Laura Iding - The Surgeon's Secret Baby Wish

Naomi stared down at the white test strip, hardly able to believe what she was seeing.

She blinked, several times, but this wasn’t a dream. No matter how long she gazed at the test strip, the red plus sign remained clear as day.

Stunned, she tried to wrap her mind around the news. How could this have happened? Their protection had only failed once. The timing hadn’t been right. And even if the timing had been right, her doctor had explained about the scar tissue and how it would impact her ability of getting pregnant.

With all the strikes against her, how could she have gotten pregnant at the wrong time?

She swallowed hard, putting a hand to her stomach. The overwhelming exhaustion. The never-ending nausea. The constant going to the bathroom.

Everything made sense now.

This baby was a miracle. Despite her upset stomach, she grinned like a fool. A true miracle. The thrill of excitement faded.

Rick. How on earth was she going to tell him?

Her knees gave out and she sat down, feeling dizzy. After the way they’d parted in Chicago, she didn’t think he’d take the news well. He wasn’t ready to think about the future. He wasn’t ready for a family.

Laura Idingloved reading as a child, and when she ran out of books she readily made up her own, completing a little detective mini-series when she was twelve. But, despite her aspirations for being an author, her parents insisted she look into a ‘real’ career. So the summer after she turned thirteen she volunteered as a Candy Striper, and fell in love with nursing. Now, after twenty years of experience in trauma/critical care, she’s thrilled to combine her career and her hobby into one—writing Medical™ Romances for Mills & Boon ®. Laura lives in the northern part of the United States, and spends all her spare time with her two teenage kids (help!)—a daughter and a son—and her husband. Enjoy!

Recent titles by the same author:

THE FIREFIGHTER AND THE SINGLE MUM

BABY: FOUND AT CHRISTMAS

BRIDE FOR A SINGLE DAD

HIS PREGNANT NURSE

THE DOCTOR’S CHRISTMAS PROPOSAL

BY

LAURA IDING

www.millsandboon.co.uk

This book is dedicated to my sister-in-law Sarah Iding, because she loves babies.

CHAPTER ONE

HE WOULD be the perfect man to father her baby.

Dr Rick Weber was tall, had brilliant blue eyes, thick chestnut-colored hair and a lean, muscular build. Just looking at him made her mouth go dry. His gaze collided with hers and the air crackled with tension for countless seconds when their eyes locked. He was the first to look away and it took a moment for her to resume breathing.

Shaken, she stared at him. He would have been perfect. Except for one tiny problem.

Rick Weber happened to be the new chief of pediatric trauma surgery.

And her new boss.

Dr Naomi Horton pulled herself together, hoping her moment of insane unprofessionalism wasn’t evident on her features. What was wrong with her?

She straightened in her seat, all too aware that she was one of only two female pediatric trauma surgeons in the conference room, and Debra Maloney didn’t count as she was happily married. Naomi didn’t think it was likely that any of the other four trauma surgeons would be drooling over their new boss.

“Good morning. Thanks for coming in on such short notice.” Rick appeared calm and relaxed as he addressed the group. If he was intimidated by his new position, leading a group of peds trauma surgeons, some of whom had been at the job much longer than he had, he didn’t show it. She took a bracing sip of her coffee, anxious for the kick of caffeine. She hadn’t slept well the night before, irrationally nervous about their first early morning meeting as she hadn’t yet met their new boss.

“I know we have our level one trauma center review coming up next week,” Rick continued. He swept a glance over the group. “Are there any outstanding issues I need to be aware of?”

Naomi couldn’t think of anything major, but she was the most junior member of the trauma team, having only been on staff at Children’s Memorial Hospital for two years. She remained silent as two of the tenured surgeons, Frank Turner and Chuck Lowrey, mentioned a few problem areas and the steps they’d taken to mitigate them.

She listened to the discussion but her mind began to drift, her gaze unerringly coming back to rest on Rick.

Why was she so physically aware of him? She hadn’t so much as experienced anything more than a flicker of interest in a man since her divorce two years ago. Why now? And why her new boss? A man completely off-limits?

Was fate trying to tell her something?

No, she needed to maintain a positive attitude. Her divorce had been rough. She and Andrew, her exhusband, had both wanted a baby for a long time. But after suffering a devastating miscarriage, and then being told that her ability to conceive again was unlikely, their relationship had quickly fallen apart.

One night she’d come home from work to find Andrew had packed up and moved out. She’d tried to talk to him, to salvage their marriage, but Andrew hadn’t been interested.

Her divorce hadn’t eliminated her desire to have a child, though. She’d gotten pregnant once before so she knew it could happen again. And she just couldn’t believe she was destined to live her life without ever having a baby. A child to love and cherish. Even if it meant raising a child on her own.

Rick described his plans to upgrade their trauma program, including monthly quality reviews on surgical complications, and she took notes, hoping the task would break the visceral reaction he seemed to have on her.

His gaze brushed hers and her pulse kicked into triple digits. She glanced away, hoping she could get her hormones to settle down soon.

This was ridiculous. Yes, she fantasized about having a baby, but having a real-life, flesh-and-blood man wasn’t a part of her plan. Her marriage had crumbled at the time she’d needed Andrew the most. She refused to open herself up to that sort of pain again.

Which left only one option. Artificial insemination.

She’d debated long and hard, finally choosing a donor, paying her money and scheduling an appointment at the fertilization clinic. That had been four months ago. Minor crises at work had kept making her miss the appointments and her cycle was irregular, which didn’t help either.

She was ovulating again, so she’d made another appointment. This time she refused to let anything get in her way.

“Any questions?” Rick’s gaze locked with hers. A guilty flush stained her cheeks. Could he tell she hadn’t been paying attention? Or, worse, could he tell how much his mere presence affected her?

She gathered her scattered, sleep-deprived thoughts. What had he talked about? She glanced at her notes. Oh, yes, plans for expanding their pediatric trauma prevention program into the community. She cleared her throat. “Do you need a volunteer to be on the community education committee? Because, if so, I’d like to be involved.”

“Absolutely.” Rick’s face lit up. “Naomi Horton, right?”

She nodded, feeling her heart race at the sound of her name in his deep, husky voice. Good grief, she hadn’t worked so hard to get through five years of surgical residency followed by another year as a surgical/trauma fellow to react like an adolescent the first time a gorgeous man smiled at her. She’d worked darned hard to get where she was and she wasn’t about to do anything to jeopardize her position.

“I’ve met the rest of the team over these past few days, but kept missing you. Glad to finally put a face to a name.” Rick’s tone turned serious. “Yes, the community education program is very important to our trauma recertification process. I appreciate your will ingness to help out.”