Falling for the Foster Mom

by Karin Baine

  Although she kissed him back, she remained guarded, wary of getting her hopes up that this was anything more than a spontaneous lapse of his better judgement. Once the pressure eased from the initial flare of rekindled passion, she broke away.

  ‘What’s this about, Matt?’

  He raked his hand through his hair before crouching down so they were at eye level.

  ‘I’ve missed you so much.’

  Her stomach did a backflip and high-fived her heart but she kept her mouth shut this time. Words and kisses didn’t change anything unless they were accompanied by a bit of honesty. She wasn’t going to fall into that same trap of hoping she could change a man and make him want to be a permanent fixture in her life. In fact, she might draft that into a contract for future suitors so she could weed out potential heartbreakers. Although a Matt-replacement seemed a long way off when the real one was still capable of upsetting her equilibrium to this extent.

  ‘I can’t do Simon’s surgery any more because I’m too close, too emotionally involved. It’s a conflict of interests and one which means I have to choose between my personal and professional roles.’

  ‘I don’t understand. You’re choosing not to treat him. Why is this supposed to be good news?’ As far as she could see he was simply kicking them when they were down.

  ‘I’m choosing you. If you’ll still have me? Seeing Simon today in that theatre...it was like watching my own son go under the knife. It made me realise I’m already part of this family. I love you, Quinn. Both of you.’

  She was too scared to believe he was saying what she thought he was saying. There’d been weeks of no communication from him and heartache for her and somehow now all of her dreams were coming true? She wasn’t so easily fooled by a great smile and hot kisses any more. Maybe.

  ‘What’s changed, Matt? The last time we saw each other you were telling me the very opposite. Are you missing the dog or something? I’m sure we can make arrangements for a visit without forcing you into another relationship.’ Okay, she was a little spiky but she’d every right to be after he’d ripped her heart out and she’d spent an age trying to patch it back up. If she meant anything to him he’d put up with a few scratches as he brushed against her new and improved defences.

  The frown was back; she might have pushed him a tad too far.

  ‘That’s what I’m trying to tell you. I miss you all. This time apart has showed me what I’m missing. I don’t want to end up a lonely old man with nothing but expensive furniture and fittings to keep me company. I’ve seen a glimpse of what life is like without you and Simon and it’s not for me. I love you. I want to be with you, raising Simon, or a whole house full of Simons if that’s what you want.’

  ‘There’s nothing I want more but only if that’s truly what you want this time. How can I be sure you won’t change your mind when the adoption comes through or there’s another troubled kid on the doorstep? There can’t be any room for doubt, Matt.’ She pushed back at the flutter of hope beating hard against her chest trying to escape and send her tumbling back into Matt’s arms.

  He stood up, paced the room with his hands on his hips, and she knew she’d called his bluff.

  ‘That’s what I thought,’ she said as she got to her feet, her voice cracking at the joyless victory.

  ‘Wait. Where are you going?’

  ‘To see Simon.’ He was the only reason she hadn’t completely fallen apart. She had to be the strong one in that relationship and he’d need her when he woke up and heard the latest bad news.

  Matt stepped quickly into the path between her and the door to prolong her agony a while longer.

  ‘What if I move in with you? Would that convince you I’m serious? I’ll quit my lease, sell everything. I’ll take a cleaning job at the hospital if it means I can stay on. I don’t care about any of it. I just want to be with you.’

  That made her smile.

  ‘I think the hospital would give anything to keep you here given the chance.’

  ‘And you?’ He had that same worried look Simon had when he thought she didn’t want him and in that moment she knew he meant every word. He was laying himself open here and this level of honesty was simply irresistible.

  ‘Well, you know I’m a sucker for a stray so I guess I’ll keep you too.’ It was easier to joke when she was secure in his feelings for her.

  ‘Tell me you love me.’ He gathered her into his arms, a smile playing across his lips now too.

  ‘You’re so needy.’

  ‘Tell me,’ he said again, his mouth moving against hers.

  ‘I love you.’ She’d tried to convince herself otherwise since he’d left but it was a relief to finally admit it aloud without fearing the consequences.

  ‘I love you too. And Simon. And Maisie. And this mad, dysfunctional family we’ve created.’

  ‘I think there’s someone else who’s going to be very happy to hear the news.’

  ‘Let’s go get our boy.’ Matt took her hand and led her towards Simon’s room to complete the group love-in.

  Quinn’s heart was so full she didn’t think she’d ever stop smiling.

  Now her family was finally complete.

  * * * * *

  Welcome to the PADDINGTON CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL six-book series

  Available now:

  THEIR ONE NIGHT BABY

  by Carol Marinelli

  FORBIDDEN TO THE PLAYBOY SURGEON

  by Fiona Lowe

  MOMMY, NURSE...DUCHESS?

  by Kate Hardy

  FALLING FOR THE FOSTER MOM

  by Karin Baine

  Coming soon:

  HEALING THE SHEIKH’S HEART

  by Annie O’Neil

  A LIFE-SAVING REUNION

  by Alison Roberts

  Keep reading for an excerpt from THE DOCTOR AND THE PRINCESS by Scarlet Wilson.

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  The Doctor and the Princess

  by Scarlet Wilson

  CHAPTER ONE

  ‘IT’S AN EMERGENCY, Sullivan, I swear.’

  Sullivan let out a wry laugh as he shook his head and ran his fingers through his damp hair. ‘It’s always an emergency, Gibbs.’ He stared at the inside of the khaki tent.

  Gibbs laughed too. ‘Well, this time it really is. Asfar Modarres collapsed. Some kind of intestinal problem. He was lucky we got him out in time.’

  Sullivan started pacing. ‘Is he okay?’ He liked th
e Iranian doctor. He’d joined Doctors Without Borders around the same time as Sullivan. They’d never served together but he’d known him well enough to see his commitment and compassion for the job.

  ‘He should be fine. He had surgery a few hours ago.’ Gibbs sucked in a deep breath. Sullivan smiled. Here it comes.

  ‘Anyway, there’s two weeks left of the mission with only one doctor on site. We’re at a crucial stage. MDR TB is up to worrying levels in Nambura. We need another pair of hands.’

  Sullivan shook his head as he paced. ‘I’m a surgeon, Gibbs. Not a medic. Last time I learned about TB I was in med school. I know virtually nothing about it, let alone the multi-drug-resistant strains.’

  He wasn’t kidding. Ask him to wield a scalpel and he wouldn’t hesitate. As an army surgeon he’d operated on the most harrowing injuries, in the most dire of circumstances. No one had ever questioned his surgical abilities. He prided himself on it. But put him in a situation where he wasn’t the expert?

  ‘You’re a doctor, Sullivan—and that’s what I need. Anyway, there’s no one else I can send.’ Gibbs hesitated. ‘And there’s another issue.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Nambura can be...difficult.’

  Sullivan frowned. ‘Spit it out, Gibbs.’

  ‘The medic is Gabrielle Cartier. The two nurses Lucy Provan and Estelle Duschanel, the onsite pharmacist Gretchen Koch.’

  Sullivan sucked in a breath and groaned. Four females on their own. Nambura tribes were very traditional. Some of the tribal leaders probably wouldn’t even talk to four Western women.

  A female colleague had reported minor hostilities on a mission a few months ago. There was no way he’d leave the four of them there for the next two weeks with no back-up. His father would never have left fellow team members at risk and the same principles had been ingrained into Sullivan all his life.

  ‘Okay, you got me. When can you arrange transport?’

  Gibbs started talking quickly. ‘I’ll send you our latest information and protocols on MDR TB. You can read them en route. The helicopter will pick you up in fifty minutes.’

  The line went dead as Sullivan stared at the phone. Fifty minutes. Gibbs had clearly already sent the transport before he’d made the call. It was almost as if he’d known Sullivan didn’t have anything to go home to.

  His top-gun pilot father had died while Sullivan had been on his final tour of duty in Helmand Province. He’d flown home, watched his father buried with full military honours, completed his tour, then had signed up with Doctors Without Borders.

  Three years later he’d only managed to go home for nineteen sporadic days. He still hadn’t emptied his father’s closets or packed up any of his things.

  He flung the phone onto his bunk as he pulled his bag from the top of the locker.

  Just as well he travelled light.

  * * *

  The music met his ears as the chopper lifted back up into the black night sky, flattening the trees all around him.

  He tilted his head as he tried to recognise the tune and the direction from which it was coming. There was only one path from the landing spot leading through the trees.

  He wound his way along it, the music getting louder with every step, until eventually he emerged into a clearing filled with familiar khaki tents identical to the ones he’d left a few hundred miles away and three hours ago.

  He glanced around. The set-up rarely varied no matter where they were in the world. A mess tent. Bathrooms and showers. An operation centre and the staff quarters.

  A flap was pinned back on the tent that seemed to be the epicentre of the noise. Sullivan’s curiosity was piqued.

  She had her back to him. Which was just as well as his eyes were immediately drawn to her tanned bare legs. She was wearing a rose pink T-shirt tied in a knot at her hip, revealing the curves of her waist. Her dark hair was in a ponytail that bounced along with her movements. But it was the khaki shorts that had caught his eye. Judging from the frayed edging, they’d obviously once been a pair of trousers and he’d like to shake the hand of the person who had cut them.

  On her feet was a pair of heavy black army boots and a pair of rumpled socks. And those legs just kept going and going.

  She was bouncing on her toes now. She wasn’t just dancing to the beat of Justin Timberlake. Oh, no. She was singing at the top of her voice. And this wasn’t just a casual bop about the place. This was a whole dance routine.

  He dropped his bag and folded his arms in amusement as she slid from one side to the other, mimicking the movements the world had seen a million times in the dance video. She had rhythm. She had style.

  And she had his full attention.

  There was no doubt about it. His blood was definitely flowing through his body a little quicker now. This emergency mission had just got a whole lot more interesting.

  Something sparked in his brain. Recognition. He could practically feel the hormones surge through his body. He couldn’t stop the smile dancing around the edges of his lips. For the first time in a long time there was a spark. A something. If he could grab this sensation right now and bottle it, he would.

  Who was she again? He filtered through the names Gibbs had given him. Gabrielle somebody? Although he’d been with Doctors Without Borders for three years, it was impossible to meet everyone. There were thirty thousand staff covering seventy countries. They saved lives by providing medical aid where it was needed most—armed conflicts, epidemics, natural disasters, and other crisis situations. There were also longer-term projects designed to tackle health crises and support people who couldn’t otherwise access health care. Every day was different. He’d just spent three months covering a burns unit. The mission before that had been in Haiti, offering free surgery. The time before that had been in a DWB hospital in Syria, dealing mainly with paediatrics.

  She lifted her hands above her head, giving him a better glimpse of the indentation of her waist and swell of her hips in those shorts. He couldn’t help but smile. This girl knew how to dance.

  If he’d seen her in a club he would have been mesmerised. Her hips sashayed to the music. Her head flicked from side to side. Her whole body was bouncing. If they’d been in a club, he might even have fought the temptation to step up behind her, press his body against hers and join in. But they weren’t in a club. They were in the middle of the Narumba jungle.

  Her feet crossed in the clunky boots and she spun around. It was obviously meant to be a full circle, but she caught sight of the unfamiliar figure and stumbled midway.

  His actions were automatic. He stepped forward and caught her elbow before she landed on the floor, pulling her up against him.

  Her eyes were wide. Her skin soft. And the scent of roses drifted up around him. The hand that had shot out to break her fall had landed on his chest as he’d grabbed her.

  For a second they were frozen in time. The music was pumping around them, the heat of the jungle rising between them, and the darkness of the night enveloping everything.

  Her eyes were the darkest brown he’d ever seen. They suited her tanned skin and chocolate hair. It was only a split second, but the heat from the palm of her hand seemed to penetrate through his thin T-shirt straight to the skin on his chest. He sucked in a breath just as she stepped backwards.

  * * *

  ‘Gabrielle?’

  As if the stranger standing in front of her, looking like film-star material, wasn’t enough, the deep throaty voice sent a shudder of electrical pulses flooding through her system that started in the palm of her hand and shot a direct route to her fluttering heart.

  It took a second to catch her breath again.

  No, it took more than a second.

  Darn it. He was smiling at her. A perfect straight-white-teeth kind of smile.

  Her palm was tingling from
where she’d made contact with the firm muscles on his chest. He was tall, lean and wide. She’d bet every part of him was as muscled as his chest.

  He had a buzz cut—like someone from the army. In fact, she’d put money on it that he’d served in the military. He had that demeanour about him, that aura of confidence as he stood there in his khaki army-style trousers and a thin dark green T-shirt.

  He held his hand out to her again. ‘May I have this dance?’ he joked.

  She gave an inward shudder as her brain kicked into gear. She spun to turn the music down on her speakers. What must she look like?

  In this area she spent twelve hours with clothes fastened up to her neck, not even revealing a glimpse of her ankles. By the time she got back to camp she needed an instant shower, a quick feed and clothes she could relax in.

  She took a deep breath and turned around, regaining her composure and putting her game face into place.

  She shook his hand and smiled. ‘Yes, I’m Gabrielle. But you have me at a disadvantage. We haven’t met before.’

  He frowned. ‘You haven’t heard from Gibbs?’

  She nodded and put her hand on her hips. ‘Oh, I heard.’ She lifted her hands in the air and made quotation marks, ‘You girls can’t stay there by yourselves. I’ll find you someone.’ She tilted her head to the side. ‘I’m assuming you’re the someone.’

  He glanced around the tent as if he were sizing up the place. Then, in a move that only reinforced what she was thinking, he turned and looked outside at the camp, checking out the surroundings. Once he seemed satisfied he turned back to her. ‘I guess I am. I’m Sullivan Darcy.’

  She couldn’t hide her smile. ‘Gibbs has sent me my own Mr Darcy?’

  He raised his eyebrows as she continued. The accent was unmistakable. ‘US army?’

  He nodded. ‘I was. Now I’m with Doctors Without Borders.’

  She walked over to a table and lifted some paperwork. ‘What’s your speciality? Medicine? Infectious diseases?’