some little incident at work as he cooked their dinner.
But all she’d wanted was a baby—he’d known that
from the start.
‘That coffee smells good. Good morning, or is it
good afternoon?’
She was wearing one of his shirts that barely covered
her butt and made her glorious legs look so good he
wanted to tell her she should wear less more often.
Then not tell her, because he would hate for another
man to see her as she was now.
178
THE HEART SURGEON’S BABY SURPRISE
‘I’m in a clothes bind again,’ she said, for all the
world as if nothing had happened between them and
they were back where they’d been before he’d brought
up the child as his father’s heir. ‘All my gear is back at
my place and somehow…’ she blushed in the way he
found irresistible ‘…I tore the skirt I was wearing when
we came in.’
He sipped his coffee and wondered just how long
this nothing conversation would go on, then he
suddenly realised that this was Grace being Grace
again—cool, competent, classy, and covering up such
a welter of insecurities he didn’t know how she did it.
But although he’d seen through the act, he wasn’t
going to let on—not just yet. After all, hadn’t she been
keeping him waiting?
‘Coffee?’ he offered, and that’s when she snapped.
‘Of course I don’t want coffee. We were supposed
to be talking, to be sorting things out, and suddenly
we’re back in bed together and nothing’s sorted—’
He knew that now she’d started she’d keep going
for it was how she got uncomfortable things said, so
he broke in.
‘Except me telling you I love you—surely that’s a
step in the right direction.’
Her hands stole to her cheeks, scarlet again.
‘I thought I might have dreamt that part,’ she said,
so hesitant he had to stand up and put his arms around
her.
‘You didn’t dream it. I do love you, and while it
might make things complicated for you, you’d better
learn to live with it because I’m going to love you for
a long, long time, Grace Sutherland. And loving you I
MEREDITH WEBBER
179
want to live with you, with you and our child and
whatever other children we might have. I said before I’d
like to see South Africa—moving there is no problem
to me.’
She was looking at him, her eyes still wary, as if
afraid to accept what he was saying, while Theo himself
was growing increasingly anxious because, although
his declaration was going quite well, there didn’t seem
to be any answering declaration from the woman to
whom he was professing such love.
For one panicky moment he wondered if he’d got it
wrong—totally wrong—and she didn’t love him, but
he’d learned to read her and he thought…
Now her clear blue eyes met his.
‘It was living together I wanted to talk about,’ she
said, so quietly he had to strain, and hold her closer, in
order to hear the words. ‘On the plane. That’s what I
was thinking, that it would be best for the baby, but I
knew how you felt and didn’t know how to ask you if
you’d mind, and also it seemed to me as if I was going
back on our agreement even to think about it, but, Theo,
if you love me…’
He kissed her gently on the lips.
‘I do love you and although it’s hard for you to be-
lieve that, you’ve got to try, maybe say it to yourself a
hundred times a day. “Theo loves me.” Three little
words—not hard.’
Could she hear his tension in the huskiness of his
voice that she said the words then returned his kiss,
pressing her lips against his before saying them again?
‘Maybe a million times a day,’ she said, a radiant
smile breaking out on her face.
180
THE HEART SURGEON’S BABY SURPRISE
‘Just as long as you believe it,’ he growled, and held
her tight against his body, delighting in the feel of Grace
in his arms again, considering going back to bed, re-
fusing to think about the fact she might not love him…
He deepened the kiss, ruthlessly dragging such a
response from her that she trembled against him, whis-
pering his name in breathless gasps.
‘Bed?’ she suggested, but he shook his head.
‘No way,’ he said, and held her aroused body a little
away from him so he could look into her flushed face
and starry eyes. ‘Not until we’ve talked, and I don’t
mean about arrangements and agreements and babies
having two parents. I want other talk—it’s time for love
talk, Grace.’
The colour faded from her cheeks and once again he
was gripped by a fear that he’d got it wrong, but her chin
tilted upward and her eyes met his.
‘I’ve only told one other man I loved him, Theo,’ she
said quietly, ‘and he destroyed that love in the most
public and painful way possible. I promised myself I’d
never fall in love again, but almost from the moment
we met I found myself being drawn to you—not only
with our atoms hooking, but our minds as well. You
were kind, and considerate and understanding, and
suddenly there you were in my heart. Although I’d told
young Kelly that love didn’t live in hearts, I knew you’d
taken up residence in mine. But knowing how you felt,
I didn’t want to embarrass you by telling you.’
Theo hugged her close again.
‘If I promise not to be embarrassed, will you tell me
now?’ he murmured against the soft gold hair that
smelled of orange blossom.
MEREDITH WEBBER
181
She nodded then eased away from him.
‘I love you, Theo, with all my heart and all whatever
other organs might be involved with love.’
‘Thank heavens for that!’ he said, giving her a hug
of absolute joy. ‘ Now we can go back to bed!’
SCARLETT was doing well with her new heart—so well,
in fact, they were considering moving her out of the
PICU. Grace stood looking down at the little baby,
thinking of her own child—hers and Theo’s—growing
inside her, when Mrs Robinson appeared.
‘I know they’re not supposed to tell, the social wel-
fare people, but my husband had to know who’d ar-
ranged the money so we could come down and be with
Scarlett and now we want to thank you,’ she said
quietly, handing Grace a bulky parcel.
‘Oh, no, I don’t want a gift—my gift was the
pleasure of being able to help,’ she said, but Mrs
Robinson insisted she have it so Grace unwrapped it
and there, folded carefully, lay the most beautiful, del-
icately knitted, cream shawl.
‘It’s from wool from our own sheep—super fine—
and my mother spun it then I
knitted it. I’ve knitted one
for each of the children so they’d each have one to pass
on to their children, and at first we thought Scarlett was
going to be a twin so this time I knitted two, but now
I’d like you to have it for your baby.’
MEREDITH WEBBER
183
‘My baby?’ Grace queried, unable to believe this
was happening—first that Mrs Robinson had found
out about her gift, and now that the woman knew she
was expecting.
‘I told you my mother was the seventh daughter of a
seventh daughter—she said Scarlett would be saved by
a pregnant woman and looking at you, seeing your smile
when you look at Scarlett and all the babies here, it’s just
confirmed what Mum said. You are pregnant, aren’t
you?’
Grace nodded, but had no idea what to say. She could
feel heat rising in her cheeks, and knew if she tried to
talk she’d probably cry, but fortunately, as she held the
beautiful shawl in her hands, Theo came in and appar-
ently took in the situation with one glance.
‘Ah, first baby gift, and what a beautiful one,’ he
said, picking up the shawl and holding it out so Grace
could see the lacy, intricately knitted pattern. ‘Thank
you, Mrs Robinson, we’ll treasure this.’
Mrs Robinson beamed with pride, and Grace,
though exceptionally grateful for Theo’s intervention,
was now even more confused.
‘How did you know what it was?’ she demanded a
little later when they found themselves alone in the
tearoom.
He laughed and kissed her lightly on the lips.
‘One look at your face was enough to tell me. You
were shocked and delighted and happy and bamboozled
all at once and I thought, There’s my beautiful Grace,
all uncertain again because someone’s done something
nice for her and she doesn’t know how to handle it.’
He kissed her again.
184
THE HEART SURGEON’S BABY SURPRISE
‘You have to believe in yourself, Grace Sutherland.
you’re good at what you do—but in your personal life
you have to accept that you are one of the world’s
nicest, kindest, most caring and concerned people, and
you don’t have to hide that niceness and kindness and
caring and concern behind a screen of polite disinter-
est, or brusqueness, or a distant manner because no
one’s ever going to take you for granted again. If they
do, they’ll have me to answer to and I can be a very for-
midable man when I like!’
He sounded so fierce Grace had to laugh, and,
laughing, she fell into his arms, so when Phil wandered
in he found them locked together, not laughing now but
reaffirming all the words they’d spoken over the last few
days with a kiss.
‘Got things sorted, then,’ Phil said, walking past
them to put on the kettle.
‘You might say that,’ Theo told him, then, because
it was only Phil, he went on kissing Grace.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-3030-3
THE HEART SURGEON’S BABY SURPRISE
First North American Publication 2009
Copyright © 2008 by Meredith Webber
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utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic,
mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
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or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the
publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road,
Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are
either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously,
and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business
establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Document Outline
Title page
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Start