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mat. ‘I hardly ever have visitors, and now I have two in one night.’
    What lousy timing, she thought as she slipped off the oven gloves. Now that she’d recovered from the shock of finding Reece on her doorstep, she’d even managed to shove aside the awkwardness she’d felt remembering her labour and everything poor Reece had been exposed to that night. With those thoughts carefully blocked, she was actually looking forward to sharing her dinner with him.
    Apart from the fact that she owed him so much, the past four months had been lonely, with hardly any time for catching up with her friends. Then again, her friends were mostly childless and always on the go at parties, or yachting weekends, or working overtime to ‘get ahead’. But although Jess missed them, another visitor now would upset her dinner plans—there were only two chairs.
    Someone would have to sit on the sofa.
    She sent Reece an apologetic eye-roll as she went to answer the door, and her stomach tightened when she saw two strange, beefy and unsmiling men.
    ‘He-hello,’ she said uncertainly.
    ‘Mrs Cassidy?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Is your husband home?’
    ‘No.’ A cold shiver snaked over Jess’s skin. ‘My husband passed away several months ago.’
    ‘I’m sorry to hear that.’ The speaker was bald with bushy eyebrows and he looked momentarily wrong-footed. Recovering quickly, he shot a suspicious glance past Jess to Reece, who was standing a few feet behind her, holding Rosie.
    Jess noticed, irrelevantly, that the baby looked amazingly tiny in Reece’s strong, manly arms.
    Facing her visitors again, she held her head higher. The fact that she was a widow alone with a handsome male guest was none of this stranger’s business.
    ‘I’m here to represent Tighe’s Electrics,’ he said.
    Jess frowned. ‘Electrics? My electricity’s fine, thanks. Everything’s fine.’
    ‘I’m referring to your electrical white goods.’ The man’s tone held a hint of menace and he leaned forward to peer through the doorway into her tiny kitchen. ‘You have a fridge and a washing machine and dryer and you’ve received communications from us regarding them.’
    ‘No, I haven’t.’ Jess felt suddenly sick. ‘I haven’t heard anything about white goods. But I’ve moved quite a few times this year, and my mail has been messed around.’
    ‘If you have a problem with the Post Office, that’s nothing to do with me.’ The man on her doorstep looked unsympathetic and waved an official-looking document under her nose. ‘I’ve been authorised to repossess these items.’
    Jess swayed against the door frame. ‘You can’t. I—I don’t understand. My husband paid cash for them.’
    He shook his head.
    ‘Alan was absolutely definite. There must be a mistake.’ Jess hoped she sounded convincing, but she sensed this was another battle she was almost certainly going to lose.
    She’d had so much bad news in the past few months. So many things that Alan had kept hidden from her, including huge debts on two credit cards. She’d even discovered that he’d cashed in his life insurance, leaving her with nothing but a massive debt.
    Until now, she’d been grateful that she’d at least found a job to pay for rent and food and the minimum repayments on all these other debts. Beyond that, her prize possessions were her transistor radio and her bed, plus the refrigerator and washing machine.
    ‘Excuse me,’ rumbled a deep voice behind her.
    Jess jumped. She’d momentarily forgotten about Reece, and now she was flooded with wincing embarrassment. What must he think?
    ‘There seems to be a problem,’ he said. ‘Perhaps I can help.’
    Instinctively, Jess shook her head. Reece had already gone above and beyond the call of duty for her.
    ‘Too late,’ the man on the doorstep said, totally unconcerned. ‘I have orders to repossess. Today. No more chances.’
    ‘I can write a cheque,’ Reece replied firmly.
    A bushy eyebrow lifted. ‘Sorry, mate. As I