"Gemma!" One girl's shout echoed over the hum of voices.
Stefano picked up his pace and closed the distance between him and Gemma. Not that he had to rush now.
A young girl raced down the staircase and threw herself into Gemma's waiting arms. The two erupted in laughter and girlish giggles: She must be Rachel.
"Look at you," Gemma said, holding the girl away from her. "You've grown another inch since I last saw you."
The girl beamed and his insides twisted. No! His eyes must be deceiving him.
He rocked to a stop a few feet behind the pair, thunder-struck by the girl's unmistakable family resemblance. She was a Marinetti. He was certain of it. But who was her father?
The girl noticed him then and went just as still. But her shock lasted less than a second.
She tore herself from Gemma's arms and rushed to him, but seemed to barely restrain the impulse to launch herself into his arms. "You finally came!"
"No, Rachel," Gemma said, trying to catch the girl.
But it was too late.
Rachel stood before him, her smile wide and her eyes glittering with unmistakable joy as if challenging him to return the favor. "You are more handsome in real life than in your pictures."
"Grazia," he found himself saying, captivated by her exuberance. "You know who I am?"
She giggled at that. "Of course, I know! Papa brought me pictures so I'd know my half brother."
Maledizione! Rachel was his father's love child.
His mamma had been right. His father had engaged in an affair. But it hadn't been recent as she'd feared.
Rachel wasn't shy or reserved. No, she was boisterous and outrageous and clearly starving for attention.
"Rachel, please." Gemma pulled the girl back and put a meter or two between her and Stefano.
"Where is Papa?" Rachel asked, looking from him to Gemma. "Didn't he come, too?"
"Not this time," Gemma said, seeming pale and far too nervous. "But he sent you this."
Gemma gave the girl the package she'd carried from Viareggio.
Rachel tore into it and squealed. "He's a perfectly gorgeous kitten. Is it angora like the others?"
"Perhaps." Gemma's flush gave her away, but Rachel didn't seem to notice. But he did and he'd bet angora kitties didn't come cheap.
"Why don't you put your new kitty in your room and then we'll leave?" Gemma said.
"Okay. I'll be right back," Rachel said, then looked him square in the eyes. "Are you coming to the doctor with us?"
"No," Gemma said.
He allowed a smile that felt as tight as his nerves. "Of course I will."
Rachel beamed before racing off up the stairs, and the wall of reserve inside him shifted. Nobody had ever seemed that pleased to be in his company before.
"How dare you follow me," Gemma said, turning on him like a pit viper.
He cocked an eyebrow, torn between amusement and rage over her part in this deception. "Why wasn't I told I had a sorellastra?"
"Ask Cesare," she said.
"Are you saying you don't know?" He loosed a humorless laugh when he was tempted to curse the walls down because she was still refusing to be honest with him. "You are his private secretary. You know all of his business, all of his dirty secrets so I am sure you know why the hell my father chose to keep his love child a secret."
She cupped her hands to her face and trembled. "Look around you, Stefano. This isn't the place to discuss this."
He set his teeth, hating that she was right, hating it more that he'd lost control of his emotions in public, no less. That had never happened before he'd met Gemma Cardone. Now he was changing before his own eyes into a man he scarcely knew.
"Is she the only one or did my father have others he kept apart from us?" he asked.
"As far as I know Rachel is his only illegitimate child."
And that half sister was rushing back down the stairs with a smile that rivaled the sun.
"Where is her mother?" he asked.
"We don't know," she said, and the tense line of her shoulders drooped even more. "She abandoned Rachel at the hospital when she was six years old."
Not a sterling character endorsement for his father's lover. "Her age now?"
"Seven."
That was when Stefano had graduated from the university and began working at Marinetti. He'd brimmed with new ideas to improve the company-ideas his father had refused to consider.
Cesare had wanted Marinetti to remain the solid old company that his father and his father before him had managed. "Marinetti Shipyard prides itself on tradition," his father had said, and of course Davide had agreed. "We are loyal to the community, our employees and our customers."
And all the while his father had been forcing Stefano to stand on old-world standards, he had been having an affair.
Gemma could not quell the trembling inside her. Stefano sat on the other side of Rachel in the oncologist's office and remained calm. Too calm, in her opinion.
He had to wonder about the state of Rachel's health. He had to notice that his chatty half sister had gone unnaturally quiet.
But he didn't ask questions and he didn't attempt to make small talk. He just sat beside his half sister and skimmed through a magazine.
On money, no less!
The inner office door opened and a nurse offered a benign smile. "Rachel Pantaleone."
Gemma rose with Rachel and wondered if the girl's name struck a chord in Stefano. Something surely had prompted that black scowl again.
"Do you want me to accompany you?" he asked Rachel, flooring Gemma by asking that.
"Yes, please," Rachel said and took his hand just like she always had done with her father.
Tears instantly stung Gemma's eyes for deep down she'd prayed that Cesare would confide in his family one day. She'd hoped that he'd welcome Rachel into his home instead of leaving her here in this elite school apart from her family.
Of course the girl would gravitate to Stefano. He oozed confidence. Plus he was more than six feet of sensual sophistication, broad-shouldered and heart-poundingly handsome.
But she'd never dreamed that Stefano would be so patient and attentive to his sister.
Of course she knew he was determined to unearth all of his father's secrets regarding Rachel. That would surely test the heart of this man when he learned of Gemma's involvement.
The doctor entered with a smile. "I see you have brought someone new along."
Rachel giggled. "This is my brother, Stefano. He's very rich and very handsome."
"Rachel," Gemma scolded in hopes of saving the doctor embarrassment.
"Don't you think he's handsome?" Rachel asked her.
Gemma knew her face was flame-red. "Yes, very handsome," she repeated and hoped that would be the end of it.
The doctor thankfully stepped in and extended her hand to Stefano. "I am Dr. La Rizza, by the way."
"My pleasure," Stefano said.
"I read an article about your latest eco-friendly yacht," she said. "Very impressive."
"I can give you a tour if you are interested." He paused a beat and flashed the doctor a smile. "Or if you are just curious and would like a day away from these walls, you have only to ask."
Gemma went tense and edgy again, and this time she was certain of the cause. Jealousy. Stefano looked at her with that same hunger when they made love.
Right now he acted as if he'd enjoy doing the same with the doctor. And his adolescent sister was sitting in the room!
An adolescent sister who clearly was enthralled by her brother as well. But where Rachel was trusting the brother she'd only heard about, Gemma was more circumspect. As she'd discovered of late, brothers could deceive in the cruelest of ways.
If her own brother whom she'd loved and nurtured could stab her in the back, how safe could Rachel be with a sibling who was a virtual stranger? One who'd had no difficulty turning his back on his family before.
"I assume you are aware we are still keeping close watch over Rachel," the doctor said to Stefano.
Stefano made a seesaw motion with one long-fingered hand as if to indicate that he only had a sketchy idea of all Rachel had been through and what she still faced. "I would appreciate it if you would enlighten me."
"Gladly." The doctor launched into a detailed version of Rachel's surgery, recovery and regimen of drugs designed to hold her markers low.
"I don't want to guess what the outcome would've been if you hadn't found a donor," he said.
The doctor inclined her head. "We would not be here now."
"Papa was upset that he wasn't a match," Rachel said.
"I should hope so," Stefano said. "It would've grieved me to know I could not save my sister's life."