Jacqueline Diamond - The Baby Bonanza

“You do that and you’ll never see your great-niece again,” Jack retorted. He spoiled the effect by adding, “Will he, cutie?” apparently addressing the newborn.

Zora lumbered to her feet. She was missing all the fun and worrying for nothing.

Probably.

Chapter Three Contents Cover Introduction “If you apologize again, I’ll slug you.” Zora glared at Lucky. He laughed, an unexpected rumble that rolled right into her heart. “That’s my Zora.” A bout of hard breathing reawakened the hope he might finally kiss her, but instead he sucked in a gulp of air and held it. “Okay. Better.” “Better than what?” He ignored the question. “Since I inveigled you into working today, let me buy you lunch to celebrate.” “You’re on.” The heat in her body hadn’t exactly dissipated, but it had faded into her normal pregnancy-enhanced high temperature. As for Lucky, clearly he didn’t, couldn’t and never would accept Andrew’s babies as his own. As common sense reasserted itself, Zora was suddenly glad nothing had happened. Going any further would have been yet another in a long line of mistakes she’d made with men. Gathering her possessions, she waited until Lucky locked up, and they sauntered out together. Friends again, nothing more. Which was obviously how they both preferred it. Title Page The Baby Bonanza Jacqueline Diamond www.millsandboon.co.uk About the Author The daughter of a doctor and an artist, JACQUELINE DIAMOND has been drawn to medical themes for many of her more than ninety-five published novels, including her Safe Harbor Medical series for Mills & Boon. She developed an interest in fertility issues after successfully undergoing treatment to have her two sons, now in their twenties. A former Associated Press reporter and columnist, Jackie lives with her husband of thirty-five years in Orange County, California, where she’s active in Romance Writers of America. You can learn more about her books at www.jacquelinediamond.com/books and say hello to Jackie on her Facebook page, JacquelineDiamondAuthor . 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 Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Extract Copyright

Feeling miles from the festivities in the den, Lucky struggled to concentrate on Cole’s account. He kept wishing that, if he focused hard enough, the results would be more encouraging.

“The new stent won’t fix what’s wrong with Vince Adams.” The slightly built doctor ran a hand through his rumpled brown hair.

“Are you certain?” Lucky pressed.

Cole nodded. “It won’t do anything for a patient who has that much scar tissue.”

During the summer, Cole had used the latest microsurgical techniques in an unsuccessful attempt to open the billionaire’s blocked sperm ducts. As the office nurse, Lucky hadn’t assisted at the operation, but he’d read the follow-up report. The procedure hadn’t been able to reverse the extensive damage left by a long-ago infection.

However, Vince continued to press them for options. Cole had told him about a new dissolvable, medicine-infused stent, and Vince had been excited that Cole would get an advance preview of the device. “We have the world’s top urologist right here,” the millionaire had trumpeted. “And I’ll be the first guy he cures.”

The higher the hopes, the harder the fall.

“Do you think his interest in Safe Harbor is entirely based on restoring his fertility?” Lucky asked.

“It’s hard to say,” Cole replied. “His intentions tend to shift with his emotional state.”

A private equity investor, Vince Adams was powerful and rich. But wealth hadn’t compensated for his inability to sire children. Over the years, he’d paid dearly for treatments without success, and others had paid dearly for his desire for fatherhood.

After several turbulent and childless marriages, Vince had wed a woman with two young daughters. Determined to adopt them, he had used his financial clout to overwhelm Portia’s first husband in court.

The man he’d gleefully trounced was Lucky’s housemate, Rod Vintner, who’d faced a doubly devastating loss. First, during his divorce, he’d learned that his daughters were actually the genetic offspring of his unfaithful wife’s previous lover, now out of the picture. Second, Rod had been outspent and outmaneuvered fighting for joint custody.

For years, he’d been forbidden to talk or even write to his daughters, who lived a ninety-minute drive away, in San Diego. Then, earlier this year, the older girl had run away from home. The twelve-year-old had contacted Rod, who’d enlisted the aid of the girls’ maternal grandmother here in Safe Harbor.

Although officially Rod was still banned, Grandma Helen had arranged for Tiffany—now thirteen—and her younger sister to visit her more often. Whenever possible, she let them meet with Rod, and, faced with Tiffany’s threats to run away again, the Adamses pretended not to notice.

Vince’s search for fertility, however, provided him with another avenue for keeping Rod in line. While Vince’s interest in the hospital stemmed in large part from his discovery that one of the world’s foremost urologists had joined the staff, it also ensured that Rod didn’t dare become too much of an annoyance. An anesthesiologist would be a lot easier for the hospital to replace than a billionaire donor.

Lucky hated that the staff had to curry favor with Vince. Still, he felt compassion for a man desperate to produce a baby. The billionaire’s motives might be self-serving, but his comments had made it clear that he would treasure his child. As long as parents offered a loving, secure home, it wasn’t anyone else’s right to pass judgment.

However, if Cole couldn’t help him, it seemed likely Vince wouldn’t follow through on his major donation. “Suppose he drops us,” Lucky said. “Surely there are others we could approach.”

“The world is full of rich people, but Safe Harbor tends to lose out to more prestigious institutions,” Cole responded. “I admit, Luke, being at the conference whetted my appetite for better research facilities, more lab space and money for fellowships. In fact, I received three excellent offers to relocate.”

Lucky’s heart nearly skipped a beat. “You’d take another position?”

Alarm flitted across the doctor’s face. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

Nevertheless, he had said it. “If you go, the program will never recover.” Neither will I. On many levels.

At a burst of laughter from the other room, Lucky flinched. His friends had no idea that he was standing here with the ground crumbling beneath his feet.

Cole’s brow furrowed. “I joined Safe Harbor with the intention of building a standout program. Although I’m no longer sure that will be possible, this is my wife’s home, and mine, too. I haven’t given up yet.” But there was no mistaking his distress.

“Nothing else at the conference might be useful?”

“I’m afraid not. Perhaps we should suggest Mr. Adams cancel next Saturday’s appointment and save himself a trip.” The billionaire tended to arrive with plenty of pomp and circumstance by private plane or helicopter. On other occasions, Vince roared up the coast in a high-performance car that cost as much as many houses.

If only Lucky could find a solution, for his sake and for his doctor’s. It would also be important to the medical center to achieve its goal of becoming a major player in the fertility field. Major gifts attracted additional donors; a lack of progress might, by contrast, eventually consign Safe Harbor to secondary status. And this place had been good to Lucky when he’d needed help the most.