âThis isnât a social call, Cassandra. Iâve come to take you back to Rome.â
Marco couldnât have said anything to make her rally faster. âI beg your pardon?â she demanded.
âWell, you canât stay here.â
He glanced around, and by the time his assessing stare returned to her face it was to see her cheeks flaming with the knowledge that he was right. She wasnât finding this pregnancy easy. She was sick and weak, and he doubted she could work in her current condition. How was she supposed to support herself, let alone a baby ⦠a baby that might be his child? He couldnât take that chance. More importantly, she couldnât take a chance with her child, and they both knew that with her godmother away Cassandra was alone, with no one to turn to.
No one except him.
âPack a small case,â he advised. âWe can buy anything else you need in Rome. Weâll leave as soon as youâre ready.â
âI havenât agreed,â she pointed out, raising her chin to stare at him with defiance.
âBut you will,â he said.
One Night With Consequences
When one night ⦠leads to pregnancy!
When succumbing to a night of unbridled desire itâs impossible to think past the morning after!
But, with the sheets barely settled, that little blue line appears on the pregnancy test and it doesnât take long to realise that one night of white-hot passion has turned into a lifetime of consequences!
Only one question remains:
How do you tell a man youâve just met that youâre about to share more than just his bed?
Find out in:
Prince Nadirâs Secret Heir by Michelle Conder March 2015
Carrying the Greekâs Heir by Sharon Kendrick April 2015
Married for Amariâs Heir by Maisey Yates July 2015
Bound by the Billionaireâs Baby by Cathy Williams July 2015
From One Night to Wife by Rachael Thomas September 2015
Her Nine Month Confession by Kim Lawrence September 2015
An Heir Fit for a King by Abby Green October 2015
Larenzoâs Christmas Baby by Kate Hewitt November 2015
An Illicit Night with the Greek by Susanna Carr February 2016
Look for more One Night With Consequences coming soon!
If you missed any of these fabulous stories,
they can be found at millsandboon.co.uk
SUSAN STEPHENS was a professional singer before meeting her husband on the Mediterranean island of Malta. In true Mills & Boon Modern Romance style they met on Monday, became engaged on Friday and married three months later. Susan enjoys entertaining, travel and going to the theatre. To relax she reads, cooks and plays the piano, and when sheâs had enough of relaxing she throws herself off mountains on skis, or gallops through the countryside singing loudly.
For my Tuscan teammates, Linda, Ann, and the inimitable Sharon.
CHAPTER ONE
PLUNGING HER SPADE into the rich moist earth of Tuscany, Cass smiled as she reflected on her good luck in landing the job in Italy. She loved nothing more than being outdoors, using her body to the full. And where better than here, to an accompaniment of birdsong and the gurgle of a crystal-clear river. Her job was to help out at a grand estate over the planting season.
The staff had a day off on Wednesdays to break up the week, so she had the place to herself, making it all too easy to imagine that she was the chatelaine in charge of the glorious groundsâthough perhaps not kitted out in mud-caked boots, braless in a skimpy vest sheâd ripped on some barbed wire, topped off with a baseball cap that was as frayed and faded as her shorts!
The estate was miles from anywhere and the solitude was bliss, especially after the clamour of the supermarket where she worked back home, and being on her own was better than facing the owner of the estate. Marco di Fivizzano, an Italian industrialist, hadnât been near the place since sheâd arrived. She was in no hurry to meet a man who, according to the press, was as bloodless and cold as the Cararra marble he mined.
She didnât need to worry about him, Cass mused as she stabbed her spade into the ground. She couldnât imagine a man like Marco di Fivizzano taking time out of his busy schedule to drive down from Rome to his country estate in the middle of the week. When sheâd asked Maria and Giuseppeâhousekeeper and handyman, respectivelyâif and when she was likely to meet her boss, theyâd just looked at each other and shrugged.
Which was probably as well, Cass reflected as she returned to vigorously prepping the ground for the seedlings she was planting. She had no problem with hard work. Tugging her forelock was something else.
Sheâd always been a rebel, though a quiet one, all the rebellion being in her head. Dumb insolence, her headmistress had called it, when Cass, at seven, had refused to cry on the day sheâd been made to stand on the school stage as all the pupils had trooped past. That had been the headmistressâs idea to shame her on the day Cassâs parentsâ had been arrested for drug offences. Young as she had been, she had determined never to be bullied again.