Praise for Alison Roberts:
âReaders will be moved by this incredibly sweet story about a family that is created in the most unexpected way.â
âRT Book Reviews on THE HONOURABLE MAVERICK
âI had never read anything by Alison Roberts prior to reading TWINS FOR CHRISTMAS, but after reading this enchanting novella I shall certainly add her name to my auto-buy list!â
âCataromance.com on TWINS FOR CHRISTMAS
âMs Roberts produces her usual entertaining blend of medicine and romance in just the right proportion, with a brooding but compelling hero and both leads with secrets to hide.â
âMills & Boon>® website reader review on NURSE, NANNY ⦠BRIDE!
Dear Reader
Two years ago I had the pleasure of being part of the St Piranâs Hospital series.
I loved my story about Luke and Anna, and adding to the conflict of the characters Josh and Megan, whose tense relationship ran throughout each of the stories in the St Piranâs series.
When the series finished, it certainly looked as if these two star-crossed lovers could never get a happy ending of their own. Not only was there a wife still in the picture but, shockingly, she was now pregnant! I was honoured to be asked to revisit St Piranâs and find a happy ending for Josh and Megan, but I also thought: Hmm ⦠this will be quite a challenge. Challenge is a good thing, I reminded myself. It takes us out of our comfort zone and makes us stretch our wings and achieve more than we might have thought we could. And isnât it true that the more you put into something, the more you get out of it?
I really hope you love this story as much as I did in the end.
Happy reading!
With love
Alison
âCODE ONE, DR Phillips.â The registrar slammed down the phone as he swung his head. âTheatre Three.â
Meganâs pager began sounding at precisely the same moment, with the particular sound reserved for an absolute emergency.
The surge of adrenaline made everything else irrelevant. Even signing her resignation. Her ticket to finally escape.
She dropped her pen on top of the paperwork and leapt to her feet.
âLetâs go.â
A code one was a life-threatening emergency. A life was at stake. More than one life, potentially, if Megan was being summoned. For a paediatrician to be called in with the same paging system used for something like a cardiac arrest meant that a newborn baby could be in need of specialist resuscitation. For it to be happening in Theatre meant the baby was arriving by emergency Caesarean. There were no scheduled Caesareans for the St Piranâs maternity department today so this one must have come in via the emergency department.
The registrar, Matt, was keeping pace with Megan as she ran for the elevator.
âSuspected uterine rupture,â he said.
Megan nodded, holding her finger on the button as if that would speed up the arrival of the lift. Then she turned away.
âStairs,â she snapped. âItâll be quicker.â
âSheâll be bleeding out, wonât she?â Matt was right behind her. âThe baby wonât stand much of a chance.â
âDepends.â Megan was taking the stairs two at a time. âInternal blood loss can sometimes slow down or even stop simply because itâs filled the available space and that puts pressure on ruptured vessels. The real danger comes when you open that space and release the pressure.â She blew out a hard breath as she pushed open the fire stop door on the theatre suite level. âBut youâre right. Itâs critical for both of them.â
The main corridor in St Piranâs theatre suite was deceptively quiet. The flashing orange light above the door of Theatre Three was a beacon. But so was something else that Megan hadnât expected to see.
A lone figure, at the end of the corridor, in front of the tall windows. A figure that stopped pacing and was now poised, reminding her of a wild animal sensing danger.
There was no mistaking the intensity of the stare Megan knew was directed at her.
âGet some scrubs on,â she ordered Matt as they reached the door to the change rooms. âThen go in and make sure weâve got everything we might need on the resus trolley. Check the incubator. Iâll be right there.â
The figure was moving towards her. It might only be a silhouette because of the background light of the fading day beyond the windows but Megan knew exactly who it was.
Josh OâHara.
Oh ⦠God â¦
Why now? When sheâd successfully avoided being alone with him for months.
Ever since that final, devastating kiss.
She could have avoided it now, too. Why hadnât she gone straight into Theatre with her registrar?
Because there was only one reason why Josh would be pacing the corridor like this. Why he wouldnât be in the Theatre with a case that would have been in his emergency department only minutes ago.
Megan was holding her breath. Sheâd never seen Josh look this tense. Distraught, even. Not even when heâd come to tell her that he loved her but they had no future.
Or ⦠maybe she had. Once. So long ago now that the memory of his face was only a faint chord in the symphony that nightmare had been.