Best Friend to Wife and Mother?

‘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.

CHAPTER THREE

AMY GLANCED ACROSS at Leo and frowned.

He was staring at her with the strangest expression on his face. ‘Have I got a smut on my nose or something?’

‘What? No. Sorry, I was miles away. Ah, here’s Julie, we might be in business,’ he added, and he sounded relieved, for some reason.

‘We’re about to take off now,’ Julie said. ‘Is there anything you need to ask before we’re airborne?’

‘I’m fine. Amy?’ Leo said, raising an eyebrow at her.

‘No, I’m fine, thank you.’

Julie left them, took herself off to her seat behind the cockpit, and then the pilot’s voice came over the loudspeaker and they were off.

Leo strapped himself in, reached across with Ella’s bottle and began to feed her as they turned at the end of the runway.

‘It helps her ears to adjust to the pressure change,’ he explained, but Amy didn’t care right then. She leant back, gripped the armrests and closed her eyes. She hated this bit—

‘Oh!’ She gasped as she was forced back into the seat and the plane tipped up and catapulted itself into the sky.

‘Bit quicker off the ground than a heavy commercial jet,’ Leo said with a grin as they levelled out and settled into a gentle climb, banking out over the Thames estuary and towards the coast.

She looked away from him, staring blindly out of the window at the slightly tilted horizon as the reality of what she’d done kicked in. They were still climbing—climbing up, up and away from England. Away from the wedding that hadn’t been, the redundant marquee on the lawn next door, the dress lying in a crumpled heap on her bedroom floor.

And she was going to Italy. Not on her honeymoon, but with Leo and Ella. Without a husband, without a wedding ring, without the engagement ring that was sitting on her dressing table at home where she’d left it.

She looked down at her hand. Nope, no ring. Just a faint, pale line where it had been.

Just to check, she ran her finger lightly over the empty space on her finger, and Leo reached out to her across the aisle, squeezing her hand.

‘You OK?’ he murmured, as if he could read her mind.

She flashed him a smile but it felt false, forced, and she looked away again. ‘Just checking it’s not a dream. It feels like I’m on drugs. Some weird, hallucinogenic stuff.’

‘No drugs. No dream. You’re just taking time to get used to it. It’s a bit of a shock, such a drastic change of course.’

Shock? Probably. Drastic, certainly. It felt like she was falling, and she wasn’t sure if the parachute would work. She met his eyes, worrying her lip with her teeth. ‘I wish I’d been able to get hold of Nick. He wasn’t answering his phone.’

‘Did you leave a message?’

She shook her head. ‘I didn’t really know what to say. “Sorry I dumped you at the altar in front of all our family and friends” seems a bit inadequate, somehow.’

‘He didn’t look upset, Amy,’ Leo reminded her softly. ‘He looked relieved.’

‘Yes, he did,’ she agreed. ‘Well, I guess he would do, wouldn’t he, not being stuck with me?’

Leo frowned. ‘Why should he be relieved about that?’

‘Because clearly I’m an idiot!’

Leo laughed softly, his eyes full of teasing affection. ‘You’re not an idiot,’ he said warmly. ‘Well, not much. You just got swept along by the momentum. It’s easily done.’

It was. And he was right, she had. They both had. Was that what had happened to Leo and Lisa when he’d done the decent thing and married her for the wrong reasons?

The seatbelt light went off with a little ping, and Leo undid his lap strap and swung his seat round slightly as Julie approached them with a smile.

‘Fancy a drink, Amy?’ Leo asked her. ‘Something to eat?’

Amy laughed. ‘Eat? I couldn’t eat another thing! That picnic was absolutely amazing. I’m still stuffed.’

‘Well, let’s just hope everyone enjoyed it. I’ll have a cappuccino, Julie, please. Amy?’

‘That would be lovely, thank you.’

Julie smiled and nodded, disappeared to the galley area behind the cockpit and left Amy to her thoughts. They weren’t comfortable. All those people who’d travelled miles to see her married, and here she was running away with Leo and leaving them all in the lurch when she should have been there apologising to them.

‘I wonder if they’re all still there having a post-mortem on the death of my common sense?’ she murmured absently. ‘At least a lot of them turned up to eat the food. It would have been a shame to waste it.’

‘I imagine most of them will have left by now—and your common sense didn’t die, it just woke up a bit late in the day.’

‘Maybe.’ She sighed, and smiled at him ruefully. ‘The food really was amazing, you know. I’m glad I got to try it. Do you know how long it is since you cooked for me?’ she added wistfully, and he gave a soft huff of laughter.

‘Years.’

‘It is. At least four. Five, probably. You did it a lot when my father died. I used to come and hang out in your restaurant while I was at uni and you’d throw something together for us when you’d finished, or test a recipe out on me. I’ve missed that.’

‘Me, too. I’m sorry. My life’s been a bit chaotic since the television series.’

Well, that was the understatement of the century. ‘So I gather,’ she said mildly. ‘And you’ve opened the new restaurant. That can’t have been easy with a new wife and a baby on the way.’

A shadow flitted through his eyes and he looked away, his smile suddenly strained. ‘No. It took a lot of my time. Too much.’

So much that their marriage had fallen apart? If they’d even had a marriage in the real sense. It didn’t sound like it, but she knew very little more than he’d just told her and the rest was rumours in the gutter press. They’d had a field day, but his parents didn’t talk about it, and until today she’d hardly seen Leo since before his marriage.

All she knew was what had been in the paper, that Lisa had been knocked down by a car late one stormy night and had died of her injuries, and the coroner had returned a verdict of accidental death. Ella had been tiny—two months old? Maybe not even that. And Leo had been left with a motherless baby, a new business venture that demanded his attention and a television contract he’d had to put on hold. Small wonder she hadn’t seen him.

‘Your cappuccino, Miss Driver.’

The drink was set down in front of her, and she flashed a distracted smile at Julie and picked up her spoon, chasing the sprinkled chocolate flakes around in the froth absently.

His hand came out and rested lightly on her arm, stilling it. ‘It’ll be all right, Amy,’ he murmured, which made her smile. Trust Leo to be concerned for her when actually she was worrying about him.

‘I’m fine,’ she assured him. And she was, she realised. A little stunned, a little bemused almost at the turn of events, but Leo was whisking her away from it all so fast she didn’t have time to dwell on it, and that could only be a good thing.

She pulled out her little pocket camera and pointed it at him. ‘Smile for the birdie!’

‘Make sure you get my good side.’

She lowered the camera and cocked an eyebrow at him. ‘You have a good side?’

He rolled his eyes, that lazy grin kicking up his mouth and dimpling his right cheek, and her heart turned over. She clicked the button, turned to get an interior shot while her heart settled, and clicked again.

‘Day one of your Tuscan tour blog,’ she said lightly, and he laughed.

She caught it, grinned at him and put the camera away.

* * *

They landed shortly before five o’clock, and by five thirty they’d picked up the hire car and were on their way to the palazzo. Ella was whingeing a little, so he pulled over in a roadside caffè and ordered them coffee and pastries while he fed her from a pouch of pureed baby food.

It galled him to do it, but it wouldn’t kill her. It was organic, nutritionally balanced, and had the massive advantage that it was easy. He had enough fish to fry at the moment without worrying about Ella.

He glanced up and met Amy’s eyes. She was watching him, a strange expression on her face, and he tipped his head questioningly.

‘What?’

‘Nothing. Just—I’ve never really got used to the thought of you as a father, but you seem very comfortable with her.’

He looked back at Ella, his heart filling with love. ‘I am. I didn’t know what it would be like, but I love it—love her, more than I could ever have imagined loving anyone. She’s the most precious thing that’s ever happened to me.’

Amy’s smile grew wistful. ‘It shows,’ she murmured, and he thought of all the plans she’d mentioned that she’d walked away from, all the things she’d sacrificed. Like starting a family. And if he hadn’t interfered...

She might have ended up in the same mess as him, he reminded himself, bringing up a child on her own after the disastrous end of a doomed relationship.

‘Amy, it’ll happen for you, when the time’s right,’ he told her softly, and she gave a wry little smile that twisted his heart.

‘I know. But I have to warn you, I don’t know anything about babies so it won’t hurt to practise on Ella so I can make my mistakes first with someone else’s child.’

He chuckled, ruffling Ella’s dark curls gently. ‘You won’t make mistakes, and even if you do, you won’t break her. She’s pretty resilient.’

Her wry smile turned to a grimace. ‘That’s probably just as well. She might need to be.’

‘Chill, Amy. She’s just a little person. She’ll let you know what she needs.’

‘Yeah, if you can mind-read a ten-month-old baby,’ she said drily, but the smile reached her eyes now and he let his breath out on a quiet sigh of relief. She’d been hanging by a thread ever since she’d turned her back on Nick, and it had taken till now before he’d felt absolutely sure that she’d done the right thing. Having a baby with the wrong person was a disaster, and that’s what she could have done if everything had gone to plan.

Which let him off the hook a bit on the guilt front.

‘Here, you can start practising now. Give her the rest of this so I can drink my coffee, could you, please?’ he asked, handing her the pouch and spoon and sitting back to watch. Amy took it cautiously, offered it to Ella, and the baby obediently sucked the gloop from the spoon, to Amy’s delight and his relief. Contrary to her predictions, they seemed to be getting on fine. ‘There—see?’ he said lightly. ‘Easy.’

She threw him a cheeky grin and put the empty pouch down. ‘Well, this end was easy, but I think she’ll need her daddy for the other one. I can only master one skill at a time and there’ll be plenty of time to learn about that later.’

He laughed, put his cup down and scooped up Ella and the changing bag. ‘I’m sure there’ll be lots of opportunities.’

‘I don’t doubt it,’ she said drily, but her wry, affectionate smile warmed his heart and he was suddenly fiercely glad that she’d come with them.

* * *

By the time the sun was getting low on the western horizon, they were turning onto the broad gravelled drive leading up to the Palazzo Valtieri.

The track dipped and wound along the valley floor, and then rose up the hill through an avenue of poplars to a group of stone buildings on the top, flushed rose by the setting sun.

‘I think that’s the palazzo,’ he told her, and Amy felt her jaw drop.

‘What, all of it? It’s enormous! It looks as big as some of the little hilltop towns!’

He chuckled softly. ‘There’ll be all sorts of other buildings there clustered around it. It won’t just be the house.’

But it was. Well, pretty much, she realised as they approached the imposing edifice with its soaring stone walls and windows that she just knew would have the most amazing views. She couldn’t wait to get her proper camera out.

They drove under a huge stone archway in the wall and into a large gravelled courtyard, triggering lights that flooded the area with gold. There were several vehicles there, and Leo brought the car to rest beside a big people-carrier.

They were facing a broad flight of steps flanked by olive trees in huge terracotta pots, and at the top of the steps was a pair of heavily studded wooden doors, totally in proportion to the building.

She felt her jaw sag again. ‘Oh. Wow. Just—wow,’ she breathed.

Leo’s grin was wry. ‘Yeah. Makes my house look a bit modest, doesn’t it?’

‘I haven’t seen your house yet,’ she reminded him, ‘but it would have to be ridiculously impressive to compete with this.’

‘Then it’s a good job I’m not a sore loser. Unless you count a sea view? That’s probably the only thing they don’t have.’

She cocked her head on one side and grinned at him. ‘That might just do it. You know me—I always wanted to be a mermaid.’

‘I’d forgotten that.’ His cheek creased, the dimple appearing as he punched the air. ‘Ace. My house trumps the seat of the Valtieri dynasty.’

‘I did say “might”,’ she pointed out, but she couldn’t quite stifle her smile, and he laughed softly and opened the car door.

‘You haven’t seen my view yet.’

She met his smile over the top of the car. ‘I haven’t seen theirs, either. Don’t count your chickens.’

‘Would I?’ He grinned again, that dimple making another unscheduled appearance, and her heart lurched.

‘I guess we’d better tell them we’re here,’ she said, but it seemed they didn’t need to.

One of the great wooden doors swung open, and a tall man in jeans and a blinding white shirt ran down the steps, smiling broadly, hand extended as he reached Leo.

‘Massimo Valtieri,’ he said. ‘And you’re Leo Zacharelli. It’s good to meet you. Welcome to Palazzo Valtieri.’

He spoke in perfect English, to Amy’s relief, faintly accented but absolutely fluent, and he turned to her with a welcoming smile. ‘And you must be Miss Driver.’

‘Amy, please,’ she said, and he smiled again and shook her hand, his fingers warm and firm and capable.

‘Amy. Welcome. My wife Lydia’s so looking forward to meeting you both. She’s just putting the children to bed and the others are in the kitchen. Come on in, let me show you to your rooms so you can settle the baby and freshen up before you meet them.’

Leo took Ella out of the car seat and picked up the changing bag, Massimo picked up Leo’s bag and removed hers firmly from her grip, and they followed him up the steps and in through the great heavy door into a cloistered courtyard. The sheltered walls were decorated with intricate, faded murals that looked incredibly old, and more olive trees in huge pots were stationed at the corners of the open central area.

It was beautiful. Simple, almost monastic, but exquisite. And she couldn’t wait to start capturing the images. She was already framing the shots in her mind, and most of them had Leo in them. For his blog, of course.

Their host led them around the walkway under the cloisters and through a door into a spacious, airy sitting room, simply but comfortably furnished, with French doors opening out onto a terrace. The sun had dipped below the horizon now, blurring the detail in the valley stretched out below them, but Amy was fairly sure the view would be amazing. Everything else about the place seemed to be, and she just knew it would be crammed with wonderful photo opportunities.

Massimo pushed open a couple of doors to reveal two generous bedrooms, both of them opening out onto the same terrace and sharing a well-equipped bathroom. There was a small kitchen area off the sitting room, as well, and for their purposes it couldn’t have been better.

‘If there’s anything else you want, please ask, and Lydia said she hopes you’re hungry. She’s been cooking up a storm ever since you rang and we’d love you to join us once you’ve got the baby settled.’

‘That would be great, but she shouldn’t have gone to any trouble. We don’t want to impose,’ Leo said, but Massimo was having none of it.

‘No way! She’s a chef, too, and not offering you food would be an unforgivable sin,’ he said with a laugh. ‘Just as soon as the baby’s settled, give me a call on my mobile and I’ll come and get you. Both of my brothers and their wives are here as well tonight. And we don’t in any way dress for dinner, so don’t feel you have to change. We’ll be eating in the kitchen as usual.’

The door closed behind him, and Leo turned to her with a faintly bemused smile.