‘Though I feel a little guilty sometimes, caro,’ she admitted softly. ‘For leaving my child.’
‘All women seem to feel that guilt,’ Gianluca observed thoughtfully as he traced his finger around the sensual curves of her lips. ‘But you work such limited hours—it’s a perfect arrangement.’
It was indeed. Secure in Gianluca’s love, Aisling had been able to make the decision about what her working future would entail, and it had been deliciously easy. She wanted her family—her precious little family—to be the number one priority.
So she had sold her share of the business to Suzy—and acted as Gianluca’s part-time Human Resource Consultant in Italy. It suited them all very well—though the press found it endlessly fascinating that such a famous bachelor should have embraced such a close partnership with his wife, and with such enthusiasm.
Aisling adored her new life—with her darling Gianluca and adorable baby. Sometimes she woke up in the morning feeling as though she were still in a wonderful dream of living in the soft, Umbrian countryside and experiencing its simple values and community closeness. But she and her successful husband were able to pick up their metropolitan existence any time they liked.
In order to appease all their disappointed friends who hadn’t been invited to the wedding, they were throwing a huge house-party at the vineyard this weekend and people were flying in for it from all over the world.
‘Just find us a hunk like Gianluca!’ Suzy and Ginger had begged.
‘I’ll try,’ Aisling had promised, laughing—knowing deep down that there was no other man in the world who could hold a candle to him.
Gianluca was watching her as the fields passed by in an emerald blur. ‘Happy?’ he murmured.
‘Blissfully.’ She turned to him as he began to unclip her hair with that look of sexy intent which had her stomach dissolving with anticipation.
‘So, why,’ she giggled as it began to spill down over her 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.