Ellie smiled at her daughter, who was two years old now. Born of parents who both had curly hair, Teresina had miraculously straight shoulder-length black hair and eyes that were a lighter green than her mother’s. She was small and slight in build and had learned to walk at nine months old. She was lively and quick-tempered and the greatest joy in Ellie’s world, for she had never realised just how much she would love her child.
In the three years that Ellie had been married, her whole life had changed and she had not a single regret. She spoke fluent Italian and had secured her dream job in the hospital where Beppe had been treated and where she was now continuing her training as a doctor specialising in children’s ailments. Beppe had made an excellent recovery and had, under considerable protest, begun walking to take exercise. She had grown very close to her father and was profoundly grateful to have found him in time to get to know him.
They had finally contrived to trace their long-lost sister to Greece, where she was living with her birth father, who appeared to be a most unsavoury man. But Ellie was convinced that considerable tact had to be utilised where their unknown sister was concerned and Polly and Ellie had yet to work out how to best approach Lucy without frightening her off. Ellie was in favour of sending the ruby ring with a letter introducing themselves and inviting contact. How that would go down was anyone’s guess but at least it couldn’t be seen as threatening or interfering.
Ellie had grown no keener on shopping in recent years, because if she wasn’t at work she was exulting in precious family time and certainly didn’t want to waste that time shopping and preening. Ellie had always dressed for comfort and she was still doing it. For that reason, Polly was still buying her clothes and now Rio was doing it too and her wardrobe was bursting at the seams with designer garments she only wore at the occasional swanky event Rio attended. On the jewellery front, however, her collection could almost have rivalled the jewellery of Dharia’s royal family. Rio never went anywhere and came back without gifts for her and Teresina, and soon he would have a third little person to buy for, Ellie thought with quiet contentment. And she had finally told her sister the story of their grandmother’s diamond brooch and Polly had simply laughed and dismissed the matter without concern, more worried that Ellie had had to deal with their uncle’s spite without support.
The sound of a car coming down the drive sent Ellie leaping upright.
‘I’ll watch the kids,’ Polly proffered. ‘Go on...greet him and make his day! Rio’s so romantic.’
Rashad climbed out of the passenger seat. The friendship he and Rio had formed while at university had only deepened when the men married sisters who liked to see each other regularly.
Rio’s sizzling smile broke out as Ellie threw herself at him and wrapped her arms round his neck as if she hadn’t seen him in a week. He was a little disconcerted because he had only left her early that morning and she wasn’t usually given to any public displays of affection.
‘You missed me?’ he whispered, wondering if something was worrying her.
‘A little. I’ve got news,’ Ellie murmured soft and low. ‘Let’s go upstairs.’
‘Is this about your sister Lucy?’
‘No, nothing new there. Polly still wants to jump in the royal jet and land on Lucy’s doorstep and explode into her life,’ Ellie told him ruefully. ‘But I think she’s beginning to come round to a more diplomatic approach.’
As Rashad, the king of Dharia, strolled past them to join his wife and two sons Ellie gripped Rio’s hand and practically dragged him up to their bedroom.
‘You’re beginning to worry me,’ Rio confided, shooting a glance at Ellie’s glowing face and registering that whatever had happened, it couldn’t be anything bad.
‘We’re pregnant again!’ Ellie announced with delight.
Rio blinked and nodded very slowly. ‘I wasn’t aware we were even trying...’
‘I didn’t want to put pressure on you so I didn’t mention that I wasn’t taking anything,’ Ellie revealed cheerfully.
Rio almost laughed out loud. Put pressure on him? Nothing could keep him away from Ellie. He adored her. But he still compressed his lips and said, ‘It might have been nice to be asked...to have discussed this as a couple,’ he remarked, rather woodenly because he still wanted to laugh.
Ellie’s face fell as if he’d slapped it. ‘I didn’t think of that. I know how much you love having Teresina and I want to have my family while I’m still young and I would like them close together in age.’ She chewed uncomfortably at her lower lip. ‘I suppose I should’ve said something—’
Rio grinned. ‘I was only joking. I’m delighted,’ he assured her with heartfelt enthusiasm. ‘The more the merrier—’
‘Polly’s pregnant again too. She’s very keen to have a daughter,’ she confided. ‘I’ll tell her about me over dinner, so don’t go breaking my news ahead of me like you did the last time with that phone call.’
Rio linked his arms round her slim waist. ‘It’s my news too, principessa. I did figure in the conception.’
Ellie beamed up at him approvingly. ‘Yes, you’re wonderfully fertile—’
‘Good to know I’m useful for something—’
‘And spectacularly good at the action part,’ Ellie whispered lovingly, hands running below his jacket to skate possessively over his hard muscled chest and then lowering in a much more intimate caress.
Rio shed his jacket and his shirt in record time. ‘I won’t sulk about not being consulted on the extending-the-family issue,’ he admitted huskily. ‘I know Dr Ellie was in the driving seat worrying that I might suffer from performance anxiety in bed for the first time in my life. In short, I’m perfectly happy to be used and useful.’
‘I know you are,’ Ellie told him cheerfully, shimmying out of her dress even faster, her eyes full of love and appreciation as she fasted her gaze on his lean, bronzed body, the passion that always simmered below the surface of their marriage gripping both of them with its scorching intensity. ‘Did I ever tell you how much I love you?’
‘Not since last night.’ Rio studied his wife with wondering admiration and marvelled that he had found her, that she had married him, learned to love him and overlooked his every flaw. Loving Ellie had brought him untold riches in the happiness stakes and he would never ever take it for granted because he had lived too long without that security. ‘But if you want to be competitive, you couldn’t possibly love me as much as I love you...’