The Most Precious Bundle of All

Tears, triumphs and a tiny miracle

An IVF mix-up turns two couple’s dreams

of parenthood into a nightmare.

But through the tests, tears and triumphs

they find unexpected love…and realise that

happy endings come in all shapes and sizes!

Fighting to keep the baby she’s always

wanted, Olivia turns to dashing doctor

David for love and support in

HER MOTHERHOOD WISH by Anne Fraser

Meet John and Lily. Discovering they’ve

made a baby turns these strangers’ worlds

upside down—but not nearly as much as

when they start falling in love!

A BOND BETWEEN STRANGERS by Scarlet Wilson

Both titles are available now

Dear Reader

I was absolutely delighted to be asked to write a linked duet with fellow author Anne Fraser. After much brainstorming and lots of e-mails this was the story we finally agreed on.

The story is about a wrongly implanted embryo, and is told from the point of view of the father. John Carter created embryos with an egg donor for use in his marriage. But his marriage is long since over and, due to legal issues, he expects to receive a letter from the clinic telling him that his embryos have been destroyed. Instead he receives a letter telling him that his embryo was mistakenly implanted into another woman some months before!

Lily Grayson became an egg donor after learning some family history and to help fund herself through college. Having a gorgeous man accost her at an airfield and ask for help to get his baby back is the last thing she expects!

The outcomes aren’t straightforward either—which gave us lots of leeway with this story. How do both couples get a happy-ever-after from a story like this?

You can let us know if you think we succeeded!

Feel free to contact me via my website: www.scarlet-wilson.com

Many thanks

Scarlet

Scarlet Wilson wrote her first story aged eight and has never stopped. Her family have fond memories of Shirley and the Magic Purse, with its army of mice, all with names beginning with the letter ‘m’. An avid reader, Scarlet started with every Enid Blyton book, moved on to the ‘Chalet School’ series, and many years later found Mills and Boon®.

She trained and worked as a nurse and health visitor, and now currently works in public health. For her, finding medical romances was a match made in heaven. She is delighted to find herself among the authors she has read for many years.

Scarlet lives on the West Coast of Scotland with her fiancé and their two sons.

A Bond

Between

Strangers

Scarlet Wilson

www.millsandboon.co.uk

This book is dedicated to my two lovely sisters, Jennifer Dicksonand Valerie Glencross, reliable, beautiful and devoted totheir families. There’s no greater gift than the gift of sisters!

CONTENTS

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Praise forScarlet Wilson:

‘Stirring, emotional and wonderfully absorbing,

IT STARTED WITH A PREGNANCY is an

impressive debut novel from a fabulous new voice

in category romance: Scarlet Wilson!’

—www.cataromance.com

PROLOGUE

JOHN CARTER’S feet thudded along the pavement in rapid, regular beats. The early morning sun was beating down on his back, trickles of sweat pooling around the waistband of his shorts. He rounded the corner of his street, slowing to a stop outside his house.

He leaned forward, taking slow, practised breaths as his heart continued thudding against his chest. He’d been running this same route along the San Francisco Bay area for the last two years, but it didn’t seem to get any easier.

He grabbed his water bottle from his waistband and took a slug. Right now he was wishing it contained anything but water. The flag on the mailbox was up. The mailman had been early today.

John took a few moments to stretch out his aching limbs. His hamstring twitched again. Damn. He’d agreed to play five-a-side soccer tonight with some English colleagues. The last thing he needed was a pulled hamstring.

He reached into the mailbox and pulled out the barrage of catalogues and envelopes. A frown creased his face and he walked up towards his porch. He sat on the decking outside as he sorted through the mail, glancing at his watch. In another fifteen minutes’ time he’d have had a quick shower and be at work, ready to spend most of the day in the operating theatre. There wasn’t even any point going into the kitchen. The fridge was virtually empty and so were his cupboards. He’d discovered as much when he’d got home late last night, starving after spending hours in the office. He didn’t even have any coffee left. No matter how much he tried to avoid it, he was really going to have to do a grocery shop some time soon.

He flicked past the usual array of catalogues containing clothes, make-up, candles, jewellery—or the latest ‘diet’ miracle—all addressed to his ex-wife, Tabitha Carter.

Without blinking an eye, he tossed them all into his nearby rubbish bin. It wasn’t as if she’d come looking for them. Wherever Tabitha had ended up, doubtless she’d re-sent for them all. Two years on, many tears and tantrums later, his divorce attorney still hadn’t tracked the woman down—though thankfully he had managed to acquire her signature.

The only thing she wanted from him these days were the alimony cheques.

His fingers stopped their automatic trawl through the mail. The usual bills and free offers were ignored. One envelope was different from the rest. Bulkier. Heavier-quality paper, premium bonded. And although there was no emblem, he’d recognise their mail anywhere.

This was it. The final nail in the coffin of his disastrous marriage.

He sighed and looked out over the family-friendly cul-de-sac where they’d lived. Tabitha had never fitted in here. She’d hated the fact that everyone’s kids played out in the front yards. She’d hated little people trooping in and out of their home in a search for cookies or someone to fix their bikes.

This was the perfect family home.

Just not for them.

The initial fertility tests had created more toddler-sized tantrums than he’d ever seen. The discovery that Tabitha didn’t have any viable eggs had taken her months to recover from. The selection of an egg donor had almost resulted in their first major fallout. The first round of IVF had been fraught with difficulties—mainly because Tabitha hadn’t followed any of the instructions she’d been given.

The second round of IVF had resulted in an ectopic pregnancy. At this point Tabitha had refused to tolerate any more treatment.

And by this stage John had been inclined to agree. The cracks in their marriage had migrated into a fully fledged San Andreas fault.

Tabitha’s leaving hadn’t really had an impact on him. Emptying the joint bank account and driving off in his new car hadn’t created more than a few minor inconveniences. It had also gave him free rein to buy the Ducati motorbike he’d really wanted.

He’d just been happy she’d left the house intact.

But the thought of never having kids, never having the family that he’d always wanted, cut him deeper than he could ever have imagined.

There was still time. He still had some chance of meeting someone new, someone who might want to settle down and have kids. But at his age, thirty-nine, the chances seemed to be reducing every day. It had been three years since they’d tried IVF—two years since Tabitha had left. And in two years? He hadn’t had one date that had remotely interested him. Too young, too old. Too career orientated, and the best one—the women who were only interested in him because he was a doctor.

Just like Tabitha. Once bitten, twice shy.

He turned the letter over in his hands.

This was it. His final dealings with the clinic. The letter telling him that the remaining viable embryos had been destroyed.

And for now his hopes of fatherhood would have to be put to one side.

He tore open the envelope, pulled out the letter and scanned the page.

He gave a jolt. As if a bolt of electricity had just ran through his body. He stood up, his body on autopilot, his eyes never leaving the page as he tried to take in the words. ‘…our sincerest apologies…never in our clinic’s history…wrongly implanted…numerous messages.’

He marched into his house. Sure enough. The answering-machine was blinking. He hadn’t looked at it in the last three days—work had been crazy. Sixteen messages. He didn’t even need to listen to them. He started stripping off his running gear as he strode into the shower. Work was the last place he would be today.

Somewhere out there—someone was carrying his baby.

CHAPTER ONE

LILY GRAYSON carried out her safety checks one last time. It didn’t matter that she was jumping with a fully qualified instructor. It didn’t matter that this airfield and accompanying flying school had an impeccable record. It didn’t matter that a fully qualified rigger would have already packed her chute. It didn’t matter that she was almost fully qualified herself.

Lily always checked her own parachutes—main and reserve—herself. Period. For an adrenaline junkie like Lily it was all part of the build up to the event. Part of the rush.

She gave a little smile as she glanced down at her new bright purple flight suit, complete with pink writing on the back, ‘Here Comes Lily’. No one could miss her.

She was fed up with wearing the ugly khaki regulation suits. This was her third jump for charity—her twentieth for herself—so she’d decided the investment was worth it. She pulled on her matching helmet and wandered over to where the newbies stood. They were hanging onto instructor Ryan’s every word as if their lives depended on it—which, in fact, it probably did. Their knees were trembling so much the sound was almost audible.

She couldn’t remember ever feeling like that. Why be scared? This was one of the most exhilarating things in the world. The feeling when you jumped out into nothing, the smack of the air hitting your cheeks, streaming through the tiny hairs sticking out the back of your helmet. The whoosh when you pulled the cord and you were suspended in mid-air and the ground was rushing up to meet you.

The palms of her hands itched. She couldn’t wait to get up there.

‘Hi, stranger. You again. What charity did you hoodwink this time to get a free jump?’

Dan, one of the other jump instructors, flung an easy arm around her shoulders. His six-foot-five frame dwarfed her five feet five.

She shot him a grin. ‘I’ll have you know I’m about to raise over seven thousand dollars for a leading children’s cancer charity. They were very keen when I offered to jump for them.’ A glint appeared in her eye. This was definitely a two-way street. She got to do the thing she loved and the cancer charity got to make money. She wished she’d thought of this years ago.

‘I just need another five minutes with these guys.’ Dan waved his arm towards the nervous participants.

Lily gave a nod. The hangar was hot today and she unbuttoned the top of the flight suit and wriggled her arms out, tying it at her waist. The bright pink T-shirt she wore matched the writing on her suit and the jump shoes on her feet. She wandered over to the open hangar doors and stood looking out over the airfield.

There were several planes being prepared and she gave a smile as one of the pilots gave her a wave. That was what she liked about this place. All friends. No drama. Just a warm welcome whenever you arrived.

Out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of a motorbike speeding along the country road. He was going far too fast. But, then, he was obviously experienced, hugging the corners and dipping down towards the road.

She saw his helmet rise as if looking for the turn-off then, sure enough, he signalled and moved into the airfield. She shook her head. She’d no idea who he was, but there was no way Dan would let anyone jump without the full briefing. Evel Knievel would have to wait for the next jump.

* * *

Carter felt his heart pounding in his chest. Almost two weeks on and his world had collapsed around him. His wayward ex-wife couldn’t be found.

He’d spent exorbitant amounts of money hiring an attorney and a private detective. The attorney was dealing with all the legal aspects from the clinic as Carter was too angry to speak to them right now. The private detective? So far, he’d been to Los Angeles and Las Vegas and found nothing.

Not even his ex-wife’s bank would help. They wouldn’t even tell him how she was accessing his money.

His attorney was an old friend from college and had made a new suggestion. It was probably for the best that Tabitha couldn’t be found—she would be horrified by what had happened, and she probably wasn’t a poster girl for motherhood.

But Carter and Tabitha had spent a long time selecting their egg donor from the hundreds of women on file with the clinic. He’d seen her picture, knew what age she was, knew she had an Ivy League education and knew she lived locally. How hard could it be to find her?

And so he’d put his private detective to work again. To track down his egg donor. And he’d found her. Lily Grayson, twenty-seven. Trained at University of Pennsylvania and working as a nurse in one of the other San Francisco hospitals. And today she was here, doing a jump for one of the charities.

He swung his leg over the bike and stretched his back, pulling off his helmet and looking around him. How hard could she be to find? He’d been here before. He’d done a few jumps from here—another of his thrill factors. Maybe he’d find someone who knew her?

He could see a number of figures around one of the hangars and moved swiftly in that direction. A woman was leaning against the hangar door, her bright purple flight suit around her waist, her pink helmet in her hand.

He glanced quickly at his photo. No, she was definitely a blonde. The woman he was looking for was a brunette. Pity.

She sat her helmet at her feet and folded her arms across her chest, covering his view of her well-shaped body. ‘Well, lucky me,’ came the sassy voice as she raised her eyes skyward. ‘Someone up there has definitely been listening to my requests. A big, solid, dark-haired leather-clad biker, all to myself.’

He could see the smile dancing around her lips. And he could smell her perfume, but it wasn’t spicy like her, it was light and floral, a scent he recognised from his garden—honeysuckle.

‘And who might you be looking for?’ she continued. There was a twinkle in her brown eyes and for a second he almost wished they were green. Like the photo in his pocket.

It was the first time in a long time he’d felt inclined to flirt.

He sighed, then gave her a smile anyway. ‘I’m looking for a beautiful woman, but unfortunately she’s a brunette, not a blonde.’ He gave a nod at her blonde hair.

‘Damn! I thought blondes were meant to have more fun?’

Curiosity piqued him. ‘What’s your name?’

‘Now, why would I tell my name to a man who prefers brunettes?’ She was as sharp as a whip. ‘What’s your name, stranger?’

He liked her. For the first time in a long time he actually liked a woman. ‘John Carter. But my friends just call me Carter.’

‘Then I guess I should just call you John.’ Her answer came as quick as a flash. She stuck her hand out towards him and looked over her shoulder. ‘Here, at this airfield, they call me Dynamo.’

Their hands met, the electricity between them so loud it practically crackled. She was slim without being skinny, but with enough curves to make you look twice.

Carter gave a wider smile, ‘I wonder why….’ His voice trailed off then he fixed his eyes on her again. ‘Dynamo seems appropriate.’

She looked over to the car park. ‘How long have you had your bike?’

He shrugged. ‘A couple of years. I’d wanted one for quite a while and when the opportunity arose, I grabbed it with both hands.’ He looked back at his bike. ‘Probably time to trade it in for a newer version.’

Her brow puckered. ‘I like the colour scheme. It’s even nicer than my baby.’ She pointed to the other end of the car park where her silver and red Ducati was parked.

He gave a little start of surprise. ‘Looks like we’re a matching pair.’ His eyes met hers.

She looked up and down his tall frame. ‘Most of the bikers I meet in San Francisco are the long-haired, hairy type. Either that or they’re gay. Where did you spring from?’

He snorted with laughter. Her sassy attitude and spark was beginning to draw him in. Make him lose focus and forget the reason he was there. To find the donor. To win back his child.

He straightened his shoulders. ‘Nice to meet you, Dynamo, but I’d better be going.’ He strode off into the hangar.

‘Hey, John,’ she shouted after him, pausing whilst he turned back round. ‘I think you should reconsider your decision. You’re cutting out almost half of the female population, restricting yourself to brunettes.’ A twinkle appeared in her eyes, ‘Plus you didn’t ask if I was a natural blonde.’ And with that she stuck her helmet back on her head and headed out onto the airstrip.

He gave her a smile, holding back his laughter at the pointed use of his first name. Who on earth was she? He walked further into the hangar to the group of nervous-looking jumpers, all standing in their regulation flight suits next to their carefully packed parachutes. ‘Hey, Dan, I was wondering if you could help me find someone?’ Dan was leaning downwards, looking at someone’s ankle, and Carter gave him a slap on the shoulder.

Dan didn’t miss a beat. ‘Perfect. Carter, take a look at this for me. This man’s been bothered with his ankle this week and developed a limp—I don’t think it’s wise for him to jump at the moment.’

Carter fell to his knees and stripped the ankle of the thick woollen sock protecting it. The dark purple bruises made him sit back. He gave a wry smile, ‘I don’t even need to touch that.’ He shook his head. ‘There’s no way you can jump with an ankle like that. Your ankles take all the impact when you land. You could do some serious damage.’

The man looked panicked. ‘But I’m about to raise three thousand dollars for the charity. If I don’t do it, the charity won’t get the money.’

Dan looked from one to the other. ‘Does it have to be you that does the jump or does it just have to be someone?’

The man blinked. ‘Eh….someone, I think.’ He held his hands up. ‘But there’s no extra people around and we’re due to take off in ten minutes. Where on earth will you find a replacement?’

Dan’s face broke into a wild smile. ‘Easiest thing in the world. Meet Carter. High-flying doc. Done more jumps than I could count. I’m sure he’ll fill in for you—won’t you, Carter?’

Carter hesitated—obviously for a fraction too long because Dan slid an arm around his shoulders. ‘It’s for charity.’ He tapped him on the chest. ‘And I know you, you wouldn’t want the charity to lose money because they didn’t have enough people to do their jump.’

Carter sighed. ‘I’ll do it on one condition.’

Dan raised his eyebrows, ‘And what’s that?’

‘You help me find this girl—Lily Grayson. Someone at the hospital where she works told me she was doing a jump here today.’ He’d pulled the crumpled photograph from his pocket. It was already looking dog-eared. He’d printed it from his computer off the clinic’s website.

Dan’s eyes narrowed. ‘Why are you looking for Lily? Has she done something wrong?’ Almost immediately Carter sensed the vibe. The protective vibe. He’d be wise not to say too much if he was looking for help.

‘No—nothing’s wrong. She’s done something really good. I just wanted to thank her.’ Not strictly true, but it was the best he could do at short notice.

Dan looked over Carter’s leather-clad figure. ‘Better get changed, then. Lily’s up in the next jump—you can thank her then.’ He pointed in the direction of the lockers, ‘Take one of my suits, they’ll fit you fine. But be quick, we need to be ready to go in five minutes.’

Carter strode over to the lockers, stripping off his leather jacket and unfastening his trousers. He found alternative clothes in Dan’s locker and pulled them on before donning the red flight suit and matching helmet. He glanced back around the room. There were several women there. But all had their helmets hiding their hair and faces. Hopefully Dan would point Lily out once they got in the plane.

He spent the next few minutes checking his parachute and signing his paperwork. Since he’d done it so many times before it was all routine to him. He caught sight of the purple-suited figure scrambling onto the plane ahead of him. What was that writing on her back?

He moved through the crowd until he was closer to Dan. ‘Which one’s Lily?’ he asked as they stepped into the aircraft.

The rest of the party was all sitting along the sides of the plane, ready for take-off. Dan looked up. ‘Far end. Purple flight suit, pink helmet. This is her twentieth jump.’

The engine and propeller started up, filling the back of the aircraft with noise. Carter felt a lump in his throat. She was Lily?

The one woman he’d met in the past year that he’d had even the vaguest connection with? It seemed unreal.

Worse than that, it was a disaster. She was as much a daredevil as he was. Twenty jumps? She’d almost matched his record. Plus, a matching Ducati.

He groaned. This wasn’t what he’d hoped for. Worse than that, this wasn’t what his attorney had hoped for.

When they hadn’t been able to find Tabitha, the attorney had suggested trying another tactic. They needed to build a case for Carter to keep the baby that some other woman was currently carrying.

The genetics might be obvious. But some judges took pity on the poor woman implanted with the wrong baby and the possible risks to her health. This woman wasn’t a willing surrogate. This woman had thought she was getting a baby of her own.

In a way, it was lucky they’d only found out at around the twenty-eight-week mark. By that point she had been visibly pregnant and it had been too late for termination—no matter what the reason.

Carter needed to build a case for himself. He needed to prove he could be an able parent. And with no current partner, that could be difficult. Sometimes judges, rightly or wrongly, didn’t look favourably on male, single parents. So his attorney had suggested he find the egg donor.

It shouldn’t be too hard—he’d already seen her photograph and knew her most basic details via the clinic database. But he only had a few days to do it. The newspapers had already got a whiff of the story and any day now it was going to be front-page news. So he had to find her quickly. All he had to do was persuade her to side with him in court. Maybe even pretend to have a vested interest in this baby.

What sort of woman would give up their eggs? What woman would choose to be an egg donor? There had to be a good reason for it and Carter hoped he could find it.

He glanced down the plane towards Lily. Now he understood the comment about ‘being a natural blonde’—she wasn’t. But that didn’t explain her eye colour. In the clinic photograph her eyes were green. But today they were definitely brown.

Something twisted inside his gut. Could she have lied about something like that? Her eye colour had been one of the reasons that they’d picked her—that, and her Ivy League education. Eye colour had been important because Tabitha had green eyes too so it meant a closer match to them.

Carter felt the plane beginning to circle. Dan stood up and walked along the plane, giving everyone a number. The first-timers were going to go first. Some of them were tandem-jumping with an instructor, so Carter edged up the bench out of their way.

He found himself next to Lily and she unsuspectingly gave him another wide grin. ‘I didn’t know you were a fellow jumper.’ She smiled. ‘I thought you came to find a woman.’

‘I did.’ He looked at her closely. Was she wearing contacts? Brown ones?

Lily shifted uncomfortably under his gaze. This light-hearted flirtation suddenly felt different. Maybe it was being stuck in the back of a plane with a virtual stranger who was looking at her oddly. But something about this was making her uneasy.

She bit her lip. ‘Then who is she?’

Carter fumbled in his pocket and pulled out the rumpled photograph. ‘She’s Lily Grayson.’ He pushed her shoulders forward a little to read the writing across her back. ‘“Here Comes Lily”—I take it that means you.’

Lily took the photograph from his hands, staring at the person on the paper. She recognised the photograph immediately and knew exactly where it had come from. In the photograph she looked different, her hair was brown with curls. ‘That seems like years ago,’ she murmured.

‘More than three years, to be precise.’

She jerked at the edge to his words. He was sitting so close to her. It was hard to hear in the back of the aircraft and his lips were brushing her ear. Nothing about this felt right.

Her stomach started to churn. This had to be about egg donation. It was the only place she’d used that photograph. Was something wrong? Had a baby been born with some horrible disease from an egg she’d donated?

‘What’s with the eye colour?’ he asked.

She frowned. ‘What do you mean?’

‘In your profile you said you had green eyes. But today…’ he leaned right in so their noses were almost touching ‘…your eyes are definitely brown.’

She drew backwards and wrinkled her nose, shaking her head. ‘Who are you—the eye-colour police?’ She shrugged her shoulders. ‘I didn’t think the green eyes went well with my new blonde look, so I changed them.’

She looked at his stunned face. ‘What? You haven’t heard of coloured contacts? Or, did you think I’d lied in my clinic application?’

She stared at his serious face and leaned backwards. All of this was making her uncomfortable. As far as she knew, she didn’t have any genetic disorder than would cause problems for a baby. So why on earth would he be looking for her? And more importantly, why did he have to be so darned handsome? ‘What exactly do you want, Mr Carter?’

‘I’m looking for someone to help me.’

‘Help you do what?’

‘I want you to help me get my baby back.’

CHAPTER TWO

THIS couldn’t be happening. Lily’s stomach lurched. Here she was, stuck in the back of an aircraft, with some nut. The only way out was to jump, and right now they were nowhere near the landing zone. She couldn’t have made this up.

She tried to edge along the bench a little, away from crazy John Carter. All of a sudden the flirtation was lost. She didn’t want to swap jibes with him any more. She wanted to get as far away as possible.

The aircraft started to circle—maybe they were closer to the landing zone than she’d thought—and one of the instructors pulled open the side door, shouting instructions to the petrified jumpers.

The air swept through the cabin, taking whatever words John was trying to shout in her direction with it. She shook her head and tapped the side of her helmet, hoping he would understand.

This would give her some time. Some time to plan a way to get away from him. Her eyes shot over to Dan, hoping he would see the panic on her face and help her out. But he gave her a huge grin, obviously thinking the flirtation between them was continuing. He walked down the plane, repeating everyone’s number.

Seven. She was number seven. Carter was number nine. She could lose him in the sky.

She jerked as some fingers squeezed hers. ‘We need to talk,’ he mouthed at her, then pointed downwards. ‘On the ground.’

She nodded wordlessly. As soon as her feet touched the ground she intended to grab the first vehicle back to the airfield and leave as quickly as possible on her Ducati. She would leave her clothes in her locker.

Her mind churned. What kind of idiot came looking for an egg donor? Wasn’t she supposed to be left alone?

She’d had reservations about putting her photo and details on the clinic’s private website, but she’d been assured that only clients who had passed all the psychological tests would be given access to the site. Only people who were preparing for treatment and needed to select a genetically compatible donor.

Plus the fact no other clinic had paid the same benefits as the San Francisco clinic. She’d managed to wipe out most of her college debts by donating eggs on three occasions. Ivy League colleges like University of Pennsylvania didn’t come cheap. And egg donation had seemed like a simple and humanitarian way to fund it.

And it wasn’t like she was the only one. Seven of the nursing students in her class had all been on the clinic’s database. Clients loved Ivy League women. They paid top dollar for them.

Lily cringed at the memory. It had been more than three years since her last egg donation. It had seemed so easy at the time. Help some couple to have the child they’d always wanted and pay off her college debts, with no lasting damage to herself. She was young and healthy. She wasn’t in a permanent relationship and wasn’t planning kids in the near future. There was also that tiny matter of early menopause that ran in her family. This gave her an added security blanket. Eggs stored for future use by her, if she needed them. What could go wrong?

John Carter could go wrong.

Surely there was something in the clinic protocols that said he wasn’t allowed to contact her? She’d check when she got home.

From the corner of her eye she saw Dan signalling her. She stood up and took her position in the queue at the door. Number five seemed to be stalling. Seemed to be having second thoughts. Dan leaned forward and spoke a few words of encouragement in their ear, urging them on.

Lily held her breath. If number five didn’t hurry up she would be tempted to give him an almighty shove. She was conscious of Carter standing almost behind her. She was sure she could feel his breath at the back of her neck.

If it had been any other circumstances, it might have felt quite sexy. Flirting with a tall, dark, handsome stranger and then jumping out an aircraft with him. But right now all Lily wanted to do was get as far away from John Carter as possible.

* * *

Carter chewed on his bottom lip. This wasn’t going quite as planned.

Maybe his attorney was wrong. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea. It didn’t help that for a few mad seconds they’d actually flirted with each other. He’d never have done that if he’d realised she was Lily Grayson.

A smile danced across his lips. That might not strictly be true. Lily was the first smart-mouthed girl he’d met in a long time. The first woman he’d felt even the slightest bit of interest in.

Maybe now hadn’t been the best time to tell her that he was looking for her. But he didn’t like lies. He didn’t like deceit.

She shifted in front of him and he took a sharp intake of breath. She was uncomfortable. Did she think he was some kind of madman? Stalking her from a clinic website?

He couldn’t wait to get back on firm ground. He couldn’t wait to sit down and talk to her calmly, rationally and in an environment where they could actually hear each other.

They shuffled forward as the nervous number five finally made his jump. Ahead of them number six stepped out as if he jumped from a plane every day. And Lily was right behind him, the bright purple suit disappearing into oblivion before his eyes.

He felt his heart lurch. He didn’t want to lose her on the way down. He’d done enough of these jumps to know that not everyone landed in the spot they should.

He bit his lip impatiently as number eight took a few seconds to speak to Dan on the way out. Hurry up!

Finally, the doorway was clear. He gave Dan a salute on the way past and stepped out into nothing.

Perfection.

The air streamed up all around him and he spread his arms and legs wide in the cold air. Beneath him he could see the other jumpers. Lily’s purple suit wasn’t difficult to spot. She was underneath him and a little to his left.

Carter pulled his legs and arms in, streamlining his body and pointing downwards in her direction. The least he could do was catch her up.

Lily was finally back in her comfort zone. Adrenaline pumped through her body, her arms and legs spread wide, and she was flying.

The cold air buffeted her cheeks and swept through the tiny strands of hair poking out from her helmet. This was freedom. This was space. This was clean air.

Two out of three things that San Francisco sometimes lacked.

She could see one of the jumpers pulling their chute as she streamed past. If her face could have drawn a frown it would have. It was far too early.

She closed her eyes for a second. Plenty of time to pull her parachute. A shadow passed in front of her and she opened her eyes to see John Carter, in his borrowed, bright red flight suit coasting next to her. How on earth had he caught up with her?

All of a sudden the space, clear air and freedom seemed to shrink around her. He was ruining everything!

He signalled to her, giving her a thumbs-up and a wide grin. Right now she could happily stick her thumb right in his eye.

She changed position. He was too close, and he should know that. Pulling ripcords right now could result in their lines getting tangled—the last thing any jumper wanted.

She took a deep breath, deciding she’d moved far enough away from him, and pulled the cord. A sharp tug pulled her upwards as the brightly coloured rectangular parachute released above her, slowing her descent. She looked downwards towards the ground. Normally she would have waited a little longer to pull, but John Carter had annoyed her, he’d ruined the jump for her anyway, so what difference did it make when she pulled her cord?

She adjusted her steering toggles to move herself towards the landing area. Her heart was still hammering against her chest and she couldn’t quite work out whether it was the effect of the jump or the effect of John Carter.

She twisted her head from side to side. Where had he gone? She heard a shout to her right, and turned again. There he was in the sky, just above her. Anger lit a fire in her belly. What on earth did he want with her? Why wouldn’t he just leave her alone?

Her normal, solid concentration was rocked and she heard another shout above her. Too late, she realised she hadn’t slowed her descent enough to land. She pulled sharply on both her steering toggles, trying to brake, but with little effect as she thudded to the ground. A sharp pain tore up her right calf.

Seconds later there was a soft thud beside her and a flash of red. John Carter appeared in front of her, kneeling on the ground and starting to examine her leg. Even the lightest touch was painful. ‘Ow!’ she yelped, pulling her ankle backwards. ‘What do you think you’re doing?’

His voice was calm and steady. ‘Examining your leg.’ He loosened the laces on her boot and gently slid it from her foot. He leaned forward and pressed the release button for her parachute, which was currently buffeting in the wind and tugging at her shoulders.

‘Let go of me!’ Lily shouted, fury building inside her. ‘This is entirely your fault anyway. If you hadn’t distracted me when I was landing, this would never have happened.’

Carter stopped for a second and looked thoughtful. Then he held his hand out towards her. ‘We’ve not been properly introduced and that’s my fault. John Carter, Orthopaedist at San Francisco General.’

She stopped and caught her breath, then wriggled her ankle experimentally. It still hurt. Did she really want to alienate the one person in this field who could probably help her? Her hand reached out and touched his. There it was again. The spark she’d felt earlier in the hangar. That weird little zing that appeared out of thin air.

She stared at his hand. Tanned skin, blunt, straight-cut fingernails. It was a firm, strong handshake. His large hand dwarfed her small one. But it was the sensations around it that were concerning her.

He gave a wry smile as he touched her ankle again, peeling down her sock and touching her bare skin just above the ankle. ‘I think you might be in need of my services.’

In more ways than one. Lily’s face paled and she pulled her head back to reality. ‘You’re joking, right? It’s a sprain or a bruise, isn’t it?’

Carter shook his head. ‘Can’t say for sure until I’ve seen an X-ray, but I’m almost sure you’ve fractured your tibia—just above your ankle. It’s pretty common for people involved in extreme sports.’

Lily raised her eyebrow at him. ‘Extreme sports? Does this qualify? I would have thought doing a charity jump for a children’s cancer charity was anything but extreme.’

She grimaced as he rolled her thick sock down over her ankle. Almost before her eyes her ankle started to swell. If she hadn’t seen it for herself, she wouldn’t have believed it.

His fingers were light, delicate with their touch, realising how sensitive the area must be. There wasn’t any other reason her skin tingled under his touch. ‘Can’t you just strap it? It’s not sore enough to be broken.’ As if to prove her point, Lily pulled herself to her feet and attempted to bear her weight. ‘There,’ she said, her lips tightly pressed together, as she pushed her foot on the ground. ‘It’ll be fine once I get some strapping on it.’

Carter walked around her other side and slid his arm around her waist, taking some of her weight. ‘There’s no way that ankle is fine. I’d bet my career on it.’

Dan appeared next to them, a mound of colourful parachute in his arms. ‘Did you hurt yourself, Lily? Is something up?’

She wrinkled her nose. ‘Bad landing. Somebody distracted me at the last minute. But I’m sure it’s just a sprain.’

Dan shook his head. ‘The doc doesn’t get these things wrong. Better go back to his place and get it seen to.’ He tossed a set of keys to Carter. ‘Take the pick-up. I won’t need it for a few hours.’ He pointed across the field. ‘I’ve got parachutes to repack.’

‘His place!’ Lily exploded. ‘I don’t think so!’

Carter smirked, his arm tightening around her waist. He looked down at the fiery bundle in his arms. ‘I think he meant it figuratively. He didn’t mean my house—he meant San Francisco General.’ He stopped for a second then gave her a wicked glance. ‘But I can take you back to my place if that’s what you want.’

Lily mumbled under her breath. That was the last thing she wanted. She was trying to get away from John Carter. Not end up indebted to him.

His arm swept underneath her, catching her beneath the knees and cradling her between his arms.

‘What on earth do you think you’re doing?’

‘My job,’ he muttered as he took long strides towards the pick-up a few hundred yards away. ‘Best keep the weight off that.’

Lily fumbled in the pocket of her flight suit, pulling out her smartphone. ‘If you let me know where we’re going, I can text one of my friends to meet us there.’

‘Uh-huh.’ John Carter made the right noises, but shook his head as he swung open the pick-up’s door and plunked her down on the passenger seat.

‘What does that mean—uh-huh? Is that yes or no?’

‘Don’t you ever stop talking?’ Carter slid in the driver’s door next to her and clicked his seat belt in place. He folded his arms across his chest. ‘I’m taking you to the ER at San Francisco General. I’ll be able to fast-track you through and get you X-rayed. Once I’ve seen those X-rays we’ll discuss what type of treatment you need.’ He pointed at her phone, ‘And put that away. There’s no point calling in anyone until we know what’s happening. And anyway we need some privacy—we need to talk.’

‘Talk about what, exactly?’ Lily’s voice rose in pitch. She was getting more stressed by the second. She was being kidnapped by a gorgeous, slightly crazy doctor. Was this one of her mad dreams? Any minute now she’d look down and she’d be wearing a princess dress.

Carter started the pick-up and moved off, concentrating on the rugged terrain of the field and its effects on his passenger. He kept his mouth closed. The last thing he needed to do right now was upset Lily. He needed her on his side if he’d any chance at all of getting his baby back.

Had she felt it too? He thought he’d seen something flash in her eyes when he’d touched her. That connection. That crazy feeling of something happening.

He shot her a sideways glance. She looked totally different from the photo on file at the clinic. If they’d lined up a dozen women, he would never have picked out Lily as the woman in the photo.

She caught him staring. ‘What is it? What are you looking at?’

His eyes ran over her body. ‘You’re not exactly what I was expecting.’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

Carter frowned. ‘You don’t look anything like your picture.’

Lily wrinkled her nose. ‘Are you talking about the hair?’ she lifted her hand self-consciously to touch her dyed blonde locks. ‘Funny thing about donor clinics—they’re not big on any type of toxin being introduced into the body—including hair dye. So, while I was on the books, so to speak, I had to stick to my natural colour.’

Carter nodded slowly. Lily was going to prove tougher work than his attorney had thought. ‘So you’re not on the books now?’

She shook her head. ‘I shouldn’t be. I thought my profile had been taken down. Why? Did you find it there?’

Carter pulled off the field onto the smooth tarmac. The hospital was only a fifteen-minute journey away. Fifteen minutes to try and persuade Lily Grayson to help him win his baby back.

Lily’s eyes were fixed on the road ahead. ‘To be perfectly honest, I’m a bit freaked out by all this. Last time I donated my eggs was over three years ago. The last thing I expected was someone to turn up and ask me questions about it.’ She shifted around in her seat so she was facing him. ‘What exactly do you want, John Carter?’

Carter shifted in his seat. In an ideal world he would have tracked Lily Grayson down, knocked on her door and sat down and spoke about this rationally, convincing her to help him out.

But in the last two weeks things had exploded around him. His ex-wife had vanished without a trace. The letter from the clinic had just been the tip of the iceberg. His life had been transformed into a whirlwind of frantic telephone calls, internet searches and visits to his attorney. He’d barely had the chance to really think about what all this meant. There were so many legal complications. So many things he could never have considered. Asking Lily Grayson for help was one of them.

How fair was it that he had to ask a virtual stranger for help to get his baby back?

He swerved the truck, pulling into the side of the road and turning to face Lily. ‘I’m sorry about this, Lily—it’s far from ideal.’ He ran his fingers through his dark hair. ‘A little more than three years ago my wife Tabitha and I had IVF via the clinic you’d registered with. My wife didn’t have any viable eggs of her own, so we had to opt for a donor. The donor we picked was you.’

His clear blue eyes were fixed on hers. And for some reason they were distracting her. They were darker than she’d first thought. Like deep, tropical pools. A girl could get lost inside a set of eyes like that.

What’s more, he was deadly serious. This guy wasn’t some nut job. Some crazy stalker from a website. Dan would never have let her leave with anyone like that. Dan trusted this guy. He trusted him to look after her. But Dan had no idea about the other stuff, the underlying current between them.

Lily bit her lip. This was it. This was where she found out if something had gone wrong with one of her eggs—one of this couple’s embryos.

Carter stared at his hands. ‘IVF didn’t work out. It was a strain on our marriage, and we split up shortly afterwards.’

Lily was shocked. This wasn’t what she’d expected to hear. ‘I’m sorry,’ she mumbled. ‘I thought you wanted to talk to me about a baby.’

‘I do.’ His words were abrupt.

‘I don’t understand…’

Carter pulled an envelope from his pocket. He handed the letter to Lily. It was rumpled—as if it had been pulled from his pocket on numerous occasions—and dated two weeks ago. But why were her hands trembling?

She took the letter and with the first few words let out a gasp, her eyes skimming the page.

Dear Mr Carter

It is with much regret we write to you…never happened before in our establishment…one of your embryos has been implanted into another client…this was only discovered when we went to destroy your embryos as previously agreed…unfortunately this coincided with our other client having a detailed scan of their baby…I would advise at this time you deal with our legal counsel…

* * *

Her head felt as if was swimming, treading water and trying frantically to keep above the surface. The words stuck in her throat. What could she even say? She couldn’t even begin to understand how he felt.

‘But how on earth did this happen? They have fail-safes for this.’

‘Human error.’ The words were practically spat out.

‘Poor woman…’ Lily’s voice trailed off.

‘What?’ Carter’s voice echoed around the truck.

Lily shook her head. ‘Do you know how hard it is to get pregnant with IVF? What’s her circumstances? She’s just found out she’s carrying someone else’s baby. A baby she probably has no legal rights to. How must she feel? How does her husband feel? Have you considered her at all?’

Carter shook his head. ‘I can’t believe your first thoughts are for her.’ He gritted his teeth. ‘This is my baby. My baby that has been wrongly implanted into someone else. My baby, my sperm.’

Lily shook her head. ‘It’s so much more than that.’ She waved the letter at him. ‘What does this mean? It says here your embryos were supposed to be “destroyed”,’ she raised her fingers in the air and made quotation mark signs.

Carter sighed. This was harder than he’d thought. He’d imagined meeting Lily and persuading her to stand next to him in court, with the hope of gaining custody of his baby. The last thing he’d expected was for her to go to bat for the opposition.

How could he expect her to understand? She looked as if children were the last thing on her mind. What kind of a woman drove a Ducati and spent her life doing parachute jumps? Was she really the best person to be standing in a courtroom next to him? Maybe his attorney had got it wrong. Maybe he would be better off on his own.

What on earth had made her donate her eggs? The thought pricked his mind. Maybe if he could get to the bottom of that, he would understand her a little better, and understand how she could help his case.

‘I didn’t have a choice about destroying the embryos. We’d had them fertilised purely for the purpose of using them in our marriage. My marriage was over—it wasn’t appropriate to use them now. That—and the fact I’ve no idea where Tabitha is.’

The penny dropped in Lily’s mind. ‘So I’m your back-up plan?’ She looked indignant.

Carter sighed and started the pick-up again, pulling onto the smooth freeway towards the hospital. Lily was going to be difficult. How on earth was he going to persuade her to help?

‘What made you be an egg donor?’ Maybe if he could distract her, turn the attention onto herself, it could work in his favour. Maybe if she remembered why she’d donated eggs in the first place, she might be more sympathetic to his plight.

Lily jerked in her seat, as if the question had caught her unawares. Her head went downwards, facing her lap. ‘It seemed like a good idea at the time. I had some student debts to pay. Ivy League colleges aren’t cheap.’

Carter resisted the urge to slam on the brakes. ‘You donated your eggs for money?’ This was even worse than he’d thought possible. A woman who donated eggs for money would never evoke the sympathy of the court.

‘Yes…and no. It’s private.’ Lily turned her head and looked out of the window at the passing traffic, clearly signalling the conversation was over.

But Carter was having none of it. ‘Well, since we selected you as our egg donor, I guess I feel I’m entitled to know. I need your help Lily. Right now, you’re probably the only person who can help me get my child back. I can’t find my ex-wife, so you’re the next best thing. I’m well aware you might not be interested in children, but I’d hoped, as an egg donor, you might be able to say something in my favour. Anything. That you donated your eggs to give childless couples like us a chance. That you believe in families as much as I do. That you know we were screened by the clinic and went through all the psychological profiling to ensure we were ready. Anything—but you did it for the money’

‘Don’t make it sound like that,’ she snapped.

‘Sound like what? You sold part of your body for profit?’

‘How dare you?’

‘Oh, I dare! I dare, because right now I see my chance to be a father floating out the window because some money-grabber won’t help me. I see my flesh and blood being brought up by complete strangers because of a human error.’ He thumped his hand on the steering-wheel. ‘This is my child. Mine. I want nothing more than to be a good father. Is that too much to ask in this life?’

Lily shrank back into her seat. This wasn’t going well at all. How could she explain to him why she’d done it? Who did this man think he was to ask her questions and stand in moral judgement over her? He had no right!

‘Listen, Mr Perfect. You track me down at an airfield and spring this on me. You distract me when I’m due to land and make me injure myself. You know nothing about me. Nothing. And I’m quite sure that there was a clause in the clinic’s agreement that said you couldn’t track me down—no matter what the reason. So, how dare you?’ Her voice rose in pitch. ‘How dare you think you have a right to stand in judgement over me? You’ve no idea what my reasons were for donating eggs and I’m sure as hell not going to tell you!’ She folded her arms firmly across her chest. ‘Now drop me off at the ER and leave me alone.’

‘Not a chance.’ The words came out like bullets from a gun.

Deep frown lines etched Lily’s head. She lifted her fingers and massaged the sides of her temples, taking a few deep breaths. ‘Do you know what, John Carter? I don’t need this right now. I don’t need the stress of this. I’m sorry. I’m sorry this has happened to you. But to be frank…’ she took a deep breath, because right now she’d nothing to lose ‘…if this is the way you spoke to your wife, I’m not surprised she’s currently MIA.’

Carter’s brow wrinkled. ‘MIA?’

‘Missing in action.’ Lily sighed.

A smile danced across Carter’s lips. He couldn’t help it. Her bolshiness amused him. She didn’t seem to care that right now he could throw open the door of the pick-up and leave her and her busted ankle stranded at the side of the road. She didn’t seem to know how to keep her mouth in check. She just said whatever she felt. And he liked that. He liked that a lot.

She stopped gazing at the freeway for a moment and stared at him again. ‘What’s with the super-dad clause anyway? Most young, handsome guys I know would run a mile from something like this. Most guys your age are out sowing their wild oats rather than trying to create their own personal football team. What gives?’

Carter’s head turned like a shot. ‘You think I’m handsome?’

‘Did I say that?’

‘Yes, you did.’ The smirk stretched over his face.

‘It’s the headache.’ She pressed her fingers to her temples again, then looked down towards the floor. ‘That, and the supposed broken ankle that I have.’ She glanced at the passing road signs. ‘How much longer till we get there?’

‘You didn’t answer the question. Do you think I’m handsome?’ He wasn’t letting her off that easily.

‘Let it go, John.’ She emphasized the word heavily, relying on the fact he’d remember they weren’t friends.

‘Why should I? It’s not every day I get called handsome.’ He signalled and shifted into the other lane of the freeway, getting ready to take the next exit road. ‘And I’m not trying to be super-dad. I’ve done the wild oats things, it bored me. The one thing I’ve always wanted was to have a family.’ He shrugged his shoulders. ‘What’s wrong with that?’ He shot her a cheeky glance. ‘Women don’t always get to have the monopoly on wanting a family and having a biological clock that ticks. I want to be young enough, and healthy enough, to play with my kids—not watch from the rocker on the porch.’

Lily gave an involuntary snigger. The image in her mind of an elderly and grey-haired John Carter sitting on his rocker on the porch was too much for her.

He pulled up outside the ER and reached into his pocket. ‘Now, whether you like it or not, I hate to break it to you…’ he glanced at his watch ‘…but as of approximately ten minutes ago I’m the orthopaedic surgeon on call today.’ He waved his pager at her. ‘So unless you want to go to the other side of the city, you’re going to have to let me treat you.’

Lily bit her lip. ‘I’m trying to shake you off, not form a permanent attachment to you.’

Carter swung his legs out of the truck and walked round, opening her door. ‘Oh, I think you’re already too late for that, missy.’

He pulled over a nearby wheelchair and helped her into it. ‘Do you want me to find you another doctor, Lily?’

She pretended to pause for a second, as if contemplating the idea, then shook her head. ‘There might be benefits to knowing the boss.’ She smiled. ‘You know, better menus, faster treatment.’ She lifted her hands again. ‘Something for a headache.’

Carter nodded and wheeled her inside, positioning her chair at the reception desk so she could give her details. He walked inside to the locker rooms and pulled on a set of scrubs and his coat, washing his hands at a nearby sink and squirting them with antibacterial scrub. By the time he came back out, his pager was sounding and Lily was being wheeled into a nearby cubicle by one of the nursing staff.

The nurse looked over, ‘Wow! That was fast. I just paged you.’

Carter smiled. ‘I’ve started picking up patients in the street and bringing them in with me.’ He nodded at Lily, before picking up her paperwork. ‘I’ve already examined Ms Grayson’s ankle, so I’m just going to send her through for an X-ray.’

‘It’s Saturday afternoon—there’s bound to be a queue,’ shot back the nurse.

‘That’s why I’m taking her myself,’ said Carter, as he caught the handles of her wheelchair and pushed her off in the opposite direction. ‘We’ll be back in ten minutes, Jan.’

The nurse shrugged her shoulders and wrote Lily’s name up on the nearby whiteboard. It was one less thing for her to do.

Ten minutes later Lily’s headache was getting worse. Carter had placed the film on the light box and the fracture was clear, even to a theatre nurse like her.

She groaned. ‘I was sure it was just sprained. This is a nightmare.’

Carter shot her a sympathetic look. ‘When was the last time you ate?’

‘What?’

‘Did you have lunch today at the airfield?’

Lily shook her head. ‘Last thing I had was breakfast this morning—around seven a.m. Why?’

‘Because I need to take you to Theatre.’ He pointed at the screen. ‘I’m hoping the bone will manipulate back into place, but if it doesn’t we might need to pin and plate it.’

Lily felt her stomach drop. She’d worked in Theatre long enough to know what was coming next. ‘And if you can manipulate it?’

‘Whether we manipulate back into place or pin and plate it, you’ll need a cast for around six weeks. First few weeks will have to be non-weight-bearing. If everything goes well, after that we might be able to give you a weight-bearing cast in three or four weeks.’

Lily groaned. ‘I can’t be off work for six weeks.’

‘Where do you work?’

Lily rolled her eyes. ‘Theatre, in the Western.’

Carter felt himself come to a complete halt. He had some really good friends who worked there. And who could probably give him a whole host of background information on Lily. ‘Have you always worked there?’ he queried. His mind was working overtime. When he’d tried to track down Lily, he’d known she was registered as a nurse but hadn’t realised she was so close. It could have saved him some precious time and expense.

Lily shook her head. ‘I’ve only worked there for the last six months. And you can imagine—as a theatre nurse, the last place on earth I want to be is inside a theatre.’

Carter shrugged, although he appreciated the sentiment. Hospitals weren’t his favourite places either. Working there was fine, but as a patient or a visitor? No, thanks.

‘It could be worse—you could be going to your own theatre. The place where you know which surgeons you’d never let operate on you, and which nurses you’d want nowhere near you in Recovery. At least here you don’t have any preconceived ideas.’

Lily grimaced. ‘I also don’t have any faith in the people who’ll be looking after me.’ She pointed upwards. ‘Let me see that X-ray for myself.’

Carter smiled. ‘What? You don’t trust me? You think I’ve just pencilled in a little fracture just for the sheer hell of it?’ He pulled the film from the light box and handed it down to her.

Lily frowned and held it up towards the nearby window. The fracture was definitely there. No matter which way she turned the X-ray. She sighed and handed the film back to Carter.

‘I’m not sure about you being my doctor.’

Carter looked at her steadily. ‘What, exactly, do you mean by that?’ Was she questioning his competence or his intentions? Either way, he didn’t intend to let her off with it.

There was a glint in her eye. ‘If you fix my ankle, then that’s all you do—fix my ankle. I don’t want to be held hostage here until I give in to your other demands—whatever they may be.’

Carter felt himself ready to explode, then he caught the smile stealing across her face. She was toying with him.

He sat down in the chair next to her and shot her a look of pure sincerity, ‘Are you questioning my integrity, Nurse Grayson? I am the only orthopod on call this weekend. I could happily leave your ankle until another doctor is on duty on Monday.’ His tone was teasing. A plan was beginning to formulate in his mind. Having Lily off her feet for six weeks might actually suit him, and his case, perfectly.

The last thing he wanted a judge to hear was that his egg donor was a crazy, fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants action junkie. Parachuting wasn’t her only unusual activity. The list the PI had given him had sent a shiver down his spine—free-climbing, bungee-jumping, waterskiing and cliff-diving—not least because he knew that at some point he’d tried most of those himself.

Under normal circumstances he might have relished the fact of meeting an adrenaline junkie like himself. But these weren’t normal circumstances. And an adrenaline junkie was the last thing he needed.

What he needed was a traditionalist.

And what he’d got was Lily Grayson. A headache waiting to happen.

Maybe he could keep her in a cast for even longer than six weeks. Long enough for her court appearances at his side, helping him build a case for his baby.

Lily gave him an impatient smile. ‘I don’t know what’s going on inside that head of yours, John Carter, but I don’t think I’m going to like it.’ She crossed her arms across her chest. ‘Not one bit.’

Carter stuck out his hand towards her. ‘At some point, Lily, we need to talk. But for now you’re my patient. Deal?’

She looked suspiciously at the extended hand in front of her. Large hands. Short, clean fingernails and an extremely steady hold.

She gave a quirky smile and stuck her tiny hand in his. ‘Deal, but thank goodness you’re not a gynaecologist.’

He looked bewildered. ‘What do you mean by that?’

She laughed. ‘If I have to explain that to you, cowboy, there’s something definitely wrong with this arrangement!’

He shook his head as the taunt finally registered in his brain. ‘I’m off to arrange Theatre for you.’ He looked at the clock. ‘Shouldn’t be more than an hour.’ He wagged a finger at her. ‘Don’t go anywhere.’

She raised her hands in exasperation. ‘As if I could!’ Then leaned back against the pillows. ‘And make it quick, John, because I’m starving!’

The words echoed in his ears as he strode down the corridor. Lily Grayson was going to be a challenge.

CHAPTER THREE

CARTER sat in the dimly lit room, slouched in one of the easy chairs, with his feet stretched out and resting on the bed in front of him.

Lily had proved troublesome. It was already getting to be a habit. But at least it had given him a chance to think.

How was he going to persuade the Dynamo to help him? The purple flight suit with neon pink writing was folded on the chair next to him. It represented her perfectly.

His attorney had been clear. Find her and persuade her to appear in court. Even though he was the genetic parent of this child, it wasn’t an automatic conclusion he would be awarded custody.

The whole situation was overwhelming.

If the truth be told, he’d always imagined the fairy-tale. The husband, the wife, the nice house and the kids. He’d thought Tabitha wanted that too. That’s why they’d created the embryos. And giving the clinic permission to destroy them had felt like the final nail in the coffin. His final failure. No wife. No kids. And no clue what to do next.

This whole thing confused him. At first he’d felt anger—been consumed with rage that such a mistake could be made. Then he’d been overcome with the emotions that this was his child. His flesh and blood.

But Lily’s words had surprised him. Her immediate thoughts had been for Olivia, the woman carrying his child. And they’d triggered a whole host of little voices in his head.

He’d been here all night because his patient had needed him. What would he do when he was a single parent with a baby at home? How would he cope with the long hours at work? He’d never considered anything like that. He’d always expected kids to be part of a partnership. He’d never really imagined that he would be doing this himself. Was he good enough? Was he ready?

Carter gave himself a shake. Other single parents managed. He had plenty of colleagues who managed to juggle their work commitments and childcare. He would manage too.

He looked at the sleeping figure on the bed, her chest rising and falling gently, her skin clear and unlined. To all intents and purposes, it was almost as if she didn’t have a care in the world.

Now he just had to persuade Lily to help him.

* * *

Lily woke up feeling groggy. Her eyes flickered open and her stomach grumbled loudly. She was utterly starving.

Something shifted at the side in her peripheral vision. A green set of scrubs, white coat and dark hair, coupled with a pair of long legs that were stretched out and resting at the bottom of her bed.

On a normal day, this might have been part of a pleasant daydream. But this wasn’t a normal day. She knew exactly why John Carter was here—and it was nothing to do with the underlying current between them.

‘What is this?’ she mumbled. ‘The local pit stop?’

Carter jerked to attention, pulling his legs down from the bed. The newspaper that was resting on his lap slid to the floor as he adjusted his rumpled clothing.

‘You’re awake. At last.’ He glanced at his watch.

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

He frowned at her. ‘When was the last time you had a general anaesthetic?’

She wrinkled her brow. ‘I’m not sure. I don’t know if I’ve ever had one.’

Carter leaned forward and touched her arm. ‘Well, just for future notice, Ms Grayson, you don’t react well to general anaesthetics. You managed to give us quite a scare.’

‘I did?’ Lily was confused. Something about this whole day didn’t seem quite right. The last thing she remembered she was being wheeled into Theatre and it was around four p.m. So why was the sun streaming through the windows like that?

‘What time is it?’ she asked, trying to make sense of her surroundings.

Carter didn’t need to look at his watch again. ‘It’s just before seven.’

‘In the evening?’ Surely the sun wasn’t that bright in the early evening?

He shook his head. ‘Nope. You’ve slept right through the night. No wonder your stomach is growling. Want me to get you something to eat?’

‘I slept right through?’ Lily shook her head. She couldn’t believe it. She worked in Theatre every day. Her procedure was a straightforward one. She should have been in and out in an hour.

She pushed herself up in the bed, feeling the restriction of the lightweight cast on her leg. ‘What on earth happened?’

Carter gave her a smile. He looked shattered. He must have stayed with her all night. He was still wearing yesterday’s scrubs and there was a faint hint of stubble around his chin.

‘You happened.’ He shook his head. ‘I don’t know why I’m surprised. You don’t seem to do anything like you should.’

Lily stared down at the lump under the covers. ‘Break it to me gently—am I going to spend the rest of my life setting off airport security alarms with my pin and plate?’

Carter smiled and shook his head. ‘A common misconception. Anyway, you didn’t need them, the bone manipulated back into place easily.’ The glint appeared in his eye again. ‘At least one part of you is co-operative.’

Lily rolled her eyes. ‘Ha-ha.’ Her stomach grumbled loudly again. ‘Make yourself useful,’ she grumbled, ‘and get me some tea and toast.’ She looked up at the bag of IV fluids hanging above her and irritating the vein in her wrist. ‘I want to get these down as soon as possible.’

He nodded and picked the newspaper off the floor, placing it on his chair as he walked over to the doorway and spoke to one of the nursing aides.

The headline was screaming at her: EMBRYO MIX-UP, DISASTER AT SAN FRANCISCO CLINIC.

She felt her stomach turn over as small pieces of yesterday started to fall into place.

She picked up the paper. ‘Lily…’ he started.

‘Shh.’ She put her finger to her lips and started to read.

The words were every bit as bad as she feared.

* * *

Disaster has struck at a local and usually highly regarded fertility clinic in San Francisco. Olivia Simpson and her husband had stored embryos after his diagnosis with cancer. Mr Simpson died three years ago and his wife recently underwent embryo implantation to fulfil their dreams of a family. Imagine her horror when a detailed scan revealed the child she was carrying could not possibly be her husband’s. Dr John Carter and his wife Tabitha had stored embryos using an egg donor. These embryos were due to be destroyed after the breakdown of their marriage. Instead Dr Carter was notified via the clinic’s attorney that another woman was now carrying his child.

A spokesperson from the clinic said, ‘We are devastated by these events. We have procedures and protocols in place to ensure careful handling of all embryos. Never, in the history of our clinic, have we ever had any incidents like this. Our thoughts are, at present, with the individuals affected by this event. Our attorneys are dealing with our clients in the most sensitive way they can. Olivia Simpson is distraught. She had expected this baby to be a lasting legacy to her husband, and Dr Carter has already expressed his intention to gain custody of his child.’

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