Leah Martyn - A Mother for His Baby

‘Jo will look after you now,’ she heard Angelo say, and then Brady had taken a step inside.

Jo turned to face him, her arms linked defensively across her midriff. She blinked, and something shifted inside her as she took in the tender picture of Brady and his infant son.

He held him close, tucked into the crook of his arm, one large, masculine hand cradling his son’s tiny feet. And they looked so right together. Already a family. Jo felt a wash of emotion she couldn’t explain.

‘Jo.’ Brady’s mouth made a brief twist of acknowledgment.

‘Hello, Brady.’

BACHELOR DADS

Single Doctor…Single Father!

At work they are skilled medical professionals, but at home, as soon as they walk in the door, these eligible bachelors are on full-time fatherhood duty!

These devoted dads still find room in their lives for love…

It takes very special women to win the hearts of these dedicated doctors, and a very special kind of caring to make these single fathers full-time husbands!

Leah Martyn

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

Chapter Thirteen

Leah Martynloves to create warm, believable characters for the Medical Romance™ series. She is grounded firmly in rural Australia, and the special qualities of the bush are reflected in her stories. For plots and possibilities, she bounces ideas off her husband on their early-morning walks. Browsing in bookshops and buying an armful of new releases is high on her list of enjoyable things to do.

Recent titles by the same author:

DR CHRISTIE’S BRIDE

THE BUSH DOCTOR’S RESCUE

CHRISTMAS IN THE OUTBACK

THE DOCTOR’S MARRIAGE

For Marina

CHAPTER ONE

‘I FORGOT to ask.’ Jo stopped abruptly and caught Fliss’s arm. ‘Who’s the best man?’

‘Brady McNeal. Friend of the groom. He’s a doctor.’

‘At least half the wedding guests are,’ Jo said with pithy humour. ‘Is he local?’

‘McNeal? Don’t think so. Someone said he’s just arrived back from overseas. If you’d been at Sophie’s hen party you’d have heard all about him.’

‘Well, if I hadn’t been on holidays I would have been there.’

‘Our little gang of three is breaking up, isn’t it?’ Fliss sounded a note of regret. ‘Seems only last week when we graduated. And now Soph and Ben are relocating to Sydney, you’re stuck in your rural practice at Mt Pryde and I’m the only one left here.’

‘Hey, you, don’t get maudlin.’ Jo gave Fliss’s shoulder a little squeeze. ‘We’ll have to organise a regular get-together or something.’

Fliss’s face lit up. ‘We could do that, couldn’t we? Either in Sydney or here in Brisbane.’

‘Or you could both come to me.’

Fliss rolled her eyes.

‘For heaven’s sake!’ Jo remonstrated laughingly. ‘Mt Pryde is barely a two-hour drive from the city’.

‘Honey, two minutes from the city and I get withdrawal symptoms. The sticks aren’t for me. But I know you love it there,’ Fliss placated her friend quickly. ‘I just don’t know what on earth you find to do . And how could you possibly meet any men!’

Jo shook her head, giving the silk wrap over her bare shoulders a little straightening twitch. They’d been down this road a dozen times. Fliss loved the buzz of working in a state-of-the-art city clinic where they specialised in sports medicine, while she herself relished the grass-roots nature of medicine in a country practice where everyone knew the doctors and the doctors knew one another’s patients almost as well as their own families.

‘Oh, look!’ Fliss gave a muted squeal. ‘Here’s the bride now. Oh, bless…Doesn’t she look gorgeous?’

‘Yes.’ Jo’s reply was soft but heartfelt as she watched Sophie, on the arm of her father, moving slowly towards them along the paved walkway for her wedding to her soul-mate, Ben Landers.

Would she ever be so lucky? Jo wondered. At thirty-two she’d had several relationships but they hadn’t lasted and she certainly hadn’t met a man she’d wanted to spend the rest of her life with, laugh with, have babies with. But Sophie and Ben had it all.

‘Let’s get a bit closer.’ Fliss hooked her arm through Jo’s and manoeuvred them to within smiling distance of the groom and his best man, who were standing with the marriage celebrant against the backdrop of rainforest in the Brisbane botanic gardens.

Seeing them, Ben grinned and mock-swiped his brow in a thank heavens she’s here kind of gesture.

‘As if ,’ Fliss mouthed, and made a small face back at the bridegroom.

Jo caught none of the interplay between the two. Her eyes were riveted on the best man. Brady McNeal was all male. Impressive height with broad shoulders delineated by the superbly cut charcoal suit. And not bad-looking either.

There was a moment when he turned his dark head towards Jo and smiled. A smile that was wry, slightly lopsided, and was gone in a blink.

The fact that it sent slivers of warmth to every corner of her body was immaterial. Jo dipped her head, convinced her cheeks were on fire and thanking heaven no one had noticed. Instead, all eyes were on the bride as she took her place beside her groom and slipped her hand into his.

* * *

‘Wasn’t it a lovely ceremony?’ Fliss sighed. ‘I think I’d like something just like that.’

‘Someone in mind?’ Jo said jokingly, as they trotted along on their higher than high heels up the street towards the restaurant where the reception was to be held.

‘Mind your own, Josephine.’

‘So there is!’ Jo dug her friend in the ribs. ‘You drama queen. Who is he?’

‘Daniel,’ Fliss said airily. ‘He’s a pilot.’

‘Well that makes a change. Why isn’t he with you?’

‘He’s overnighting to Perth or he would have been.’

‘Oh, well, that just leaves me unattached,’ Jo said philosophically.

Fliss sent her an arch look. ‘Plenty of eye candy amongst the guest list, babe. What about Brady McNeal?’

Jo felt heat scorch her cheeks. ‘Don’t be daft.’

‘According to the goss, he’s single.’ Fliss waggled well-shaped brows suggestively.

‘And I’ll be miles away from here by this time tomorrow,’ Jo pointed out in exasperation. ‘Get real.’

‘She who hesitates…’ Fliss trilled.

‘Oh, ha,’ Jo said in a bored voice. ‘Look, here we are.’ Grabbing Fliss by the elbow, she steered them off the street into the up-market restaurant.

* * *

Brady McNeal looked around him. The reception was in full swing, the hum of conversation filling the small, intimate restaurant. It had been a nice wedding and he’d enjoyed himself more than he’d expected to.

He hadn’t really known anyone except Ben. And Sophie he’d met only recently. But they’d managed to sort him out and he’d met most of their friends—except the cool-looking blonde he’d made eye contact with in the gardens.

When Sophie had dragged him over to their table to ‘meet the guys’ as she’d termed it, the blonde had been at another table, in a huddle with Sophie’s parents and with her back to him.

Well, what did it matter anyway? He was miles away from pursuing a new relationship. That possibility had gone out the window months ago. When Tanya had simply walked away from him.