Jennifer Taylor - The Baby Issue

He carried her to the bed and laid her down on it, his expression saying all that needed to be said as he looked at her for a long moment.

Anna took hold of his hand and placed it on her stomach, pressing it gently into the swollen hardness. “Love me, Ben,” she whispered. “Please.”

It was all the invitation he required.

Anna closed her eyes as passion claimed her, letting her heart have its way and her head be silenced. Maybe this was wrong and she would regret it, but she couldn’t bear to stop what was happening. She couldn’t bear to deny herself this time in Ben’s arms even if it was a mistake!

Dear Reader CONTENTS COVER LETTER TO READER TITLE PAGE CHAPTER ONE CHAPTER TWO CHAPTER THREE CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE CHAPTER SIX CHAPTER SEVEN CHAPTER EIGHT CHAPTER NINE CHAPTER TEN CHAPTER ELEVEN COPYRIGHT ,

The Baby Issue focuses on a topic that arouses strong emotions in a lot of people: surrogacy.

As I researched the background for this story, I was in contact with several women who had been childless until a member of their immediate families had offered to be a surrogate for them. Their tales were inspirational, and I am indebted to them for sharing their experiences with me.

I hope that you will read this book with an open mind and heart, and feel as I did that my heroine, Anna, made the right decision when she offered to have a baby for her sister. It seemed only right that she should find the perfect man in Ben Cole to share her life with after all the heartache she had been through. There is nothing better than a happy ending!

My very best wishes to you all,

The Baby Issue

Jennifer Taylor

www.millsandboon.co.uk

COVER

LETTER TO READER Dear Reader CONTENTS COVER LETTER TO READER TITLE PAGE CHAPTER ONE CHAPTER TWO CHAPTER THREE CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE CHAPTER SIX CHAPTER SEVEN CHAPTER EIGHT CHAPTER NINE CHAPTER TEN CHAPTER ELEVEN COPYRIGHT , The Baby Issue focuses on a topic that arouses strong emotions in a lot of people: surrogacy. As I researched the background for this story, I was in contact with several women who had been childless until a member of their immediate families had offered to be a surrogate for them. Their tales were inspirational, and I am indebted to them for sharing their experiences with me. I hope that you will read this book with an open mind and heart, and feel as I did that my heroine, Anna, made the right decision when she offered to have a baby for her sister. It seemed only right that she should find the perfect man in Ben Cole to share her life with after all the heartache she had been through. There is nothing better than a happy ending! My very best wishes to you all,

TITLE PAGE The Baby Issue Jennifer Taylor 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

COPYRIGHT

THE taxi had dropped her off outside the surgery. Anna Clemence took a deep breath as it drove away.

She was on her own now.

She had made her decision and there was no going back on it. She owed it to Jo to do the very best she could.

A shadow darkened her grey eyes as she thought about her sister. It was a month since Jo had died yet she still found it hard to believe that she would never see her again. Jo had always been there for her in the past but now she had to stand on her own two feet. There would be no one to turn to in the coming months, no one to offer emotional or financial support. She only had herself to rely on from now on.

Anna picked up her suitcase then pushed open the surgery door. Dr Adam Knight, the senior partner at the practice, had explained that he couldn’t be there to meet her that morning. However, he had assured her that his colleague, Benedict Cole, was expecting her. Now, as she joined the queue in front of the reception desk, Anna couldn’t help hoping that she wouldn’t have to wait long to see Dr Cole. She had been up since five that morning and she was starting to flag.

‘I’m Anna Clemence,’ she began when she reached the desk. However, the middle-aged receptionist didn’t give her time to finish.

‘Oh, you must be the new practice nurse! Ben said that you would be arriving this morning. I’ll just give him a buzz to let him know that you’re here.’

The woman quickly relayed the message then smiled at her. ‘Ben said to tell you that he’ll be free in a few minutes, so why don’t you take your case through to the staffroom and wait in there? It’s been like a madhouse in here this morning. It’s supposed to be emergencies only on Saturdays so I don’t know where they’ve all come from!’

‘Thanks.’ Anna smiled back, warmed by the older woman’s friendly manner. ‘I’ll do that.’

She made her way through the door at the rear of the waiting room and quickly found the staffroom. Putting down her case, she went to the window and looked out but there wasn’t much to see apart from the car park.

She turned and looked around the room instead, smiling when she saw the mismatched assortment of crockery stacked on the draining board and the extra-large jar of coffee strategically placed next to the kettle. The room was almost a replica of any number of staffrooms at places where she had worked in the past so that she felt instantly at home. Was it a good omen? She hoped so. She needed all the luck she could get at the moment.

‘Hi, there. Sorry you’ve had to wait. I don’t know what’s come over everyone today. Saturdays are never usually this busy!’

Anna looked round as a man appeared. The room was rather dark so that she couldn’t see him clearly at first. She just had an impression of someone tall with fair hair before he switched on the light.

He had to be at least six feet tall, she decided, taking rapid stock as he came towards her, with a leanly muscular physique which the conservative navy trousers and paler blue shirt he was wearing couldn’t disguise. His hair was a rich sandy-blond colour rather than merely fair, the kind of shade that a woman would pay a small fortune for at the hairdresser’s, she thought inconsequentially.

With hair that colour she expected his eyes to be blue, so it came as a surprise to see that they were a very dark brown, the same colour as his eyebrows. It was only when she noticed the amusement they held that she realised she had been staring at him and quickly looked away.

‘I’m Ben Cole,’ he said, offering her his hand. ‘Adam explained that he couldn’t be here to meet you, I believe?’

‘He did.’ Anna fixed a smile to her mouth as she shook hands, hoping that her discomfort didn’t show. Ben Cole was a very attractive man and it probably wasn’t the first time he’d caught a woman staring at him. However, it wouldn’t do to give him the wrong impression. ‘He said that you’d let me have the keys to the flat.’

‘I’ve got them right here.’ He handed her a bunch of keys then looked round, frowning when he spotted her suitcase by the door. ‘Is that all you’ve brought with you?’

‘I didn’t think I needed anything else,’ she replied quickly, deeming it wiser not to explain that the case held all her worldly goods. It would only give rise to more questions and that was something she wanted to avoid at all costs.

She experienced a momentary qualm as she wondered what would happen when Ben Cole and his colleagues found out what she had omitted to tell them. Legally she’d had no need to say anything, of course. There were rules governing the type of questions that could be asked at an interview, so she hadn’t done anything wrong by withholding the information, though she knew that it would have been common courtesy to have mentioned the fact before she had accepted the post. Now all she could hope was that by the time she was forced to tell everyone the truth, she would have proved herself capable of doing the job.