Happy Mother's Day! - By Sharon Kendrick Page 0,59

smart work-suit in a way which made her feel quite decadent—which was exactly what he intended her to feel, ‘wouldn’t you let me cut it when I wanted to?’

‘Because …’ Gianluca lifted a long dark strand of hair away from her face and wound it round and round his hand so that it brought her face right up close to his and she could feel the warmth of his breath. ‘Because your long hair was always the one factor which defied your practical nature, and I’ve decided that I would miss it, cara.’

‘But … but I thought you hated the chignon!’ she protested breathlessly.

‘No.’ He began to drift his lips across the silk satin of her mouth. ‘I just didn’t like what it represented. Little Miss Uptight. Now I enjoy the contrast of your different looks.’ And these days she presented him with so many that he was spoilt for choice.

His own Aisling. Cara bella.

Wife. Mother. Soul mate.

Claiming His

Pregnant Wife

KIM LAWRENCE

About the Author

Though lacking much authentic Welsh blood, Kim Lawrence—from English/Irish stock—was born and brought up in north Wales. She returned there when she married, and her sons were both born on Anglesey, an island off the coast. Though not isolated, Anglesey is a little off the beaten track, but lively Dublin, which Kim loves, is only a short ferry ride away.

Today they live on the farm her husband was brought up on. Welsh is the first language of many people in this area, and Kim’s husband and sons are all bilingual. She is having a lot of fun, not to mention a few headaches, trying to learn the language!

With small children, she thought the unsocial hours of nursing weren’t too attractive, so, encouraged by a husband who thinks she can do anything she sets her mind to, Kim tried her hand at writing. Always a keen Mills & Boon® reader, she felt it was natural for her to write a romance novel. Now she can’t imagine doing anything else.

She is a keen gardener and cook, and enjoys running—often on the beach because, since she lives on an island, the sea is never very far away. She is usually accompanied by her Jack Russell, Sprout—don’t ask, it’s a long story!

Don’t miss A Spanish Awakening, the exciting

new novel by Kim Lawrence, available in

April 2011 from Mills & Boon® Modern™.

CHAPTER ONE

FRANCESCO ROMANELLI had pulled into the outside lane of the motorway when the mobile phone in his pocket began to vibrate again. An impatient grimace furrowing the smooth olive-toned skin of his high, intelligent forehead, he studiously ignored it. However, the interruption did cause his attention to briefly stray to the empty passenger seat where another phone lay, this one switched off.

It was about the only thing that had survived his blitz, when he had gone through the home they had briefly shared and removed every item that had even remotely reminded him of his broken marriage and his wife. Or so he had thought.

If his diligent housekeeper hadn’t been so thorough in her war against dust he would have remained ignorant of the phone’s existence, and, more importantly, ignorant of its explosive contents.

Which was presumably just what his wife had intended.

What else was he meant to think?

Francesco’s jaw clenched as he fought to contain the sense of molten outrage that threatened to overwhelm him every time he thought of the situation he now faced. In fact, he had thought of little else for the past four days and was now digging pretty deep into his reserves of self-restraint!

After the events of the previous months it seemed darkly ironic, he reflected, releasing a self-derisive grunt, that this time last year he had been complaining to his twin brother that his life had become too predictable!

At the time Francesco had just split from his current lover. It had been a civilised parting of the ways, much as their arrangement had been. Normally considered pretty perceptive, Francesco hadn’t seen it coming. However, with the wisdom of hindsight he realised that the writing had been on the wall when she had asked him where he thought their relationship was going.

Francesco had been forced to admit that he did not see it going anywhere specifically.

It had not crossed his mind at the time that she would have any problem with his admission. Why would it? The lady in question, a corporate lawyer who was as smart as she was beautiful, had gone out of her way at the outset of their relationship to warn him that