staring like that. Of medium height, she had to tilt her head a ways. Their gazes collided. Midnight-black eyes stared back at her. Between their sadness and the shadows beneath them, she could see his pain.
“Forgive me. I was so busy picking out the similarities between you and Nicky, I didn’t realize I was being rude.”
“I confess to doing the same thing. Pietra sent me pictures of the baby. You two share the same golden hair. It’s much lighter than your brother’s.”
“Nicky’s will probably grow darker in time.”
“Yours is like the sunlight finding a hole in the darkest canopy of the jungle floor.”
She took an extra breath. “Is that a good thing?”
“Si, signorina. A very good thing when you’re slowly being devoured by a world of crawling green.”
The image made her shiver.
“Come in.”
“Thank you.” As she walked past him, her elbow brushed against his arm, sending a different kind of sensation through her body. Her emotions, like her grief, were out of control.
They entered a lounge with some love seats and a table. She was too anxious to sit.
“Mr. Di Rocche—”
“Surely you can call me Massimo. Nicky’s existence makes us relatives of a sort.”
“Massimo, then—” she said a little breathlessly, smoothing her shoulder-length hair behind her ear. “I imagine you’re wondering why I came here instead of waiting to meet you this evening.”
A speculative look crossed his striking features, made even more prominent by suffering and fatigue. “Since you couldn’t have known where I was unless your father told you, I’m assuming he revealed the contents of the will. If you’re here on behalf of your family, begging me not to take Nicky away, I’m afraid it’s out of my hands.”
“I realize that.”
Shawn and Pietra had made their wishes known through legal means. It appeared Massimo intended to honor them to the letter. Already she could see he wasn’t the kind of man to tolerate interference when it came to his life, be it professional or personal.
He rubbed the back of his neck. “When I agreed to their wishes, I could never have contemplated this tragedy happening.”
“No one could.” Her voice shook.
“Tonight I’ll make it clear to your family that I plan to bring Nicky back to the States for periodic visits. And naturally you’re all welcome to visit him whenever you can.”
She wanted to ask him where would that be exactly. She’d love to inquire if he expected her family to cut through a sea of vines with a machete in order to reach him and Nicky. But she didn’t dare provoke him.
“That means a lot.” Unfortunately her mother’s worst fear would come to fruition when she heard the provisions of the will. Shawn and Pietra had really pulled the rug from under them. “However, I’m here for an entirely different reason.”
He frowned. She felt his piercing gaze scrutinize her. It took all her willpower not to look away.
“I’ll come straight to the point. Unless you got secretly married like Pietra, and she didn’t choose to tell me you have a wife, then you’re going to need help with Nicky for a while.”
“Naturalmente. I’ve already made the arrangements.”
“So fast?” she fired angrily.
His gaze turned wintry. “I’m in a hurry, Ms. Marchant.”
“I’ll just bet you are,” she said through grated teeth. “It must have been quite an inconvenience to leave your precious dig and fly here to deal with a nephew you didn’t even bother to see after Pietra had the baby.”
Her comment produced a slight chiseling of his jaw. She realized she’d gone too far, but she couldn’t help it. Her pain was acute.
“I think you’d better explain yourself,” his voice rasped.
“I don’t owe you anything.”
Julie was so incensed, she had to get out of there before she said something unconscionable.
Though she was closer to the door, he reached it ahead of her with effortless male agility, blocking her exit.
“You came over here for a reason. I’d like to know what it is.” His deceptively civil tone didn’t fool her. Beneath those words lurked a demand.
The man was furious, and wouldn’t allow her to leave without hearing an explanation first. If all the Di Rocches were as arrogant as her brother, it was no wonder Pietra had left Italy.
Heat stormed into her cheeks. “Would it do any good?” she challenged him.
“Try me,” he mocked with unbearable hauteur.
“I was going to ask if you would hire me to be Nicky’s nanny through this initial period of adjustment, however long it takes. That way I won’t feel like I’ve lost him completely.”
His dark brows elevated. She could hear his mind working. “I understand you have an excellent job in San Francisco.”
“I do. But even before I heard the terms of the will, I’d planned to give it up to take care of Nicky.”
He cocked his head. “If I’m not mistaken, you’re involved with someone who works at the same company.”
She shouldn’t have been surprised Pietra had confided all that to her brother. They’d clearly been in closer touch than she’d thought.
“I was. It didn’t work out,” she muttered. “At this point nothing means more to me than Nicky. He needs constant love and security right now. He’s missing his parents terribly.”
His grim expression intensified. “Of course.”
“When it comes to taking care of Nicky, not just any woman will do,” she pointed out heatedly.
“This one has been a mother.”
“Then that means she’s an older woman. How will she fare in the jungle?” Julie cried. “I’m young and willing to live wherever you live. Nicky and I would adapt. Because of my job, which requires some travel, I have a passport. I’ll get the necessary vaccinations.”
His eyes played over her features. “What kind of work have you done?”
“It’s a software company. On occasion I give presentations of the product to their foreign distributors. But to get back to Nicky, it’s important for you to know that since he was born, I’ve tended him once a month on the weekends. We’ve started getting acquainted.”
She was talking too fast, but she couldn’t help it. The thought of him taking Nicky away was tearing her apart.
“As soon as I arrived here yesterday morning, I sent the babysitter home and have taken care of him myself. The poor little thing’s sick.”
He frowned. “How sick?”
“He’s used to Pietra’s milk. Last night he fought me on the bottle because he doesn’t like formula. It upset him so much that he’s developed a bad rash. This morning I had to call the doctor about it and get a prescription for him. Another day or two and it ought to clear up.
“But that isn’t all that’s wrong. He keeps looking for his parents. Introducing him to another stranger this soon will only frustrate him further. No other woman will ever love him the way I do. I’m beginning to gain his trust. Soon he’ll learn to accept me.”
Her eyes glazed with tears. “Even if Shawn and Pietra didn’t consider me a proper guardian when they made out their will, I’d do anything for them. I loved