Their Unexpected Babies Read online

  Leah sank onto the edge of her bed. ‘His name was Ben and he...er...stayed over.’

  ‘What? Damn! I knew I should have tried harder to get babysitters for these monsters. Then I could have met him. Come on. I need details. What was he like? Tall? Dark, Handsome?’ She giggled. ‘Girthy?’

  Leah laughed. ‘Yes, to all of those.’

  ‘You lucky girl.’

  ‘And he was also polite and charming and funny—and he made the bed before he left.’

  ‘You let him leave? He sounds like a keeper.’

  ‘He’s left me his number.’

  ‘So call him!’

  ‘I can’t do that! He’s only just gone. I need to leave it for a bit, don’t I? Act cool?’

  ‘Darling, you don’t do cool. Get your first day out of the way, then give him a ring. Have fun whilst you can. Make hay whilst the sun shines—isn’t that what they say?’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘I don’t know. Farmers?’

  Leah laughed. ‘I’ve got to get ready for work. I did miss you last night.’

  ‘Clearly. Look, I’ve got to go—William’s just tipped orange juice over his brother.’

  ‘Okay. I’ll call you soon. Take care.’

  ‘Bye.’

  She could just imagine Sally’s small brood descending into chaos. They were good kids, really. And she would have one of her own soon. Her own child. Thanks to Sally.

  A man like Ben would probably run a mile at the sound of a baby. It wouldn’t bring the kind of sleepless nights he’d be interested in.

  Regretfully, she screwed up the piece of paper and dropped it in the bin.

  It was time to get ready for work.

  * * *

  The baby was screaming its head off.

  If ever I needed to hear a healthy set of lungs...well, this kid’s got them.

  Ben Willoughby smiled patiently at the mother as she tried her best to calm her distraught child, but her soothing words had no effect.

  Clearly the baby did not like a strange man looming over him to try and listen to his heartbeat. Ben sat back. He felt sure the baby was absolutely fine, but it would be nice to check.

  The mother had brought in the child, terrified by a strange rash that had appeared on her son’s legs, especially his knees and the tops of his feet. It was red and raw-looking.

  Her son had no temperature. No signs of illness at all, in fact, and Ben was sure he knew exactly what the rash had been caused by. But he didn’t want this mother to feel as if she had wasted his time, so he was trying to be thorough and give the boy a check-up. Check-ups never hurt anyone.

  ‘We’ll wait for him to pipe down. I might get a nurse to distract him with bubbles or something—just so I can listen to his chest when he’s quiet.’

  ‘What do you think it is? Is it meningitis?’ The mother peered at him, frowning in concern.

  He shook his head. ‘No, it’s nothing like that. He’s about eight months old?’

  She nodded.

  ‘Just started crawling?’

  Another nod.

  ‘I think it’s carpet burns.’

  He’d had plenty of the damn things as a child himself, and occasionally still got them now, when he had to play uncle and get down on the floor and pretend to have a great time. If he was honest, he did have a good time, but there was no way he was going to admit it.

  Everyone knew he wasn’t fond of kids. They were noisy and messy and they sucked away at your time and energies. They definitely weren’t for him, and they most certainly would not be in his future. He intended to have a life that was entirely dedicated to himself, even if that seemed selfish to everyone else.

  Because he knew that he wasn’t. He was the least selfish person he knew. He gave everything of himself to others. Always had. But now his life was his own and he wanted it to stay that way. He’d seen what happened when you let other people get involved and it wasn’t pretty. He intended to steer away completely from messy relationships.

  And that was how he’d always played things—until this morning. When he’d woken in Leah’s bed, completely satisfied, feeling warm and cosy and comfortable—until she’d stood up and yanked the quilt off him, anyway. He could still picture it. How embarrassed she’d looked. The charming flush that had bloomed in her cheeks. Her twinkling eyes. The way she’d thrown his clothes at him before she’d shuffled out of the room in her quilt cocoon.

  Delightful.

  And he wasn’t sure just what it was, but before he had left he had felt compelled to leave his number.

  I never leave my number. I never ask for more.

  He’d closed the door to her flat after fighting the strong temptation to join her in the shower and then stood there for a moment, unable to get back in, wondering if he’d made a mistake. Why break the habit of a lifetime?

  He supposed he could screen his calls, but a part of him didn’t want to. And it wasn’t the part below his belt, strangely enough. It was in his head. He wanted to know more about the delicious minx he’d run into last night. More about the woman who’d made him smile with her own smile. Who’d made him feel amazed by her laughter. Whose capacity for dancing was equal to that of a newborn giraffe on rollerblades. Who’d awoken something within him that he’d never felt before...

  ‘Carpet burns? You’re sure?’

  ‘Absolutely.’ He pulled up the scrubs on his left leg to show her the carpet burns he had from being made to be a horse by his four-year-old niece Gemma. ‘I’ve got matching ones. But we’ll give him a proper check-over once he’s quiet.’

  The mother blushed. ‘Oh, I feel so stupid.’

  He smiled. ‘Don’t be. You’re entitled to worry about your baby.’

  ‘But I’ve wasted your time!’

  ‘No, you haven’t. It’s always important to get something checked if it concerns you. What if it had been something serious and you’d dismissed it? We’d rather it be a false alarm than something serious. Wouldn’t we?’

  He gave another of his winning smiles, hoping the screaming child would soon be quiet, and the mother smiled back, thanking him.

  ‘I’ll be back in a few minutes.’

  He left the cubicle, intending to fill in a chart or two and give the boy time to get his breath back, then glanced up to see how the waiting room was filling up.

  And there she was.

  The woman from last night, walking towards him in a floaty white blouse and a pencil-slim skirt that hugged in all the right places.

  Leah.

  She stopped upon seeing him.

  He watched in delight as her cheeks flushed once again, and he knew that that was something he would never tire of seeing.

  But why was she here? Was she hurt? Or had she known somehow where he worked and come to throw his telephone number back in his face?

  ‘Hi,’ he said, somewhat lost for words.

  He never usually had this. The morning after. That awkward conversation. The embarrassed excuses. He got the good part—the flirting, the excitement, the kissing, the hot sex. He never had to worry about the afterwards because there never was one.

  She looked like a startled deer. He saw her swallow.

  ‘Wh...what are you doing here?’

  CHAPTER TWO

  OH, MY GOD. You idiot! He’s wearing scrubs and has a stethoscope around his neck. What do you think he’s doing here?

  She felt her cheeks colour again and sucked in a deep, steadying breath.

  Okay, think. He’s obviously a doctor here, but maybe he’s from another department and he’s only down here providing a consult...

  Because it would be mortifying to have to work closely with the guy she’d met in a club and slept with last night. A guy she’d kicked out of her flat because he’d overstayed his welcome.

  Oh, dear. W
hat must he think of me?

  But then a bit of courage pushed its way forward and reminded her that what she’d done last night had not been done alone. He’d done it, too. So what did she think of him?

  Her brain provided her with a helpful reminder of what he’d looked like naked on her bed after she’d swooped up with the quilt.

  Blushing—again!—she managed a smile. ‘I say stupid things sometimes. Clearly you’re a doctor, here. Obviously...’

  He smiled back and it did strange things to her insides. The way he was looking at her...as if she were edible and he wanted to gobble her up!

  ‘I am. You’re right.’

  ‘A...um...registrar? Consultant? From... I don’t know. Maybe Orthopaedics, or something?’ she asked hopefully.

  ‘Consultant. Emergency medicine.’

  ‘Oh.’

  She looked about her, panicking slightly. He worked here? In this department? That wasn’t good. Oh, no, that wasn’t good at all!

  ‘May I ask why you’re here?’ He grinned his cheeky chappie smile and then leaned in to whisper, ‘Physically you seem to be in full working order, so...?’

  She laughed. Almost hysterically. Then stopped. What to say? She could lie and say she was here visiting someone? Or maybe she could say...?

  No other lies popped into her head. She was stuck with telling the truth. Because she had to. The ‘visiting someone’ lie wouldn’t help, would it? She had a job to do here. She needed the money and she’d been hoping for the possibility of the position becoming permanent.

  ‘I’ve...um...come here to work.’

  She smiled quickly, alarmingly, then continued before he could say anything.

  ‘I start today. Here. In this department. As a...locum.’

  She saw the dawning realisation on his face and was glad to see that he was somewhat taken aback too. That was good. It was nice to feel that they were on even footing.

  He laughed. ‘You’re my new doctor?’

  She matched his laugh. ‘That’s me!’

  Leah watched him take this in—watched as an interesting fleet of emotions passed over his face—and felt her own heart beat faster as she realised just how much she would be working with this man over the next few months. Her one-night stand. Her boss.

  Had she screwed up? Already? Or would he be the decent guy she hoped he was and let them start with a fresh new page?

  That was possible, right? To pretend as if nothing had happened when in reality you knew more about a man than you should and exactly what touch would make him gasp with delight and ecstasy? They’d be able to work together as if they’d never met before.

  Right?

  Right?

  * * *

  Molly, one of the nurses, was asked to show her around as Ben had got called in to Majors. A trauma was coming in via helicopter.

  Molly was about the same age as her, and was bright, friendly and chatty. She took her around Minors, showing her where everything was, who to ask for help, and what the password was for the computer system, and then she took her into Majors.

  Leah couldn’t help but look at Ben as he assessed his new patient, strapped to a backboard that was being brought in by the helicopter medics. He was more than just handsome. He was breathtaking. No wonder he had caught her eye in the club last night. Broad-shouldered, flat stomach, trim waist...

  And I know all the other details, too...

  The tiny mole just above his left hipbone. The smoothness of his skin. The toned musculature of that inverted V below the hipbones that led down to his...

  Molly must have caught her staring, because she chuckled. ‘Ah, yes, you’ve noticed Mr Willoughby. I don’t blame you. We all think he’s gorgeous! Just beware, though, you don’t fall for his charms.’

  Leah blinked. ‘What? Oh, no, I wouldn’t. I—’

  ‘He’s gone out on dates with quite a few members of staff and he likes to play the field, if you know what I mean? Not that I want to talk badly about someone I work with—he’s a really nice guy, actually—but he’s quite the heartbreaker.’

  Molly was talking to her in that all-girls-together-against-men way, so Leah played along.

  ‘I understand perfectly.’ She nodded as if she were a wise old woman. But for some strange reason it hurt to think that she was one in a long line of conquests. She’d hoped that because she’d indulged in once-in-a-lifetime behaviour maybe he had, too.

  How many others had he slept with? He was a Lothario and she’d fallen for his charms and given him everything. It was the oldest trick in the book. Knowing that made her feel even more glum that her hot one-night stand was definitely not going to settle for a woman who was about to become a mother, no matter how hot the sex with her had been!

  She resigned herself to seeing no more of that kind of action with him. They’d had one night and one night it would stay—never to be repeated. She was just a notch on his bedpost and she would not pine after him, despite how he had made her feel. She had a future ahead of her. It was never going to be with him. It was a good thing that she had thrown away his telephone number.

  ‘What else is there to see?’ Leah walked away from the trauma, wanting to move on from Ben. To stop staring at him as if she was hypnotised. In more ways than one.

  She felt foolish for thinking that there’d been more to her one-night stand. That her night with Ben, even though a one-off, had somehow had more meaning to it than any one-night stand other people might have. That theirs had been different. That it hadn’t just been a tacky get-together so that both people could scratch an itch.

  But apparently it had. Sleeping with a woman for one night was normal behaviour for him, it seemed, and she was just one more in a long line of women who’d probably thought for a brief moment that they were special.

  It had felt good to feel special. She’d never really had that. Had never been wanted. So it had felt good to let herself believe that maybe she did have something that he wanted. She did have value.

  But it had just been sex. All he’d wanted was release. It hadn’t been her in particular. Any woman would have done.

  And he’d used her—the way he probably used all women.

  Even if he had made the bed for her afterwards.

  Leah felt a little sick, but it was a feeling she was used to. The realisation that she wasn’t special.

  She never had been. Not in her entire life. She’d had to make her own happiness.

  I should be used to it.

  Which was why she had a surrogate. Leah had always wanted a family and, knowing she couldn’t get one the normal way, by having one herself, she had decided to take matters into her own hands and find her own happiness.

  She could only ever rely on herself not to let her down.

  Because anyone she had allowed to get close had always let her down.

  The thought of having to rely on a surrogate had seemed an almost impossible task. How could she not suspect that the surrogate would change her mind? That she’d want to keep the baby for herself? She’d got her mind so twisted on all the things that could go wrong she’d even considered not doing it!

  Until Sally had offered. Her best friend Sally. Who already had three children of her own. Whose family was already complete. Sally had loved her enough to offer to do this.

  So, okay, maybe she had one person in her corner.

  And when the baby was born Leah would have two. Sally and the baby. And the baby would be her own flesh and blood. From her egg. Used after months of injections and hormones to help her ovaries produce an egg that was in a healthy enough condition to use.

  It had been important that the baby was her own. Because she’d never had a family. No mum or dad. No siblings. No friendly aunts or uncles or grandparents.

  Leah had had the care system. And it had been horrible. And her yearning for a fam
ily had become so strong since she’d become an adult and started working in medicine.

  Seeing what other people had.

  Seeing what she could have if she were brave enough to try.

  And now she would be a mother soon.

  And she was going to let no one, most especially not Mr Ben Willoughby, ruin that for her.

  Ben peered closer at the X-ray. There were clear fractures of the distal end of the ulna and radius. Thankfully they weren’t displaced. The motorcyclist had put his arms out to break his fall when he’d come off his bike. He’d need to get an orthopaedic consult to make sure what treatment was needed. Most probably an open reduction and internal fixation with plates and screws.

  He was just about to pick up the phone to call Orthopaedics when Leah came to sit beside him.

  ‘Hi.’

  He turned to look at her with a smile. It had been a pleasant surprise to learn that she was his new locum, and if he was honest about it he was quite pleased. He’d wanted to hear from her again and get to know her a bit more, and now that she was here for the next few months he’d get that chance.

  Which is a first for me...

  He gazed at her more intently, trying to work out why this woman intrigued him. Apart from the obvious gorgeousness that she didn’t seem to know she had. Perhaps it was that smiley persona? Perhaps it was the way she could blush so innocently and yet also be a siren in bed? That clash and juxtaposition of opposites was completely messing with his head.

  Maybe it was her eyes? They twinkled and shone with a brightness he’d never noticed before in a woman. Maybe it was the way she couldn’t hide what she was feeling—everything was written there for him to see on her face.

  And, looking at her now, he could sense she had something to tell him. She was biting her lower lip. Out of anxiety, clearly, but all it did was pull his focus to her mouth, her full lips, and he felt a physical yearning to reach out and brush his thumb over her lower lip, to free it, and then pull her face towards his and...

  ‘I need to talk to you.’

  Oh. Conversations like this never end well.