Lucy’s eyelids fluttered. For a moment, stretching her body against the soft mattress, she was still in her dream. It had been so wonderful. A happy family living in a rose-covered cottage by the sea. A houseful of children, laughing and playing. And after they were asleep, a dark, handsome prince had taken her to bed at night, making her moan and scream with pleasure such as she’d never known…
Their bargain.
Her eyes flew open. She was in the snug little bedroom, lying on the slender mattress with an old metal frame, beneath a handmade quilt. On the nearby nightstand, she saw a basin full of freshly cut roses.
She sat up. Warm sunlight scattered across the old handwoven rug on the hardwood floor. It was late morning.
“We did it,” she whispered aloud. “We slept late. Chloe—”
But the crib was empty!
Crash—bang—crash!
Where was her baby? Lucy leaped out of bed. Wearing nothing more than a silk pajama top that barely reached the tops of her thighs, she pushed open the door and ran out into the hall.
What she saw in the kitchen made her stop in her tracks.
Two pairs of eyes looked up at her. Chloe was sitting on the rug in front of the stove, her chubby fists holding two big wooden spoons, which she was using to beat heartily upon an upside-down copper pot placed in front of her. Blue smudges covered her baby’s chin and mouth as Chloe looked up at her with a joyful smile.
And behind the baby, his face dusted with flour and looking adorably out of place, was Maximo. Making breakfast.
“Buon giorno, cara.” Setting down a plate of fresh blueberry scones, he pulled her close and kissed first one cheek, then the other. “Would you like some coffee?”
Bemused, she nodded.
“Sit down. Cream? Sugar?”
“Yes,” she blurted, sinking into a chair at the kitchen table.
She didn’t understand. She’d cheated him of the first twelve hours of their bargain. So where was the payback? Why wasn’t he tossing her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and carrying her to his bedroom right now?
“Did you sleep well?” He brought her a cup of coffee with cream and sugar. Without even trying to touch her, he turned his back and started packing a picnic basket.
“I…um…yes,” she mumbled. She took a bracing sip of coffee.
“Bene.” He put some wrapped sandwiches and silverware into the basket. “The weather looks to be very fine today. I thought we’d go for a picnic brunch after you have your coffee. It should be unseasonably hot.” He looked her over from her silk pajama top to her bare legs. “Hotter than I’ve known for a long, long time.”
Her body turned to steam under his gaze, even as things suddenly made sense again.
He meant to seduce her on the picnic.
She hastily plotted her defense. She would wear the closest thing to a snowsuit she could find. She would keep her daughter close at all times. If Chloe sneezed, Lucy would claim she had an impending cold; if Chloe whined, Lucy would say she needed a nap. Both good reasons to bring her inside.
Her baby would protect her.
As if on cue, Chloe crawled toward her, then held up her arms. Lucy picked her up and hugged her close. Her baby’s chubby cheeks were smeared with blueberries. For a playboy who had no experience with children, Maximo seemed to know just how to delight her baby.
It was a pity Maximo wasn’t Chloe’s father…
The thought stopped her cold. It was bad enough that Lucy wanted Maximo in her bed. But to also wish he could be her child’s father—a man who’d sworn he would never settle down? How stupid could her blind heart be?
Stop it, she told her errant heart. Stop it right now.
“Did you say something, cara?”
Dear heaven, had she mumbled the words aloud?
“I was just wondering how long Chloe has been awake?”