Not wanting to keep Leon waiting, she gave one more glance to the photo she’d placed on the dresser, then left the room and started down the hall. She knew her way out to the patio, but before she reached the open French doors, a darling brown dog rushed over to greet her. As she paused to rub his head, she saw that Leon wasn’t alone.
Her eyes traveled to the dainty, dark blonde baby he held in his arms. She was wearing a pink pinafore and tiny pink sandals, the colors of which stood out against the black silk shirt he was wearing. The child cuddled to his chest couldn’t be more than six or seven months old and possessed features finer than bone china.
He was walking her around the patio. As he talked to her, he kissed her cheek and neck over and over again. The scene with the baby was so sweet it brought hot tears to Belle’s eyes. To be loved like that...
She shivered. She knew what those lips felt like on her mouth. To her shame, she hadn’t wanted him to stop. Right now she longed to feel them against her own neck.
Was the baby his child? Or could she be Dante’s? Belle didn’t know much about his family. Their coloring was so different, given Leon’s vibrant black hair, but his affection for the little girl touched Belle to the core.
He must have sensed Belle’s arrival. When he turned, their gazes fused. She felt him taking in her appearance. In that moment his eyes glowed a crystalline gray that made her legs go weak in response. It was that same smoldering look she’d glimpsed back at the pension after she’d pulled away from him.
“I can see you’ve already met Rufo. Now come and meet my daughter, Concetta.”
“Your baby?” Belle cried in wonder. That explained the love he showered on her. “Oh,” she crooned softly, “you sweet little thing.” She touched the hand clutching her daddy’s shirt.
“I’ve seen a lot of babies in my life at the orphanage, but I never saw one who had your exquisite features and skin. You’re like a porcelain doll.” She looked up at Leon. “She must have gotten those dark brown eyes from her mother.”
“Concetta inherited my wife’s looks.”
“Obviously she was a beauty.”
He pressed a kiss to his daughter’s forehead. “Before you judge me too harshly, I didn’t mention my daughter to you before now because we had a greater issue on our minds. I planned to introduce you after you agreed to follow through and meet Luciana.”
“You don’t have to explain. I understand. Would you think me too presumptuous to ask how your wife died?”
“No. She passed away giving birth.”
“Oh no! How awful for her—for you...” Belle’s gaze traveled back to the baby. “You lost your mommy? No little girl as sweet as you should grow up without your mother. I—I’m so sorry, darling.” Her voice broke. “At least you’ll always know who she was, because you have your daddy, who loved her so much. And you have pictures.”
Without conscious thought Belle kissed that little hand before she looked up at Leon. “What went wrong during the delivery?”
He cuddled his daughter closer. “Soon after our marriage Benedetta was diagnosed with systemic lupus.”
A moan escaped Belle’s lips before she could prevent it. “One of the sisters at the orphanage had that disease.”
He kissed the baby’s head. “My wife was the daughter of the now deceased head of the kennel on my father’s estate. She and I had been friends throughout childhood. Later on, after I came home from college and had been working at the bank for several years, we fell in love, and got married in a small, quiet ceremony, out of the public eye.
“Before long her illness became more aggressive. She developed a deep vein thrombosis in the leg, which was hidden at the time. A piece of blood clot broke off and ended up in her lung. It caused it to collapse, and heart failure followed.”
“Oh, Leon...”
“Concetta came premature. My great sadness was that Benedetta’s life had been snuffed out before she’d been able to hold our baby.”
Belle’s heart ached for them. “Will Concetta get lupus?”
“No. Thankfully, the pediatrician says my daughter is free of the disease. It doesn’t necessarily follow that the child inherits it.”
“Thank heaven!” Belle exclaimed. “How lucky she is to have her daddy! Every girl needs her father.”
Leon’s glance penetrated to the core of her being. “You think it’s possible to do double duty?” he rasped.
In that question, she heard a vulnerability she would never have expected to come from him. The dark prince who’d kissed her hungrily had a weakness, after all. A precious cherub, the reminder of the woman he’d loved and lost. “With her father loving her more than anyone else in the world, she won’t know anything else, and will have all the love she needs, to last her a lifetime and beyond.”
He hugged his daughter tighter. “I hope you’re right.”
“I know I am. Do you think she’d get upset if I tried to hold her?”
“She isn’t used to people except my staff and family. If you try, you’ll be taking your life in your hands, but if you want to risk it...” He didn’t sound unwilling, just skeptical.
“I do.” The operation at the orphanage was such that the older children always helped with the infants and toddlers. Belle had no hesitation as she plucked the baby from his powerful arms.
By now Concetta had started to cry, but Belle whirled around with her and sang a song that so surprised the baby, she stopped crying and looked up at her. The dog followed them. It was then Leon’s little girl discovered the pearls, and grabbed them. Belle laughed gently. “You like those, don’t you.”
At this point Leon attempted to intervene. She felt his fingers against her skin while he tried to remove his daughter’s hands, but she held on tighter. After a slight tug-of-war, the necklace broke and the pearls rolled all over the patio tiles. The sound sent Rufo chasing after them.
“Uh-oh.” Belle chuckled again, because the surprise on the baby’s dear face was priceless. “Where did they go?” Concetta turned her head one way, then another, trying to find them.
“I’m sorry about your necklace, Belle,” Leon murmured, while his gaze narrowed on her mouth. Heat radiated through her body to her face.
“It’s nothing,” she said in a ragged voice.
“Once the pearls are gathered, I’ll have them restrung for you.”
“Don’t you dare,” she said, to fight her physical attraction to Concetta’s father, who suddenly looked frustrated. His baby made him so human, her heart warmed to him. “This is costume jewelry I bought for twenty dollars on sale. We don’t care, do we, Concetta.” She kissed her head and kept walking with her, to put Leon out of her mind. Of course, it didn’t work.
“Let’s watch that boat with the red-and-white sail.” She pointed to it, but by now the baby was staring at her. There were no more tears. “I bet you’re wondering who I am. My name is Belle Donatello. I can’t believe I know my last name. Your generous daddy is letting me stay here for a few days.”
I’m staying at my peril.
She lifted her head to find Leon standing a few feet away. “How do you say daddy in Italian?”
“Papà,” he answered in a husky tone.
Belle turned so Concetta could see him. “There’s your papà.”
All of a sudden his daughter started to whimper, and reached for him. Belle closed the distance and gave her back to him. But the baby quickly looked around and kept staring at Belle in fascination.
Leon’s