by Fiona Lowe
‘Callie.’
She instantly recognised that slow and sexy American drawl, which seemed to give her name a third syllable. Cade was sitting at the bar.
He raised his glass to her. ‘Let me buy you a drink.’ She hadn’t seen him since he’d helped her with her diagnosis of the abandoned baby—the day they’d worked together so easily and companionably. Part of her wanted some more of that simple, easy camaraderie. ‘That would be shout you a drink,’ she said with a smile as she slid onto the bar stool next to his. ‘We’ll get you talking like an Aussie yet.’
He grinned. ‘You wanna beer?’
She shook her head. ‘I’m more of a champagne girl.’
‘That doesn’t sound very much like an Aussie sheila,’ he said, using the old-fashioned slang word for woman.
She laughed. ‘Have you been taking language advice from an eighty-year-old?’
He tilted his head. ‘So you’re not a sheila?’
‘I may have been if I’d been born in 1933.’
‘I think the barman’s been yanking my chain.’ He tapped his glass on the bar. ‘Stuart, a glass of champagne for Callie and I’ll have another beer.’
‘No worries, Doc.’ The barman immediately dispensed the drinks.
She noticed Cade’s dark brown hair was damp. ‘Been swimming?’
‘I tried the sea kayaking. What about you?’
‘I…’ She toyed with lying that she’d built a sandcastle.
‘What?’ His eyes dared her to speak.
Oh, what the hell. She didn’t care what he thought of her. ‘I pretty much came straight to the bar.’
He laughed. ‘Been that good a day, has it?’
‘Actually, it was a great work day. I discharged home three babies. It’s the bouncy castle chaos out there that I don’t cope with so well.’
‘So being here at the bar is more about being in an adults-only zone than the need for alcohol.’
She smiled at him, welcoming his understanding. ‘Pretty much.’
‘Yeah.’ He took a slug of his beer. ‘Working with sick babies is totally different from the mayhem out there. Kids kept running into my ankles.’
She raised her glass to him. ‘To the kid-free zone.’
He clicked her glass and winked at her. ‘To the adults-only zone.’
A shiver of lust rocked through her and she crossed her legs, trying to stop the tingling that burned at the apex of her thighs.
His gaze rolled over her body, admiration in his eyes.
She soaked it up, loving the way it made her feel like a vibrant, sexy woman.
‘So, Callie, what are your plans for the evening?’
‘I don’t make plans, Cade. I just let things roll out and see where they take me.’
His eyes danced. ‘I like the sound of that. Do you care for company?’
She gave him a wide smile.
EPILOGUE
‘YOU’RE BREAKING MY hand,’ Luke said quietly.
‘Sorry,’ Chloe said.
She crushed it even harder when she heard Nick say to Steph, ‘One or two more pushes and our niece or nephew will be born.’
The labour ward was full to overflowing with her family and she could hardly believe that her baby—her and Luke’s baby—was about to be born.
‘That’s good to hear,’ Marty said with feeling, rubbing his hand. ‘I’m not sure my fingers can take much more of this.’
‘You and me both,’ Luke said with a grin.
‘Both wimps,’ Steph muttered.
Marty wiped her brow. ‘Quite right, sweetheart. You’re the amazing one here.’
And she was. Chloe was in awe and filled with gratitude at the gift Steph was giving them. Together she and Steph had endured hormone injections and ultrasounds. Chloe had experienced the egg harvests and Steph the implantations. It had taken four attempts before they’d finally succeeded in creating a pregnancy.
Throughout it all Steph had been amazing. She’d taken to being a surrogate with the same gusto with which she approached life, and each day she’d shared the pregnancy with Chloe. When the baby had kicked for the first time, she’d called Chloe at two-thirty-nine a.m. to tell her. Chloe had attended every prenatal appointment and Steph had always told the staff, ‘I’m just the incubator. Chloe’s the mummy and I’m the doting auntie.’
Steph had shared everything, and Chloe couldn’t have felt more involved or more grateful. Now this precious nine months was about to end. And everything was about to start.
Steph grunted and then the contraction hit. She leaned forward, gripping her knees, and pushed.
Chloe edged closer, peering over Nick’s shoulder.
‘You’re doing great, Steph. Keep it going.’
‘Arrggh.’
A flash of black, a gush of fluid and Nick said, ‘The head’s born and no cord around the neck.’
Chloe held her breath and glanced up silently at Luke.
He squeezed her hand.
The baby rotated, its face pink and squished, and then Steph pushed again. The shoulders slithered out and the body followed with the thick, pulsating cord across its legs.
Our baby. Her heart stuttered as she willed it to be healthy.
‘Is it a niece or a nephew?’ Steph asked, falling back onto a bank of pillows.
Nick grinned. ‘Come on, Chloe and Luke. Come and learn the secret I’ve been keeping for twenty weeks.’
Luke nudged Chloe forward. ‘You do it.’
She glanced at the baby’s legs and her throat threatened to close as love poured through her. ‘A little boy. Amber’s got a brother.’
‘Luke, cut the cord.’ Nick held out the scissors.
Luke, his eyes shining bright with tears, accepted the scissors and severed the cord between the two clamps.
The baby gazed up at them both with huge, dark eyes as if he’d been here before and was remaking an acquaintance.
With trembling hands, Chloe wrapped their son in a bunny rug and picked him up, hardly able to believe this was their baby. Their own flesh and blood, given life by his aunt. ‘Oh, Steph, I can’t begin to thank you.’ She kissed her sister-in-law as tears poured down her cheeks. ‘He’s beautiful.’
Steph grinned, despite her exhaustion. ‘Of course he is. He’s yours and Luke’s child, not to mention my nephew.’
Luke put his arm around his beautiful wife’s waist and gazed down at her and his son. ‘He’s got the Kefes’s Greek nose.’
Chloe laughed. ‘Poor little guy.’ She placed her finger across the baby’s palm and his fingers automatically gripped it. ‘He’s got your long fingers.’
‘We should take him to meet Amber.’
His words tumbled out over Chloe’s, matching them exactly.
‘You go and do that while I get cleaned up,’ Steph instructed. ‘The girls will all be champing at the bit to meet…What are you going to name him?’
Luke met Chloe’s eyes, confirming the name they’d discussed. She nodded, smiling at him. He looked at Steph. ‘He’s Steven, after you.’
‘Oh.’ His usually practical sister blinked rapidly. ‘You didn’t have to do that.’
He kissed her forehead. ‘We wanted to. We can’t thank you enough.’
She nodded. ‘It’s what family does. Now, go be the parents and do all the hard work.’ She picked up her husband’s hand. ‘Marty and I are looking forward to being his aunt and uncle, spoiling him rotten and then handing him back for you to sort out.’
Luke kissed his sister and then ushered Chloe out of the ward to a waiting room where Nick’s wife, Lucy, was minding all the children, along with her twins.
Amber, now four, jumped up the moment they walked into the room and raced up to them. ‘Is it a girl?’
Chloe sat down on the couch and Luke picked up Amber, hugging her hard. ‘You have a baby brother.’
Amber wrinkled her nose. ‘Can I still cuddle him?’
‘Of course you can,’ Chloe said.
Luke
sat down next to Chloe and popped Amber between them. Chloe carefully placed Steven in his sister’s arms, supporting the baby’s head. Luke supported his body.
‘What do you think, Amber?’
‘He’s heavier than my doll.’
Chloe laughed and rested her head on Luke’s shoulder. ‘I can’t believe this has really happened. That we could be this blessed.’
Luke stroked his son’s head and ruffled his daughter’s curls, knowing exactly what Chloe meant. Four years ago he’d never imagined he could ever be this happy again.
‘I love you so much, Chloe Stanley.’
‘I know you do, and I love you right back.’
She smiled at him in her serene way and he knew that everything was right in his world.
ISBN: 9781472003416
GOLD COAST ANGELS: BUNDLE OF TROUBLE
Fiona Lowe
© Harlequin Books S.A. 2013
First Published in Great Britain in 2013
Harlequin (UK) Limited
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