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She tossed off the bed covers and threw on her cotton wrap over her duckling pyjamas and stuffed her feet into her piglet slippers. She padded as quickly as she could to the nursery, but she found the room and the cot empty. She turned and made her way toward Vic’s bedroom, her pulse pounding the closer she got. But the door was open, and the bed was so neat it looked like it hadn’t been slept in at all. She continued down the wide corridor and then down to the lower floor, listening for the sound of Katerina’s chirpy little voice and Vic’s deep one. She glanced into the formal sitting room, but there was no one in there.
A glossy black grand piano was positioned in front of the large bank of windows overlooking Lake Como, the heavy white-and-gold-embossed curtains draped along either side giving the appearance of the beautiful instrument being on a stage. And with the stunning backdrop of the lake and blue-tinged mountains in the distance, what grander stage could there be? But apart from the piano and the collection of sofas and side tables and lamps and artwork, there was no one in sight. She was not sure what compelled her to slowly walk towards the piano. It was as if it spoke to her in the echoing silence of that faded but still beautiful room. She stood in front of the black and white keys, her fingers reaching down to softly play a progression of C major chords. The tinkling notes broke the silence like the sound of a trickling waterfall. The piano was in surprisingly good tune and its tone was exquisitely enhanced by the acoustics of the room.
She heard a firm footfall behind her and guiltily pulled her hands away from the piano and turned around to see Vic standing in the doorway. He was freshly showered and shaved and dressed in dark blue denim jeans, brown loafers and a casual white shirt that highlighted his tanned complexion. She could only imagine how ridiculous she looked in her duckling pyjamas and piglet slippers with her hair in a sleep-mussed tangle.
‘You play?’ he asked.
‘Erm…not well enough to do that old girl justice.’
‘I’m sure you’re being way too modest.’ He walked further into the room towards her, the sunlight from the windows catching the glinting light in his eyes. Was he laughing at her outfit? The silly little chord progression? At her?
‘I’m not being modest at all…’ She crossed her arms across her body. ‘How is Katerina? I’m sorry I overslept. I should’ve been up hours ago. Why didn’t you wake me?’
‘Katerina is having her second breakfast with Lucia,’ Vic said with a crooked smile. ‘She had her first with me.’
She ran her eyes over his pristine white shirt and then met his gaze. ‘You look surprisingly immaculate given you were recently involved in feeding a toddler.’
He flashed a smile that was as white as his shirt, and her heart did a funny little skip. ‘I changed just now. Breakfast number one was…how shall I say…a messy affair?’
‘A messy affair…’
Those words rang a warning bell in her head. If she allowed her crush on Vic Jacobetti to get any further out of hand, she would end up in a mess that would not be so easily cleaned by a simple change of clothes. She had to stop herself from picturing him shrugging of his soiled shirt. Stop herself from thinking about the breadth of his shoulders, the toned perfection of his pectoral muscles and washboard abs. She had to stop herself from thinking about running her hands down the warm satin of his olive toned skin.
She. Had. To. Stop.
She also had to bring herself back to the conversation with an effort. ‘I think it’s kind of cute how Isabella and Marcus let Katerina explore food for herself.’
‘Exploring?’ One ink-black eyebrow arched but his glittering smile was still in place. ‘Is that what you call it?’
A smile began to pull at the corners of her mouth. ‘I did warn you that parenting practices have changed significantly since we were kids.’
A shadow passed through his gaze and the light faded from his eyes. ‘One would hope so.’ There was a cryptic quality to his voice that made her want to know more about his painful childhood. She wanted to know why he was so keen to avoid long-term relationships. Why he didn’t believe in for ever love. Why he didn’t want children, a family of his own. He was clearly a devoted uncle, anyone watching him with Katerina could tell that. She had closed her weary eyes last night with the image of him holding his little niece in his arms. He had been so gentle with her, so caring and kind and yes, loving.
Vic moved closer to the piano, close enough for her to smell the clean sharp lemon-based notes of his aftershave. His thick black hair was still slightly damp as she could see the groove marks of a comb in the dark strands. He looked down at the keys for a pensive moment, then turned to look at her. ‘Feel free to play any time you want. It’s been a while since it’s been played properly.’
‘Thank you, but I don’t want you to get your hopes up. I’m not much of a performer, I’m afraid. I get too nervous when I know someone’s watching.’ She couldn’t stop from moistening her lips—they suddenly felt as dry as the faded fabric on the sofas. She couldn’t stop staring into his espresso coffee eyes. They seemed to hold hers with a mesmerising power she couldn’t withstand.
Vic lifted his right hand to her face and softly traced his index finger down the slope of her nose. No one had ever caressed her like that before. Who knew a nose could be so sensitive? The nerves were still jumping and dancing beneath her skin where his fingertip had lain so briefly.
‘You have to start believing in yourself,cara.’ His voice was low and as deep as the bass notes on the piano.
She could scarcely get her lungs to inflate enough to draw in a breath. She dipped her shoulders and moved away before she made a complete fool of herself and begged him to kiss her. She found itsohard not to stare at his mouth. Or his eyes. ‘Yes, well, I think confidence is something you probably have to learn as a child. I might have missed a few lessons here and there.’
Vic was about to say something, but the sound of Katerina in the corridor outside made him close his mouth and turn to the door. She turned as well to see Katerina coming in with Lucia, the housekeeper in flustered pursuit. Lucia was trying to keep up with the toddler, but Katerina was too quick and too determined. She came bounding towards Addie with a beaming smile that made her heart contract. Addie scooped her up and planted a kiss on her chubby cheek, which tasted like strawberries, possibly because she had given herself a strawberry facial over breakfast number two.
Lucia exchanged a few words with Vic and then bustled out of the room with even more haste than she had come in. Addie got the feeling the housekeeper was glad to escape for a while, leaving Addie and Vic in charge.
‘Pay pano.’ Katerina pointed to the instrument and squirmed in Addie’s arms to get down.
Addie sat on the piano stool and positioned Katerina on her lap so she could reach the keys. ‘I hope your hands are clean because Uncle Vic might not like strawberry juice all over his beautiful piano,’ she said, glancing up at him.
His indulgent smile made her heart contract all over again. ‘I don’t mind at all.’
She looked back at Katerina, balanced on her lap, her hands slamming down on the keys in discordant glee. Addie let her go for it, enjoying her enjoyment, secretly thrilled the little tot loved music as much as she did. But then Katerina grabbed one of her hands and pushed it to the keys.
‘You want me to play?’ Addie asked.
Katerina gave an affirmative nod. Of course, she had heard Addie play before. She had entertained her a number of times by playing various nursery rhyme tunes to her on her visits. And while she had sometimes played in front of Marcus and Isabella when she’d been visiting Katerina, she much preferred to play alone. Story of her life…but let’s not gothere.