A Ring for Vincenzo's Heir(7)

 

Since then, she'd gotten only an occasional Christmas card. But when  Scarlett had shown up uninvited and shivering at the gate of the  enormous villa outside Gstaad, the plump, kindly woman had proved good  as her word.

"My boss just asked me to hire a good cook for ski season. The best  Southern cook in the US, he said. Can you make grits and fried chicken?  Jambalaya? Dirty rice?"

Eyes wide, Scarlett shook her head. Wilhelmina sighed.

"All right, he usually starts coming here in early December, after the  season starts. So you've got six weeks, maybe more, to learn how to make  amazing fried chicken and all the rest. I'll put you on staff payroll  now. Just make sure you learn to cook for groups of ten or more, because  Mr. Black always brings friends!"

For the last two weeks, Scarlett had been trying to teach herself to  cook, using cookbooks and internet videos. She was still pretty bad. The  security guard routinely teased her that even his dog wouldn't eat what  she cooked. It was sadly true.

But she would learn. Being a specialty chef for a hard-traveling,  hard-partying tycoon who was rarely around was the perfect job for any  single mother with a newborn. She would be able to take a week or two  off to heal after the birth, then work with her baby nearby, almost as  if this were her own home.

Plus, Switzerland was the perfect place to raise a baby. Scarlett tucked  her hands in her jacket pockets as she walked along the slender road.  Gravel crunched beneath her soft boots as she took a deep breath of  crisp mountain air smelling of sunlight and pine trees. For a brief  moment, she closed her eyes, turning her face to the sun. Her heart was  full of gratitude.

Then she heard a snap in the forest ahead of her.

She opened her eyes, and the smile dropped from her face.

"Scarlett," Vin greeted her coldly.

He stood ahead of her, wearing a long black coat, a sleek dark suit and a  glower. She saw a sleek sports car and a black SUV parked on the road  behind him. Three bodyguards lined the vehicle, an impenetrable wall of  money and power.

She stumbled back from him. He was on her in seconds, grabbing her wrist.

"Don't touch me!" she cried.

His grip tightened, his eyes like black fire. "You stole from me."

"I paid all your money back-with interest!" She glanced back desperately  toward the guarded gate, but it was too far. Johan would never see her.  And how could one security guard take on Vin Borgia and at least three  of his men?

"I wasn't just talking about the money."

She put her free hand protectively over her belly. "You're not my baby's father. I-I lied!"

"I think you're lying now."

Scarlett tried to pull her wrist from his grip. "Leave me alone!"

"I do not understand your behavior." He wrenched her closer. "Most women  would find it fortunate to be pregnant by a billionaire."

"A billionaire who destroys people?" She shook her head. "You don't just  take companies-you ruthlessly crush and annihilate your rivals. Their  marriages, their families, their very lives!"

Silence fell in the Swiss forest. The only sound was the call of birds.

Then he spoke, his voice low and flat. "So you did some digging on the internet, did you?"

"Why do you think I never tried to contact you after our night  together?" She took a deep breath. "I had a good reason to leave you  that first morning. A nurse called and I was needed at the Falkner  mansion. I hoped to see you again. Until I looked you up online." She  glared at him. "If you think I'm going to let my precious baby be raised  by a man who takes pleasure in other people's pain-"

His lip twisted contemptuously. "If you think I'm such a bastard, why did you ask for my help?"

"I was terrified of Blaise."

"And now you're terrified of me?"

"After I interrupted your wedding, I thought maybe I should give you a  chance. My own father wasn't perfect, but I loved him." She narrowed her  eyes. "Then you made your intentions clear."

"What are you talking about? My intention to take responsibility, marry you and be a good father?"

"If I honestly believed we could be a family, and love and trust each  other, I'd marry you in a second. But I'd rather raise my baby alone  than with a man who might hurt me!"

"Hurt you?" he said incredulously. "I've never hurt a woman in my life!"

"With your cold heart? I bet you've hurt plenty."

He relaxed. "Oh. You mean emotionally."

"Yes, emotionally," she retorted. "You don't think that counts?"   





 

"Not really, no."

"And that's why I don't want to marry you."

He abruptly released her wrist, his eyes strangely alight. "I've never  killed anyone, no matter what the rumors say. I never poisoned someone  or sabotaged an engine. Nor did I hire someone else to do it. A reporter  just happened to notice that during some points in my business career,  some men have coincidentally had problems."

"You expect me to believe that? It was pure coincidence?"

"It's the truth. A man was discovered in an affair while doing business  with me. It was hardly my fault his wife took offense and dumped poison  in his morning whiskey. Another man had a heart attack from stress  during my hostile takeover. He could have walked away at any time but  chose to fight and take the risk. Another man chose to start a feud with  his sister when she sold her shares to me. Their family was ripped  apart, yes-but again, not my fault."

"Then why was Blaise so afraid of you? And you expected him to be!"

"I know the rumors about me. They're not true, but people believe them. I'd be a fool not to take advantage of it."

"And you're no fool."

"No." His jaw tightened. "So I don't appreciate that you've made me look like one. Twice."

She turned her head back again toward the distant gate of the chalet.  She wished she could run. But she'd become so heavily pregnant and slow-

"I want a paternity test," Vin said coldly. "You have an appointment today with a doctor in Geneva."

"I've got my own doctor in the village, thank you."

"Dr. Schauss has a world-renowned clinic. She was obstetrician to a  princess of Sweden and has delivered half the babies of the royal houses  of the Persian Gulf. She's well qualified."

"I'm not gallivanting off to Geneva just because you want some extra-fancy doctor."

"The choice isn't yours to make."

"And if I refuse?"

Vin's eyes flickered. "I am acquainted with Kassius Black, the owner of  this chalet." He looked up at the imposing roofline over the trees.  "What would he say if I told him that your friend, his trusted  housekeeper, had knowingly hired a fugitive and thief to live here, and  you were both conspiring to steal from his houseguests this coming ski  season?"

"You wouldn't," she gasped. "It's not true!"

He shrugged. "You are a proven thief and liar. It could be true. But the  point is, are you willing to repay your friend's kindness in giving you  a job by causing her to lose hers?"

"You are despicable."

His face hardened. "No, cara. You are despicable. I have done nothing  but seek to fulfill my responsibility. I am trying to do the right  thing, the honorable thing. It is you who are the thief."

"I repaid every penny!"

"Yes, with interest. At an annualized interest rate of thirty percent.  The money you repaid yielded a better return than many of my other  investments. So it was profitable." He gave a slight, ironic bow. "Thank  you for stealing my wallet."

"Oh?" she said hopefully. "So you're not-"

"Stealing my child is something else."

Scarlett's brief hope faded. What could she do? She couldn't let Wilhelmina be hurt for her loyalty and kindness.

The clinic in Geneva. That could be her escape route. Clinics had back  doors. She could sneak out before her blood was even drawn.

Scarlett let her shoulders sag, scuffling her feet in the gravel, hoping  she looked suitably downhearted. Her heart was beating fast. "You win."

"I always do." He gave a quick motion to the bodyguards waiting outside  the black SUV with dark tinted windows, then turned back, his voice  brisk. "The trip to Geneva will take two hours by car, and in your state  of advanced pregnancy I am concerned this will be uncomfortable for  you. I can have a helicopter here in ten minutes-"

"No!" she said a little too quickly. At his frown, she said in a calmer  voice, trying to smile, "The drive will give us a chance to talk. It's  so beautiful around Lake Geneva this time of year."

He stared at her for a long moment, then shrugged. "As you wish."

Five minutes later, as a bodyguard went upstairs to pack up her meager  possessions, she went to the kitchen to say farewell to Wilhelmina. The  older woman seemed bewildered by the sudden turn in events.

"You're quitting your job, Scarlett? Just like that?"

"I'm sorry, Wilhelmina. You came through for me, and I'm leaving you in the lurch. I'm so sorry-"