HaBO: She’s Delivering Pastries to a House Party

This HaBO comes from Peace, who wants to find this romance:

Vintage Harlequin/Mills & Boon Style Romance set in England – Heroine is a blonde baker/caterer, wrong-bed-leading-to-pregnancy trope.

I’ve been looking for this romance novel for years and really need help finding it! I might have muddled up a few details. Bear with me!

– Setting: England.

– Timeline: Likely late 90s, 2000s, or early 2010s (classic Harlequin Presents / Mills & Boon style).

– Heroine: She is blonde and runs a baking/catering business with her friend (her mother might have also been a baker).

– The Inciting Incident: The heroine has to step in for her business partner to deliver pastries to a wealthy female client’s house party. A bad storm hits, and the client insists she stay over in a guest room.

– The Mistaken Identity / Wrong Bed: In the middle of the night, a man (who turns out to be the client’s wealthy brother) comes into the room/bed. He sleeps with her despite her confusion/attempts to get up. She was a virgin. She flees early the next morning.

– The Hero: He is an ultra-rich English alpha male, but into the tech/electronics industry specifically (not a standard oil tycoon). He tracks her down at her bakery with flowers to apologize because he feels guilty, but she hates him.

– The Pregnancy & Hospitalization: She discovers she is pregnant. She has a high-risk or difficult end of pregnancy and spends her final weeks on bed rest in the hospital, where he spares no expense and stays attentive.

– The Ending: The baby survives. They enter a loveless marriage of convenience/co-parenting situation initially. He is completely doting as a father and quietly yearns for her/tries to get her to warm up to him while she resists. It’s a slow-burn happy ending.

Does this ring a bell for you? Thank you so much!

Let’s HaBO!