‘Things don’t always go as easily as planned—especially on your first major assignment.’ No, but all she had to do, Riva was finding, to spur on the assistance she might need, was mention the D’Amico name and problems straightened themselves out like creases under a hot iron. Money meant influence, and influence meant clout. And he had it in bucketloads, Riva thought, resenting him and the power he wielded, even while she nursed a whole heap of guilt about not coming clean to him about Ben. What was she afraid of? His rejection for a second time? Because he wouldn’t just be rejecting her this time, but Ben as well? From the way he had interacted with her son, it was surprisingly plain that he liked children. But how he would react if he discovered that the common little trollop whom he had bedded and then accused of sleeping with him just to feather her own nest had not only laid but hatched an egg from that nest, didn’t bear thinking about. Nevertheless, that still didn’t do much to alleviate the feeling that she was being decidedly underhanded in not telling him—a feeling that was only made worse during the lunch he insisted she have with him two days later, under the guise of discussing some changes to the work she was planning to carry out on his grandmother’s room.
