The Surgeon's Miracle / Dr Di Angelo's Baby Bombshell Read Online Free PDF

explained ruefully, and his lips twitched.
    ‘No, I can imagine. I’ve only worn high heels once, and it was excruciating.’
    She shifted in the seat, turning to face him, struggling to hold down her incredulous laughter. ‘You’ve worn high heels?’
    He grinned. ‘And a dress. It’s amazing what my brother can persuade me to do for charity,’ he said drily.
    That piqued her interest—that and the thought of Andrew in a dress and heels. ‘Any particular one?’
    ‘Meningococcal disease. He had it as a teenager and could have lost his limbs, but he was lucky and he’s very aware of that, so now he fundraises for research—well, the whole family do, he makes sure of it. The house and gardens are open to the public alternate weekends during the summer and they hold events in the park and split the proceeds between the charities and the estate.’
    ‘Gosh, that sounds like a lot of hard work.’
    ‘It is. Will’s the estate manager, so he just incorporates it into his workload, and Mum oversees the garden and the house, but it’s pretty much a full-time job for them keeping the place ticking over. And one day it’ll be my job.’
    She detected a note of resignation in his voice and tipped her head on one side enquiringly. ‘You don’t sound thrilled.’
    He laughed. ‘I’m not. I have a job, in case you haven’t noticed, but I’m the oldest, so I get the short straw. Not for a while, though. Dad’s only sixty-three and he’s as fit as a flea, so between them hopefully they’ll struggle on for a good few years yet.’
    ‘I take it your brother will be there this weekend?’
    ‘Will? Oh, yes. And his wife Sally. She’s their events manager at the moment, but she’ll be off for the summer on maternity leave, which should make life interesting.’
    ‘I’m sure. Will they cope without her?’
    He chuckled. ‘I have no idea, but I’m not volunteering, I can assure you. I have quite enough to do.’
    ‘I imagine you do. Does your brother know you’re bringing me, by the way?’
    He turned towards her, and in the dim light she could see his eyebrow twitch. ‘As in, did I tell him I’m bringing a girl? Yes. Did I mention why? No.’
    She smiled at that. ‘Won’t he think it’s odd?’
    ‘That I have a social life? No. Should he?’
    ‘No, of course not, but I didn’t mean that.’ She shrugged. ‘I meant—I don’t know—that none of them have ever heard of me. Won’t there be a lot of speculation? Most people wouldn’t turn up for their mother’s sixtieth birthday with a total stranger in tow.’
    ‘They would if they had my mother,’ he said drily, making her laugh. ‘And anyway, speculation is the general idea, isn’t it?’
    ‘Probably.’ She rested her head back and looked across at him. ‘Tell me about your mother, I’m sure she can’t be that bad,’ she said, and listened to him talking about his parents and his childhood with great affection. They were obviously a close-knit and loving family, and she envied them that. Her father was dead, hermother was remarried and lived in blissful penury in Ireland with her artist husband, and she and her married elder sister hardly ever spoke. It wasn’t that they didn’t like each other, but with seven years and several hundred miles between them, they had little in common, and the last time she’d seen her had been at a great-aunt’s funeral a few months ago—a gathering that had opened a potentially devastating can of worms.
    ‘So that’s us. My father, my mother, me, my brother and his wife and a whole horde of cats and dogs and horses and cattle and deer—I take it you’re all right with dogs, by the way? We have quite a few.’
    She pulled herself back to the present and put the troubling thoughts aside. ‘I’m fine with dogs. I’d have one if I wasn’t at work all day.’
    ‘Ditto. Not to mention half the night.’
    ‘Mmm. So tell me about Jacob. I know you’re happier with him now but did you get last night