The Italian's Ruthless Baby Bargain

Margaret Mayo

Литагент HarperCollins EUR

Pregnant with the boss’s baby! Nanny Penny Keeling knows working for the strong-but-silent Santo De Luca will be a challenge, but she’s determined to do it for his little girl’s sake. And she’s equally determined not to fall for her dangerously attractive boss – she’s been burnt before… Penny is pretty, charming and utterly beddable – and under the fiery Italian sun Santo seduces her… It was only meant to be an affair. Now Penny has announced she’s pregnant. . .

Since there was no way she could wrap up her confession in pretty words, she blurted it out. ‘I’m pregnant, Santo.’

The silence that followed was unending, and deafening. Penny avoided looking at him. She didn’t want to see the horror, the disbelief, the shock, the denial.

When he did finally speak there was recrimination in his voice. ‘It’s impossible. You are mistaken.’ His accent was deep and there was nothing but harsh shadow across his face.

‘No, I’m not,’ she declared, trying to keep her voice level. ‘I’m carrying your baby.’

‘But I’ve always taken precautions.’ Dark eyes were still disbelieving.

‘Except once,’ she reminded him. ‘Naturally I won’t deny you access to the baby, but—’

‘The hell you won’t!’ Santo’s roar rent the air and seemed to echo around them.

Penny’s eyes flared a vivid blue. ‘Do you really think I’d let a man who spends more time at work than he does at home bring up my child? Not in your wildest dreams.’

Her heart beat so fiercely that it hurt and, fearing that she had gone too far, Penny stood up with the intention of fleeing again, but Santo unceremoniously pushed her back down.

‘We haven’t finished.’

‘I don’t think there’s anything left to say.’

‘Marry me.’

Margaret Mayo was reading Mills & Boon® romances long before she began to write them. In fact she never had any plans to become a writer. After an idea for a short story popped into her head she was thrilled when it turned into a full-scale novel. Now, over twenty-five years later, she is still happily writing and says she has no intention of stopping.

She lives with her husband Ken in a rural part of Staffordshire, England. She has two children: Adrian, who now lives in America, and Tina. Margaret’s hobbies are reading, photography, and more recently watercolour painting, which she says has honed her observational skills and is a definite advantage when it comes to writing.

Recent titles by the same author:

THE BILLIONAIRE’S BLACKMAIL BARGAIN

BEDDED AT HIS CONVENIENCE THE RICH MAN’S RELUCTANT MISTRESS

THE ITALIAN’S RUTHLESS BABY BARGAIN

BY

MARGARET MAYO

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

CHAPTER ONE

FROM the first moment Penny looked into Santo De Luca’s eyes she knew she was in trouble. They were the deepest, darkest brown she had ever seen, framed by long, silky lashes, set beneath a pair of equally silky black brows. And they appeared to be looking into her soul, trying to find out what sort of a person she was before she had even spoken.

It was impossible to ignore the rivers of sensation that flooded her veins, the way her blood ran hot, and the instant thought that she could be in danger. There was nothing to confirm this, just an impression, a feeling. The man was seriously sexy. ‘Miss Keeling?’

Oh, hell, even his voice was sexy, coming from deep, deep down in his throat. Was there nothing about him that didn’t set off alarm bells, that didn’t stir her deepest emotions; emotions that she’d kept rigidly in check for a long, long time?

Penny nodded, feeling sure that if she dared to speak her voice would give her away. Never in her life had she felt such strong emotions at a first meeting, not when she didn’t even know the man. Not when she was about to work for him. It was insane.

‘You do have a tongue?’ The voice had sharpened, still a low rumble in his throat but with an added edge, and his beautifully sculpted brows drew together over his eyes.

Such