The Count's Christmas Baby

“Your voice sounds familiar to me, Signorina.”

So she wasn’t the only one imagining their connection. “Yours does to me, too. Strange, isn’t it, when I know we’ve never met?”

His dark brows furrowed. “More than strange. Were you in Europe on holiday recently?”

“Not for close to a year, but I’ve traveled to Europe before.”

“I’d like to see your passport again.”

“Let me feed my son first, then I’ll get it for you.”

He was a good little eater, but he’d been awakened before his nap had been over and was ready to go back to sleep. She burped him, then put him back in the crib and covered him with the quilt.

Aware of Mr. Degenoli’s eyes watching her every move, she walked over to the dresser and pulled the passport from her purse. “In case you were wondering, I applied for this passport several years before my baby was born.”

Her visitor took it from her and studied the pages with the various entry stamps. “This last one dated in January says you visited Austria—”

“Yes.”

“Where in Austria?” The inflexible male sounded in deadly earnest.

“Innsbruck.”

At the mention of it, his complexion took on a definite pallor. “Why that town?”

“Because my sister and her husband own a travel agency, and I was checking out some hotels for them there and in the surrounding areas. They’re always looking for new places to book their clients into.”

Mr. Degenoli appeared so shaken, she decided to end their inane question-and-answer session. Without hesitation she reached for her purse and pulled out a brown envelope. “Here—” Sami handed it to him. “I brought this to show my baby’s grandfather. It will explain everything.”

He eyed her suspiciously before he opened it and pulled out the birth certificate.

“As you can see there, I named my baby Ric, after his daddy. Ric Argyle Degenoli. You see, b-both Ric and his father, Alberto, were caught up in the same avalanche I was buried in last January.” Her voice faltered. “I assume Alberto was a relative of yours. Maybe your uncle?”

Her uninvited guest didn’t make a sound. It led her to believe he was finally listening to her. “I’d just stopped in one of the hotels for a minute to check it out and get a hot drink in the dining room. As I was about to go outside again to do a little sightseeing, the avalanche swept through the three-story hotel like a supersonic freight train.

“Ric and I were entombed for several hours. I knew he’d died before I lost total consciousness, but until you told me at the police station, I didn’t realize Alberto had been killed, too.

“After I woke up in a clinic, I assumed Ric’s father had survived, because only one male victim named Degenoli was listed among the fatalities. That was Ric, of course. His father must have died later from his injuries, after the list was put out.”

Sami couldn’t stop the tears from spurting. “It was a nightmarish time. My sister came to Innsbruck to get me and fly home with me. I didn’t realize until six weeks later that I was pregnant. At that point I determined that one day I’d look up Alberto and let him know he had a grandchild. But as you’ve let me know, this trip was in vain.”

The man listening to her story had gone eerily quiet.

“My sister calls my son Ricky, but I love the Italian version. I named him after his heroic father to honor him.”

“Heroic?” he questioned in a gravelly voice.

“Yes. One day when Ric is old enough, I’ll tell him how courageous his father was.”

“In what way?”

“You would have to have been there to understand. Ric was an amazing man. After the snow buried us, he kept me from losing my mind. You see, I suffer from claustrophobia. You can’t imagine what being trapped did to me. I wouldn’t be alive if it hadn’t been for him.

“We were total strangers sealed in a black tomb together We heard each other moan, but had no idea what the other one looked like. I know I was on the verge of a heart attack when he started talking to me and urged me to relax, because he believed we’d get out of there if we didn’t panic. He pointed out that by some miracle, we were trapped by beams that kept the whole weight from falling on us, providing us a pocket of air and room to wiggle.

“At first I thought I was dead and that he was an angel the way he took care of me and never let me panic. But when he reached for me and held me in his arms, promising me we’d be all right, I knew he was mortal.

“His only thought was to protect me. At first his kisses on my cheek held back my terror. I returned them, needing his comfort while we lay there slowly suffocating. We talked a little. He told me he’d just come from a wedding with his father, Alberto. I explained I was on a trip, but we didn’t go into details.

“As time went on and no help came, we realized we were going to die. At that point we drew warmth and comfort from each other’s bodies.” She took a fortifying breath. “We made love. It happened so naturally, it was like a dream. Then I heard a shifting sound. The next thing I knew a piece of wood had pierced his forehead.”

A sob caught in her throat. “It knocked him unconscious and his warm blood spilled over both of us. I couldn’t get a pulse and knew he was gone. When I woke up in a clinic, the last thing I remembered was that he’d died in my arms.

“We’d been literally tossed together with the broken walls and furniture in the darkness of a catastrophic avalanche that hit the hotel. But for the time we were together, hanging on to life because we knew they were our last moments on this earth, I felt closer to him than to anyone I’ve ever known.

“When I look at my adorable Ric, I know I’m seeing his father. My only hope now is to raise him to measure up to the great man who gave him life. I know he was a great man because he was so selfless in the face of terror. He never once thought of himself, only of me. So now I hope that explanation answers your questions, Mr. Degenoli.”

She stared at the tall figure still standing there. His face had gone ashen. The birth certificate had fallen to the floor. How odd he’d left it there …

“If you still don’t believe me, then I don’t know what more I can say to convince you. Maybe now you’d answer a question for me. Was Alberto your uncle?”

“No,” he answered in a voice as deep as a cavern. “He was my father.”

“Chief Coretti introduced you as Alberto, but that really isn’t your name, is it? He did it to protect you. I can understand that.”

He moved closer to her. “Let me explain this another way. My father was christened Alberto Enrico Degenoli, and was called Alberto. I was also christened Alberto Enrico Degenoli, but I go by Enrico. However my immediate family calls me … Ric.”

As Sami stared at him, the world tilted.

“But you couldn’t be that Ric. I wasn’t able to waken him. He died in my arms—”

“No, Sami,” he countered in a husky voice. “I’m right here.”

She was so staggered to hear him use her nickname, she clutched the crib railing with both hands. A small cry escaped her lips. “You’re Ric?” She shook her head, causing her hair to swish against her pale cheeks. “I—I can’t believe this is happening. I—”

The room started to swim. The next thing Sami knew, she found herself on the bed with the man who’d made her pregnant leaning over her. He sat next to her with his hands on either side of her head. “Stay quiet for a minute. You’ve had another shock.”

He spoke to her in the compassionate voice she remembered—exactly the way he’d done in the avalanche. With her eyes closed, she could recall everything and was back there with him in spirit.

But the minute her eyelids fluttered open, she saw a stranger staring down at her. In her psyche Sami knew he was Ric. But she couldn’t credit that the striking, almost forbidding male who’d swept past her at the police station was the same Ric who’d once given her his passion and the will to live.

Sami’s hair spilled onto Ric’s fingers. If he closed his eyes, he could recall the same silky mane he’d played with in the darkness. The strands had been as fragrant as every part of her face and body. It was the same now, but at the time he’d had no idea its coloring resembled spun gossamer.

Still noticing her pallor, he got up from the bed to get her a cup of water. When he returned from the bathroom, she sat up. He handed it to her and she drank thirstily. “Thank you,” she whispered in a tremulous voice before lying back again like a spent flower.

Ric put the empty cup on the side table, then sank down next to her once more. “Our survival was a miracle,” he began.

“Yes. I’m still trying to deal with the fact that you didn’t die and are here where I can see you.”