Stella MacLean - Bringing Emma Home

The family she’s always wanted...

Becoming a mother means everything to Grace Fellowes. She and her husband, Aidan, are ready to adopt when they learn that Aidan is a father already. A tragic accident has left five-year-old Emma motherless and Grace with the devastating knowledge that her husband had an affair. Her heart and her trust are broken.

Smart, loving and full of life, redheaded Emma is perfectly charming. She’s everything Grace has longed for—and a constant reminder of Aidan’s infidelity. But Emma needs a family and Aidan can’t abandon his daughter. This child could be the best thing that ever happened to her marriage—if Grace can learn to forgive.

STELLA MACLEAN loves creating contemporary romances in which the characters find love and fulfillment while learning to live in the moment. She draws her story ideas from her life as a wife, mother, grandmother and friend, and from her professional background as a nurse and accountant. Stella loves to travel and spend time with friends, and she is an avid gardener, taking great pleasure from digging in the dirt and watching seeds she has planted add beauty and grace to her gardens.

Also By Stella MacLean

Life in Eden Harbor

The Doctor Returns

To Protect Her Son

Sweet on Peggy

Heart of My Heart

Baby in Her Arms

A Child Changes Everything

The Christmas Inn

Unexpected Attraction

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

Bringing Emma Home

Stella MacLean

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-08467-3

BRINGING EMMA HOME

© 2018 Ruth MacLean

Published in Great Britain 2018

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Version: 2020-03-02

Before you start reading, why not sign up?

Thank you for downloading this Mills & Boon book. If you want to hear about exclusive discounts, special offers and competitions, sign up to our email newsletter today!

SIGN ME UP!

Or simply visit

signup.millsandboon.co.uk

Mills & Boon emails are completely free to receive and you can unsubscribe at any time via the link in any email we send you.

“Grace, Emma is my daughter. I can’t abandon her now that her mother is gone.”

“Aidan, you’re not being fair. How long have I waited to have a baby in my life, to share every bit of the experience with you? And now this...this child that will only serve to remind me every single day of my life that my husband has been unfaithful.” Grace balled her hands into fists. “You should have been honest with me.”

Aidan rushed to the side of the bed and knelt in front of her. “I should have. I know that. And I have no other explanation other than my own stupidity, my need to not have you angry at me. But now there is a child in our lives who just lost her mother, and who will be going through a terrible time. I can’t leave her to deal with that without me. I...I can’t.”

His eyes implored her to understand. “I realize that this is a lot for you to accept, but Emma needs me...needs us.”

Dear Reader,

Writing to you at this moment in time is both pleasant and sad. As some of you may know, the Harlequin Superromance line will be ending June 2018. Working for Harlequin has been a dream come true for me. It’s been a wonderful experience to bring my characters to life with the help of the Harlequin editors in Toronto.

As I wrote this book, I was reminded of how easily life can change and how much of our lives are affected by the actions and thoughts of others. This is particularly true for Grace and Aidan Fellowes, deeply in love and happily married until an event outside their day-to-day lives changes everything. This story is not only about a couple’s commitment to their marriage, but also about the importance of empathy. If Aidan and Grace hadn’t been able to empathize with each other, and with Emma, the little girl who entered their lives, the story would have been over before it began. Empathy, whether for your spouse, a friend or a colleague, is the key ingredient needed to strengthen relationships and the first step in acceptance of a situation beyond our control.

It is with fond memories and an open heart that I offer you Bringing Emma Home.

I love to hear from my readers. I can be reached on Twitter, @Stella_MacLean, on Facebook at Facebook.com/StellaMacleanRomanceAuthoror through my website at StellaMaclean.com.

Sincerely,

Stella MacLean

This book is dedicated to those in a marriage who have faced challenges in their relationship and found the courage and determination to work through those challenges to a deeper, more committed relationship. You are the real heroes.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Introduction

Dear Reader

Dedication

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Extract

About the Publisher

CHAPTER ONE

GRACE FELLOWES REMEMBERED the exact moment her life changed forever. She’d been sitting in her high-school math class trying to work on a calculus problem when Aidan Fellowes slid into the desk next to her and smiled that smile of his that made her heart lift and turn over in her chest. She remembered feeling light-headed and dizzy, his smile fueling her breathlessness.

She tried not to blush—not a cool thing to do. Yet every bone in her body, every part of her being was alive to him, to the way his eyes focused on her and the way her body warmed, despite the fact he hadn’t touched her.