From friends with benefits...
To parents!
Paramedic dream team Maggie and Joe aren’t just crewmates in the Aratika Rescue Service, they’re also best friends. Until a particularly perilous, adrenaline-fueled rescue leads to one hot night in the shower! But Maggie discovers their unexpected and intensely passionate encounter had life-changing consequences. Now with a baby on the way, she can’t help but wonder, can she and Joe ever be more than just good friends?
Physical attraction.
Pure, unadulterated lust, that was what it was.
Her body liked the idea of having sex with Joe. A lot. So much so that Maggie could feel the flush of color heating her cheeks and she had to scramble to her feet and turn her back on Joe before he carried his board and sail from the water and got close enough to see what might be a very odd expression on her face.
She had to get her head straight and make sure she never tapped into that line of thought again. If Joe knew that she had entertained any thoughts of sexual attraction to him, either he’d be horrified or he might be curious enough to make something happen. Either way, it would not only change and potentially destroy the friendship they had, it could do exactly the same thing to their working relationship.
No matter how good that sex would probably be, it wouldn’t be worth it. Maggie was going to make absolutely sure that nobody knew what she’d been thinking. She wasn’t even going to allow herself to think about it again.
Ever...
Dear Reader,
There’s a child inside all of us, don’t you think?
All it takes to remind you of that is something like a particular image or sound or smell—perhaps a whiff of the same antiseptic cream that your mom put on your knee when you fell over and grazed it—and there you are...five years old again for a tiny moment in time and feeling the comfort of being cared for. Maybe you can even feel the sting of that grazed knee!
I find it astonishing how powerful those tiny time slips can be and I know that what happens in those early years can have a profound effect on how we live our lives as adults. Maybe you use that same antiseptic cream on the knees of your own children, along with a kiss and cuddle to make “everything better.”
My characters in this story have very different childhood memories, and they may be best friends, but they want very different things from life as adults. Maggie wants a big family. Joe is determined that he’s not going to have a child who will have the same kind of memories he has.
One night of passion changes everything for Maggie and Joe. Stay with them as they face the new challenges in their future and I hope you find the ending as perfect as I did.
Happy reading.
With love,
Alison Roberts
Pregnant with Her Best Friend’s Baby
Alison Roberts
Books by Alison Roberts
Harlequin Medical Romance
Rescue Docs
Resisting Her Rescue Doc
Hope Children’s Hospital
Their Newborn Baby Gift
Bondi Bay Heroes
The Shy Nurse’s Rebel Doc
Rescued by Her Mr. Right
Rescued Hearts
The Doctor’s Wife for Keeps
Twin Surprise for the Italian Doc
Christmas in Manhattan
Sleigh Ride with the Single Dad
Paddington Children’s Hospital
A Life-Saving Reunion
The Surrogate’s Unexpected Miracle
Twins on Her Doorstep
Harlequin Romance
The Baby Who Saved Christmas
The Forbidden Prince
Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.
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Praise for Alison Roberts
“The emotional connection I had to this story was strong and unique. It squeezed my heart, captured my mind, and will stay with me for a while.”
—Goodreads on Their First Family Christmas
Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
EPILOGUE
EXCERPT FROM THE SURGEON’S SURPRISE BABY BY TINA BECKETT
CHAPTER ONE
‘DO YOU KNOW what the French word for a midwife is, Joe?’ Maggie Lewis jammed her helmet over her blonde curls but let the ends of her chinstrap dangle as they strode swiftly out to the helipad.
‘What’s that got to do with anything?’ Maggie’s crew partner, Joe Wallace, pulled open the side door of the helicopter, briefly obscuring the logo of Wellington’s Aratika Rescue Service emblazoned on the side of the aircraft.
‘We’re going to a woman in labour.’
‘Ah...is that what it is? Hasn’t come through on my pager yet.’
‘Prolonged first stage,’ Maggie added. ‘And the midwife has called for assistance because she’s now caught up with another patient who’s having a miscarriage and she can’t get back to check on this woman anytime soon.’
Joe stood back to let Maggie climb on board first. Their pilot, Andy, was already in the cockpit, well into an automatic pre-flight routine with the crewman and co-pilot Nick sitting beside him. The rotors were gathering speed and the downdraught was enough to make Joe push his sun-streaked brown hair back off his forehead and out of his eyes before he pulled his helmet on. How was it that he always managed to look as if he was overdue for a haircut?
Maggie fastened her chinstrap as she sat down and then pulled her harness over her shoulders. ‘Anyway... I’m sure you don’t know what a midwife is in French, so I’ll tell you. It’s a sage-femme. Direct translation is actually “wise woman”.’
‘Ah...’ Joe was grinning as he pulled the door shut behind him. ‘I see where this is going. You want to take the lead on this one, don’t you, even though it’s my turn? And even though you had all the fun of the post-cardiac arrest case we just finished?’
‘It was a good case, wasn’t it?’ Maggie smiled back as she pulled down her microphone, responding affirmatively to Andy’s query about whether they were good to go and then watching the ground recede as they lifted into the air. She was still thinking about their last mission, however. ‘It’s not often you get to bring someone back to life enough to have them cracking jokes with the ED staff when we get there.’
‘But you want this one, too.’
‘I was a midwife, once upon a time, you know. One of those wise women.’
‘Last century, you mean?’
‘Hey...you’re older than me, mate. I wouldn’t go making ageist jokes if I were you.’
‘At least I knew I wanted to be a paramedic from the get-go. You had to be a nurse and then a midwife before you saw the light and found your true calling.’
‘I must have been crazy,’ Maggie muttered. ‘I could be working in a nice, fully equipped maternity unit with colleagues who appreciate me and...whoa...watch out for those potholes, Andy.’
‘Sorry.’ But their pilot chuckled. ‘It might be a bit of a bumpy ride today. That’s Windy Wellington for you.’
‘I do appreciate you, Maggie,’ Joe said a few seconds later. He sounded perfectly sincere but Maggie could still hear a grin in his voice. ‘You know that, don’t you?’
She shrugged. Joe had been one of the first people she had worked with on the base when she’d joined the crew five years ago. ‘You’ve put up with me long enough, I guess.’
‘And there I was thinking it was you who was putting up with me.’
For a second, they caught each other’s gaze, with the ease and familiarity that only came after a friendship had had years to gather strength along with the kind of depth that could only come from shared experiences that often involved a life or death struggle. Their banter might push the limits occasionally but the trust and respect between Maggie and Joe was rock solid.
‘Actually...’ Andy’s voice coming through the in-built headphones in their helmets broke that moment of connection. ‘It’s me who’s had to put up with both of you for years now. Years and years of listening to you bicker about who gets to lead which job.’
‘We’re the dream team,’ Joe informed him. ‘As well you know.’
‘Yeah, yeah... I’m going to toss a coin when we land. Whoever gets heads gets to lead, okay?’
Maggie and Joe shared another swift glance. They both knew it wouldn’t actually make any difference. Neither of them had the kind of ego that interfered with clear communication or with deferring to someone who was more skilled in a particular area. They really were a ‘dream team’ and, while there were many medics on the Aratika Rescue Base that Maggie loved to work with, Joe was definitely her favourite.
‘It’s not as though we’re likely to have to deal with a delivery, anyway,’ Joe added. ‘If the mother’s had a prolonged first stage she’ll be exhausted and may not be anywhere near fully dilated. She might end up having a Caesarean. It’s the midwife’s call to get her into hospital instead of continuing with a home birth. I guess she’s requested a chopper because it’s an isolated property.’
‘Long, unsealed road to the nearest highway, too,’ the crewman, Nick, put in. ‘I don’t imagine a bumpy road like that would be very good for a woman in labour.’
Another pocket of turbulence made Maggie reach for a handhold. ‘At this rate, the ride with us into hospital might speed things up as much as a road trip could.’
‘We should be out of the worst of it when we get up north a bit,’ Andy told them. ‘ETA’s twenty minutes.’
Maggie peered down at the rugged, forest-covered hills and nearby coastline beneath them.
‘Isn’t that the Castle Cliffs resort down there?’
‘Where Cooper and Fizz are having their wedding?’ Joe leaned sideways to see where Maggie was pointing to a group of buildings half-hidden by forest on the edge of a cliff top. Cooper had started working at the base six months ago after emigrating from Scotland and Fizz was one of the emergency medicine specialists who were part of Aratika’s elite staff.
‘I think it must be.’ Joe nodded. ‘Certainly looks like the only way to get to it is by four-wheel drive or chopper.’
‘I might take my bike.’
‘What—you’re not going to wear a dress?’ Joe sounded shocked.
Maggie sighed. ‘I suppose I’d better. I hadn’t thought about it yet.’
‘The wedding’s next weekend. You’d better get on with it.’
‘I know. It’s just happened in a bit of a rush, you know? I really wasn’t expecting Fizz to suddenly get so formal. She told me not so long ago that she was never going to get married again.’
‘I guess finding out they’re going to have a baby changed things. Not that that’s the best reason to decide to tie the knot.’ There was an odd note in Joe’s voice.
‘It’s as good a reason as any,’ Maggie responded. ‘And I’ve never seen either of them looking so happy.’
Joe’s grunt was reluctant agreement. ‘Yeah... I would have thought Fizz would have been more upset having to give up her shifts at Aratika but I’ve not seen the smile drop from her face once.’
‘Mmm...’ Maggie closed her eyes for a moment. She could imagine how happy Fizz was feeling. Not just because she’d won that life lottery of finding the person she wanted to be with for ever—something Maggie had failed to find yet—but with the anticipation of holding their first baby in her arms in the near future. Maggie’s own arms were loosely folded in front of her and she could actually feel an emptiness there. An ache of longing...
It was getting stronger, that longing. The ticking of a biological clock. One of Mother Nature’s tricks to persuade women to reproduce before it became too late and, at nearly thirty-six, Maggie knew that her window of opportunity to become a mother easily was starting to close. She’d been envious of Fizz when she’d heard the news. Dead jealous, if she was really honest with herself.
‘That’s the road we’re looking for down there.’ Andy’s voice broke into Maggie’s thoughts a few minutes later. ‘We’ll follow it but keep an eye out for a farmhouse with a red ute parked in front of it. Apparently there’s an empty paddock by the road that we can land in.’
‘I’m getting an update.’ Joe was reading his pager. ‘Our patient is a thirty-one-year-old first-time mum. No problems with pregnancy and she’s full term. Name’s Kathy Price.’
It wasn’t Kathy who met them at the door of the house a few minutes later but her husband, Darren, who looked like he’d just come in from working on the farm. He had a checked shirt on over a pair of shorts and he dropped a pair of boots onto the veranda of the farmhouse before inviting the paramedic crew to come inside.
‘Dunno what all this fuss is about,’ he said, as he led them through to a bedroom. ‘I could have driven Kath in to the hospital. We don’t need all these bells and whistles.’
‘I think Kathy’s midwife was a bit concerned about how tired your wife was sounding,’ Joe said calmly. ‘And it is quite a drive.’
Maggie was slipping her arms out of her backpack straps. She crouched down beside the bed.
‘Hi, Kathy. My name’s Maggie and that’s Joe. We’ve come to take you into hospital to have your baby on your midwife’s advice. Are you happy with that decision?’
The exhausted-looking young woman nodded. ‘I’m just so tired,’ she whispered. ‘It’s been going on since the middle of last night.’
‘Your midwife checked you this morning, yes?’
‘Yeah...and I was two centimetres dilated at ten o’clock. She came back after lunch at one o’clock and I’d only got to four centimetres by then.’
‘So...’ Maggie checked her watch. ‘That’s about four hours ago now. How often are you having contractions?’
Kathy rolled her head from side to side. ‘I’m not sure. It feels like every couple of minutes and...and it hurts. I know I said I didn’t want any pain relief in my birth plan but I didn’t know it was going to hurt this much.’
‘We can give you something for the pain.’ Maggie glanced at where Joe was opening their packs and readying the equipment that they might need. A birthing pack that included neonatal resuscitation items like the miniature airways and bag mask. IV gear. Their small tanks of oxygen and Entonox. ‘We’ll start with some Entonox but we’ll put a line in your hand, if you’re happy with that, so we can give you something stronger if you need it.’
‘He’s a big baby.’ Darren sounded proud. ‘They said that at the last scan.’
‘Oh?’ An alarm bell sounded a warning for Maggie. ‘How big?’
‘Not too big,’ Kathy said. ‘My midwife said it was below the limit for it being a problem for a home birth and we both wanted that.’
‘Birth’s a natural process.’ Darren nodded. ‘Why go near a hospital if you don’t have to?’
‘You can’t just tie a rope around a hoof and pull it out,’ Kathy snapped at her husband. ‘I’m not one of your sheep. Ow...it’s starting again
.’ She dropped her head back against the pillows and groaned. ‘It hurts...and...and I feel sick...’
Joe was right beside Maggie now. He raised an eyebrow. ‘Transition?’ he suggested quietly.
Kathy was shaking as the contraction subsided. ‘I need to go to the toilet,’ she moaned.
‘It’s okay, Kathy,’ Maggie said reassuringly. ‘I think that perhaps you’re a bit closer to having your baby than we thought. I’m going to get your clothes off and see what’s happening, okay? Joe’s going to take your blood pressure and things and...’ She caught Joe’s gaze. ‘Let’s get some oxygen on, shall we? And it would be great to get a foetal heart rate.’
‘What’s going on?’ Darren asked as they worked over Kathy. ‘I thought you were just going to take us in to the hospital.’
‘That was the initial plan,’ Maggie replied as she cut clothing clear. ‘But we can’t transport Kathy if a birth is imminent. We can manage things a lot better here than in the back of a helicopter.’
‘Crikey...’ Darren’s face became noticeably paler. ‘It’s happening now?’ He moved to the head of the bed to lean over his wife. ‘You okay, hon?’
‘No...’ Kathy grabbed at his hand. ‘Where’s that gas? I can’t do this... I need to push...’
‘Wow...you’re crowning, Kathy.’ Maggie could see the dark whorls of damp hair on the baby’s head. ‘Your baby’s almost here... Keep pushing—you’re doing great.’
Joe had the blood-pressure cuff wrapped around Kathy’s arm and the bulb in his hand but gave up trying to take a reading as he leaned to see what Maggie was watching.
They both saw the moment that it happened. The baby’s head was almost born and then it pulled back like a turtle retreating into its shell.
‘Turtle sign,’ Maggie said very quietly. She glanced up to catch Joe’s gaze. They both knew that this had the potential to become an obstetric emergency in a very short space of time.
‘Don’t push any more for the moment, Kathy,’ Maggie said calmly. ‘Try and pant for the rest of this contraction. Darren? Can you take Kathy’s pillows away? We need to get her lying as flat as possible.’
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