Moment to Moment, Jill Mansell, Marion Roman

Dexter Yates is a wealthy London playboy. His life is divided between his work and wild evenings in pleasant company. He bought a cottage in Bruyères, a charming little English village, which he never visits. This beautiful world crumbles when his sister Laura suddenly dies. He is devastated. She was raising her eight-month-old Delphi alone. Who will now take care of the little girl? Dexter adores his niece but, he has to face the facts, he is totally incapable of doing so. One desperate evening, in pouring rain, he gets in his car and drives to Bruyères. There, he knocks on the door of the cafe, which is closed at that hour. The bubbly Molly uses the place, after closing, to give drawing lessons. She was about to go home when she discovered her charming neighbor, dripping on the doorstep. Unrecognizable. She brings the drenched man in, offers him coffee, and listens to him recount the tragedy that has just struck him. When he mentions the broken fate of little Delphi, who will have to be placed in care, Molly objects: why would he be less capable than anyone else of taking care of the child?