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Chapter One

THE gray sky dripped rain like mist, fine as cobwebs, across the dark minarets of Istanbul as Louisa Grey cut the last autuarden Her hands, usually so steady, tre scissors

I can’t be pregnant, she told herself fiercely

Can’t be!

Could she…?

Abruptly Louisa sat back on her haunches, wiping her forehead with her sleeve in the cool twilight of early Novee roses of the lush garden of the old Ottoman ht of the pruning shears against her gray woolen skirt

Blinking fast, she turned her head blindly to stare out at the red sunset shi across the Bosphorus

One night She’d worked for her ruthless playboy boss for five years One night had ruined everything She’d fled Paris the very next day, delected hoht of passion behind her But now, a ht One question that kept repeating itself in her mind Every day, the question became louder and more afraid

Could she be pregnant with her boss’s baby?

“Miss? The cook’s taken ill,” a girl said in accented English behind her “Please, o home?”

Louisa’s shoulders instantly becalasses up on her nose, she turned to face the young Turkish maid She knew she must reveal no weakness to members of her staff who looked to her for leadership “Why does he not ask me himself?”

“He’s afraid you’ll say no, miss With so much to be done for Mr Cruz’s visit—”

“Mr Cruz is not expected until the o hoe But next time,” Louisa added sharply, “he must ask me himself and not send someone else because he’s afraid”

“Yes, miss”

“Also tell him he must be completely well by the day of the party, or he will be replaced”

With a timid movement like a curtsy, the maid departed

Once Louisa was alone, her shoulders sagged Leaning forward, she gathered two fallen roses frorass and placed the shears and rose heavily to her feet She forced herself to go through the household checklist in herclean Her boss’s favorite foods had been ordered to arrive fresh fro only these fresh roses to sweeten the dark, ht choose to bring home with him this time