kidnap him. If you’re so skeptical, call the front desk and ask them yourself. They’ll verify who I am.”

At this point his eyes were riveted on the baby. “How old is he?”

Sami used the baby wipes and discarded everything in a plastic bag. After powdering him, she slipped him into a fresh diaper. “Two months, but that information wouldn’t have any relevance for you. I couldn’t bring him to Genoa to meet his grandfather before now.”

“Grandfather—”

“Yes. Why do you seem so shocked? Most children have them. I’m heartbroken that my son is never going to know him or … his father.” Her voice faltered.

She kissed the soft baby hair that was dark and too beautiful for a boy. His handsome face was all flushed, but he stopped crying long enough to notice the intruder who was thoroughly inspecting him.

After fastening the snaps on the stretchy suit, she wrapped him in his quilt and picked him up to snuggle him. “I think you’re ready for your dinner, young man.” She walked over to the dresser for a fresh bottle of ready-mixed formula and sat down on a chair to feed him.

“Your voice sounds familiar to me, Signorina.”

So she wasn’t the only one imagining their connection. “Yours does to me, too. Strange, isn’t it, when I know we’ve never met?”

His dark brows furrowed. “More than strange. Were you in Europe on holiday recently?”

“Not for close to a year, but I’ve traveled to Europe before.”

“I’d like to see your passport again.”

“Let me feed my son first, then I’ll get it for you.”

He was a good little eater, but he’d been awakened before his nap had been over and was ready to go back to sleep. She burped him, then put him back in the crib and covered him with the quilt.

Aware of Mr. Degenoli’s eyes watching her every move, she walked over to the dresser and pulled the passport from her purse. “In case you were wondering, I applied for this passport several years before my baby was born.”

Her visitor took it from her and studied the pages with the various entry stamps. “This last one dated in January says you visited Austria—”

“Yes.”

“Where in Austria?” The inflexible male sounded in deadly earnest.

“Innsbruck.”

At the mention of it, his complexion took on a definite pallor. “Why that town?”

“Because my sister and her husband own a travel agency, and I was checking out some hotels for them there and in the surrounding areas. They’re always looking for new places to book their clients into.”

Mr. Degenoli appeared so shaken, she decided to end their inane question-and-answer session. Without hesitation she reached for her purse and pulled out a brown envelope. “Here—” Sami handed it to him. “I brought this to show my baby’s grandfather. It will explain everything.”

He eyed her suspiciously before he opened it and pulled out the birth certificate.

“As you can see there, I named my baby Ric, after his daddy. Ric Argyle Degenoli. You see, b-both Ric and his father, Alberto, were caught up in the same avalanche I was buried in last January.” Her voice faltered. “I assume Alberto was a relative of yours. Maybe your uncle?”

Her uninvited guest didn’t make a sound. It led her to believe he was finally listening to her. “I’d just stopped in one of the hotels for a minute to check it out and get a hot drink in the dining room. As I was about to go outside again to do a little sightseeing, the avalanche swept through the three-story hotel like a supersonic freight train.

“Ric and I were entombed for several hours. I knew he’d died before I lost total consciousness, but until you told me at the police station, I didn’t realize Alberto had been killed, too.

“After I woke up in a clinic, I assumed Ric’s father had survived, because only one male victim named Degenoli was listed among the fatalities. That was Ric, of course. His father must have died later from his injuries, after the list was put out.”

Sami couldn’t stop the tears from spurting. “It was a nightmarish time. My sister came to Innsbruck to get me and fly home with me. I didn’t realize until six weeks later that I was pregnant. At that point I determined that one day I’d look up Alberto and let him know he had a grandchild. But as you’ve let me know, this trip was in vain.”

The man listening to her story had gone eerily quiet.

“My sister calls my son Ricky, but I love the Italian version. I named him after his heroic father to honor him.”

“Heroic?” he questioned in a gravelly voice.

“Yes. One day when Ric is old enough, I’ll tell him how courageous his father was.”

“In what way?”

“You would have to have been there to understand. Ric was an amazing man. After the snow buried us, he kept me from losing my mind. You see, I suffer from claustrophobia. You can’t imagine what being trapped did to me. I wouldn’t be alive if it hadn’t been for him.

“We were total strangers sealed in a black tomb together We heard each other moan, but had no idea what the other one looked like. I know I was on the verge of a heart attack when he started talking to me and urged me to relax, because he believed we’d get out of there if we didn’t panic. He pointed out that by some miracle, we were trapped by beams that kept the whole weight from falling on us, providing us a pocket of air and room to wiggle.

“At first I thought I was dead and that he was an angel the way he took care of me and never let me panic. But when he reached for me and held me in his arms, promising me we’d be all right, I knew he was mortal.

“His only thought was to protect me. At first his kisses on my cheek held back my terror. I returned them, needing his comfort while we lay there slowly suffocating. We talked a little. He told me he’d just come from a wedding with his father, Alberto. I explained I was on a trip, but we didn’t go into details.

“As time went on and no help came, we realized we were going to die. At that point we drew warmth and comfort from each other’s bodies.” She took a fortifying breath. “We made love. It happened so naturally, it was like a dream. Then I heard a shifting sound. The next thing I knew a piece of wood had pierced his forehead.”

A sob caught in her throat. “It knocked him unconscious and his warm blood spilled over both of us. I couldn’t get a pulse and knew he was gone. When I woke up in a clinic, the last thing I remembered was that he’d died in my arms.

“We’d been literally tossed together with the broken walls and furniture in the darkness of a catastrophic avalanche that hit the hotel. But for the time we were together, hanging on to life because we knew they were our last moments on this earth, I felt closer to him than to anyone I’ve ever known.

“When I look at my adorable Ric, I know I’m seeing his father. My only hope now is to raise him to measure up to the great man who gave him life. I know he was a great man because he was so selfless in the face of terror. He never once thought of himself, only of me. So now I hope that explanation answers your questions, Mr. Degenoli.”

She stared at the tall figure still standing there. His face had gone ashen. The birth certificate had fallen to the floor. How odd he’d left it there …

“If you still don’t believe me, then I don’t know what more I can say to convince you. Maybe now you’d answer a question for me. Was Alberto your uncle?”

“No,” he answered in a voice as deep as a cavern. “He was my father.”

“Chief Coretti introduced you as Alberto, but that really isn’t your name, is it? He did it to protect you. I can understand that.”

He moved closer to her. “Let me explain this another way. My father was christened Alberto Enrico Degenoli, and was called Alberto. I was also christened Alberto Enrico Degenoli, but I go by Enrico. However my immediate family calls me … Ric.”

As Sami stared at him, the world tilted.

“But you couldn’t be that Ric. I wasn’t able to waken him. He died in my arms—”

“No, Sami,” he countered in a husky voice. “I’m right here.”

She was so staggered to hear him use her nickname, she clutched the crib railing with both hands. A small cry escaped her lips. “You’re Ric?” She shook her head, causing her hair to swish against her pale cheeks. “I—I can’t believe this is happening. I—”

The room started to swim. The next thing Sami knew, she found herself on the bed with the man who’d made her pregnant leaning over her. He sat next to her with his hands on either side of her head. “Stay quiet for a minute. You’ve had another shock.”

He spoke to her in the compassionate voice she remembered—exactly the way he’d done in the avalanche. With her eyes closed, she could recall everything and was back there with him in spirit.

But the minute her eyelids fluttered open, she saw a stranger staring down at her. In her psyche Sami knew he was Ric. But she couldn’t credit that the striking, almost forbidding male who’d swept past her at the police station was the same Ric who’d once given her his passion and the will to live.

Sami’s hair spilled onto Ric’s fingers. If he closed his eyes, he could recall the same silky mane he’d played with in the darkness. The strands had been as fragrant as every part of her face and body. It was the same now, but at the time he’d had no idea its coloring resembled spun gossamer.

Still noticing her pallor, he got up from the bed to get her a cup of water. When he returned from the bathroom, she sat up. He handed it to her and she drank thirstily. “Thank you,” she whispered in a tremulous voice before lying back again like a spent flower.

Ric put the empty cup on the side table, then sank down next to her once more. “Our survival was a miracle,” he began.

“Yes. I’m still trying to deal with the fact that you didn’t die and are here where I can see you.”

She wasn’t the only one. “When we were trapped together, I would have sold my soul to know what you looked like,” he confessed emotionally. “Feeling you told me that you were a lovely woman, but I must admit that no dreams I’ve had of you could measure up to your living reality.”

Like someone shell-shocked, she lifted one of her hands to his face in wonder. She traced his features, bringing back memories he would never forget. “Ric—” Her fingers traveled over his lips. “Maybe I’m hallucinating again.”

He kissed the palm of her hand. “It was never an hallucination. We were mortal then and now.”

Tears trickled out of the corners of her eyes, eyes that were alive like the green of a tropical rain forest. “When I thought you were dead, I wanted to die. While you were still breathing, I could hold on. But after that beam hit you and I couldn’t get a response, it was the end of my world.”

Ric heard the same pain in her voice he’d carried around for months afterward. He studied her facial features, overlaying his memories of her through eyes that could see the throb at the base of her slender throat. Tears trembled on the ends of long dark lashes so unusual on a blonde.

She kept looking at him with incredulity. “I feel just like I did after the avalanche struck. Maybe I’m hallucinating and none of this is real, but it has to be real because I’m touching you and it’s your voice. You’re actual flesh and blood instead of the stuff of my dreams.”

“You were the flesh and blood I clung to while we were entombed,” he confessed. “You saved my sanity, too, Sami. Like you, I felt I was in this amazing dream. When we made love, I remember thinking that if it was a dream, I never wanted to wake up from that part of it. Everything about our experience had a surreal quality.”

Sami wiped the tears off her face. “I know. Until I found out I was pregnant, there were times when I thought I’d made it all up.” She stared at him. “What happened to you after you were rescued?”

He grasped her hand. “I was told that another few minutes and the medics wouldn’t have been able to revive me. I knew nothing until I woke up in a hospital in Genoa. I was in a coma for two days. When I came out of it, I was surrounded by my family. My first request of the doctor was to find out if you were one of the victims.

“He came back with the message that you must still be alive because there was no name of Sami or anything close to it on the list of fatalities. After hearing that news, I determined to go after you once I got better. After our family held funeral services for my father, then I started looking for you.”

“I can’t believe it.”

“Why are you so surprised? What we’d shared together was something so unique, I’ll never forget. But when your name didn’t show up on any established tour-group lists in the area, I had to look further afield. I remembered you’d told me you were from Oakland, California. That’s all I had to go on. I put my people on it while we searched for you for several months.”

“Oh, Ric—” she cried softly before sliding off the other side of the bed to come around.

He got to his feet. “You were my first priority, but you weren’t listed in the Oakland phone directory. No flights leaving Austria for the States with your name. No planes arriving in Oakland or San Francisco had a name that could be traced to you. It was as if you’d disappeared off the face of the earth.”

“That’s because you didn’t know my real name,” she cried out in dismay. “I was nicknamed Sami because my father’s name was Samuel. After my parents died, my grandparents took over raising me and my sister, and my grandfather said I reminded him so much of his son he started calling me Sami, and it stuck.”

“I thought it had to be short for Samantha, but your passport says otherwise.”

“That’s what everyone assumes who doesn’t know me. To think you searched all that time for the wrong name. I can’t bear it.”

He couldn’t either, considering the promise he’d made to his father when they’d gone to Austria for an important family wedding. Ric had done everything humanly possible to find her. When he’d exhausted every avenue to no avail, he’d got on with his life and eventually fulfilled that promise.

“It’s true I was born and raised in Oakland,” she went on to explain, “but after I went back to college, I started to feel ill and went to a doctor. When he told me I was pregnant, I couldn’t believe it. My sister, Pat, insisted I move to Reno, Nevada, to be with her and her husband. Their travel agency is growing all the time. They’re the ones who gave me a working vacation during my break from college.”

Nevada … The avalanche had changed both their lives in ways Ric was only beginning to understand. “Were you ill the whole pregnancy?”

“No. After the morning sickness passed, I didn’t have other problems. Since Pat’s my only family and I wanted to be close to her and their children, I moved to Reno and started classes there. Without my legal name, no wonder you couldn’t trace me.”

He rubbed his chest absently while he was digesting everything.

Her anxious gaze fastened on him. ‘Do you have any ill effects from your head wound?”

“Only the occasional headache,” he answered, touched by her concern.

“I’m so glad it isn’t worse. That was the most terrifying moment.” Her voice shook.

“Thankfully, I don’t remember.”

“I don’t like to think about it. Throughout my pregnancy I decided that after Ric was born and I’d had my six-weeks checkup, I’d take him to Genoa and look up his grandfather. My own parents had already died, and I thought it would be wonderful if Ric grew up knowing he had at least one grandparent who was still alive.” She hugged her arms to her waist. “How tragic you lost your father.”