LITMIR.BIZ

      Table of Contents

       Cover

      Praise for Fiona McArthur

       Title Page

       Dedication

      Chapter One

      Chapter Two

      Chapter Three

       Chapter Four

       Chapter Five

       Chapter Six

       Chapter Seven

       Chapter Eight

       Chapter Nine

       Chapter Ten

       Chapter Eleven

       Chapter Twelve

       Chapter Thirteen

       Copyright

       Dear Reader

      I’ve loved being a part of the Gold Coast Angels series, and can’t wait to catch up with all the amazing people who work there.

      My heroine, Lucy, is ready to take on the world. She’s a dedicated midwife, of course, and loves her job—until she finds out she is going to be a single mother with twins.

      Without support of family, Lucy would be finding it even tougher without the warmth and caring of her work friends—and that’s where Gold Coast City Hospital comes into its own.

      But it’s gorgeous Dr Nikolai Kefes who really takes her under his gorgeous wing (those shoulders…!), and Lucy discovers that she’s not the only person who has someone special missing in her life. Can she heal Nikolai’s past hurts and make this wonderfully caring doctor love again?

      I hope you have as much fun as I did with Nick and Lucy’s love life—enjoy the Gold Coast Angels series.

      Warmest wishes

       Fiona McArthur

       CHAPTER ONE

      LUCY PALMER WAS so excited even the ride up in the lift made her feel queasy. She’d thought she’d grown out of that.

      Today, officially, she could say she was a part of the state-of-the-art Gold Coast City Hospital and she’d done it all herself. Her excitement had been building since graduation fourteen weeks ago.

      This wasn’t just three years of hard study and unpaid practical placements, this was the start of a mission she’d lived and breathed for ever.

      Lucy couldn’t wait to be allocated her first birth suite caseload because she was going to be the best midwifery grad they’d ever seen.

      The midwifery floor manager, Flora May, ex-air force medic with a gruff voice and, Lucy suspected, a well-camouflaged heart of gold, had met Lucy in one of her placements during her training. Flora’s assessment of Lucy’s aptitude for the profession had helped very much in her successful interview and Lucy couldn’t have asked for a better role model than Flora.

      As the orientation tour ended Flora snapped her heels together and waved to the busy floor. Unexpectedly her angular face changed and she smiled with genuine warmth.

      ‘And welcome, Palmer. I’ve given you Monday to Friday shifts for the first month, so I’ll be here if you need advice.’

      A friendly face while she settled in. Lucy decided that sounded blissful. ‘Thank you.’

      ‘Hmph.’ Sentiment should be set aside, obviously, Lucy thought with an internal smile as Flora went on. ‘Take Sally Smith, she’s a teen mum admitted for threatened premature labour at thirty-three weeks. She needs someone she can relate to.’

      This was accompanied by a dry look. ‘Night staff will give you Sally’s handover in birth suite one.’ Flora raised an eyebrow. ‘You’ll be fine. Let me know if you need help and I’ll be your wing man. Any questions, find me.’

      The boss would be her wing man? Lucy grinned at the funny wordage and resisted the urge to salute.

      Flora marched off and Lucy felt for the first time that someone other than her fellow ex-students was willing to believe she had the makings of a good midwife.

      It would have been nice if her mother had been supportive instead of bitter and twisted, but she wasn’t going there because nothing was going to spoil this day. Or her confidence, because Flora believed she could do this well.

      Her stomach fluttered uncomfortably again and she sucked in a breath. Forget nerves, this was what she’d been born for.

      When she knocked and entered the first birth suite and the night midwife didn’t look up from writing her notes, Lucy faltered, felt tempted to cough or go back and knock again, but she didn’t.

      The pale young woman lying curled on her side blinked so Lucy stepped just inside the door and smiled, but the girl on the bed rolled her eyes, and then looked away before shutting them. Tough room, Lucy thought ruefully before, with another deep breath, she crossed to the bed.

      The night midwife still didn’t look up, so Lucy passed her by and smiled at her patient as she tried to imagine what it would be like to be seventeen, pregnant, and now scared her baby would be born prematurely, in a place where she knew no one.

      ‘Hello, Sally, I’m Lucy. I’ll be looking after you today when your night midwife goes home.’ Lucy glanced around the otherwise empty room, and no boyfriend or mother was tucked into any corner she could see. Maybe Sally’s mother had trained in the same school as hers, Lucy thought, and she knew how that felt. Lack of family support was not fun at all.

      The young mum-to-be opened her eyes briefly, nodded, and then rolled carefully over onto her other side, stretching the leads that held the monitor on her stomach.

      Really tough room, Lucy thought with a gulp.

      Finally the night midwife put down her pen and looked across. ‘I’m Cass. I’ve just done my fifth night shift and can’t wait to get out of here.’

      Lucy blinked and glanced at Sally’s rigid back. Not a very nice intro, she thought, or what Lucy expected from a hospital she’d only ever heard praise about.

      To

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