There was no doubt at all that he’d be delighted to receive the lawyer’s letter.

‘Jenny?’

Realising that Zoe was still looking at her with a worried look on her little face, she forced herself to stand up and walk through to the kitchen, dealing with the children on automatic.

She’d already decided what she must do.

She had to leave.

And she just couldn’t face Alex. She’d moved into his house with a baby who wasn’t his, had said such dreadful things to him, had believed him capable of—

She closed her eyes briefly and sucked in a breath. As soon as Andreas arrived from the hospital, she’d leave.

And Alex could return to the bachelor existence that he treasured so much.

CHAPTER TEN

ANDREAS arrived towards lunchtime and the girls flung themselves on him with undisguised delight.

Jenny had already packed her little car and had left a short note to Alex. She’d torn up six versions, her brain totally refusing to produce the right words as she’d tried to apologise for the dreadful things she’d said. How did one even begin to apologise for being so completely and utterly wrong?

In the end she’d given up trying to say what was in her heart and had just left a short, succinct letter of apology that stated the facts but left out the emotion.

And now that Andreas had arrived, she could leave.

The prospect left her feeling utterly depressed.

‘How is Libby?’

‘Much better.’ Andreas smiled and Jenny could see immediately why Libby had fallen for him. He was a very charismatic man. ‘We hope to bring her home in the morning. In the meantime I’m going to take the girls to see her. She’s missing them terribly.’

‘And they’ve missed her.’ Jenny gave him a wan smile and Andreas looked at her keenly.

‘Is everything all right?’ His Greek accent was suddenly very pronounced. ‘You look very troubled about something. Have my girls been hard work?’

She shook her head immediately. ‘They’ve been wonderful. I love them.’

It was true. The little girls were completely adorable and they’d been enchanted by Daisy, caring for her as if she were a tiny doll.

Andreas looked at her closely. ‘But you are upset about something—I can see that.’ His tone was unbelievably gentle. ‘Can I help?’

She shook her head, not trusting herself to speak. His kindness was the final straw. She really had to get away.

‘I made some chocolate-chip muffins for Libby,’ she muttered, hurrying into the kitchen so that he couldn’t see the tears in her eyes. ‘She’s probably not up to eating yet but I wanted to do something.’

‘If it’s chocolate, Libby will eat it,’ Andreas said dryly, ‘and it was very kind of you. But, Jenny—’

‘I have to go and see to Daisy,’ she said quickly, and without giving him a chance to say more Jenny handed him the tin of cakes and left the room.

* * *

Alex checked the monitors and glanced at his sister. ‘Everything looks OK.’