Dear Reader,
Claudia Monticello has accepted that sheâs more like her fiery, impulsive Italian father than her sweet and sensible Irish mother. The âsensibleâ genes have been lavishly bestowed upon her twin sister Harriet. But she also knows that her impulsive decisions and her desire to take everyone at face valueâparticularly menâhas to stop. Her need to live life to the fullest has led her to the other side of the world on not much more than a whimâand thatâs the least serious of the repercussions!
Claudia has received life-changing news, and she realises she has no choice but to be responsible. And suddenlyâand surprisinglyâthat doesnât seem so hard. Her heart is already consumed with love for her unborn babies, and their needs will for evermore come first. The only men who have a future in her life are her two sons.
That is until she meets Dr Patrick Spencer.
This former obstetrician has left his life in London to start a new life in Los Angeles. But the disappointment that has driven him five thousand miles from home seems to follow him and, despite a new career, he never feels fulfilled.
That is until he meets Claudia Monticello.
They have both left London for very different reasons, but when their worlds collide they are forced to question their decision never to love again.
I hope you enjoy Claudia and Patrickâs journey to happily-ever-after. Itâs a bumpy ride, so you might need to hold on tightâ¦just as tightly as my hero and heroine do from the moment they meet!
Warmest regards,
Susanne
Married to the man she met at eighteen, SUSANNE HAMPTON is the mother of two adult daughtersâOrianthi and Tina. She has enjoyed a varied career path, but has finally found her way to her favourite role of all: a Mills & Boon Medical Romance author. Susanne has always read romance novels and says, âI love a happy-ever-after, so writing for Mills & Boon is a dream come true.â
To everyone who thought they had closed their hearts to loveâ¦only to be proved wrong by a love stronger than the heartache they had survived.
And to Alli and Gilda and all of my amazing friends who constantly provide inspiration for my books.
Praise for Susanne Hampton
âA stunning read about new beginnings that is guaranteed to melt any readerâs heart.â
âGoodreads on Falling for Dr December
âProbably one of my top ten favourite reads this year. It was heartbreakingâ¦kept me wanting to read to find out what happens next.â
âGoodreads on A Baby to Bind Them
CHAPTER ONE
âCONGRATULATIONS, CLAUDIA. Youâre having twins!â
Claudia Monticelloâs deep brown eyes, inherited from her Italian father, widened like dollhouse-sized plates against her alabaster skin, a present from her Irish mother. In a rush of panic and disbelief, her gaze darted from the gel-covered bump of her stomach to the grainy black-and-white images on the screen, then to the pleased as punch radiologistâs face before finally looking up to the ceiling to where she imagined heaven might be. Not that she thought her parents would be smiling down at her after what she had done.
Suddenly the room became very hot and she struggled a little to breathe. The clammy fingers of one hand reached for the sides of the examination table to steady herself. Two babies. Her mouth had dropped open slightly, but her lips had not curved to anything close to a smile. In denial, she shook her head from side to side and nervously chewed on the nails of the other hand. There had to be a mistake. The radiologist, still smiling at the screen and apparently unaware of the panic blanketing her patient, gently moved the hand piece over Claudiaâs stomach to capture additional images.
She must have zoomed in too quickly, Claudia mused.
Double imaged.
Misread the data.
Be new at her job.
But Claudia knew without doubt, as she slowly and purposefully focused on the screen, there was no mistake. There were two tiny babies with two distinct heartbeats. The radiologist was using her finger to point to them. Her excitement was palpable. A reaction juxtaposed to Claudiaâs. At twenty-nine years of age, Claudia Monticello was anything but excited to be the single mother of twins. For many reasons... The first was her living five thousand miles from home...and the second was the fact her children would never meet their father.
* * *
Twenty weeks had passed since Claudia discovered she was to be the mother of two and, as she dropped her chin and looked down at her ample midsection while waiting for the elevator, she was pleased to see they were healthy-sized babies. Her waist was somewhere hidden underneath her forty-five-inch circumference and she hadnât seen her ankles for weeks. Her mood was one of anticipation as she waited for the doors to open on her floor. Her final obstetric visit was imminent and she was thinking about little else than her flight home to London the next day. It couldnât come quickly enough for her. She couldnât wait to farewell Los Angeles.