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  “Thank you, but that won’t be necessary. I’m looking for my wife. She asked me to meet her in here.”

  He shook his head. “She hasn’t come. No reservation was made.”

  Valentino took a deep breath. “I’ll check with the concierge.”

  When he asked about her at the desk, the man said, “Signora Casali is in room 152. She’ll be happy to know you’ve come. She was most anxious. Here’s another key.”

  Filled with alarm that something had gone wrong at her checkup and she’d decided to tell him over their meal, he took the card key and raced across the foyer to the stairs. By the time he could let himself in the room on the next floor, his anxiety bordered on terror for fear her kidney had suddenly stopped functioning.

  “Clara?” he cried out after flinging the door open.

  “Caro—” she called from the bathroom “—I thought you would be at your father’s longer.”

  “What’s wrong?” he demanded.

  “Nothing. I’m fine. I’ll be out in a minute.”

  “You left the clinic without me. You’re not fine! I know you’re not.” He raced across the room to open the door, but it was locked.

  Frantic, he pressed his forehead against it. “Piccola? Don’t shut me out.”

  “I would never do that.”

  He heard a click, then the door opened.

  A barefooted woman stood before him. Except for her eyes that dazzled him with their green fire, nothing else was familiar. A new jasmine fragrance assailed him. Her dark hair was curly like a Gypsy’s. She was a vision in sheer black lace over alabaster.

  Her seductive smile captivated him.

  “You have permission to discover for yourself that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with me, signore.” She wound her soft arms around him and gave him a kiss to die for. “But first, why don’t you get out of these clothes? You’ve been my fantasy for years. Now I want the reality.”

  Valentino couldn’t talk. He couldn’t breathe.

  “Is that going to be a problem for the famous Valentino Casali?” she teased. “Because if it is, you’re in real trouble with your farmer wife.”

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-5651-8

  MIRACLE FOR THE GIRL NEXT DOOR

  First North American Publication 2010.

  Copyright © 2010 by Harlequin Books S.A.

  Special thanks and acknowledgment are given to Rebecca Winters for her contribution to The Brides of Bella Rosa series.

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

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