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The Accidental Daddy
Meredith Webber
‘You’re having my baby!’When Dr Max Winthrop is told he’s going to be a father, he never thinks he’ll have to share this news with the mother! But after a mix-up at the IVF clinic it’s up to Max to tell unsuspecting paediatrician Joey McMillan that she’s carrying his child!Max hadn’t expected to be a daddy right now – especially by accident – but getting to know beautiful Joey opens his eyes to the possibilities of being more than just a parent…maybe even a husband!
Praise for Meredith Webber: (#u9cf347f8-25e4-573d-89fe-372ef4a2e333)
‘Medical Romance™ favourite Meredith Webber has penned a spellbinding and moving tale set under the hot desert sun!’
—Cataromance on THE DESERT PRINCE’S CONVENIENT BRIDE
‘Medical Romance
favourite Meredith Webber has written an outstanding romantic tale that I devoured in a single sitting—moving, engrossing, romantic and absolutely unputdownable! Ms Webber peppers her story with plenty of drama, emotion and passion, and she will keep her readers entranced until the final page.’ —Cataromance on A PREGNANT NURSE’S CHRISTMAS WISH
‘Meredith Webber does a beautiful job as she crafts one of the most unique romances I’ve read in a while. Reading a tale by Meredith Webber is always a pleasure, and THE HEART SURGEON’S BABY SURPRISE is no exception!’
—Book Illuminations
He took her hands, both hands—and even in her panicky state she felt a shiver of reaction. He turned them in his before looking into her eyes.
‘Look …’ he finally said. ‘I haven’t the faintest clue how to tell you this, but the clinic said they would contact you and as far as I can see that would be a disaster. Maybe it’s a disaster anyway, but at least now you’ll see exactly what’s happened. You deserve to know and I need to tell you.’
He wasn’t making any sense but he did seem genuinely concerned—which, together with his talk of the clinic, had the nerves in Joey’s tummy heading straight for riot mode.
‘Perhaps you could just blurt it out?’ she suggested as the tension in the air between them reached seismic proportions.
Just blurt it out? That’s rich! Max thought to himself. Here’s this stunning woman, ready to pop any minute, and a total stranger walks in …
‘The thing is,’ he said, as thoughts of the baby reminded him of his mission. And of the mess they were in!
‘The thing is …?’ she prompted—reasonably gently, considering his eruption into her life and the tension she must be feeling. To make matters worse, she then turned towards him and reached out to rest one hand on his.
‘Oh, the Devil take it all!’ he muttered, turning his hand so he could hold on to hers. ‘The thing is you’re having my baby!’
Dear Reader (#u9cf347f8-25e4-573d-89fe-372ef4a2e333)
In the early stages of writing this book I met a remarkable woman—Alison Ray. Alison isn’t a multi-millionaire philanthropist, or a corporation with money to give away, but on a trip to Africa she saw a need—and from a smallish town in central Queensland, on the edge of the Outback, she set out to do something about it.
When Alison spoke to me of Chainda, a settlement outside Lusaka in Zambia with 26,000 inhabitants, seven thousand of whom are orphans or other vulnerable children, I realised for the first time just how devastating the Aids epidemic was. Seven thousand orphans, or children whose grandparents or other carers are becoming too old or sick or frail to care for them … The number staggered me. So did Alison’s drive and tenacity.
She began small, raising money locally, then found a group of helpers willing to form a committee and from there registered a charity, calling it Our Rainbow House, because eventually what the group hopes to do is provide a safe haven for at least some of these children. Already the group has done a lot with their early programmes, and now has a teacher and a small school for forty-four of the children. But there is so much more left to do. You can read about the organisation, the settlement and the children on www.ourrainbowhouse.org.au (http://www.ourrainbowhouse.org.au) and follow them on Facebook. I’m sure you’ll be as inspired as I was by this very special woman.
There is a programme underway to vaccinate healthy young men and women in an attempt to halt the spread of Aids in Africa, but this is happening in Uganda and Kenya, so in this book—right near the end—I sent Max off to Zambia to do it there. Writers are allowed to make things up!
All the best
Meredith
MEREDITH WEBBER says of herself, ‘Once I read an article which suggested that Mills & Boon
were looking for new Medical Romance™ authors. I had one of those “I can do that” moments, and gave it a try. What began as a challenge has become an obsession—though I do temper the “butt on seat” career of writing with dirty but healthy outdoor pursuits, fossicking through the Australian Outback in search of gold or opals. Having had some success in all of these endeavours, I now consider I’ve found the perfect lifestyle.’
The Accidental
Daddy
Meredith Webber
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Dedication (#u9cf347f8-25e4-573d-89fe-372ef4a2e333)
With many thanks to the incomparable Marion Lennox, without whose advice and encouragement this book would never have been finished.
Table of Contents
Cover (#u6f2b1f73-ec7c-50c3-8ecb-abf72e36e5f5)
Praise for Meredith Webber:
Excerpt (#udfec0207-1f23-5bff-8d7d-6412816a8fb8)
Dear Reader
About the Author (#u4e82cc49-5a94-5fd2-8c93-0849013be50f)
Title Page (#u552a47e7-7cf9-5916-a733-b95a8b9bce7f)
Dedication
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
EPILOGUE
Endpages (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ONE (#ulink_85c9fa11-a311-5f29-a092-102ad8d0999f)
‘YOU MIGHT ALREADY be a father!’
Shock held Max Winthrop rooted to his chair, staring at his friend and fellow doctor in total disbelief.
Less than thirty minutes ago he’d stood outside the IVF clinic, trying to work out how he felt.
Uncertain?
Angsty?
Heaven help him, was there even such a word?
Get on with it, he’d told himself. You’ve made the decision, now walk in there and see Pete.
But there he’d stood, his mind flashing back seven years …
Seven years ago, filled with determination to beat a recently diagnosed cancer, he’d left something of himself here—a deposit for the future.
Back then it had been Step One of his ‘positive action’ programme, coming right before Step Two—Begin Aggressive Treatment.
Step Three had been Finish Treatment, followed closely by Step Four, Climb Mount Everest.
It hadn’t been a bad plan for a bloke in his mid-twenties who’d suddenly discovered he had an aggressive form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and although his then fiancée had muttered a few doubts about Step Four on the plan, she’d agreed that he needed something special in the way of a goal.
He suspected Get Married had been her choice for ‘something special,’ although it had never been put into words.
Now, two fiancées and some serious life changes later, he’d decided the time had come to have his frozen sperm destroyed.
‘Why now?’ his friend Pete had asked when Max had finally made it in through the door.
Seven years ago Max had decided to use this particular facility because his friend Pete was working in the clinic.
Pete was now one of the co-owners, and a good part of the reason the clinic had become extremely successful in the competitive world of assisted pregnancies.
‘Why now?’ Pete asked again.
‘You should know that,’ Max finally answered. ‘You’re the one who told me it loses its motility the longer it’s kept frozen.’
‘So you’ve had a test and your little swimmers are okay?’ Pete probed.
‘Not exactly,’ he replied, ‘but if I do happen to find a woman who’ll have me, then I’ll tell her the risks and we’ll take our chances.’
‘Get tested first. I can do it here and now. Or get it done.’
‘Thanks, but no thanks,’ Max said firmly. It made no difference now. Regardless, he wouldn’t be taking changes with long-frozen sperm. Besides, he’d spent the last few months debating this in his head, weighing up the pros and cons of future marriage, accepting, finally, that the women in his life were probably right. He wasn’t good marriage material.
Or family material.
Father material …
This last bit of the argument was the strongest, coming as it did from his own memories—the memory of the child he’d been when his adored father had left the family. It had been the final weight added to the ‘con’ side—the catalyst for this final decision. At times he still felt the pain of that time—and to inflict that on another child?
His child?
Maybe he wasn’t sure. Maybe that was why he’d rushed into preserving sperm before treatment all those years ago, but the years had made him even less certain he could cope with fatherhood. This final act was simply admitting it.
‘I’ve made the decision, Pete,’ Max added. ‘I want it destroyed.’
Pete shrugged, woken the laptop on his desk from its sleep and begun typing, sending a message to a printer somewhere in the bowels of the building.
He then used his phone to summon a lackey—a very attractive female lackey.
‘Jess, would you make sure someone in the cryo room gets the details on that printout I just sent through; then rustle up some coffee? Preferences, Max?’
Max gave his coffee order, then watched the delectable Jess leave the room.
‘Eyes off, old man,’ Pete said to him. ‘She’s engaged to one of our new staff members—a genius who’s going to make this company famous worldwide. Although …’
He paused, studying Max as if he were a newly inseminated egg.
‘Again, I have to ask, are you sure about this decision?’
Max had to laugh.
‘Just because I’ve decided marriage and children aren’t for me, it doesn’t mean I’ve become a monk. You’re a happily married man so you’ve no idea how many intelligent, attractive women there are out there who feel just as I do. They’ve decided, carefully and rationally, that marriage isn’t for them, but they’re happy to have no-strings relationships with men who feel the same.’
Pete nodded.
‘Not surprised at all,’ he said. ‘We’ve a couple of them working here. Women who love their work, enjoy their leisure time in all manner of ways and just don’t see marriage or kids as an imperative in their lives.’
Jess returned with the two coffees and a plate of wafer-thin almond biscotti. She put the tray on table by the window, assured Pete someone was working on his request and departed once again.
Max picked up his coffee, while Pete studied a message that had obviously come through on his mobile.
‘Drink your coffee, I’ll be back in a minute,’ he said, as he headed out the door.
