Healed by Their Unexpected Family Read online

  Two heartbroken strangers...

  ...brought together by their baby!

  Midwife Kayla was only intending to be a surrogate. But after tragedy strikes, she’s unexpectedly thrown into the role of mother! Plus, the biological father—eternal bachelor doctor Jamie—wants to be involved! Kayla’s wary of his determination; she’s learned the hard way that her trust is often misplaced. But as the heat between them rises, can she trust him enough to let him into her life...and her heart?

  For a while they lay in silence listening to the soft snores of their sleeping son.

  Jamie was overcome with a surge of gratitude and admiration for the woman whose bed he was sharing. He watched her fight sleep, her eyes fluttering open and closed until they finally shut tight. She was bound to be exhausted and he wasn’t going to leave her here to parent alone when there were two of them to share the workload. It was the least he could do in return for the son she’d given him, for the family she’d created with him and for honoring his brother. Best of all, she’d permitted him to be part of her life. An honor he wouldn’t take for granted.

  He reached out and brushed his knuckles across her cheek, barely touching her warm skin.

  “Thank you, Kayla.” He leaned across, careful not to disturb Luke, and placed a kiss where his fingers had touched her cheek. She let out a little moan and snuggled deeper into her pillow with a smile.

  For a man who’d sworn off taking on more responsibility in his personal life, he couldn’t think of anywhere else he’d rather be than in bed with Kayla and his newborn son.

  Dear Reader,

  This story has been in my head for a long time. I wanted to do a surrogacy story with a twist. Where better to start than with a surrogate mother and the sperm donor who don’t get along and suddenly find themselves playing parents to a newborn!

  With no role models to follow and no family around, they’re straight in at the deep end. They have to set aside their own commitment issues for their baby’s sake, but neither of them is ready to play happy family just yet.

  Although both of my babies are grown men now, I still remember the struggles of motherhood and the feeling of inadequacy Kayla goes through. It’s only with time and experience you really become a mom, and if you’re lucky, with the support of a good man like Jamie Garrett, too!

  I’m so glad my wonderful editor, Charlotte, was on board with Kayla and Jamie’s story from the start. Now you get to share in the ups and downs of parenthood with them. I hope you enjoy it.

  Lots of love,

  Karin xx

  Healed by Their Unexpected Family

  Karin Baine

  Books by Karin Baine

  Harlequin Medical Romance

  Pups that Make Miracles

  Their One-Night Christmas Gift

  Single Dad Docs

  The Single Dad’s Proposal

  Paddington Children’s Hospital

  Falling for the Foster Mom

  French Fling to Forever

  A Kiss to Change Her Life

  The Doctor’s Forbidden Fling

  The Courage to Love Her Army Doc

  Reforming the Playboy

  Their Mistletoe Baby

  From Fling to Wedding Ring

  Midwife Under the Mistletoe

  Their One-Night Twin Surprise

  Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.

  For Georgia and Jordan xx

  Praise for Karin Baine

  “Karin Baine is a brilliant writer. She takes you on a journey as the characters develop and find their inner strength and happiness. I recommend her books to any romance lover!”

  —Goodreads on The Courage to Love Her Army Doc

  Contents

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  EPILOGUE

  EXCERPT FROM CINDERELLA AND THE SURGEON BY SCARLET WILSON

  CHAPTER ONE

  ‘SO, YOU’RE THE woman I’m about to impregnate? Nice to see you again.’

  ‘Hello, Mr Garrett.’ Kayla O’Connell shook hands with the man her brother, Liam, and his husband, Tom, had set her up with for this baby-making exercise.

  So much for this remaining nothing more than a business transaction when one firm handshake, one touch from him was enough to make her weak at the knees. She would rather not have him involved in this at all. It would have been easier to do it with a stranger. Meeting Jamie at her brother’s wedding had been sufficient to rattle her.

  ‘Oh, Kayla, I would’ve thought we were on first-name terms by now. Jamie’s fine.’

  Even though his slow, sexy smile had her transfixed, that smooth charm he possessed always made her nervous. It reminded her of her parents and the façade they’d used to put on for the rest of the world to hide the multitude of sins committed behind closed doors. He was easy on the eye, but he knew it, and took way too much enjoyment in the fact she blushed every time he came near her.

  However, since he was Tom’s big brother there was no way of avoiding him. ‘Thanks for coming, Jamie.’

  ‘You know I’d do anything you asked. All you have to do is give me the word.’ He held her gaze a second longer than necessary, sending shivers all over her body at the underlying suggestion. What scared her more than Jamie’s blatant flirting with her was her reaction to it. But rather than admonishing him for his suggestive comments, she had to use all her strength not to give into the temptation he embodied.

  ‘We’re not doing this for me. It’s for our brothers and that’s who we should be focusing on.’ Kayla couldn’t take her eyes off him as he sat down in the chair opposite, loosened his navy and silver striped tie and undid the top button on his shirt, revealing that small patch of skin at his throat. The picture in her mind took on a whole new explicit nature, transporting the scene into a bedroom rather than a busy London café.

  Clearly, her body had gone into panic mode about this surrogacy idea if she was fantasising about the father-to-be. Who, in ordinary circumstances, she would’ve run a mile from. Lately, she’d gone for safe guys, who never really lit her fire but she knew would never hurt her. Self-preservation after abusive parents and an ex-boyfriend who’d thought he could control her. Thank goodness she’d had her brother’s support in helping her realise Paul had gradually been taking over, manipulating her into doing what he wanted and leaving her scared to question him.

  It had been a blow to realise she’d reverted back to that submissive behaviour she’d employed to keep her parents happy rather than face the consequences. Trust wasn’t something she gave easily, and Paul had taken what was left from her.

  It was no wonder her relationships since hadn’t lasted, because she couldn’t bring herself to fully invest in them in case history repeated itself. She’d been content being single and not having to worry about anyone except herself. Kayla would go as far as to say she’d never get into another relationship again and certainly had no inclination towards starting a family of her own. That was why being around Jamie was so difficult. She might be attracted to him, but she also knew he was the type of man capable of breaking hearts. His brother had told her as much.

  ‘Of course, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy each other’s company too, does it?’ He reach
ed across the table to take her hand and stroked his thumb across her fingers. She could only watch, dumbstruck, knowing she couldn’t give an answer without incriminating herself.

  A shuffling by the table alerted her to someone else bewitched by her companion. The young girl carrying over his coffee hovered long after she’d set the cup down, openly staring at him.

  ‘Thank you.’ He turned on a full-watt grin that sent the waitress scurrying away again with a giggle. Jamie had that cheeky glint in his brown eyes Kayla was sure made most women swoon, although she knew he wasn’t the settling-down type either. That was one of the reasons he’d apparently agreed to do this. Kayla directed her thoughts back to the surrogacy, since that was the reason they were actually here.

  ‘So, I know you’re a respected GP in your practice, a partner. Tom told me you raised him after your parents both died, and you’ve said yourself you don’t want anything to do with this baby when it arrives.’ It wasn’t important how hot his skin felt against hers or that he’d ignored every other woman at the wedding, trying to capture her attention. For these purposes, all she needed to know was that he had brains as well as good looks and that he wouldn’t be hanging around driving her to distraction once his part of the deal was over.

  ‘That’s not as brutal as it seems on the surface. I’m happy to help the newly-weds start a family but I’m not interested in being a father myself. I don’t mind being the fun uncle, though. Do you have a problem with that?’ He cocked his head to one side, eyebrow raised as he tried to rile her. She wasn’t going to rise to it. Even if he was making sexy eyes at her, causing her to tingle in all sorts of places. Yes, she did have a problem with it.

  Perhaps this had been a bad idea, but she’d thought they should at least discuss what they expected from this arrangement. In Jamie’s case, apparently that was nothing. He was primarily going to be the sperm donor. Perhaps with the odd appearance for birthdays and family get-togethers.

  She couldn’t criticise when that was as involved as she wished to be in the baby’s life too. In her case, a loving auntie who was free to come and go as she chose. She was the surrogate, an incubator only for this baby, because any idea of family beyond her brother terrified the life out of her. Their parents’ tyranny had made her realise the damage a person could do to a child and she didn’t want that level of responsibility. Liam and Tom were two of the nicest men on earth and a child would be lucky to have them as parents.

  ‘Not at all. I was just checking.’ She sipped her herbal tea and wished the others would hurry up and join them to ease the tension.

  She tried to forget their first meeting and how flustered she’d been around him. A matter he’d taken great satisfaction in and flirted with her outrageously until she’d demanded he stop. He obviously wasn’t used to women saying no to him, her request amusing him all the more. The truth was she’d been afraid of reacting to his advances when her body had been on fire for him after just a few suggestive comments. He wasn’t her type. Actually, she didn’t have a type because there wasn’t a man alive she was willing to trust.

  Of course, their brothers had been blissfully unaware of their sizzling chemistry, so wrapped up in the happiness of their big day. When they’d proposed Jamie as the sperm donor for the surrogate baby she had agreed to carry for them, she’d been unable to find it in her to object to the idea.

  ‘I never thought my little brother would be the first to get married and have a family.’ He shook his head, the affection for his sibling shining brightly in his smile.

  ‘It was a lovely wedding.’ The grooms had spared no expense in sharing their happy day with their friends. They’d taken their vows in the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. Toasted with champagne in the courtyard over the Meridian Line, where the east and west hemispheres met. Later, they’d had their meal in the Octagon Room under the stars. Those still standing had gone on to party in a nearby hotel, and booked rooms for the night. The whole day had been magical.

  ‘Amazing. I had concerns it might be a bit...cheesy but I suppose some might have called it romantic.’ He leaned across the table as he said it, reminding her of the telescope viewing she’d done with Jamie right there beside her. With him so close she’d been oblivious to anyone else in the room.

  As the grooms’ family, they’d spent the majority of the day in close proximity but that was the moment she’d become aware of him. By that time of the evening, his perfectly groomed hair had had its curl back and he’d had a shadow of a beard bristling over his once clean-shaven jaw. He’d shed his tux jacket and untied his bow tie so it hung loosely around his neck. It wouldn’t have taken much to tug on the ends and pull him in for a kiss. One she’d known would be hot when he’d been giving her his undivided attention all day. Thank goodness that had been the moment Tom and Liam had announced they were moving the party to the hotel and saved her from herself.

  ‘The food was good too.’

  ‘The first dance was my particular highlight.’ Clearly, he wasn’t going to let her forget their more intimate moments of the day.

  That first dance, when Jamie had swept her up on the dance floor at the happy couple’s insistence they join them, had indeed been memorable. Those three or four minutes in his arms, their bodies pressed close together swaying in time to the music, had been heavenly. When he’d whispered in her ear, asked if she wanted to come up to his room, she’d almost agreed. Her hormones would’ve followed him across the dance floor and into his bed, but her head and her wounded heart wouldn’t allow it. That was when she’d known she’d had to stop his flirting with her and once the song had ended, she’d made sure to keep her distance from him. Until now.

  ‘It was good to see Tom and Liam so in love. They’re going to make great parents.’

  Jamie sighed, perhaps resigning himself to the fact she didn’t want to be reminded of the chemistry they’d experienced that night. Something which apparently hadn’t dissipated since they’d last seen each other.

  ‘Tell me, Kayla, what is it you’re hoping to achieve by offering yourself up as a surrogate? You’re a midwife, aren’t you? Surely this isn’t a situation you would usually encourage?’ He lounged back in his chair, crossed his long legs at the ankles and made himself comfortable whilst he turned the spotlight back on her. It was a safer topic of conversation for her than the wedding night.

  ‘I’m a doula now. I left my position as a midwife so I could give more support to my expectant mothers. It’s none of my business what the story behind their pregnancy is but it is my job to be supportive of their choices. I just want parents and babies to be happy. The same goes in this instance too.’ She would move in with the guys for the duration of the pregnancy, to keep them involved throughout, then hand over the baby so they could start their happy little family. Something she and Liam had missed out on their entire lives.

  ‘Do you have a problem with that?’ Her brother’s sexuality was a touchy subject for her and she was very protective of him despite being the younger of the two.

  It had been their parents’ reaction to him coming out as gay which had finally given her the push to leave that toxic environment with him and move to London from their small village in Northern Ireland. They’d spent their entire childhoods cowed in fear of their disciplinarian parents, but it was when their mother and father had disowned their own son she’d seen them for the monsters they really were.

  Jamie set his coffee cup back on the table and held his hands up. ‘Not at all.’

  ‘Good. Then we’re both on the same page.’ This baby was going to share the traits of both its parents and she wanted to be certain there weren’t some dodgy conscience-free genes about to be introduced.

  ‘I wouldn’t do this for just anybody. It’s not as though I make weekly deposits down at the local sperm bank and get off on the fact there could be dozens of Jamie Juniors running around out there. Tom asked me to do this because he can�
��t and with me as the donor it means he still has a biological connection with the baby. The same way Liam has because you’re the egg donor.’

  ‘I have my own reasons for agreeing.’ Liam deserved to have some happiness and though she hadn’t been able to do anything in the past to help, she was in a position to do it now. It was information Jamie didn’t need to know. Her past was none of his business.

  ‘Oh? You’re not doing it simply out of the goodness of your heart, then? Like me?’ He was making fun of her because she was taking this seriously. She wished he would. It would make her feel better to know the father of this baby was sensible, reliable and stable. Even if he wasn’t going to be an active participant.

  ‘If you just wanted to have a kid, you should’ve taken me up on my offer at the hotel.’ The man winking at her, and setting her body aflame with desire, didn’t fit in with the profile supplied by those who knew him better than her.

  From the glowing accounts she’d heard before they’d met, she’d expected a deadly serious, old-beyond-his-years father figure, who’d raised Tom as his own son and was giving him away at the wedding. She’d known he wasn’t keen on long-term relationships, but she’d put that down to his busy work schedule. After getting to know him she wondered if there was anything more to him than a rakish playboy who thought nothing of propositioning her. Either way, she’d be having words with her brother about his suitability for this role.

  ‘Don’t think it hasn’t crossed my mind.’ The truth slipped out before she could catch it. She took another sip of her tea to keep her from saying anything else to feed his widening grin.

  It wasn’t that she’d never been in the company of a handsome man before, or had one come on to her. She’d been getting better at handling herself in those situations because she was sick of pretending to be someone she wasn’t. Her early years had been spent trying to be the perfect daughter to prevent angering her parents. The hangover of that learned behaviour as an adult had seen her enter into a disastrous relationship where she’d spent most of it trying, and failing, to meet her partner’s expectations. She was done trying and didn’t need the drama of having another man in her life. If only all her other body parts agreed with her brain.