Best Friend to Wife and Mother?

What on earth did she know about babies? Less than nothing. You could write it all in capitals on the head of a very small pin. He must be nuts to trust her with his child.

She heard voices as a man and woman in uniform came up the steps and into the plane, and moments later the door was shut and the woman was approaching them with a smile, her hand extended.

‘Mr Zacharelli.’

Leo shook her hand and returned the smile. ‘Julie, isn’t it? We’ve flown together before.’

‘We have, sir. It’s a pleasure to welcome you and Ella on board again, and Miss Driver, I believe? I’m your cabin crew today, and if there’s anything you need, don’t hesitate to ask.’

She smiled at Amy as they shook hands, and turned her attention back to Leo.

‘May I go through the pre-flight safety procedure with you?’ she asked, and he delved into the baby’s bag and handed Ella a crackly, brightly coloured dragonfly toy to distract her while Julie launched into the familiar spiel.

It took a few minutes, showing them the overhead oxygen, the emergency exit—all the usual things, but with the massive difference that she was talking only to them, and the smiles she gave were personal. Especially to Leo, Amy thought, and mentally rolled her eyes at yet another effortless conquest on his part. He probably wasn’t even aware of it.

And then it was done, another smile flashed in his direction, and Julie took herself off and left them alone.

‘Was that from me?’ Amy asked, pointing at the dragonfly toy Ella was happily playing with.

Leo nodded, sending her a fleeting smile. ‘You sent her it when she was born. She loves it. I have to take it everywhere with us.’

That made her smile. At least she’d done one thing right, then, in the last year or so. He zipped the bag up, stashed it in the baggage compartment, put her hand luggage in there, too, and sat down opposite Ella and across from Amy.

His tawny gold eyes searched hers thoughtfully.

‘You OK now?’

If you don’t count the butterflies stampeding around in my stomach like a herd of elephants, she thought, but she said nothing, just nodded, and he raised a brow a fraction but didn’t comment.

‘Do you always travel like this?’ she asked, still slightly stunned by their surroundings but rapidly getting used to it.

He laughed softly. ‘Only if I’m travelling with Ella or if time’s short. Usually I go business class. It’s just much easier with a baby to travel somewhere private. I’m sure you’ve been in a plane when there’s been a screaming baby—like this,’ he added, as Ella caught sight of the bottle he’d tried to sneak out of his pocket so he could fasten his seat belt. She reached for it, little hands clenching and unclenching as she started to whimper, and Leo hid the bottle under the table.

‘No, mia bella, not yet,’ he said gently, and the whimper escalated to an indignant wail.

Amy laughed softly. ‘Right on cue.’

She propped her elbows on the table and leant towards Ella, smiling at her and waggling her dragonfly in an attempt to distract her.

‘Hi, sweet pea,’ she crooned softly. ‘You aren’t really going to scream all the way there, are you? No, of course not!’

Finally distracted from the bottle, Ella beamed at her and squashed the toy. It made a lovely, satisfying noise, so she did it again, and Leo chuckled.

‘Babies are refreshingly easy to please. Give them a toy and they’re happy.’

‘Like men, really. Fast car, big TV, fancy coffee maker...private jet—’

He gave a soft snort and shot her a look. ‘Don’t push it. And don’t get lulled into a false sense of security because you managed to distract her this time. She can be a proper little tyrant if it suits her. You’re a monster in disguise, aren’t you, mia bella?’

He said it with such affection, and Amy’s heart turned over. Poor little scrap, losing her mother so young and so tragically. Leo must have been devastated—although not for himself, from what he’d said. He’d told her that marrying the wrong person was a recipe for disaster and it would be a cold day in hell before he did it again, so it didn’t sound as if his marriage had been a match made in heaven, by any means. But even so—

‘I need to make a quick call to sort out where we’re going to stay tonight. Can you entertain her, please, Amy? I won’t be a moment.’

‘Sure.’ Amy shut the door on that avenue of thought and turned her attention to amusing Ella. She’d got enough mess of her own to deal with, without probing into Leo’s.

But Ella didn’t really need entertaining, not with her dragonfly to chew and crackle, so Amy was free to listen to what Leo was saying. Not that she could understand it, because he was talking in Italian, but it was lovely to listen to him anyway.

She always thought of him as English, like his mother, but then this amazing other side of him would come out, the Italian side that came from his father, and it did funny things to her insides.

Or maybe it was just the language doing that? That must be it. There was no way Leo talking Italian was sexy, that was just ridiculous. Not according to his numerous female fans, of course, but that didn’t mean she had to fall under his spell. This was Leo, after all.

Yes, of course he was gorgeous, she knew that, and she’d had a serious case of hero-worship when she’d hit puberty, but she’d never felt whatever it was they all obviously felt—probably because she’d known him too long, knew all his weaknesses and irritating little habits as well as his strong points, like friendship and loyalty and generosity.

He was virtually a brother, a brother she loved to bits and would go to the end of the earth for. The best friend a girl could want. And no matter where she ended up, that would never change, but sexy? Nope—

‘Ciao. A dopo,’ he said in that delicious Italian of his, and her heart did a little back-flip to prove her wrong.

* * *

He put his phone away and smiled at Amy across the aisle.

‘Well, that’s our accommodation sorted,’ he said with relief. ‘I phoned Massimo Valtieri to tell him I’m bringing a friend to help with the baby so we’d make our own arrangements, but he wouldn’t have any of it. He says there’s plenty of room for you, too, and they’re fine with us all staying at the palazzo, as from tonight. Problem solved.’

‘Palazzo?’ she squealed, and lowered her voice to a whisper. ‘They live in a palazzo?’

Leo laughed softly at the awed expression on her face. ‘Apparently. It’s an old Medici villa. I’ve seen pictures of it, and it’s very beautiful. It’s been in the family for centuries, which is why I want to deal with them because it’s not just a business, it’s in their blood, it’s who they are. The meetings will be there and they all live very close by, apparently, so it makes sense us being there, too, so if Ella kicks off and you can’t cope, I won’t be far away. And his wife’s there, so you’ll have company.’

‘Oh, that’s good,’ she said, and a little worried crinkle in between her eyebrows smoothed away. She shook her head, her mouth kicking up in a wry smile. ‘I still can’t quite believe I’m going to be staying in a palazzo.’

She looked so flummoxed it made him chuckle. ‘Well, you’ve got about four or five hours to get used to the idea,’ he told her.

He was just relieved he’d be on hand; he didn’t know what she knew about babies, but she knew almost nothing about Ella, so having a woman around who was a mother herself could only be a good thing, especially under the circumstances. He didn’t want Amy feeling any more overwhelmed than she already was.

She was leaning over now and chatting to Ella, telling her what a lucky girl she was to stay in a palazzo, and he settled back in the seat and studied her. She was smiling, the haunted look in her eyes retreating as she fell under the spell of his tiny daughter, and for the briefest of fleeting seconds he wondered what life would have been like for all of them if she’d been Ella’s mother.

It took his breath away.

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