SOS: Convenient Husband Required / Winning a Groom in 10 Dates: SOS: Convenient Husband Required / Winning a Groom in 10 Dates

‘She could have come to me,’ he protested. ‘Picked up the phone.’

‘And you’d have done what? Sent her a cheque?’

‘It’s what she usually wants. You don’t think she ever calls to find out how I am, do you?’

‘You are strong. She isn’t. How was she when she left the baby with you?’

‘I’d better wash my hands,’ he said.

Without thinking, she put out her hand and grabbed his arm to stop him. ‘What aren’t you telling me, Adam?’

He didn’t answer, but took a folded sheet of paper from his shirt pocket and gave it to her before retreating to the bathroom.

It looked as if it had been screwed up and tossed into a bin, then rescued as an afterthought.

She smoothed it out. Read it.

‘Saffy’s on the run from her baby’s father?’ she asked, looking up as he returned. ‘Where did she leave the baby?’

‘In my office. I found her there when I left a meeting to fetch some papers. Saffy had managed to slip in and out without anyone seeing her. She hasn’t lost the skills she learned as a juvenile shoplifter.’

‘She must have been absolutely desperate.’

‘Maybe she is,’ he said. ‘But not nearly as desperate as I am right at this minute. I know you haven’t got the time of day for me, but she said you’d help her.’

‘I would,’ she protested. ‘Of course I would…’

‘But?’

‘Where’s your mother?’ she asked.

‘She relocated to Spain after my father died.’

‘Moving everyone out of town, Adam? Out of sight, out of mind?’

A tightening around his mouth suggested that her barb had found its mark. And it was unfair. He’d turned his life around, risen above the nightmare of his family. Saffy hadn’t had his strength, but she still deserved better from him than a remittance life in a foreign country. All the bad things she’d done had been a cry for the attention, love she craved.

‘She won’t have gone far.’

‘That’s not the impression she gives in her note.’

‘She’ll want to know the baby is safe.’ Then, turning on him, ‘What about you?’

‘Me?’

‘Who else?’ she demanded fiercely because Adam was too close, because her arms were aching to pick up his precious niece. She busied herself instead, fastening Nancie into her suit. ‘Can’t you take paternity leave or something?’

‘I’m not the baby’s father.’

‘Time off, then. You do take holidays?’

‘When I can’t avoid it.’ He shook his head. ‘I told you. I’m leaving for South America tomorrow.’

‘Can’t you put it off?’

‘It’s not just a commercial trip, May. There are politics involved. Government agencies. I’m signing fair trade contracts with cooperatives. I’ve got a meeting with the President of Samindera that it’s taken months to set up.’

‘So the answer is no.’

‘The answer is no. It’s you,’ he said, ‘or I’m in trouble.’

‘In that case you’re in trouble.’ She picked up the baby and handed her to him, as clear a statement as she could make. ‘I’d help Saffy in a heartbeat if I could but—’

‘But you wouldn’t cross the road to help me.’

‘No!’

‘Just cross the road to avoid speaking to me. Would I have got anywhere at all if you hadn’t been stuck up a tree? Unable to escape?’

That was so unfair! He had no idea. No clue about all the things she’d done for him and it was on the tip of her tongue to say so.

‘I’m sorry. You must think I’ve got some kind of nerve even asking you.’

‘No…Of course I’d help you if I could. But I’ve got a few problems of my own.’

‘Tell me,’ he said, lifting his spare hand to wipe away the stupid tear that had leaked despite her determination not to break down, not to cry, his fingers cool against her hot cheek. ‘Tell me about the world of trouble you’re in.’

‘I didn’t think you’d heard.’

‘I heard but you asked where Saffy was…’ He shook his head. ‘I’m sorry, May, I’ve been banging on about my own problems instead of listening to yours.’ His hand opened to curve gently around her cheek. ‘It was something about the house. Tell me. Maybe I can help.’

She shook her head, struggling with the temptation to lean into his touch, to throw herself into his arms, spill out the whole sorry story. But there was no easy comfort.

All she had left was her dignity and she tore herself away, took a step back, then turned away to look out of the window.

‘Not this time, Adam,’ she said, her voice as crisp as new snow. ‘This isn’t anything as simple as getting stuck up a tree. The workshop ladies have returned to the stables. It’s safe for you to leave now.’

She’d been sure that would be enough to drive him away, but he’d followed her. She could feel the warmth of his body at her shoulder.

‘I’m pretty good at complicated, too,’ he said, his voice as gentle as the caress of his breath against her hair.

‘From what I’ve read, you’ve had a lot of practice,’ she said, digging her nails into her hands. ‘I’m sure you mean well, Adam, but there’s nothing you can do.’

‘Try me,’ he challenged.

‘Okay.’ She swung around to face him. ‘If you’ve got a job going for someone who can provide food and accommodation for a dozen or so people on a regular basis, run a production line for homemade toffee, is a dab hand with hospital corners, can milk a goat, keep bees and knows how to tame a temperamental lawnmower, that would be a start,’ she said in a rush.

‘You need a job?’ Adam replied, brows kinked up in a confident smile. As if he could make the world right for her by lunch time and still have time to add another company or two to his portfolio. ‘Nothing could be simpler. I need a baby minder. I’ll pay top rates if you can start right now.’