MEDITERRANEAN DADS
These billionaires swap bachelorhood for fatherhood!
Meet Andreas Simonides and Vincenzo Antonello.
Andreas and Vincenzo are known to the world as billionaire bachelors who are more comfortable driving fast cars than pushing prams, signing contracts than singing lullabies…
But that’s about to change when two feisty women, with adorable babies in tow, are catapulted into their lives!
In August we met gorgeous Greek Andreas in:
DOORSTEP TWINS
And this month it’s proud, passionate Italian Vincenzo’s story:
ACCIDENTALLY PREGNANT!
Accidentally Pregnant!
By
Rebecca Winters
REBECCA WINTERS, whose family of four children has now swelled to include five beautiful grandchildren, lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, in the land of the Rocky Mountains. With canyons and high alpine meadows full of wild flowers, she never runs out of places to explore. They, plus her favourite vacation spots in Europe, often end up as backgrounds for her Mills & Boon® Romance novels, because writing is her passion, along with her family and church.
Rebecca loves to hear from her readers. If you wish to e-mail her, please visit her website at www.clean romances.com
Dear Reader,
Not long ago I saw an ad on television from a travel company. The message went something like this: “Sometimes when you go away, you try things you’ve never tried before. You eat things you’ve never eaten before. You find a part of yourself that never came out before.” Having travelled a great deal, I found the clever ad resonated with me and gave me the idea for Accidentally Pregnant! My cautious, careful heroine Irena travels to Italy, where out of the blue she undergoes a life-changing transformation. But the journey that helps her get in touch with her real self isn’t without emotional peril.
Read this sequel to Doorstep Twins.
Enjoy!
Rebecca Winters
Chapter One
Greek CEO of the Simonides Corporation, Andreas Simonides, thirty-three, astonished the corporate world by marrying unknown, twenty-six-year-old American, Gabriella Turner, in a private ceremony on Milos.
THE AUGUST HEADLINES in the Corriere della Sera caught Vincenzo Antonello by the throat. While in town he’d bought a newspaper before stopping off for lunch, never dreaming what he’d read when he opened it. In a gut reaction, his hands gripped the edges of his Italian newspaper so tightly, it started to tear down the middle.
“Papa? Are you mad?” His six-year-old son had stopped eating his pasta salad to stare at his father.
“No.” Vincenzo caught himself in time. “It tore by accident.”
“Oh. Can we go to the park now and play soccer?”
“In a minute, Dino. Let me finish my coffee first.”
Sources close to the Simonides family have closed ranks on the press, but one rumor has floated that the elusive couple are honeymooning in the Caribbean and won’t be available for pictures or comments for some time to come.
The CEO’s former Greek girlfriend, Irena Liapis, daughter of Athenian newspaper magnate Giorgios Liapis, was expected to become the bride of the brilliant Simonides tycoon. Since the surprise announcement, it has been learned that the twenty-seven-year-old Ms. Liapis, who heads the monthly lifestyle section of her father’s newspaper, has resigned her position and dropped off the scene. Her location is unknown at this time.
An icy hand seemed to squeeze Vincenzo’s lungs until he couldn’t breathe. Since early July when Irena had returned to Greece, he’d honored her wishes by not going after her. Every day he’d expected to hear that she and the great Simonides were married.
When Vincenzo had first met her, he’d damned the man’s very existence and had baited Irena constantly about her alleged feelings for the man she intended to marry. Those feelings had not stopped her spending one blissful night with him, though, Vincenzo thought angrily. He had hoped and believed that the night had been earthshaking for her, too, and that it had erased her desire for Vincenzo’s nemesis.
But these headlines proved he’d only been deluding himself. Somehow he’d thought this was the one female on the planet who’d been different.
“Irena!”
“I know it surprises you to see me.”
Deline hugged her. “Only because I thought you’d already left for Italy. Why didn’t you phone that you were still in Athens?”
“I—I didn’t dare,” she stammered.
“Not dare?” Her best friend’s brown eyes looked at her with concern. “Come in and we’ll talk.” Irena moved inside. “I just finished feeding the twins. They’re out in the garden room in their swings. Leon will be sorry he missed you. He left for work a few minutes ago.”
“I know that, too. I came earlier and purposely waited until I saw his car disappear.”
Deline had been guiding her through the Simonides villa, but after hearing that comment she spun around and put a hand on Irena’s arm. “The minute I saw your face I could see something was terribly wrong. What is it that is troubling you, Irena?”
“My biggest fear right now is that your house staff will know I stopped by and mention it to Leon. He just can’t know I came here!”
Unspoken words flowed between them. Deline was already reading between the lines and realized that whatever had brought Irena to the villa, it was deadly serious.
“The maids won’t be in until this afternoon. The only person around at the moment is my housekeeper, Sofia. I’ll find her right now and tell her that your visit is to remain private. She is a valued staff member and can be trusted, I’m sure. However, I will make it clear that if any of the staff or my husband hear about you having come over, she’ll be in serious trouble.”
No one ever had a better friend. “Thank you, Deline.” They hugged again.
“I’ll be right back.”
As she darted away, Irena walked into the garden room. The five-month-old twins were in their swings facing each other. Each had a plastic toy and seemed perfectly content, but when they saw Irena, their little arms and legs started moving faster in excitement.
Irena knelt down next to Kris, who’d come through his heart surgery so well, you’d never know he was barely out of the hospital. She kissed his cheek, then turned to Nikos. Both beautiful black-haired boys had been made in Leon’s image. Most people would assume Deline was their mother due to her black hair and olive skin.
But others who knew the Simonides clan well were aware of Leon’s slip during a rough spot in their marriage. It had been a one-night mistake in a state of inebriation with Thea Turner, a Greek-American