Newborn Needs a Dad / His Motherless Little Twins Read Online Free PDF Page A

it.”
    “Liar!” she exclaimed, fighting to control the laugh bubbling up inside her.
    He arched playful eyebrows. “I’d never lie about a good piece of cheesecake.”
    “But you were looking at your watch just a minute ago, which tells me you’re in a hurry to get back to work. So you really don’t want that cheesecake right now, and you’re using it as a pretty lame excuse to make sure I can get myself back up the hill. Which I can do perfectly well without anybody’s help.”
    His face went serious. “I know it’s none of my business, but how long has it been since you’ve seen a doctor, Gabrielle?”
    “If I’m not mistaken, I’m looking at one right now.”
    “I mean an obstetrician.”
    She smiled. “If I’m not mistaken, you’re looking at one right now.”
    “No kidding? You’re an obstetrician?”
    “No kidding. And if I’m not mistaken, you might be in need of one here for a few weeks. According to Debbi, at Handmade for Baby.”
    Obvious surprise blinked across his face. “You’re applying for a job?”
    “Not really a full-time job. But I could fill in until your new obstetrician arrives. As it turns out, I left my old position a few weeks ago, so I’ve got the time.”
    “I’ve got to admit, you’ve caught me off guard. We were just having a staff meeting, wondering what we were going to do, and here you are, on our front walk.”
    As they always said, timing was everything. She hadn’t meant to apply for a position, although she’d thought about it. Hadn’t meant to stay here in White Elk, although she’d thought about that, too. Yes, after Debbi had mentioned that their former obstetrician had just left, the idea of staying awhile had tempted her. Now here she was, making it happen. “Well, I do come with an obvious condition.” She raised her hands to her belly. “Two months to go. But I’m healthy, fit to work, and if you need me for a while…”
    “Do we need you? Our obstetrician’s been phasing himself out without phasing someone else in to take his place. We thought he had a while to go before he finally left so we weren’t too worried, then one morning he woke up and just couldn’t do it any more. It was time for him to leave.”
    Something she understood all too well. That’s exactly what had happened to her in Chicago. She’d known she was going, hadn’t known when, then one day it had been time. “Well, my credentials will check out, and I can give you some personal references.”
    “We’ll need you for six weeks at the longest. I’ve got someone else coming in to take over after that, on a temporary basis until we can find someone to fill the full-time position. But we had this big gap between Walt and the temp.”
    “Six weeks sounds good.” So did temporary. And this was perfect timing, wasn’t it? She could work for six weeks, part-time, have her baby after that, and put off trying to figure out, for a while longer, what came next in her life. “Unless something unforeseen and early changes my plans.”
    “In which case, I’ll be glad to deliver your baby.”
    An offer she could hardly refuse. Pregnant andemployed again. If only for a little while for both conditions. She liked it. In fact, she was excited to be working again, and didn’t doubt for a minute that she could handle it. So she extended her hand to the incredibly handsome Dr Neil Ranard, and instantly a little chill shot up her arm. “When do I start?” she asked, her hand lingering in his just a fraction of a second longer than it should have.
    “Five minutes ago OK with you?”
    Reluctantly, she pulled her hand from his and crammed it into her jacket pocket. “Five minutes ago is perfect.” Then she shivered again.
    Just the chilly air, she told herself. What else could it be?

CHAPTER TWO
    W ELL , it wasn’t a busy schedule. Fallon O’Gara, the nurse practitioner—a bright-eyed woman about Gabby’s age, with wild red hair streaming down her back, a wide, cheery smile