Page 3 of The Maid Married To The Billionaire

‘Thanks,’ she said in surprise that he should have done that for her, for Ritchie had never helped with the children.

The little boy started crying the minute he saw Enzo. ‘It’s not your fault.’ Skye sighed. ‘He’s just a bit scared of men after what he saw tonight—’

‘The assault happened in front of him?’ Enzo exclaimed as she lifted out the toddler, leaving him free to remove the second car seat.

‘I’m afraid so. I feel so guilty about it,’ she whispered.

‘You don’t have anything to feel guilty about,’ Enzo told her squarely. ‘It’s not your fault that you were attacked.’

Enzo attached the second seat and helped her to stow the little boy into it. All that finally accomplished, he closed the door on his unexpected cargo. Two children and a dog, he was thinking in sheer wonderment. But what else could he do but help? It was an emergency.

The transfer complete, Skye clambered painfully and slowly up into the front passenger seat. ‘I’m so sorry about all this,’ she mumbled. ‘I’m sure you don’t need the hassle.’

‘Takes my mind off my own problems,’ he countered calmly. ‘I’ll ring Paola while you’re in the supermarket buying some shoes.’

His complete calm and assurance were wonderfully soothing to her raw nerves.

‘Will you stay in the car with the children?’ she heard herself ask daringly.

‘I’m not going to abandon them and we don’t want to move them again at this time of night,’ he pointed out.

A few minutes later, he drew up in the car park and said, ‘Would you like me to go in first and get shoes for you?’

Skye shook her head and that hurt too. She didn’t think there was a single part of her body free from aches and pains. ‘No, I’ll be fine.’

Relieved she had brought her bag, she went into the shop, receiving barely a glance from the security guard on the door. She grabbed a basket and selected a pair of canvas shoes from the display, hurrying round to the baby section to pick up nappies, baby milk and a bottle and a few other necessities for her siblings, grateful that she had enough money from a recent tax refund to cover her purchases and keeping her head down to avoid notice.

When she returned to the car, Enzo was on the phone talking in another language. He had rung Paola at the hotel his security team were using and asked the older woman to meet him at the house. She complained vehemently about the fact he had gone out again without his bodyguards. In return, he told her about Skye and the children. She wanted to know why Skye wasn’t willing to go to the police. Enzo admitted that he had no idea and had hesitated to push lest she took fright. He had thought it was more important to help her than demand answers about what was, strictly speaking, none of his business.

‘Paola will meet us at my home,’ he advanced, finishing the call. ‘If you can give me ten minutes I’ll go and buy coffee and a few essentials because there’s no food in the house.’

‘Why not?’ she asked as he swung out and the lights from the shop illuminated him.

Her breath caught in her throat as she saw him clearly for the first time. He was exceptionally handsome with sculpted cheekbones, a strong hard jawline and dark deep-set eyes set below straight ebony brows. His hair was black and thick, cropped short. His whole vibe was stylish and classy from his haircut to the fashionable cut of his fancy suit.

‘I only arrived at the house this evening. I haven’t had time to get anything in.’

‘I can do without coffee,’ she told him.

Enzo raised a perfect dark brow. ‘Ican’t.’

And then he was gone, the stranger who was being kind to her when the man she had believed she loved and who loved her had almost killed her. There was a lesson there somewhere and inevitably the inescapable fact that she needed to cut Ritchie out of her life. Not that she had any doubts about doing that, especially not after what he had done to her.

Enzo returned with a couple of carrier bags and drove off again. ‘The house isn’t far. Paola will tell you if she thinks you need to go to hospital.’

‘How could I go to a hospital with the kids in tow?’ she asked ruefully.

‘You must have been very young when you had them,’ Enzo remarked.

‘They’re not mine. They’re my brother and sister,’ she confided. ‘My mother and stepfather died in a train derailment almost a year ago. Shona was only a month old.’

The strangest pang of relief that the baby and the toddler were not hers trickled through Enzo and he questioned it, wondering why he should even have an opinion about such a thing. ‘I’m sorry for your loss.’

‘Thank you but, in an odd way, the kids saved my younger sister Alana and I from falling apart at the seams. We had to keep going for their sake.’

‘Were you running away from a husband tonight?’ he asked flatly.

‘No, a boyfriend. Luckily, we’re not married,’ she whispered. ‘And although splitting up poses some challenges, we don’t own property together or anything else.’

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