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       Chapter One

      Pregnant.

      Andy’s new tenant hadn’t mentioned that little detail over the phone. He sat at the wheel of his pickup and watched her unloading her things onto the porch, with a vague sense that he was spying, while he gave about thirty percent of his attention to his sister Scarlett’s voice in his ear. “… so there was nothing we could do, and it was so fast …”

      A very nice wheeled designer suitcase thumped up the wooden steps. The new tenant paused to stretch her lower back, placing a hand there for support.

      The bump of her pregnancy was unmistakable in this pose, neat and round and firm, but as soon as she straightened again it almost disappeared. She had the kind of long, lean, gym-honed body that made a pregnancy look like this season’s hot fashion accessory, and she was probably a little chilly in those three-quarter-length sleeves, since it was only the beginning of April and the clear air had a definite bite.

      “… so I’ve been thinking I might take a week off, just some quiet time, but not here in the city …” Scarlett had called Andy on his cell just as he was about to drive past his own house on his way from his office to the store, so he’d pulled over in front of his neighbor’s place to take her call, only a few yards from his own driveway. He hadn’t intended to watch his new tenant unloading her car, it had just happened that way.

      “… and if it wouldn’t create problems for you and Laura …” he heard Scarlett say into his ear.

      He put his reply in fast. “Laura and I have split up.”

      “Oh, Andy! When?” His sister sounded distressed.

      “February. It’s okay. It’s not a problem.”

      There was a beat of silence as Scarlett absorbed the news. “She tried too hard, didn’t she?”

      “Yeah, she did,” he admitted, glad that Scarlett understood, so he didn’t have to explain.

      “Was she upset?”

      “She was the one who made the move. I came home from work and there was a note and a whole lot less stuff.” The extent of Laura’s stuff had been part of the problem. “But we both knew it was coming. She’s found someone who appreciates her for who she truly is, the note said.”

      “Ouch!”

      “And she was right. I really didn’t do that.”

      Speaking of ouch …

      The tenant heaved a second suitcase out of the trunk of her car and paused once again to arch and rub away the ache in her back. Her outfit looked brand-new and designer label, the soft sage-green stretch fabric gathered at the side seams so that it made her bump into a graceful curve instead of an inconvenient bulge.

      Her dark brown hair shone with rich chestnut lights, and the artfully casual topknot looked as if it had been twisted and pinned in place at a Manhattan salon not more than half an hour ago, just as the fringed and patterned scarf around her neck could have been draped by a Hollywood stylist. Her sunglasses said expensive loud and clear.

      But it was the bump that had him thinking.

      “Definitely pregnant,” Andy muttered. “Wonder when she’s due …”

      “Sorry?” said Scarlett.

      “My new tenant seems to be pregnant.”

      “Oh, you have a new tenant? Ohh …”

      He couldn’t miss the disappointment. “Is that a problem?”

      Seemed to be the tenant that was the problem for his sister, not the pregnancy. He didn’t have a problem with either the tenant or her fashionable bump, but he was a little curious about why a woman like this—all big-city sophistication and style—was here in a small, scenic town in Vermont,

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