Karin Baine – Their Mistletoe Baby (страница 1)
A Christmas dream come true
When handsome pediatrician Lucas Brodie walked out on his wife, Freya, at Christmas, he left her heart and hopes for a family shattered. This year, nurse Freya is determined to put the pain behind her by volunteering on a trip to take sick children to Lapland. But then she discovers Lucas is coming, too!
As they begin to fall in love again, Lucas wonders—could he give her a family after all? Can he put his past behind him? Perhaps an unexpected pregnancy could be the Christmas miracle to make Freya’s dreams come true...
‘You missed a bit.’ Freya pulled off her mitten and brushed the corner of his mouth with the pad of her thumb.
It was an innocent gesture, but the moment she touched Lucas his whole body sparked to life, every nerve-ending tingling with awareness. As though he’d been dormant for too long, waiting for her to initiate that contact, that bolt of electricity, to awaken him from his slumber.
‘Thanks.’ He locked his eyes on hers and he saw the brief flare of desire before she blinked it away. They might only have been married a short while, but he knew his wife well enough to recognise that look. It was the same flicker of interest he’d found so hard to resist when they’d first started working together and he still didn’t want to. He could see that same internal fight against it in her eyes too, and hope flared in his chest along with desire.
The most he’d thought he could ask from her was forgiveness, so he could start his new life. He had never imagined that the one good thing about his past might still be available to him. If he’d known there’d be the slightest possibility he could have his wife back in his life he would’ve done everything to make it happen once he was strong enough to fight for her again. He’d simply accepted that he’d hurt her too much ever to go back. Now he wondered if she might still harbour feelings for him somewhere beyond that tough shell she’d cocooned herself in.
Writing a Christmas book has been a dream come true for me. I am one of those people, like Freya, who still wants to believe in the magic of the festive season. My mum made it such a special time of the year that I never did want to grow up. Even when I’d left home and had children of my own she still managed to wrap up a slice of that nostalgia in a parcel of sweets, books and pyjamas for me to open on Christmas morning.
For us, the day was always about family. Even though she and my gran are gone now, the rest of us still get together for the traditional board games and obligatory game of bingo after we’ve stuffed ourselves with turkey sandwiches and chocolate.
Lucas is my Grinch, who doesn’t understand the warm, fuzzy feeling of having family around at Christmas because he’s never experienced it. Of course Freya and I have worked extra hard to show him how special it can be. And what better place is there to start than on a trip to see Santa Claus in Lapland?
Let’s just hope it turns out better than
Merry Christmas!
Karin xx
Their Mistletoe Baby
Karin Baine
KARIN BAINE lives in Northern Ireland with her husband, two sons, and her out-of-control notebook collection. Her mother and her grandmother’s vast collection of books inspired her love of reading and her dream of becoming a Mills & Boon author. Now she can tell people she has a
Books by Karin Baine
Mills & Boon Medical Romance
Paddington Children’s Hospital
Falling for the Foster Mum
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
Visit the Author Profile page at millsandboon.co.uk.
For my wonderful mum, who created the magic, and my boys William and Alexander, who still let me pretend it exists.
Thanks to Laura, Julia and Chellie for helping me write the best Christmas story I could.
‘The moment I picked up Karin Baine’s debut medical romance I knew I would not be disappointed with her work. Poetic and descriptive writing, engaging dialogue, thoroughly created characters and a tightly woven plot propels
—Contemporary Romance Reviews
Contents
THIS WAS GOING to be the best Christmas ever. Freya was going to make sure of it. She heard Lucas turning his key in the front door and hoped the smell of her home cooking would put a smile back on his face.
‘I’m in the kitchen,’ she called, thankful she’d had the day off to make up for their earlier tiff.
Lucas hadn’t been in the best of moods lately, which surely hadn’t been helped by having to work Christmas Eve or her mistake of bringing up obviously delicate subjects when he was overworked and overtired. Not that she’d expected the idea of having a baby to be so controversial for a doctor who’d chosen to specialise in paediatric care and was so great with his young patients.
They’d never discussed starting a family. Freya had simply assumed Lucas would be as keen as she was, but his negative reaction to the idea this morning had told a different story. He’d surprised her by storming off to the hospital, slamming the door behind him when she’d mentioned feeling broody recently. In hindsight, she had put him on the spot by asking when they could start thinking about babies when he was obviously under a lot of pressure already and not in the right head space to become a father yet.
They could discuss it properly later so they were both clear on the long-term plans for this relationship.
As Lucas strode into the kitchen, still wearing the same scowl he’d had for days now, Freya conceded it probably wasn’t good timing anyway when marriage already seemed far from the fairy tale she’d always imagined. Her spirits sank a little as that dream of having a family of her own seemed further away than ever. Lucas’s recent mood swings were even making her slightly regret the pact she’d made with him that they would spend the holidays together, just the two of them. This would be her first year not sharing it with her tinsel-loving, Christmas-aholic parents, made more difficult by the fact her new husband didn’t appear to share her enthusiasm for the season either.
The more Freya tried to make it special for them, the more detached Lucas seemed to become, but she was determined to make Christmas, and their marriage, a success. She’d lost too much already to let it all slip through her hands again.
‘You’ve been busy.’ Lucas leaned up against the refrigerator and gave the baked goods lining the kitchen counter a cursory glance before he continued scrolling through his phone.
If Freya was honest, it wasn’t the amorous reunion she’d been hoping for where they would both admit they’d been in the wrong and engage in some wild kitchen make-up sex so they could move on and enjoy the rest of Christmas.