believes in the value of setting goals, but also in the magic of making wishes, which often do come true—as long as she works hard enough. Along life’s journey she’s done a lot of the usual things—married, had children, attended college a little later than the average co-ed and earned a BA in English. Then she dove off the deep end into a full-time writing career, a wish come true.

Susan enjoys writing about people who take a chance on love, sometimes against all odds. She loves warm, strong heroes and good-hearted, self-reliant heroines, and she will always believe in happily ever after.

More can be learned about her at www.susancrosby.com.

Dear Reader,

One of life’s biggest heartbreaks can be someone’s inability to conceive a child. Doctors and researchers have worked tirelessly to change that painful situation, with increasing success. My hero, Ted Bonner, is such a doctor, a man on a mission to treat infertility. I imagine him to be like so many others in that field: dedicated, devoted and driven.

But Ted needs balance in his life, too. So along comes nurse Sara Beth O’Connell, a woman just as dedicated to her work, but one who also knows how to relax—and to love. She has a lot to teach Dr Bonner.

I had a great time playing in the same sandbox with the other terrific and talented authors in this series. I hope you enjoy the results of the fun we all had.

All my best,

Susan

To Paul, aka “Fandango,” fellow foodie, with great

appreciation—for your indefatigable help with

research, legal and otherwise, and for all the

times you crack me up. Thank you.

Chapter One

Sara Beth O’Connell slowed her bike to a stop at a red light, her gaze fixed on it. Red, the color of hearts and roses—

A car honked, jolting her into action. She pedaled through the intersection, picking up the bike lane again on the other side. The air was unusually mild and the traffic Sunday-afternoon light in Cambridge, Massachusetts, giving her time to think, time to decide that she wasn’t really bothered by not having a date on Valentine’s Day. It was more about what being dateless implied—that there was no one special enough in her life to spend the romantic evening with.

So what, right? No big deal. Only the minute hand on her biological clock was ticking, not the hour hand.

And then there was the man in the grocery store earlier …

Sara Beth tossed her head, her bike helmet preventing her long hair from falling into her face as she rode into the employee parking lot of the Armstrong Fertility Institute, the understated but modern structure where she worked as head nurse. Eyeing Lisa Armstrong’s car in the distance, she locked her bike to a rack, then moved to the employee entrance. She slid her ID card into the security reader and pressed her thumb against a pad until a buzzer went off, unlocking the door.

Once inside, her footsteps barely registered in the quiet building as she headed to Lisa’s office, finding her door open. The head administrator of the institute, a research center and fertility clinic, sat in front of her computer, her slender frame hunched, her dark eyes focused on the screen.

Sara Beth drew a calming breath, not because she was annoyed that Lisa had called her into the office on a Sunday, but because of the memory of the man Sara Beth had seen that morning buying a stuffed teddy and gummy bears for his five-year-old daughter.

My Valentine,

he’d called her when the clerk commented on the items. Sara Beth hadn’t been lucky enough to have a father do that for her. This morning’s reminder of that loss curled painfully inside her.

Ignoring the flash of pain, she set her helmet on top of a file cabinet, unzipped her jacket then plopped into a chair on the other side of Lisa’s desk. “What’s so all-fired important that it couldn’t wait until tomorrow? Or you couldn’t tell me on the phone?”

Lisa blinked. “You have something better to do?”

“Just because you work 24/7 doesn’t mean I have to, you know,” Sara Beth said, not letting Lisa off easy. “It

Valentine’s Day.”

Lisa’s smile was a little crooked. Her dark eyes shimmered knowingly. “You don’t have a date.”

“How do you know?”

“How long have we been best friends, Sara Beth?”

Sarah Beth pulled off her jacket, not wanting to make eye contact, not wanting Lisa to play the best-friends card for whatever it was she’d called Sara Beth in on a Sunday for. “Since before we spoke our first words.”

“Twenty-eight years. If you had a date tonight, I would know.” Lisa sat back, looking satisfied with herself. “You tell me everything.”

“Not everything.”

“Everything important.”

Sara Beth sniffed. “A date on Valentine’s Day isn’t important.”

Lisa laughed.

After a moment, Sara Beth smiled. “So, what’s up? Why the command performance?”

Lisa lowered her voice. “Shut the door, please.”

“Someone else is in the building?” Sara Beth asked, complying. “Someone else doesn’t know that weekends are for relaxation?”

“As a matter of fact—Dr. Bonner.”

Which meant he didn’t have a date, either. If a man like Ted Bonner didn’t have a date, she couldn’t feel sorry for herself. Except, he still could have dinner plans. It wasn’t too late for that. She wouldn’t have minded going out with him herself.…

“This has something to do with Dr. Bonner?” Sara Beth asked.

“Everything to do with him. You know the investigation he’s supposed to be running on the protocol errors he and Dr. Demetrios discovered right after we hired them a few months back?”

“Of course.”

“They haven’t come up with results yet. We’ve learned that some outsiders are starting to question our recent cluster of multiple births. Bad press will hurt us, especially our funding. We already narrowly escaped a disaster when that magazine article was published a while back about donor eggs being misused here. We can’t afford another problem, or even a hint of one. We need answers, Sara Beth, before the press gets wind of this one.”

“Not just answers but exoneration,” Sara Beth said.

“Well, yes, of course, but first and foremost, we need to know whether information has been falsified or breached in the past—or whatever the truth is. And we need to know now.”

“How does that affect me?”

Lisa leaned her elbows on her desk. “We want you to assist Drs. Bonner and Demetrios so that the project gets done. You will report to us if they’re doing anything to stall the investigation.”

She would be working directly for the man she’d had a serious lust for since she’d first laid eyes on him?

“Um, us?” she asked.

“Paul and me.”

“Why would the doctors stall? They weren’t part of the problem, if there is a problem. It happened before they were hired.”

“Because even a whisper of scandal could affect donations and grant money, which will limit Dr. Bonner’s and Dr. Demetrios’s hope of success in their research—not to mention the institute’s reputation and credibility. If something unethical has been going on, our funds could dry up and their jobs could be eliminated. Wouldn’t you stall if that was about to happen to you?”

Sara Beth didn’t believe she would, but that was her. “So you’re asking me to spy on them?”

“I wouldn’t call it that. We’re just lighting a fire under the doctors to get action before we get burned on this. You love the institute, and my father. This has to be important to you.”

“Absolutely.” The institute, and especially its founder, Dr. Gerald Armstrong, had been very generous to Sara Beth’s mother so that she could retire early and comfortably. He’d been good to Sara Beth, as well.

“You’re loyal to me, too,” Lisa said.

“It goes without saying. Not just you, but also your brother Paul as chief of staff. But you know how I feel about deceit.” Most of her life Sara Beth had been haunted by not knowing who her father was, which felt like an enormous deceit to her. All she knew was he’d been a sperm donor here at the fertility institute founded by Lisa’s father, whom Sara Beth affectionately called Dr. G.

Anonymous donors never brought teddy bears or candy on Valentine’s Day. Or sent birthday cards. Or pretended to be Santa. Or tucked a tired little girl in bed at night. Only a father did that.

“I do know how you feel about deceit,” Lisa said. “That’s my point. You could be

uncovering

a lie. Isn’t that reason enough?”

Sara Beth wandered to the window but didn’t really take in the sights. Could she pull it off?

Lisa joined her. “You’re the eyes and ears of the institute, because in your job capacity you bridge both aspects of what we do, the medical

and

the research programs. You haven’t hesitated to tell me when you’ve noticed something needing looking into, so how is this any different? Except that this time you’re being assigned to observe and report something specific. Otherwise it’s business as usual.”

Lisa had a point. “What if they don’t want me on board?”

“They won’t have a choice.”

“But how effective can I be if they won’t cooperate?”

“When did you become such a worrier?” Lisa cocked her head. “You’ve always been optimistic and adventurous. What’s going on?”

Sara Beth couldn’t share what was going on, not this time, because she wasn’t sure herself, except that lately, and especially today, she’d been feeling a little lost. Left out.

Lonely.

She was missing a father she’d never known, and wishing for a man in her life, as well, a man to love and cherish, and be a hands-on father to whatever children they were blessed with.

She loved her job, but she didn’t want to end up like her mother, who’d never married, having been married to the institute. And yet Sara Beth could see that she was following in her mother’s footsteps, even taking on the job of head nurse, like her mom. Where

had

Sara Beth’s adventurousness gone?

Being asked to spy for the good of the institute would be an adventure of sorts, wouldn’t it? More important, their work was critical to the many people whose deepest dreams they helped fulfill—having a child.

“All right. I’ll do it.”

“Thank you.” Relief coated Lisa’s quiet words. “Let’s go talk to Dr. Bonner.”

Sara Beth clamped her mouth against the “Now?” that threatened to come out. She wanted to face him in her official capacity, wearing her uniform, her scrubs. Instead she wore cycling pants, a Boston College T-shirt and her old, comfortable riding sneakers. She’d left her hair down instead of pulled away from her face as usual, out of her way, her helmet taking care of that problem.

It wasn’t the best way to start their new association, not as far as she was concerned, not if she wanted to keep a professional relationship—which she did. Unfortunately.

Sara Beth walked silently beside Lisa as they made their way through the cavernous hallways of the building, past the administration section, past examination rooms and consultation areas. During the workweek the hallways were alive with people. It wasn’t a boisterous place—the work they did was too important to be treated frivolously—but it was always pleasant, the employees chosen not only for their abilities but their personalities. No drama allowed.

Until now, she’d only seen Dr. Bonner in passing or through the windows of the lab where he did his research. His partner, Chance Demetrios, was much more social and talkative, plus he was also a practicing physician, not just a researcher. Sara Beth often assisted him in his ob-gyn practice, whereas Dr. Ted Bonner had apparently discovered that he was better suited to the lab than patients. His too-direct bedside manner evidently wasn’t the best for inspiring confidence or easing anyone’s fears.

At least, that was the rumor floating around about him. Since she’d rarely had a discussion with him longer than “Nice to meet you” or “Good morning,” she couldn’t verify anything else. She’d intentionally avoided conversations with him because her throat closed when she was around him, something that never happened with anyone else. She always wanted to comb his hair away from his forehead with her fingers, too.

When Sara Beth and Lisa reached the lab, they stood side by side peering through the glass at the man inside. Tall, dark and gorgeous was a cliché, but the description fit him, if in an intellectual way. His hair brushed his neck, but she figured he’d just forgotten to get a haircut lately. Every so often he got it cut, and when he did, it was very short, as if he couldn’t be bothered with regular trims.

He truly fit the stereotype of the absentminded professor: black-framed glasses; long white lab coat, pocket protector and all, his personal uniform; along with a white or blue dress shirt and dark slacks.

She shouldn’t find him sexy, but she did. She’d heard he often forgot to eat, which was probably why he was so lean and wiry, and which also made him look even taller than his well-over-six-foot frame.

Lisa knocked. He continued entering information into a computer, his fingers flying over the keyboard. She knocked again. Still no response. Sara Beth looked to see if he was wearing earbuds and listening to music. He was only thirty-two, of an age to blast tunes in his head and work at the same time. No earbuds were visible, no dangling cords, either.

“Let’s just wait until tomorrow,” Sara Beth said, tugging on Lisa’s arm. “He’s in some impenetrable zone, that’s for sure.”

“I wonder if a fire alarm would get his attention?”

Sara Beth stared at her friend. “You wouldn’t—”

“Of course not.” Lisa laughed. “I was thinking out loud. You know, what would happen if? Would he hear it in time to escape?”

“He can’t be

that

bad. Come on. Let’s just go. He’s doing important work, and we shouldn’t disturb—”

Lisa entered her security information, turned the doorknob and stepped inside. Sara Beth sighed and followed.

“Good afternoon, Dr. Bonner,” Lisa said as she drew close.

He didn’t startle, but Sara Beth saw awareness click in. For one thing, he blinked. He held up a hand briefly then continued to type.

Sara Beth glanced around the lab. The two waist-high lab tables were neat and orderly, even loaded with equipment as they were—microscopes with projection screens, computers, other high-tech pieces she couldn’t identify. Then there was the low-tech, standard lab equipment—stainless-steel sinks, glass vessels and tubes. Everything seemed to have its place, all order, no chaos.

Why aren’t you on a date tonight, Dr. Gorgeous?

she wondered. He was young, handsome and gainfully employed. She’d always assumed he played the field as much as his inveterate-flirt research partner, Dr. Demetrios, did.

“Ms. Armstrong,” he said finally, turning toward Lisa. “And Ms. O’Connell. What can I do for you?” His gaze zeroed in and held on Sara Beth in an unnerving way as he gave her the same kind of complete attention he had given the computer just moments ago.

Not a multitasker, she decided, fascinated, as he took off his glasses and set them on the tabletop then shoved his fingers through his rich brown hair. She itched to do the same.

“I know you’ve been frustrated, Dr. Bonner,” Lisa said, “at being unable to find answers to the protocol problems.”

“An understatement.”

“Well, I’ve brought the cavalry.” Lisa turned toward Sara Beth. “We’ve decided to free up Sara Beth from some of her regular assignments and let her help you and Dr. Demetrios with your investigation.”

For a few long moments he stayed silent, his expression giving away nothing, then he said, “Her help is gratefully accepted.”

That was way too easy,

Sara Beth thought. Which was a good thing, right? If they could work without dissension, they could cover a lot more ground more quickly. Maybe she wouldn’t feel as if she was spying, either. And maybe her pulse would stop pounding so hard.

“On one condition,” he added. “Call me Ted. You, too, Sara Beth.”

Sara Beth waited for Lisa’s reply. Lisa’s father, the institute’s founder, had always insisted on using titles. But then, not only was he retired, he was almost completely bedridden. He never came into the institute anymore.

Lisa’s shoulders relaxed. “Except in front of patients or VIPs.”

“Fair enough.”

“Should I call Dr. Demetrios or would you like to tell him?”

Ted pulled a cell phone from his pocket and pushed one button, then waited. “I hope I’m not disturbing you, Chance.” His brows went up at whatever Dr. Demetrios’s response was. “I’ll make it quick, then. I just wanted you to know that Ms. O’Connell will be assisting us for a while so that we can get to the bottom of the issues around here.… Yes, Sara Beth.… Yes, the one with the long, dark red hair. How many other Ms. O’Connells are there? You work with her every—Oh. A joke.”

He tipped the phone down. “When are you starting?”

“Immediately,” Lisa answered.

Pride made Sara Beth not want him to know she didn’t have a date for Valentine’s Day, so she started to say she would start the next day, but he spoke first.

“Is tomorrow okay?” he asked Sara Beth. “I have plans tonight.”

So. He

did

have a date. “That’d be fine.”

“Tomorrow,” Dr. Bonner said into the phone. “Yes, I’ll do that. Bye.”

He slid his phone back into his pocket. “Chance extends his thanks.”

“I’ll leave you two to work out a schedule.” Lisa headed toward the door. “Sara Beth, you can plan on giving ten to fifteen hours a week to the project.”

Then she was gone, and Sara Beth was left with Dr. Bon—Ted. Without Lisa as a buffer, they would have to talk.…

“I’m looking forward to working with you,” she said, twining her fingers. “I hope I can help you find the answers you need.”

“Me, too. It’s been frustrating. I’m a scientist. Discovering the truth is what I do.”

The way he said that made him seem like a superhero, a man whose ethical core was the heart and soul of him, as if truth mattered more than anything in the world.

“What can I do?” she asked.

“Nothing that you’ll find exciting. In fact, it’s tedious and painstaking, but it’s the only way to get the answers. We need to know if previous doctors implanted too many embryos or manipulated the statistics to boost the institute’s success numbers and therefore increase funding. So far we’ve been working with our more recent computerized records, but in order to dispute some of the claims, you might spend time reading old files from the archives vault, cross-checking and rechecking test results from before the institute switched to the new computer system.”

The archive vault? Whatever else he said was lost. The archive vault.

The

vault. She would have reason to go inside it.

Her heart thundered, a deafening pounding in her chest. What had been denied her all her life was within her reach—because in the vault was her mother’s medical file, detailing her artificial insemination.

A hundred times Sara Beth had almost asked Lisa to help her find that file, and a hundred times she’d decided not to risk their friendship by asking. Lisa never could have allowed it, even for her very best friend.

And now, if Sara Beth was lucky, she could find a reference to the name of the man who’d donated the sperm that had given her life.

Forget paper hearts. This could be her red-letter day.

Chapter Two

Ted stopped talking when he saw Sara Beth tune out, something that usually only happened to him when he was explaining data or experiment results, which wasn’t the case this time. He’d only been telling her what tasks in the investigation she could take on in order to speed things up.

She was looking straight at him, her dark brown eyes glazed over. Should he wait for her to refocus or try to snap her out of it?

He decided to give her a moment, noting that she looked different today. Younger.

Her hair was down and loose—that was it. She usually had it pulled back in a braid as no-nonsense as her personality. Not that she was cold, but professional. Always. At least with him. He’d perceived her as shy at first, then had seen her interact with others and was bewildered by how she always seemed to avoid him.

She’d caught his eye, of course, during the months he’d been working at the institute, but he’d seen what could happen when coworkers got involved romantically, so he’d avoided even engaging her in conversation, taking away any possibility of temptation at all.

When he and Chance had accepted the offer to come to Cambridge to continue their research, he’d vowed to himself that he would try to be more aware of the world around him, to be more social, but that plan had been foiled almost immediately. He’d questioned the institute’s various protocols, finding some statistics that didn’t seem feasible, exaggerating the institute’s success rate. Although he and Chance hadn’t been involved in or responsible for the questionable issues, it was up to them to find the answers.

For Ted, work was all consuming. His research to find a reliable way to treat male infertility took precedence, but clearing up the protocol issues came a close second. As for a personal life, he didn’t have one, and couldn’t figure out how Chance managed to have his practice, do research and still have time to date. Ted couldn’t manage all that.

He finally waved a hand in front of Sara Beth’s face.

She jerked back slightly, her cheeks brightening. “Oh, I’m so sorry. I don’t know where I went. You were saying?”

“You wanted to know what your duties would entail. I spelled them out.”

“Specifically what will I be looking for?”

He gestured her toward a tall lab chair, then sat in the one beside it. “Do you know what I found? What I’m trying to verify?”

“I’d like to hear your take on it.”

He got distracted by her sneakers, which she propped on the bottom rung, their scuffed toes at odds with her usually impeccable appearance. “You graduated from BC?” he asked, glancing at her T-shirt imprinted with the Boston College’s flying eagle mascot, Baldwin.

She frowned at the change of subject. “From the Connell School of Nursing, yes. The institute gave me a full scholarship.”

“I would venture to say you

earned

a full scholarship.”

She seemed to relax for the first time since she’d walked into the lab. “I always loved to study.”

“Me, too. I still do.”

She gave him a knowing smile, as if he’d stated the obvious, which he supposed he had. He much preferred the confines of his lab to dealing with patients on a daily basis. He hated imparting bad news. And in the infertility business, bad news came frequently. He was happier in the lab.

“So, you were going to tell me about what you found,” Sara Beth prompted.

“Shortly after Chance and I came on board here, we discovered that some of the lab’s protocols weren’t measuring up. Data was incomplete or missing. Statistics weren’t matching results. Just as we were digging into the problems,

Keeping Up with Medicine

ran that story alleging that donor eggs and sperm had been switched for some clients, which raised all sorts of ethical questions about how we do business.”

“The article never named the source of the allegations.”

“Nor confirmed them. Then they were proved unfounded and a retraction was made. But at the same time that we were working on that issue, we discovered an out-of-the-ordinary number of multiple births following in vitro over the past few years.”

“Which means what?”

“Numbers that big could pad the institute’s statistics, making the program seem more successful than it is. We have standards about how many embryos to implant. It looks like the standards might have been ignored. Because of the unusual success rate, the institute was able to obtain a lot more private donations and grant money than usual. Now the numbers are being challenged, and rightfully so.”

What he wasn’t telling her was that every step he’d taken to resolve the problems had been met with resistance by Derek Armstrong, Paul and Lisa’s brother and the institute’s CFO. Chance was the only person Ted had confided in about

that

—so far. He couldn’t make accusations without proof, but Ted suspected Derek was involved somehow, whether as part of a cover-up or something even worse.

“So, first of all,” Ted continued, “we need to prove or disprove the statistics. Then we need to create a best-practices manual of lab protocols, so if we’re ever questioned again, the answers will be readily available and backed up. I can use all the help I can get. The institute’s reputation is on the line, but so is my ability to continue my research.”

She rubbed her hands together, as if anxious to get started right away. “I’ll check the appointment schedule for the rest of the week and see what I can do to rearrange things and free myself up. Would you prefer morning or afternoon?”

“First thing in the morning.”

She climbed off the chair and stuck out her hand. “Then I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He stayed seated, keeping himself closer to eye level. Her hand felt small in his, and warm, but also firm and direct. One of the traits he valued most in people was competency. She hadn’t been promoted to head nurse without proving her competency. “I’m looking forward to working with you, Sara Beth.”

“Thank you. I feel the same.”

He believed it. Her expression showed anticipation, as if she really couldn’t wait to get started. He’d tried to get across to her how tedious the work would be, especially if she had to work with the old files in the vault, poring over the folders. Well, she’d find out soon enough.

“Have a nice evening,” he said.

“You, too.” She headed toward the door, then turned around, walking backward. “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

Valentine’s—Damn. “Oh, uh, same to you,” he said, but the door had already closed behind her.

Damn.

Once again he’d screwed up. He glanced at his watch. He’d intended to leave more than an hour ago to buy a gift. Aside from the traditional, uncreative grocery-store offerings, what could he buy? When he’d lived in San Francisco he’d gotten away with having something sent, but Boston was home. He didn’t have that excuse anymore. He needed to take a personal gift this time, something thoughtful.

From the lab window he spotted Lisa outside standing next to Sara Beth, hugging her helmet and laughing, looking much more carefree than the Sara Beth who’d just left his lab.

He went still. Thoughts swirled. A plan formed. She might be of some help.…

Ted locked his computer, tossed his lab coat toward a hook, then raced out of the building as Lisa drove off. He encountered Sara Beth as she was buckling her helmet. Her face registered surprise—and a little wariness—as he descended on her.

“I know we barely know each other,” he said. “But hear me out, please.”

“Okay.” The word came out slowly, curiously.

“This is the first time I’ve been home for Valentine’s Day since I graduated from high school.”

“Boston is home?”

He just nodded. “I’m supposed to be at my parents’ house in forty-five minutes for dinner. I need to take a gift.”

“I’m sure you’ll be able to find roses at almost any market.”

“And my mother would say ‘how lovely’ and that would be that. I want to do better than that. I want

you

to be my parents’ gift.”

Her big brown eyes opened wide. “Excuse me?”

He was pretty sure if she hadn’t been straddling her bike, she would’ve taken a few steps back, deciding he was a mad scientist.

“If they think I’m dating someone, it’ll make them happier than anything I could buy.” He stopped short of begging, but appealed to the female tendency to nurture. “I know I’m asking an enormous favor. I know there’s no reason for you to say yes. You may—you probably

have a date already.”

Of course she would have plans, an attractive woman like her. He felt ridiculous now for asking.

“There’s not enough time,” she said finally, gesturing to her bike. “I would have to ride home and get myself ready.”

“We’re not formal. I’m wearing what I have on, just adding a sport coat.”

She gave him a skeptical look.

He nodded toward his car. “I’ve got a bike rack.”

Fifteen minutes later he pulled up in front of her beautiful old Victorian house, said he’d find a place to park, then come back with her bike, giving her no more time to answer than he had in the parking lot, not allowing her any opportunity to say no.

He understood now the expression about someone having a deer-in-the-headlights look. She mumbled something about how to get to her second-floor apartment, then headed toward the house.

He got lucky, coming across a car leaving just a block away. He hauled her bike to her place, where the front door was ajar. He climbed the stairs inside to her unit, where her door hung open.

“Where do you want this?” he asked, rolling her bike inside.

She pointed to an empty spot in the living room. “I’ll hurry.�

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The Doctor's Pregnant Bride? / The Texas Billionaire's Baby: The Doctor's Pregnant Bride? / Baby By Surprise

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