The Baby Swap Miracle by Caroline Anderson Read Free Book Online Page B

cracked up to be and I can’t be bothered to chase it any more.’
    ‘So you threw everything you had at this place and ran away to the country?’
    His smile didn’t quite reach his eyes, for some reason.‘Pretty much. Not quite everything, but I’ve stepped back from the front line, as it were, and I’m taking time out and fixing the house. That’s a task and a half, but I’m enjoying the challenge. I know every nook and cranny of the house now, and it’s becoming part of me. It’s damned hard work, but you know the saying, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. And I’m only doing what I can. There’s a specialist team waiting to come in once the planners are happy.’
    Well, of course there was. It was a huge task, even her inexperienced eyes could see that, and there was no way one man could do it alone.
    He paused at the gate. ‘Want to meet the chickens?’
    She laughed softly, and he felt his guts curl at the musical sound. Crazy. She was pregnant! How could he want her like this?
    Because it’s your baby? Or just because she’s beautiful?
    ‘Do they need meeting?’ And then, when he stared at her blankly, she added, ‘The chickens?’
    He gave her a smile that was probably a little off kilter. ‘You might be less resentful when they wake you up at stupid o’clock.’
    ‘You could have a point.’ She chuckled again, and yet again his guts curled up and whimpered.
    ‘Come on, Daisy,’ he said, slapping his leg and trying not to think about Emelia.
    ‘So—why chickens?’ she asked as they walked. ‘Isn’t it easier to buy eggs from the shops?’
    Sam laughed. ‘Much, especially since they hardly ever lay anything, but I inherited them with the house and in a moment of weakness I gave them names so I guess they’re with me till the fox gets them or they fall off their perches,’ he admitted ruefully, making her smile so thather nose crinkled in a scarily sexy way that just took his breath away.
    She felt her smile waver as he frowned at her for some reason. Or at himself for his sentimentality? She wasn’t sure.
    ‘Come on, we’ll go and introduce you,’ he said, and abruptly led the way to the kitchen garden. It was separate from the house, the empty beds arranged in a grid pattern between the gravel paths.
    ‘I want to have a go at growing vegetables again this year,’ he told her. ‘I know it sounds like a load of old romantic nonsense, but I love it. It’s just a case of time, though—and I don’t have enough,’ he said honestly.
    She watched the chickens happily scratching in the beds, and hoped the vegetables and eggs weren’t a significant contribution to the household budget. The veg didn’t stand a chance and it would take a heck of a lot of eggs to pay the builders.
    She looked back at the house thoughtfully. ‘It must have been amazing in its hey-day,’ she said softly, and he nodded, his expression gentling as he looked up at it.
    ‘Yes. And I want to bring it back to life. I’ve got so many plans for it, but there just aren’t enough hours in the day and everything seems to take twice as long as you think, but one day I’ll get there and it’ll be a fantastic home again.’ There was a tension in him, a kind of pent-up excitement in his eyes that reminded her of James. He’d been like this—full of wild plans and crazy schemes. They’d been going to do so much, had so many plans, all now turned to dust.
    And as Sam finished speaking, she saw the light go out of his eyes before he turned away, and she wondered what had happened to send him into retreat. Because that waswhat he was doing—pulling up the drawbridge, going into some kind of bucolic trance.
    It wasn’t a good time in my life.
    He walked on, and after a moment she followed him. Emily had hinted at something in his past, but she hadn’t given away any secrets. Secrets there were, though, of that Emelia was sure, and she found herself reassessing her opinion of him.
    He’d always seemed