www.millsandboon.co.uk

      Dear Reader,

      What fun I had taking the lovely Jess Baker, and her baby daughter Ella, and throwing them into the middle of a single-dad family.

      There is such richness and fulfilment to be found in ‘stretching our borders’ to embrace and love those who cross our paths—be that a baby, a bride, a wonderful man, a ready-made-family or all of the above. When we fall in love at the same time there can be challenges aplenty—but, oh, they can be worth it!

      When Jess and Dan meet, they both believe they are better off by themselves. But Fate has another plan for them—one that involves five children, a baby, and eventually wedding bells and a wonderful (if noisy, busy, sometimes scary and definitely challenging) happy-ever-after.

      I hope you enjoy my plucky, independent Jess and her down-to-earth Dan as they figure out their journey and eventually take their leap of faith into all that life has for them.

      With love and hugs from Australia,

       Jennie

      About the Author

      Australian author JENNIE ADAMS grew up in a rambling farmhouse surrounded by books, and by people who loved reading them. She decided at a young age to be a writer, but it took many years and a lot of scenic detours before she sat down to pen her first romance novel. Jennie has worked in a number of careers and voluntary positions, including transcription typist and pre-school assistant. She is the proud mother of three fabulous adult children, and makes her home in a small inland city in New South Wales. In her leisure time Jennie loves long, rambling walks, discovering new music, starting knitting projects that she rarely finishes, chatting with friends, trips to the movies, and new dining experiences.

      Jennie loves to hear from her readers, and can be contacted via her website at www.jennieadams.net.

      For my babies and for my rent-a-kids.

       I am so blessed.

      My life is the richer for each and

      every one of you.

      CHAPTER ONE

      ‘AFTER WE VISIT THE DUCKS, there’s got to be more knocking on doors for you and me, Ella. I know you’d probably rather be crawling around the furniture at home, but this is how it has to be for this morning.’ Jessica Baker spoke the words to her daughter as she pushed the baby stroller over a rough patch of grass and let her glance rove around Randurra’s memorial park.

      Not that Ella could understand, but it made Jess feel better to speak out loud, to remind herself she did have a plan.

      Ahead on the wide knoll beside the duck pond children were playing. A tall, dark-haired man watched them from beneath a gum tree. He was talking on his mobile phone.

      Life went on whether people were trying not to shake in their boots or not. Jess didn’t want to be someone who shook in her boots. She might wobble just a little here and there, but Jess was a single mother supporting her daughter. She couldn’t afford to shake.

       Any more than you can afford that enormous back bill of overdue rates and interest payable on the house.

      Ten years’ worth that Jess hadn’t known existed, thanks to Ella’s con artist father and the agreement he had made when he purchased Jess’s small cottage, in exchange for Jess signing herself and Ella out of his life for ever.

      Jess stiffened her spine and took one hand off the stroller to smooth it over her gold sleeveless top and down over the splash-dyed orange and black skirt. ‘We’ll be right, Ella. We’ll sort this out somehow.’

      In the stroller, Jess’s daughter made a crowing noise. ‘Du! Du!’

      ‘Yes, indeed. We’re going to see the ducks. You’ve earned that for being such a good girl this morning.’

      Ella’s vocabulary had a lot of ‘Du’ words in it, but in this case Jess was quite certain that her one-year-old knew exactly what she was talking about. Ella wanted to see the ducks before Jess finished her door-knocking and went home.

      Jess’s gaze moved ahead to the children. Two teen-aged boys wrestled each other on the grassy bank. A studious-looking girl of around ten had hold of a smaller girl’s hand and was warning her not to go too close to the water. A third little girl had plonked down on the grass to pick blades of it. As a potential offering for the ducks?

      ‘Let’s go add our bread crusts to the offering, Ella.’ Jess wasn’t afraid of bunches of children. She looked after five regularly to bring in income. She’d had four more but that family had left Randurra at the start of December.

      Jess had been trying since then to get more work. She was a qualified daycare mum. This morning when her financial situation had shifted from ‘already uncomfortable’ to ‘downright scary’ with the arrival of that notice about the overdue rates and interest, Jess had taken her efforts directly to the people of Randurra. She’d knocked on a lot of doors. She’d offered to do anything. It didn’t have to be childcare so long as she could keep Ella with her.

       Breathe, Jessica.

      Jess and Ella were drawing closer to the duck pond area. The man had his gaze fixed on the children in that way that said ‘father'. Were they tourists going somewhere for the long school summer holidays and had stopped here for a breather?

      Jess’s heart did a funny flip as the man turned his head and she caught a good look at his face. He appeared to be around thirty-six or thirty-seven. He was tall, with tanned skin and a firm jaw and thick, wavy, dark brown hair that just touched the collar of his white polo shirt. He had jeans on. Tan lace-ups on his feet. It was a warm day, but not killer hot as it had been in the few days straight after Christmas. Jess wanted to see his eyes.

      No, she didn’t.

      All those children meant he must be married.

      Jess wasn’t looking for a man anyway. After the fiasco of Peter, Jess couldn’t trust in that sort of relationship any more.

      ‘No. You’re a key client and the financials have been under my care for a long time. I want to be the one to do this work.’ The man’s voice was low, deep and utterly calm as he spoke into the phone.

      But his posture had stiffened and as Jess drew closer she caught a glimpse of very genuine stress as his gaze roved over those five children before he asked for a little time to ‘get things in place', and abruptly ended the call. In that one moment, he looked as Jess had felt this morning when she read the notice saying the house would be sold up if she didn’t pay all the costs in thirty days or less.

      The man looked out of his depth.

      As though he was asking how he could fix this.

      What had happened? Jess wondered.

      She watched the man suck it all inside, paste on his previous expression and just stand there. But inside, his mind was racing, searching for those answers. Jess knew because Jess had done this.

      ‘Can I help you somehow?’ She spoke the words before she could stop herself, and made a gesture with her hand. The row of wooden bangles on her arm clanked. ‘It’s just that you were on the phone and you looked…’

      She didn’t want to say he’d looked panicked. Truly he looked far too strong to give in to outright panic.