The Complete Red-Hot And Historical Collection. Kelly Hunter

offered Poppy’s partner, Seb. ‘Willow? Or Bay?’

      ‘Pomona?’ Poppy said. ‘Meaning apple. She’s also the Roman goddess of fruit.’

      ‘Stay away from the fruit,’ Jared’s best friend, Trig, told him, and struggled to keep a straight face. ‘In fact stay away from all the food groups. Honey, Ginger, Margarita …’

      ‘Don’t you listen to them, sweetheart,’ said Rowan, covering the little girl’s ears. ‘They’re all mad. I’ll explain how that happened when you get older.’

      Jared smirked and pushed the dozens of pillows surrounding Rowan aside so that he could slip in beside her on the bed. ‘Tell me when they get too much and I’ll move them on,’ he murmured.

      ‘I heard that,’ said Lena. ‘And you can try, but I’m not leaving until this baby has a name. Look at her—she’s so perfect. She reminds me of—’ Lena stopped and her eyes sought Jared’s. ‘A perfect little girl,’ she finished softly. ‘Rowan, what are you going to call her?’

      ‘Jared and I had a deal. If the baby was a boy I got to choose the name. If we had a girl it was Jared’s choice.’ Laughing, dancing eyes turned towards him. ‘You should put your family out of their misery.’

      ‘I’m enjoying their misery,’ he said, but he touched the pad of his thumb to his daughter’s tiny head and then awkwardly cleared his throat. ‘So … I … uh—it’s a family name. Everybody: meet Claire … Claire Elizabeth Farringdon West. After our mother.’

      Nothing but silence followed.

      ‘Is everyone okay with that?’ he asked gruffly.

      Lena nodded and promptly burst into tears. Poppy soon followed.

      ‘It’s good,’ said Damon, who’d never known their mother.

      Damon’s wife, Ruby, stepped close and silently put her arms around him and Thomas and both. ‘Feels right.’

      And then the midwife came in and took one look at all the teary-eyed visitors. Her steely gaze fell next on mother and baby. ‘What’s all this?’

      ‘We just named her,’ Rowan said. ‘Meet Claire Elizabeth.’

      ‘A fine name it is,’ said the midwife. ‘And all the crying is because …?’

      ‘Because it’s perfect,’ said Lena as more tears threatened to fall.

      ‘That’s it for visiting hour,’ said the midwife in a nononsense voice and opened the door wide, looking more than capable of pushing people through it should anyone dissent. ‘This lovely family have had a hard night—all three of them. They need their rest.’

      But Lena moved forward before she went out, her eyes faintly pleading as she caught Rowan’s gaze. ‘May I touch her?’

      ‘Would you like to hold her?’ offered Rowan.

      So far only Jared had held her, apart from Rowan.

      ‘No! I—I … Not yet. I just—’ Lena stroked the tiny head and then pressed a kiss to the baby’s crown. ‘Okay, I’m done.’

      ‘Hey, Claire?’ Jared rumbled softly. ‘That was your aunt. She’s probably going to teach you how to skydive.’

      ‘And terrify your father,’ Lena said. ‘Consider it my gift to you.’

      The midwife cleared her throat and Lena straightened.

      ‘Congratulations. She’s so beautiful—and so lucky to have you as parents. I know you’ll be good.’

      They all filtered out and the door closed behind them, leaving Jared and Rowan alone with their newborn.

      ‘Have I told you how much I love you yet today?’ he murmured as he settled back in beside Rowan.

      ‘Yes.’

      Good job.

      ‘And I love you.’

      ‘That’s good to hear.’

      He would never tire of hearing those words, or of needing this woman’s love. He reached out and touched Claire’s tiny hand, captivated all over again as his little girl wrapped tiny fingers around his big one and held on tight.

      ‘Do you think she’d like to hear a story?’

      ‘What about?’

      ‘I have an extensive repertoire. Explosions, escapes, hair-raising adventures, espionage …’

      ‘You should probably start small.’

      Rowan looked ever so slightly incredulous, and he loved it that he could still put that look there. Never dull, this life of theirs. And right here, right now, it had never been more perfect.

      ‘You want me to tell her about Veronica the tortoise and the garden hose?’

      ‘It’s a little raunchy for a newborn.’ Rowan’s smile said it all. ‘Tell her the one about the sun in the sky, the slippery slide and the dancing penguins first.’

       Red-Hot Seduction

       The Sins of Sebastian Rey-Defoe

       Kim Lawrence

       A Taste of Sin

       Maggie Cox

       Driving Her Crazy

       Amy Andrews

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

       The Sins of Sebastian Rey-Defoe

      Kim Lawrence

       Thanks, Peter

       PROLOGUE

      Blaisdon Gazette. 17 November 1990

       A hospital spokesman this morning said that two babies, believed to be twins, found yesterday on the steps of St Benedict’s Church, are now in a serious but stable condition. Police are anxious to trace the mother, who might be in need of medical care.

      London Reporter. 17 November 1990

       The foundation stone of the hospital’s new wing was laid by the late Sebastian Rey’s grandson, who was named after his philanthropist grandfather. Stepping in for his father, whose duties captaining the Argentine national polo team kept him away from the ceremony, seven-year-old Sebastian Rey-Defoe is the son of the well-known English socialite Lady Sylvia Defoe. Sebastian is set to inherit the Rey billions and the Mandeville Hall estate in England. He suffered only minor injuries in the crash that killed his grandfather outright.

      14 February 2008

      ‘THERE IS A REASON, I suppose, why I am staying in a place called the Pink Unicorn?’ Not a name you could say and think of minimalist decor, and not a name Seb could even say without a grimace of distaste.

      ‘Sorry.’ His irritatingly cheerful PA pretended she hadn’t heard the sarcasm. ‘But it is Valentine’s Day and there isn’t a decent place within twenty miles of Fleur’s school that isn’t fully booked. The Lake District is considered romantic. Don’t worry, it’s not contagious,’ she soothed. ‘And it is five star, so you won’t be slumming it, and it has