Carrying the Single Dad's Baby Read online

  One night of comfort...

  One unexpected miracle!

  Beatrice Lindford’s fresh start is abruptly derailed the moment she starts working with gorgeous single dad Dr. Daniel Capaldi. He instantly ruffles her guarded feathers, but Beatrice must keep her mind on her new job and away from the temptation of Daniel’s charming yet sorrowful smile. Both try—and fail—to keep their professional distance, and they soon find themselves unexpectedly bound by a tiny miracle.

  “You could come in for a coffee, if you like,” she said.

  It was tempting. So very tempting.

  But it wouldn’t be fair to her to start something that he knew he couldn’t finish.

  “Thanks, but...”

  “But no thanks,” she finished. “I understand.”

  But there had been a flash of hurt in her eyes. It made him want to make her feel better. And all his common sense went out of the window, because he wrapped his arms around her. Lowered his mouth to hers. Brushed his lips against hers once, twice...

  Her hands were in his hair and she was kissing him back when he came to his senses again and broke the kiss.

  “I’m sorry. That wasn’t fair of me,” he said. “I’m not in a position to date anyone. I have Iain to think of. If my situation was different, I’d ask you out properly.”

  “And I’d turn you down, because I’d still be concentrating on my career.”

  Whoever had hurt her had really hurt her, he thought.

  “Message understood,” he said. “Good night, Beatrice.”

  “Good night, Daniel.”

  And he turned away before he did something stupid. Like ask her to change both their minds.

  Dear Reader,

  What happens when you meet someone you really click with—but you’ve both been on opposite sides of the same difficult issue, so being together means you’ll have to come to terms with the tragedy of your past?

  Beatrice meets Daniel, a single dad whose child is the same age her daughter would’ve been had the car crash not happened. Daniel has sworn off relationships, wanting to protect his son and guard his own heart, but how can he resist someone as warm and kind and sweet as Beatrice? Beatrice has also sworn off relationships, not wanting to risk a repeat of her past. But as they get to know each other at work and find their mutual attraction too much to resist, they think they can move forward. Until their joint worst nightmare rears its head...

  I hope you enjoy Beatrice and Daniel’s story.

  With love,

  Kate Hardy

  Carrying the Single Dad’s Baby

  Kate Hardy

  Books by Kate Hardy

  Harlequin Medical Romance

  Miracles at Muswell Hill Hospital

  Christmas with Her Daredevil Doc

  Their Pregnancy Gift

  Paddington Children’s Hospital

  Mommy, Nurse...Duchess?

  Christmas Miracles in Maternity

  The Midwife’s Pregnancy Miracle

  Capturing the Single Dad’s Heart

  Unlocking the Italian Doc’s Heart

  Harlequin Romance

  Her Festive Doorstep Baby

  His Shy Cinderella

  The Runaway Bride and the Billionaire

  Christmas Bride for the Boss

  Reunited at the Altar

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

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  To my editors, Sheila and Megan, with love and thanks for being so patient with me!

  Praise for Kate Hardy

  “Kate Hardy once again brings an entertaining story, which will hook readers and keep their interest riveted. The fun banter and witty dialogue makes this a fun read. And the drama in the medical scenes captures the readers’ imagination.”

  —Goodreads on The Midwife’s Pregnancy Miracle

  Contents

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  EPILOGUE

  EXCERPT FROM THE FAMILY THEY'VE LONGED FOR BY ROBIN GIANNA

  CHAPTER ONE

  EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT.

  The letters stood out, white on a blue background. Just the same as they had in the last hospital where Beatrice had worked.

  Except at Muswell Hill Memorial Hospital she would be getting a fresh start. This was a new place, where nobody knew about her past, so nobody could pity her. Not for her divorce, not for the baby, not for the way her life had totally imploded four years ago.

  They’d all see her for who she was now. Beatrice Lindford, the new emergency consultant. Beatrice who was cool, calm and perfectly controlled. Who led her team from the front. And who’d baked brownies the night before to say hello to her new department.

  She took a deep breath, pushed open the swing doors with her free hand, and walked into the reception area.

  Michael Harcourt, the head of the department, was waiting for her.

  ‘Beatrice, lovely that you made it. Come and meet the team.’ He looked quizzically at her. ‘What’s in the boxes?’

  ‘Home-made brownies. Just my way of saying hello to everyone.’

  ‘You didn’t have to bring anything,’ he said with a smile, ‘but they’ll go down very well in the staff kitchen. Now, let me find someone to show you round... Ah, Josh.’ He called over one of the younger doctors. ‘Josh, I think you’re rostered in Resus with Beatrice, our new consultant, this morning. I’d like you to show her round before it all gets hectic.’

  Was it her imagination, or was Josh looking at her slightly oddly?

  ‘Beatrice, this is Josh, one of our juniors. He’s a good lad, but don’t ever let him drive you anywhere—unless you don’t mind risking ending up with a tension pneumothorax, eh, Josh?’ Chuckling, Michael walked away.

  Josh groaned. ‘Please don’t take too much notice of what the boss just said. My pneumothorax was months ago, and it was only because I wasn’t used to go-karting on ice and I took the corner too fast.’

  ‘Go-karting on ice?’ Beatrice raised an eyebrow. That sounded like the definition of insanity, to her.

  ‘Sam—he’s one of the registrars and you’ll meet him shortly—thought it would be a good team-building exercise,’ Josh explained. ‘And it was. It was great fun. Except I, um, crashed. And nobody’s ever going to let me forget it. Ever.’ He groaned again. ‘Even in the Christmas secret Santa last year, I got a modified model motorcycle.’

  She smiled. ‘Oh, dear. So Sam’s a bit of a daredevil?’

  Josh smiled back. ‘He used to be. He’s changed a bit, now he’s a dad.’

  Babies.

  Of course people in the department would have babies and small children. The same as they would anywhere she worked.

  She wasn’t going to let it throw her. This was about her job, not her personal life.

  ‘Can we start with the staff kitchen so I can drop these off?’ She indicated the plastic boxes she was carrying.

  ‘Sure.’ He looked interested. ‘What’s in them?’

  ‘Brownies.’ The recipe they used at Beresford Castle that had actually
got a write-up in one of the Sunday supplements, and made all the tourists come back for more. ‘I hope I made enough for everyone working in the department today.’

  ‘You made them yourself?’

  ‘Last night.’ With a bit of help from her niece and nephews.

  ‘That’s a lot of work. And it’s really nice of you.’

  ‘Just my way of saying hello to my new team,’ she said with a smile. ‘And I was planning on buying everyone a drink tonight after my shift, if you can maybe recommend somewhere. I’ve only just moved here, so I don’t really know the area yet.’

  ‘The Red Lion, just round the corner, is fairly popular,’ he said.

  ‘The Red Lion it is, then,’ she said.

  Once they’d dropped the boxes of brownies in the staff kitchen, with a note she’d written earlier propped against them inviting the team to help themselves, Josh showed her round the department and introduced her to the team.

  Everyone seemed friendly enough, but when a doctor strode out of cubicles, clearly ready to see his next patient, Josh suddenly looked awkward. ‘Um, and this is Daniel Capaldi, one of the registrars. Daniel, this is Beatrice Lindford, our new...’ His voice trailed off.

  Why was Josh suddenly acting like a cat on a hot tin roof? Beatrice wondered. What was it about Daniel Capaldi that had made the junior doctor so nervous?

  Quite apart from the fact that Daniel looked as if he could’ve graced the pages of a high-end glossy fashion magazine; she didn’t think she’d ever met anyone so good-looking in her entire life. He was tall enough for her to have to look up to him, with dark hair brushed back from his forehead—the type of hair that would curl when it was wet—dark eyes, the longest eyelashes she’d ever seen on a man, and a mouth with an incredibly sensual curve.

  He was breathtakingly beautiful.

  Maybe he was the type who knew just how good-looking he was, and was used to women falling at his feet. Well, she didn’t care what her colleagues looked like. She just wanted them to be good at their jobs, communicate properly and work with her as a team to give their patients the best care possible. She wasn’t interested in anything else. Not any more.

  ‘Beatrice Lindford, the newest member of the team,’ she said coolly, and held out her hand to shake his.

  What she hadn’t expected was the tingle all the way down her spine when Daniel took her hand and shook it firmly. She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d reacted so strongly to anyone.

  Not good.

  Really not good.

  Because she didn’t want to get involved with anyone. Ever again.

  * * *

  Beatrice Lindford. The new consultant. The one who’d just been appointed to the job everyone had thought had Daniel’s name on it. A job that part of Daniel had wanted; but part of him hadn’t, because he knew he couldn’t give the department what it needed from him in that role at the same time as being a good single parent to Iain.

  If things had been different with Jenny, he wouldn’t have hesitated to apply for the job.

  But it was pointless dwelling on might-have-beens. The situation was as it was. Jenny was remarried now—to someone else. He had custody of Iain. And his son would always, always come first.

  Beatrice wasn’t what Daniel had expected. She was tall, maybe four inches shorter than his own six foot two. Almost white-blonde hair that she wore tied back with a scarf at the nape of her neck. The bluest eyes he’d ever seen—the colour of the sky on a late summer evening. And an incredibly posh accent, which made her his polar opposite: clearly she came from a privileged background, whereas Daniel was the son of a teenage mum who’d been brought up mainly by his grandparents until his mother was able to cope with being a parent. They were worlds apart.

  But the bit that really threw him was when he shook her hand. That handshake was meant to be businesslike, maybe even slightly on the cool side. Instead, it felt as if every single nerve ending in his body had just woken up. He’d never been so physically aware of anyone before.

  Absolutely not.

  Even if Beatrice Lindford was single, and even if she was interested in him, he wasn’t in the market for a relationship. Iain was his world, and that was the way it was going to stay.

  And he wanted a bit of distance between himself and Beatrice until he could get himself perfectly back under control and treat her just like any other member of the department, instead of behaving like a teenager who’d just felt the heady pull of sexual attraction for the first time in his life.

  ‘Welcome to the department, Ms Lindford,’ he said, giving her a cool nod. ‘Josh, shouldn’t you be in Resus?’

  ‘As should I,’ Beatrice said, narrowing her eyes slightly at him. ‘Michael Harcourt asked Josh to show me round and introduce me to everyone, and he’s been kind enough to do just that.’

  He liked the fact that she’d stood up for the junior doctor. But he didn’t want to like Beatrice Lindford. He wanted to keep his distance from her, at least until he could get this unwanted attraction under control. ‘Indeed,’ he said.

  ‘There are brownies in the staff kitchen,’ she said. ‘Do help yourself.’

  There was a touch of haughtiness to her voice. She sounded for all the world as if she’d just taken over their department. Which, he supposed, she sort of had, being their new consultant. ‘Thank you,’ he said.

  ‘And I’m buying drinks at the Red Lion after my shift,’ she said.

  Drinks he definitely wouldn’t be going to. ‘Noted.’

  ‘I guess Josh and I had better get back to Resus.’

  Daniel knew he hadn’t been particularly friendly to his new colleague, and he felt slightly guilty about that. But his response to her had flustered him, and right now there was no room in his life for anything other than his son. ‘Uh-huh,’ he said, and turned away.

  * * *

  Daniel hadn’t been openly hostile, but there had definitely been something there. Beatrice couldn’t understand what the problem was. They’d never met each other before or even knew of each other by reputation. Or was Daniel just offhand like that with everyone, and that was why Josh had looked so awkward before he’d introduced them?

  Not that she wanted to put the younger doctor in a difficult position by asking him outright. It wouldn’t be fair. Instead, she encouraged him to chatter on their way back to Resus. And then she didn’t have time to think about Daniel Capaldi when the paramedics brought in a patient. Dev, the lead paramedic, did the handover.

  ‘Mrs Jane Burroughes, aged sixty-seven, otherwise healthy until today when she slipped in the garden and banged her head on the rockery. She remembers blacking out but she was conscious when we arrived. We put a neck brace on and we think she’s fractured her cheekbone and her arm. I’m not happy about her eye, either,’ Dev said.

  From the amount of blood on Jane Burroughes’s cheek, it was entirely possible she’d damaged her eye and they’d need to bring in a specialist.

  ‘Pain relief?’ Beatrice asked.

  ‘She refused it,’ Dev said. ‘I haven’t put a line in.’

  ‘Thank you,’ she said.

  She introduced herself and Josh to Mrs Burroughes. ‘We’d like to make you a bit more comfortable while we check you over. I know you refused pain relief in the ambulance, but can I give you some pain relief now?’

  ‘I don’t like the way it makes me feel, woozy and sick,’ Mrs Burroughes said. ‘When I had my wisdom teeth out and they put stuff in my arm, I felt drunk for two days afterwards.’

  ‘I could give you some paracetamol?’ Beatrice suggested. ‘That won’t make you feel woozy, and it’ll take the edge off the pain. It won’t be as effective as a stronger painkiller, but you’ll feel a little bit more comfortable.’

  Finally Mrs Burroughes agreed to have paracetamol.

  ‘We’ll need to do a CT scan of her neck,’ Be
atrice said to Josh, ‘and call the ophthalmology team for their view on Mrs Burroughes’s eye.’

  Thankfully the CT scan showed no problems with Mrs Burroughes’s neck, so they were able to remove the neck brace; the ophthalmology team was able to confirm that the laceration was fixable and Mrs Burroughes wasn’t going to lose her sight. Finally the X-ray showed that the break in Mrs Burroughes’s arm was clean and could be treated with a cast rather than surgery.

  Beatrice had just finished treating her patient and arranged a handover to the ward when Sam Price came in.

  ‘Beatrice, it’s lunchtime,’ he said, ‘and Hayley—my wife, who’s coming back to work here part time next month—suggested meeting us in the canteen. Josh, are you coming with us?’

  The younger doctor blushed. ‘I...um...’

  Sam raised an eyebrow. ‘Got a date?’

  Josh nodded, and Sam patted his shoulder. ‘Just be yourself and don’t worry. She’ll adore you.’

  Sam took Beatrice to the canteen. ‘So how was your first morning?’ he asked.

  ‘Fine.’ Apart from Daniel Capaldi. Not that she was going to let herself think about him. ‘Josh is a sweetie.’

  ‘He’s a nice lad. Though I feel a bit guilty because—well, I assume you must’ve heard about the staff day out I organised?’ Sam asked.

  ‘Go-karting on ice, you mean?’

  ‘It’s great fun,’ he said with a grin. ‘But I’m a reformed character now. No bungee-jumping, no go-karting on ice and no abseiling—well, unless it’s for work.’

  ‘Abseiling at work?’ Beatrice couldn’t help laughing. ‘I’m not sure that’s part of the average Emergency Department’s duties.’

  He laughed back. ‘It can be, if it’s a MERIT team job, but don’t tell Haze because she worries.’

  ‘Got you.’

  Hayley Price was waiting for them at the entrance to the canteen. Sam greeted her with a kiss. ‘Beatrice, this is Hayley; Hayley, Beatrice.’ He smiled. ‘And this gorgeous little bundle is Darcie.’ He scooped the baby out of the lightweight pram, and the baby cooed at him and pulled his hair.