Marrying The Boss by Judi Nolan Read Free Book Online Page B

The young mother
nodded jerkily and closed her eyes.
    Leaving Cheryl to continue talking to the
frightened young mother in low tones, encouraging her, Spencer
deftly cut and clamped the cord while Kate held the baby securely
in position. Mandy panted and gripped the bed tightly with both
hands, her face red with the exertion of not being allowed to bear
down. With the baby's shoulders rotated into the right position,
and the episiotomy performed, Kate was eager to see the baby born
as soon as possible.
    " You can push now, Mandy!" She encouraged
and after a few anxious moments the baby almost fell into her
waiting hands.
    " Well done, Mandy." Kate breathed raggedly
as she looked her over. "It's a beautiful little girl!"
    She felt a sharp pain tightening around
her rapidly beating heart. It threatened to engulf her with the
overwhelming sense that having a child of her own just wasn't in
her future. She tried to squash the feeling deep down where it
wouldn't hurt so much and summoned a relieved smile when Spencer
threw her a questioning glance.
    " That's great, I wanted a girl." Mandy fell
back against the pillows, looking completely exhausted. "Is she all
right?"
    " We're not out of the woods yet," Spencer
said, for Kate's attention only.
    " I know." Kate tenderly cuddled the tiny
limp form, willing the child to inhale her first breath. "Just give
us a couple of minutes, Mandy." Kate stroked the tiny baby and
lowered her voice to below a whisper, "Come on, little one, breathe
for me." Mentally she sent all her energy to the little girl. "Come
on, come on."
    A few more tense moments passed as they
watched and waited, looking for the baby to breathe. Finally she
let out a tiny wail. Kate, Spencer and Cheryl looked as each other
with relief and joy.
    Staring down at the yowling infant in her
hands, Kate noted with pleasure that its slightly bluish face had
become flushed and ruddy. She moved away to check the baby's APGAR
score before handing her over to Mandy to cuddle. Spencer continued
to work over Mandy for several minutes before he could insert a few
neat stitches.
    " I haven't done that in a while." Kate
pressed a hand to her chest, as she stroked the little baby head as
she lay in her mother's waiting arms. "It really feels
good."
    The uncomfortable feeling of despair
rose again and Kate tried to ignore it. But the whole scene around
her simply reinforced her own chosen state of aloneness. It had always been
her dearest wish to have a baby, but she found it hard to trust
another man not to hurt her. But the unfulfilled desire hurt just
the same. "It
does indeed."
    Cheryl came over and she and Kate hugged
each other, both laughing a little, with tears in their eyes.
    " Well, that went well." Spencer
straightened up after several minutes to stare at the three women
clucking over the new arrival before they cleaned up the room and
Cheryl helped Mandy and her baby into a wheelchair. Kate watched
them leave the room.
    " Thank you, Dr. Stelanos." Her heart gave a
funny little leap as she turned to look into his dark eyes. She
looked quickly away again, commanding that foolishly errant organ
to behave itself. "A second pair of hands is always
useful."
    " There you go again." He frowned at her.
"The name is Spencer, remember? Dr. Stelanos is far too formal. We
are really like a family here."
    " How could I forget?" she muttered,
inadvertently inhaling the clean, masculine scent of him, causing a
dizzying effect to her system.
    She glanced up into his face. He was
wearing his glasses again. The lenses reflected the light, making
his eyes difficult to read. But, his expression was once more set
in those same cool, remote lines.
    He seemed to be judging her
again. By some standard she could never hope to measure up to. If
it helped her maintain some kind of distance between them,
she wasn't
about to complain.
    Spencer' s mobile mouth settled into a wry
twist, both height and presence seeming to fill the small room to
exclusion.
    Kat