Three months earlier, Holly had given birth to the twins. It had been an
easy but very tiring pregnancy and Rio had fussed over her to an almost
embarrassing degree. He had also fainted dead away in the delivery room
on the day of their daughters' birth, a reaction which he was still
trying to explain away as the result of over-excitement. With three
children in the household, Alice Lombardi was in her element when she
visited. She adored children and that had
been clear to Holly from the instant Timothy had crawled across the
floor into the older woman's eagerly extended arms. Alice made no
difference between Timothy and the more recent arrivals in the family,
and Holly loved her for that.
Furthermore, although Rio's mother still had bad days with her
arthritis, her health had improved a great deal. But then, Holly did not
think Rio had ever understood quite how bored and depressed the older
woman had been with her life prior to their marriage. But Holly had
begun to understand as she watched Alice slowly lose her concept of
herself as an invalid to become more active.
Leaving the older woman in peace to enjoy the children, Holly thought
about how her own parents had also benefited from their marriage. Well
aware of how independent his father-in-law was, Rio had not made the
mistake of offering direct financial help, which would have been
refused. Instead, her husband had Invested in the farm, enabling her
father to hire a worker to help out. Holly had had the pleasure of
seeing her own father take on a new lease of life, no longer stressed by
worry about how he would cope as he got older.
Yes, there was no doubt about it, Holly reflected as she changed into an
elegant blue shift dress. Rio was one very special bloke, who went to
endless trouble to help those he
loved.
She respected him for what he had done for Christabel as well. Feeling
that his former fiancée was having enough of a struggle getting her life
back on track after leaving the rehabilitation clinic, he had asked
Holly if she would mind if he simply signed that apartment of his over
to Christabel. And no, she hadn't minded, and she had even been pleased
when the blonde spoke to her months later at a charity function.
184
'Rio's a really great guy,' Christabel had proclaimed with genuine
warmth and had then lowered her voice to groan, 'But, to be honest, he
was way too good-living for me!'
Christabel's life had moved on too and she certainly seemed content.
Having set up a successful modelling school, she had then caused a great
stir with the announcement that she was bi-sexual and a reformed addict.
That confessional session in front of the cameras had gained her
enormous publicity but she had recently started dating men again.
Holly went to say goodnight to her children. Timothy was almost asleep
and she straightened the bedclothes and removed half a dozen toy cars
from the spread before dropping a kiss down on his smooth brow.
'Night...night,' Timothy mumbled and then revived slightly as he focused
on the tall dark male who had appeared in his bedroom doorway. 'Hug...Dad.'
During the hug, a whispered exchange took place. The toy Ferrari that
Holly had removed from the bed was slid back under the covers but she
turned a blind eye to that evidence of male complicity. Timothy was such
a happy toddler, full of affection and little-boy liveliness.
and accompanied her into the nursery. 'After having you around
yesterday, I missed you at the office today.'
'I missed you too.' Holly smiled at the thought of how much her outlook
on life had changed over the past eighteen months. She had never dreamt
that she might end up doing a basic business course just to see what it
was like and that she might enjoy it and want to learn more, but that
was what had happened.
Right now, of course, with the children all so young, it
wasn't possible for her to do much more than study part-time. That week,
however, she had spent a morning with Rio at Lombardi Industries,
actually seeing how the business world operated, and she had been
fascinated by that }, insight into an average day in his life.
'If you were there the whole time I probably couldn't concentrate,' Rio
confided, smiling appreciatively down into Amalia's cot. 'She's just
beautiful when she's sleeping, isn't she?'
Holly tried not to laugh, but there was no denying that their eldest
daughter had caused a lot of disruption in her first weeks of life by
flatly refusing to sleep at almost any stage of the night. Holly had
been darned grateful to have both a husband and a nanny. Mercifully,
Amalia had recently settled into a more reasonable routine.
'And Battista...' Rio studied his younger daughter with touching pride.
She had the same curly dark hair as Amalia, for their daughters were
identical twins, but there the resemblance ended, since Battista slept
like a log and seemed to have a more philosophical attitude to life.
Leaving the nursery, they went into their bedroom because Rio said he
needed a shower before dinner.
'Same old routine. I don't know why I bother putting clothes on for you
coming home,' Holly lamented in a long-suffering tone of teasing
provocation.
Laughing, Rio threw back his darkly handsome head and then kissed her
breathless anyway. 'What happened to those stars in your eyes?'
'Those stars are multiplying at an incredible rate,' Holly swore, gazing
up into dark golden eyes that were full of love and appreciation and
tenderness. He adored her and she knew it.
'I must be on a real winning streak, then, tesoro mio.'
186
Rio locked her to his lean, powerful body with possessive hands.
'Not this evening, you're not,' Holly told him ruefully, striving not to
quiver against him in an inviting way, although it was very difficult
when her resistance was nil. 'Have you forgotten Alice is staying until
tomorrow?'
'And dining out with friends,' Rio reminded her with a slashing smile of
amusement as she let herself quiver and meld to him like a second skin,
all restraint vanishing.
Holly gave him her starry-eyed look of love and saw it beautifully
reflected in his own gaze. She wound her arms round him, possessive and
proud and dizzy with happiness, and it was a very long time before
either of them thought of eating.