Caroline Anderson - Bound By Their Babies - Bound by Their Babies

About the Authors

CAROLINE ANDERSONis a matriarch, writer, armchair gardener, unofficial tearoom researcher and eater of lovely cakes. Not necessarily in that order! What Caroline loves : her family. Her friends. Reading. Writing contemporary love stories. Hearing from readers. Walks by the sea with coffee/ice cream/cake thrown in! Torrential rain. Sunshine in spring/autumn. What Caroline hates : losing her pets. Fighting with her family. Cold weather. Hot weather. Computers. Clothes shopping. Caroline’s plans : keep smiling and writing!

Born and raised just outside Toronto, Ontario, AMY RUTTANfled the big city to settle down with the country boy of her dreams. After the birth of her second child Amy was lucky enough to realise her lifelong dream of becoming a romance author. When she’s not furiously typing away at her computer she’s mum to three wonderful children who use her as a personal taxi and chef.

Also By Caroline Anderson

The Valtieri Baby

Snowed in with the Billionaire

Yoxburgh Park Hospital miniseries

From Christmas to Eternity

The Secret in His Heart

Risk of a Lifetime

Best Friend to Wife and Mother?

Their Meant-to-Be Baby

The Midwife’s Longed-for Baby

Bound by Their Babies

Also By Amy Ruttan

Perfect Rivals…

Tempting Nashville’s Celebrity Doc

Unwrapped by the Duke

Alejandro’s Sexy Secret

His Pregnant Royal Bride

Convenient Marriage, Surprise Twins

Navy Doc on Her Christmas List

The Surgeon King’s Secret Baby

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

Bound by Their Babies

Caroline Anderson

A Mummy for His Daughter

Amy Ruttan

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-09570-9

BOUND BY THEIR BABIES & A MUMMY FOR HIS DAUGHTER

Bound by Their Babies © 2018 Caroline Anderson A Mummy for His Daughter © 2018 Amy Ruttan

Published in Great Britain 2018

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

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www.millsandboon.co.uk

Cover

About the Authors

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Bound by Their Babies

Back Cover Text

Dedication

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

A Mummy for His Daughter

Back Cover Text

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

About the Publisher

Bound by Their Babies

Caroline Anderson

Best friends, single parents...

Now they need each other like never before!

Obstetricians Jake and Emily have supported each other through tough times. But when they both become single parents, there’s only one solution—move in together and share the job and the childcare! Only, the secret desires they’ve held for each other become very tough to hide. But would revealing their love risk their friendship—or answer their dreams?

Special thanks to the Gibbs family, who were inadvertently so helpful with the medical elements. I’m so glad it all went well in the end!

And huge thanks to my daughter Sarah for the excellent source material in the form of her four delightful and often hilarious young children, who help me to remember just how challenging parenting can be!

I love you all. xxx

PROLOGUE

June

‘HI, EM. I’VE just come out of Theatre and found two missed calls, and I tried the house phone and got no reply. Where are you? Are you OK?’

Jake heard a soft laugh, then a little gasp, and his pulse shifted a notch.

‘Em? Talk to me!’

‘I’m in labour, but I can’t do this. I need you, Jake...’ Another little gasp. ‘I’m in Maternity Reception—’

She broke off breathlessly, the contraction obviously peaking, and his heart went into overdrive.

‘I’ll be right there,’ he promised, and sliding his phone back into his pocket, he told a colleague to page the registrar to take over from him and headed for the lift at a run, his heart hammering.

Crazy. There was no reason for him to react like this. He was an obstetrician, for heaven’s sake! He spent his life surrounded by women in labour, but this was different. This was Emily, his dearest, oldest, closest friend, and he’d promised he’d be there for her. Not as an obstetrician but as her birth partner, and that was much harder because it wasn’t his place to be there, it was Pete’s.

But Pete, her husband of eleven years, the father of her baby, couldn’t be here with her today or any other day. The man who’d had everything any man could want—everything he himself wanted—had lost it all for ever in a cruel twist of fate, and now all Emily had was Jake.

How could he possibly take Pete’s place?

The lift was on a go-slow, and he drummed his fingers on the door, wishing he’d taken the stairs. Come on, come on...

The doors finally hissed open, and there she was, leaning against the window opposite and breathing with soft, light huffs.

‘I’m here, Em, I’ve got you,’ he murmured, and laid his hand on the small of her back and rubbed firmly, and she moaned softly and leant into him, rocking from foot to foot as he stared out into the darkness and waited for the contraction to ease.

The first hint of dawn was just appearing on the horizon, a thin sliver of grey pushing back the night. New day, new life...

‘How are you doing?’ he asked, when the huffing stopped and she straightened up.

‘Awful.’ She turned and met his eyes, her own pinched with fear as she took his hands and hung on. ‘It’s not due for two weeks, how can I be in labour? I’m just not ready, Jake.’