Sicilian Husband, Unexpected Baby (Harlequin Presents #2772),Used

Excerpt. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Emma felt the frisson of very real fear sliding over her skin. She looked at the lanky blond man standing in front of her and composed her face carefullybecause the last thing she could afford to do was panic.'But I can't afford any more rent, Andrew,' she said quietly. 'You know that.'The man shrugged apologetically but his expression didn't change. 'And I'm not running a charity. I'm sorry, Emmabut I could get four times the amount I'm charging you if I put it back on the market.'Like a robot, Emma nodded. Of course he could. Pretty little cottages in pretty little English towns were snapped up like hot cakes. Everyone, it seemed, was into rural living these days.The man hesitated. 'Isn't there anyone you could ask? Anyone who could help? What about your husband?'Quickly, Emma stood up, fixing a crumpled attempt at a smile to her lips and wondering if it fooled anyone. Just the very mention of the man she had married had the power to make her feel weak, but weakness had no place in her life, not any more. She simply couldn't afford to let it. 'It's very kind of you to be concerned, but it's my problem,' she said.'Emma''Please, Andrew,' she said, trying to keep her voice calmbecause she never spoke of Vincenzo, not to anyone. 'Either I come up with the increased rent or I move somewhere cheaperthose are the only two solutions open to me.'She knew there was also an unacknowledged third Andrew had made that very clear in that sweet and polite English way of his. But she wasn't going to start dating him just to keep her rent at a belowmarketrate level, and, anyway, she didn't want a boyfriend. She didn't want anyone in her lifeshe had no room, no time or inclination for a man. And desire had died in her the day she had left Vincenzo.Andrew said goodbye, disappearing into the dank November air just as a whimper came from the small bedroom and Emma crept in to stare at her sleeping son.Already ten months oldhow was that possible? He was growing in leaps and bounds with every day that passeddeveloping his own sturdy little frame to go along with his very definite personality.He had kicked his duvet away and was clutching his little woollen rabbit as if his life depended on it and Emma's heart turned over with love and worry. If there had been just her to think about, then there wouldn't have been a problem. There were plenty of jobs available which came with a room and she would gladly have taken any one of them.But it wasn't just her. There was her son to think aboutand she owed him the very best that the world could provide. It wasn't his fault that his birth had placed her in an impossible situation.Emma bit her lip. She knew what Andrew had suggested made sense, but it wasn't as easy as thatand Andrew didn't know the details. Nobody did. Could she really swallow her pride and her beliefs and go to her estranged husband, asking him for financial assistance?Was she perhaps due some, by law? Vincenzo was a fabulously wealthy man andeven though he now despised her and had told her he never wanted to see her againwouldn't he play fair by providing her with some kind of modest settlement if she asked him for a divorce?Tiredly, she rubbed at her eyes. What other solution did she have? She wasn't qualified for anything highearning and the last time she'd gone out to work had ended up paying most of her meagre wages to the childminder. And little Gino had hated it.So she'd taken up childminding herself. It had seemed the perfect compromiseshe loved children and it was a way of earning money to pay the bills without having to farm out her beloved son to anyone else while she did so. But lately even that avenue of employment had caved in.Several of the mothers had complained that her cottage was too cold for their children and demanded that she increase the temperature significantly. Two even removed their children straight away and her suspicions that there