Conceived in paradise...
When beautiful embryologist Fran Hawthorne is offered the opportunity to work on a Pacific island for a month, she seizes the chance to escape the humiliation of her ex-husbandâs betrayal.
But Fran isnât prepared for Steve Ransome, the handsome doctor heading the clinic. After years of struggling to conceive with her ex, Fran is tempted to give in to the pure passion that burns between them. Only their âtemporaryâ fling results in her carrying the child she thought sheâd never have...
MEREDITH WEBBER lives on the sunny Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia, but takes regular trips west into the Outback, fossicking for gold or opal. These breaks in the beautiful and sometimes cruel red earth country provide her with an escape from the writing desk and a chance for her mind to roam freeânot to mention getting some much needed exercise. They also supply the kernels of so many stories itâs hard for her to stop writing!
SUSAN CARLISLEâS love affair with books began in the sixth grade, when she made a bad grade in mathematics. Not allowed to watch TV until sheâd brought the grade up, Susan filled her time with books. She turned her love of reading into a passion for writing, and now has over ten Medical Romances published through Mills & Boon. She writes about hot, sexy docs and the strong women who captivate them. Visit SusanCarlisle.com.
Dear Reader,
Those of you who have been following the stories of the children brought up in foster care by the wonderful Hallie and Pop will have heard of Stephenâor Sir Stephen, as the boys called him when they teased. Well, he was tired of being teased and he wanted a story of his own.
I have touched on IVF in other stories, but as Stephen is a specialist this had to be a book about it. Embryologists, who take care of the eggs and sperm, are as important as the doctorsâmore so, according to some of them, like Francesca, especially now there is increasing use of IVMâIn-Vitro Maturation. IVM saves women having to undergo a long series of injections in order to produce ripe eggs at the right time.
With IVM immature eggs are taken from the woman and matured in an incubator, and as Fran is proficient at this procedure she has ended up working with Steve on the lovely island of Vanuatu, in the South Pacific. The pure white sand beaches, the swaying palms and the heady scent of tropical flowers do the restâ¦
Meredith Webber
PS Marty, the playboy, gets his turn to tell his story in the next book!
Books by Meredith Webber
Mills & Boon Medical Romance
The Halliday Family
A Forever Family for the Army Doc
Engaged to the Doctor Sheikh
Wildfire Island Docs
The Man She Could Never Forget
A Sheikh to Capture Her Heart
The Accidental Daddy
The Sheikh Doctorâs Bride The One Man to Heal Her
Visit the Author Profile page at at millsandboon.co.uk for more titles.
PROLOGUE
FRANCESCA LOUISE HAWTHORNE put down the phone with a sigh.
A deep sigh!
Why had she stayed in Sydney?
Why hadnât she fled to the far ends of the earth after the divorce?
Sheer stubborn pride, probably!
She shrugged her shoulders and sighed again.
âTrouble?â
She turned at the sound of her bossâs voice and smiled at the man who was part of the reason she hadnât fled. Dr Andrew Flint was one of the foremost IVF specialists in Australiaâthe best in Sydney as far as Fran was concernedâand his, admittedly early, work into IVM could revolutionise the way couples who had difficulty conceiving could have babies.
Could bring hope...
And she knew a lot about hope...
Andy had been the first specialist in Australia to work on in vitro maturation, where immature eggs were taken from women and grown to maturity in an incubator, and this work had excited Fran so much she hadnât considered leaving.
âAndy?â she said, when heâd been standing just inside the door of her office for a few moments.
This prompt was obviously not enough so she added, âYou wanted something?â
He smiled and shook his head.
âI did, but now Iâm realising just how much Iâll miss you if you say yes to what Iâve come to ask.â
Fran shook her head. Used as she was to deciphering her rather absent-minded bossâs pronouncements, this one had her stumped.
âWhich was?â she tried.
He was still smiling as he came closer to her.
âIâve been asked to lend you to someone. Have you ever run across Steve Ransome? He runs an IVF clinic in the Alexandria area. He offers couples on limited incomes from some of the inner-city areas a reduced rate but his clinic has a high success rate so he has plenty of regular fee-paying clients.â
Fran shook her head.
âDoesnât ring a bell,â she said, refusing to think about high success rates and concentrating instead on where on earth this conversation might be going.