Boss Meets Baby(114)

‘Yes, it is,’ Giovanni said, his eyes focussed back on the baby again, but Vito could tell he was beginning to grow weary.

‘We’ll leave you to rest now, Nonno.’ He lifted the baby gently out of his grandfather’s arms. ‘Don’t worry—we’ll come back tomorrow.’

‘See that you do,’ Giovanni said, but the abruptness of his words was softened by the fact that his eyes were already starting to close as he leant his head back against his pillows.

Vito led the way down to the canal entrance of Ca’ Salvatore and, once Lily was safely on the boat, he passed baby Giovanni down to her.

‘You’ve made my grandfather very happy,’ Vito said as he stepped down into the boat and sat next to her. A thick autumn fog was rolling in from the Adriatic, and the city was taking on an eerie quality. It made him want to hurry home and snuggle his little family up, safe and warm inside.

‘I meant what I said to him.’ Lily looked up through the fog at the magnificent façade of the baroque palazzo as the boat started to move out into the flow of traffic on the Grand Canal. ‘About being proud that my son will be part of this family.’

She dropped her gaze to look into the gorgeous face of the man she adored, and as their eyes met a little frisson of pleasure ran through her. She was tired from looking after their newborn baby, but she had never felt so happy in her entire life.

‘I love you.And I am so proud to have you as my wife,’ Vito said, slipping his arm around her and hugging her gently. ‘You belong here in Venice.You belong with me.’

‘I love it here,’ Lily said as the boat turned off the Grand Canal to head towards home. Tendrils of fog were creeping into the smaller waterways, and the boat driver was taking it carefully. ‘But, more than that, I love you. And I’ll always belong with you.’





The Millionaire

Boss’s Baby


Maggie

Cox





About the Author


The day MAGGIE COX saw the film version of Wuthering Heights, with a beautiful Merle Oberon and a very handsome Laurence Olivier, was the day she became hooked on romance. From that day onwards she spent a lot of time dreaming up her own romances, secretly hoping that one day she might become published and get paid for doing what she loved most! Now that her dream is being realised, she wakes up every morning and counts her blessings. She is married to a gorgeous man and is the mother of two wonderful sons. Her two other great passions in life—besides her family and reading/writing—are music and films.





To Evelyn, John and Stephen with all my love





CHAPTER ONE


IT HAD been a long, seemingly endless journey—the most ambitious drive Georgia had undertaken in ages. Her saving grace was that she adored driving and prided herself at being quite good at it. With her Labrador Hamish in the back behind her she had the best companion she could wish for, next to her brother Noah. Now, well into the summer evening, she— drove silently, with the radio off, her gaze lapping up the extraordinarily beautiful landscape of the Scottish Glens, tiredness banished by what had to be one of the most heavenly sights on earth.

Everywhere she looked she was treated to the most incredible beauty—sunlit lochs, mountain peaks and shimmering green fields. Even Hamish seemed to perk up as he looked out of the window, as if silently contemplating the large open spaces in which to romp and run free with eager relish. It was a far cry from the overcrowded London suburb where Georgia lived.

Already she sensed the accumulated knots and kinks of tension in her back start to unravel a little.

They had made quite a few stops during the long journey, for food and drink, but they had still made very good time. Now, Georgia knew, by the map opened on the seat beside her, as well as her new boss’s very precise e-mail directions, that there was not too much further to go before they reached Glenteign—the large country estate of which he was Laird.

‘No wonder Noah loved working here!’ she declared out loud, and Hamish wagged his tail enthusiastically— as if to agree.

Her brother had assured her that she would grow to love Glenteign too. He’d recently spent six months there, in his capacity as a freelance garden designer hired to help work on the formal gardens. It was a place where a person could really breathe, he’d told her, his passion for nature and beauty spilling over into his voice. And in his opinion Georgia wouldn’t regret leaving London behind for a while, with its continual gridlocked traffic and polluted air. Working as the Laird’s temporary secretary, while his permanent— secretary recovered from a bad fall, she would have some breathing space from the grinding commute into the City every day. She would find out what a different way of life it was up here—a much more relaxed, ‘sane’ way of life.