He took a deep breath, ran his hand through his dark hair as he glanced in a mirror briefly, cursing inwardly for not having shaved the stubble from his face, and he hated the dark circles under his eyes, but he hadn’t got much sleep last night.
Once, he’d had the chance to save all the land meant for him, but that had cost him his heart and he swore he would never fall into that trap again. He just had to get used to the fact he was going to lose it all.
He was going to let down his brother and the memory of his mother.
His father would sell it all off and Dante would have to find a new place to live in a matter of a few months. He shook his head as he tried not to think about that now. He had to be charming and affable as the head of trauma at the Ospedale San Pietro.
Bracing himself now, Dante opened the door, ready to greet the American.
“Ciao, I’m Dr. Dante Affini, Head of...”
The nurse turned, just slightly, and Dante couldn’t believe who he was looking at. His pulse raced and a rare smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. It was Shay!
She looked stunning. She was absolutely glowing, her cheeks rosy with a bloom she didn’t have before.
Her honey-blonde hair wasn’t as long as he remembered. She’d cut it, shorter in a bob, but it suited her delicate heart-shaped face. Those dark brown eyes of hers were warm and welcoming as she smiled at him, her pink lips soft and inviting. He could still feel them pressed against his. A blush rose in her round, creamy cheeks, deepening the healthy glow. Her lithe frame was fuller, but the curves suited her. “Hello, Dante.”
“Shay?” Dante whispered, and then he smiled, realizing it was her who was here to work with him. “What are you doing here? I thought...I thought Daniel Lucey was going to be running this program.”
“He was,” Shay said. “But something came up for him, so I jumped at the chance to come to Italy and take an easier job for a while.”
“An easier job? You’re never one to back away from a challenge, cara.”
A pink blush deepened on her cheeks and she tucked away an errant silky strand behind her ear. “I know, but I have no choice.” She bit her lip. “Dante, I took this job because...because I’m pregnant.”
Pregnant. Shay was having a baby?
It hit him and for a moment he wasn’t sure he’d heard her correctly. Well, that explained the glow and the newly acquired curves. And then another realization struck him...
“Is it... Is it mine?”
“Yes.” She bit her lip in a way that had driven him wild before but now filled him with a sense of trepidation.
A baby.
He had put up the walls to protect himself for a reason and he’d been a fool for letting her in back in Oahu.
It had been a moment of complete weakness on his part.
Dante scrubbed a hand over his face.
Why didn’t she tell me? Was he really the father? Olivia had led him to believe that she carried his baby, only then he’d found out she’d tricked him. She’d already been pregnant when they’d slept together. Olivia had viewed Dante as perfect daddy material for another man’s child...
He was angry. Angry at himself for thinking Shay might be different, but apparently not. He should’ve known better—a week and a one-night stand were no time to get to know someone. To trust someone.
A pink blush tinged her creamy cheeks. “I took this job so that I could tell you in person.”
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” he demanded. “Why didn’t you contact me before you showed up here? As soon as you found out? It’s been months, Shay. You can understand my trepidation. My anger, surely?”
She winced. “I know. But I’ve only very recently found out myself, Dante. I’m sixteen weeks.”
“Four months in and you expect me to believe that you just found out?” Dante scoffed.
“Yes. I was working in a war-torn area. My periods have always been irregular and I put their absence down to stress and travel. I wasn’t keeping that close an eye on dates, but something told me that it had been too long. I took a test, which came out positive, but then there was no way to contact you. Communication was spotty.”
Dante saw red. “You were pregnant in a war zone?”
Her eyes narrowed. “There are lots of pregnant women in war zones.”
Dante cursed under his breath and scrubbed a hand over his face. “That’s not what I meant.”
“Sure sounded like it.” She crossed her arms and he noticed her breasts were fuller and he recalled at that moment the way his hands fit so nicely around them.
Get control of yourself.
“Fine. So you couldn’t get word to me.”
“No, I thought it would be news better delivered in person.”
“I want a paternity test,” he demanded.
Shocked and hurt, Shay glared at him. “It’s your baby, Dante. I haven’t been with anyone else.”
“You didn’t even know you were pregnant right away, so you understand my hesitancy. We used protection,” he said.
“A faulty condom. They’re not infallible.” Shay sighed. “And I don’t sleep around. I don’t sleep with strangers.”
“Wasn’t I a stranger, cara?”
She shot him daggers. “I didn’t come here to make you a father, Dante. I actually took the job because it paid well, so that I could take a longer maternity leave when I return to the States.”
“So you considered not telling me?”
“Of course not. You have the right to know about your child, Dante. What I’m saying is that I don’t expect anything from you.”
Everything was sinking in and he was having a hard time processing for a moment. He wanted to believe that she was telling him the truth, but he’d been burned before. And thanks to his father’s indiscretions the entire world seemed to know that he was a prince, poised to inherit a vast estate of land and money. Wasn’t that what had drawn Olivia to him?
Of course, if Shay was pregnant with his child, it solved all of his problems.
He had to be married and have an heir by the time he was thirty-five. There was nothing in the will that stated he had to stay married. And while Olivia had made him very wary of marriage, he had wanted to be a father for as long as he could remember. He wanted the happy family he’d never had growing up. Plus, he knew that Shay was passionate about her job. She wouldn’t want to settle down in Italy with him—hadn’t she told him that she feared staying in one place for too long? What if he could get full custody of the baby? Have the child he’d always wanted without risking his heart.
“Dante, say something. Anything,” Shay said. “I know this must be a terrible shock.”
Before he could say anything there was a knock on his door. His assistant poked her head round it. “Dr. Affini? The trainees are gathered in the lecture theatre and are waiting for you.”
Dante acknowledged the woman before he turned back to Shay. “We’ll talk later. We have a job to do.”
Shay smiled, relieved. “Yes. We have a job to do.”
He’d let her have relief for now, but this was far from over.
* * *
Shay had wanted to tell