Scarlet Wilson - The Boy Who Made Them Love Again

For a second, just for the tiniest second, a wild thought flitted through his brain. He tried to approximate Reuben’s age. Was he around four? Could, by some miracle, Reuben be his?

Almost as soon as the thought appeared, he shook it off. He was infertile. Tests had shown beyond any doubt that he was infertile. Reuben could never be his child. So whose child was he? And just how quickly had Abby moved on?

He cleared his throat, attracting her attention. ‘You have a son.’

‘Yes, yes I do.’ Abby turned Reuben around in her lap to face Luke with a proud smile on her face. ‘Reuben, this is Mommy’s friend. He’s called Luke and he’s a doctor—like Mommy.’

Luke watched the little figure Abby had clutched closely to her chest. His heart was beating frantically. “Pleased to meet you, Reuben.” He held his hand out to the little guy.

“How old is Reuben, Abby?

“He’s four,” she answered quickly.

Four. A new sensation flitted through him. She’d replaced him almost instantly.

Fury started to build inside him. All rational thought was leaving the building. He was infertile. He couldn’t have kids. That was the reason he’d broken up with her—because he couldn’t fulfil her dreams of having a family. And he hadn’t wanted to make her lose that chance.

And she obviously hadn’t. Abby had moved on and had the family she deserved. So why did it hurt so much?

Dear Reader

Do you remember ‘the one that got away’? Everyone apparently has one and that’s what this story is all about. Luke Storm and Abby Tyler have both taken different paths in life, but a set of extraordinary circumstances brings them together again and makes them realise what they’ve lost. However five years is a long time and the circumstances of both have changed, can they really rekindle what they had? As in any good medical romance the path of true love doesn’t run smoothly!

This is my second book for Mills & Boon Medical ™Romance and I’m still very new and excited about being part of this line. One thing I’ve always loved about the medical romance line is the wide range of professions and settings that can be used. There is always the challenge of trying to find something that hasn’t been used before and I relished the opportunity of setting this story around the White House Medical Service and their staff.

Please let me know what you think at www.scarlet-wilson.com

Many thanks

Scarlet

Scarlet Wilsonwrote 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 currently works in public health. For her, finding Medical ™Romance 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.

Check out Scarlet’s fantastic debut

IT STARTED WITH A PREGNANCY

The Boy Who

Made Them

Love Again

Scarlet Wilson

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Epilogue

This book is dedicated to my mum and dad,

Joanne Barrie Wilson and John Niven Wilson,

who are, in fact, the best mum and dad in

the world. They’ve raised three daughters

who love them very much and cared for

and nurtured six grandchildren with

endless patience. Whenever either of my sons

come out with a ‘fascinating fact’

I know where it came from!

IF ABBY TYLER had known how the day was going to end she might not have got out of bed that day.

As it was, she leaned back in her chair, arched her back and then did something that she never did—put her feet up on the desk. Pelican Cove was quieter than quiet. She hadn’t treated a patient in the last hour.

She took a sip of the strong, dark coffee she’d just made and nibbled on one of the nearby home-made oatmeal and raisin cookies. She gave a huge sigh and smiled over at one of the nearby nurses. ‘Nancy, you make the best cookies.’ Abby closed her eyes for a second. Recovery time. Reuben had woken at three a.m. and came through to tell her a story. The story had lasted the best part of an hour and had been full of animal noises and hand gestures. It seemed as though she’d been blessed with a child who didn’t require much sleep. Through her heavy lids she could see the rest of the emergency-room staff giving her knowing nods and moving off to the far end of the reception desk. The staff here were a great, tight-knit team with a real community approach.

As an emergency-care paediatric physician Abby loved the twelve weeks a year that she covered in the community hospital—in fact, it was one of the reasons that she’d taken the job. San Francisco was much more frantic. This gave her the opportunity to do some much-needed paediatric outpatient clinics and practise emergency medicine.

There was a screech of tyres outside. It startled her, breaking her from the easing, gentle lullaby that had been repeating in her head. Seconds later a pair of heavy feet pounded inside. The dark business suit, crisp white shirt, flash red tie and shock of white-blond hair drew the immediate attention of the surrounding staff.

Abby blinked. Twice. Before breaking into a lazy smile and brushing the cookie crumbs from her scrubs. ‘Luke Storm. I always knew some day you’d come walking back through my door. I never doubted that. Something made it inevitable.’ The words were out of her mouth in an instant. An automatic natural reaction to him, adapted from a film they’d watched together as med students. She ran her eyes up and down his muscular frame. Still every bit the male model. ‘So what can I do for you?’

‘You can take your feet off the desk for a start.’

‘Excuse me?’

‘I take it you work here?’

Abby gestured to the white board on the wall with her name on it. ‘I take it I do,’ she answered calmly, refusing to let him rile her.

‘What facilities do you have for premies?’

That got her attention. ‘What?’ She pulled her feet off the desk and stood up. ‘What on earth are you talking about?’

‘I don’t have time for a debate, Abby. I need to know if you can deal with a premature delivery or not. And I need to know now .’

Abby watched in disbelief as her calm emergency unit was instantly transformed into a scene of chaos. Half a dozen dark-suited men, some with obvious bulges in their jackets, swarmed through the doors and immediately started covering exits whilst muttering into small silver dots on their lapels and holding their earpieces. ‘What on earth…?’

Luke grabbed hold of her arm. ‘What facilities do you have, Abby?’

Abby shrugged her arm from his firm grasp. Her brain shifting sharply into focus. ‘This is a small 25-bed acute-care hospital, Luke. It’s mainly used for routine surgeries and outpatient consultations. We have this emergency department and we have equipment for emergency deliveries but we only have one neonate cot. Once stabilised we tend to transfer to San Francisco Children’s Hospital.’