A Dangerous Infatuation by Chantelle Shaw Read Free Book Online Page B

his appeal to women. He would lay a bet that Marchant had been a womaniser before his marriage, Rocco brooded. He had deduced from his own observations the previous evening, and from conversation with his grandmother, that Emma was a rather serious, unassuming person, with a highly developed sense of responsibility. Brash-looking Jack Marchant seemed an unexpected choice of partner for her, but presumably the fact that she still wore her wedding ring three years after being widowed meant that the marriage had been happy and she had loved her husband.
    Why did the thought rankle? Rocco wondered irritably, raking a hand through his hair. He didn’t know what he was doing here, and if he had any sense he would leave immediately. Only the fact that he had been asked to give a message to Emma from his grandmother prevented him from letting himself out of the front door. But, as his eyes strayed to the photo of the young woman with red-gold hair and a shy smile who was clutching her baby in her arms, he knew he was not being completely honest with himself.
    ‘My daddy was a hero.’
    He glanced down to find that Holly had entered the room silently and was standing beside him. She was a pretty child, with hair a shade fairer than her mother’s and the same dark grey eyes.
    ‘That’s his medal,’ she explained, pointing towards the mantelpiece. ‘He saved people from a fire. Didn’t he, Mummy?’ Holly turned to Emma, who had followed her into the room, for confirmation. ‘But I never saw him because I was in Mummy’s tummy,’ she added, her little face becoming solemn for a moment.
    ‘Jack died two months before Holly was born,’ Emma told Rocco, seeing the puzzled look in his eyes. ‘He rescued three children from a house fire, but was killed when the roof collapsed and he was trapped in the blaze. He was posthumously awarded the Queens Gallantry Medal.’
    So her husband had been Superman. Rocco felt a flare of guilt for his uninformed and, as it turned out, unfair assessment of Jack Marchant. For some reason he could not bring himself to look at Emma, and instead smiled at Holly. ‘Your
papa
was a brave man. You must be very proud of him.’
    He was rewarded with a beaming grin as Holly offered him a sickly looking cake.
    ‘I chose you one with lots of icing.’
    Rocco disliked sweet foods, but there was no question of disappointing the child. He bit into the cake. ‘Delicious,’ he assured Holly, who was watching him anxiously.
    She was apparently satisfied with his verdict. ‘You’d better finish it before you drop crumbs on the carpet,’ she advised him seriously.
    ‘Did you say no sugar in your coffee?’ Emma murmured.
    Rocco caught the glimmer of amusement in her eyes and gave her a wry look. To his surprise her mouth curved into faint smile, and he felt something kick in his gut. His initial impression of her had been that she was averagely attractive, but he had spent a restless night wondering why he could not dismiss her from his mind and now he realised that she possessed an understated beauty that drew his eyes to her again and again.
    ‘Grazie.’
He took the mug of coffee she offered him, his keen gaze noting that her hand shook very slightly. It gave him a measure of satisfaction to see that she was not as composed as she would like him to believe. ‘The cake has reminded me of why I’m here,’ he murmured. ‘I am taking Cordelia to have tea at the Royal Oak Hotel this afternoon, and we would both be delighted if you and Holly would join us.’
    ‘Oh, no—that’s very kind, but I don’t think so.’ Emma’s response was immediate, and edged with a flare of panic she could not completely disguise. Spending an afternoon in the company of a devastatingly attractive Italian playboy was not her idea of fun—especially when she was not at all confident she would be able to hide her intense awareness of him. ‘I … I have other plans, and I’m sure Cordelia would prefer to have you to