The Fertility Factor

Josie beamed back.

Inside the staff lounge, a crowd had gathered around a small television screen in a corner.

The mayor was being interviewed by a local news station reporter. A tall, lanky man with salt-and-pepper hair, Bill Harper had the bluest eyes Lara had ever seen. He smiled slowly. “If Eloise Vale really believes I’m doing this to her center for personal reasons, we need to talk. If she has the courage to face me,” he said smiling.

“Eloise won’t be pleased,” Allison said, suddenly, joining them. “That was as good as a dare.” Allison’s chin-length, auburn hair swung with the shake of her head. “I feel so badly for her.” People all over the city are poking fun at the feud between Eloise and the mayor.”

Lara stared at the television. The mayor and Eloise put on their happy faces for the public, but Lara couldn’t help wondering if there wasn’t more behind the feud.

After leaving them, Lara returned to the second floor and slipped a patient folder into the slot on the door outside an examining room, then strolled back to another room.

The mother-to-be wasn’t showing yet. Still slender, she offered a weak smile, though she looked pasty. “I’m told the nausea will pass soon.”

Lara touched her arm. “It will.”

While the woman wandered down a corridor toward an exit, Lara went into the examining room. She hadn’t expected to see Derek still there. She prayed for no awkward moments between them.

“She needs iron supplements,” he said without looking up from the sheet of paper before him. He yawned, then cast a grin her way.

“You’re tired?” Her voice wasn’t quite steady even to her own ears.

“Late delivery last night. I’m used to no sleep.”

To avoid meeting his eyes or seeing that grin, she stared at his hands, strong yet gentle. She’d seen them touch with care, caress a baby’s head, bring new life into this world. She’d felt their strength and tenderness. “You’d have more time if you didn’t spend so much time at Manhattan Multiples,” she said to focus on something else.

“So would you.”

Leaning back in the chair, he looked so comfortable with the moment between them. She wasn’t. An undercurrent of awareness rippled through her whenever she looked into those eyes. “The center is so vital to the community.” She wondered if he felt an inkling of anything when he looked at her. “I hate the idea that they might cut funds to it.” She believed a woman in a high-risk pregnancy with twins or higher-order multiples needed the special attention the multifaceted center offered.

“Too bad you and I can’t convince the powers that be.” He made another notation on the chart before him. “What’s new with the husband hunt?”

“You won’t believe what happened.” Get busy, quit staring at him, she told herself and turned away to pull at the used paper sheet on the examining table. “I can hardly believe what they’re doing. Carrie and Josie talked to friends of mine at the hospital.” Lara tore off the sheet, balled it and tossed it into a receptacle. “They’ve decided to help me find Mr. Right, fix me up with dates.”

His silence made her look up. “Is that okay with you?”

Don’t think about sneaky jolts of desire. “I think it’s really nice that they’re doing this.”

He frowned as if he didn’t think it sounded too wonderful.

She laughed to make light of the plan. “When Carrie said she knows someone who’s free tonight, I said yes before I chickened out. Her number-one candidate is a lawyer with the district attorney’s office. How can I turn them down? Maybe I’ll find Mr. Right with a little help from my friends.”

He didn’t return her smile. “Is that a traditional way your family would approve of?”

“Oh, sure. In Italy that’s all there used to be. Prearranged marriages.”

“When you first started here, I thought you were seeing someone.”

She was surprised that he knew that about her. “I was.” She’d wasted three years on James. “He was a stockbroker. We didn’t do well.” Like James, Derek came from a different world.

Pushing back from his desk, Derek stood and grabbed the patient’s chart. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m not,” she said easily and truthfully. “He was all wrong for me.”

“It’s good you realized that before it was too late.”

As his breath whispered across her face, her throat went dry. “I didn’t.” She paused, took a breath to soothe her nerves. “He did.”

Unexpectedly he leaned forward, touched a strand of her hair near her cheek. The touch, though casual, was like a caress. “He was a fool.”

Sensation rippled through her. He had only to lower his head. Heart pounding, she told herself not to make too much of what might have been nothing more than a comforting gesture from him. Of course, it was more, she mused. Light, tender, it had felt like a caress. “We have one more appointment?” She made herself step back. “After, I’d like to leave right away for a date.” She started to turn away, but stopped herself. “You never mentioned the kiss.”

“Impulse,” he said simply. “Sorry.”

Was this his way of telling her the kiss had been a mistake?

“Have fun on the date.”

She frowned. “Thank you,” she said breezily to give the impression she was looking forward to the evening ahead. But she already wished it was over. The man she wanted to be with was standing right in front of her.

Chapter Four

T he date was terrible.

To relieve stress, Lara awoke early the next morning and stopped at a dance studio near her home. Though she’d given up her acting career, she’d never abandoned her practice routines because dancing was a love, a joy in her life. She stretched, warmed up, then rushed through a routine she’d seen in the movie Flashdance until she was breathless. After a cooling down period, she headed home to shower and dress for work at the center.

If only last night’s date, Zack Benner, had quickened her pulse. What she wanted most was to find someone special to build a life with, to raise children with, to love. Zack was not that man.

So who was she looking for? She didn’t expect the man to be perfect. Handsome would be nice, but just attractive would do. She’d known a male model who couldn’t pass a store window without stopping to preen.

She would like someone with a nice sense of humor, who laughed at himself, who was amused by small things in everyday life. But she’d never been keen about a practical joker.

She wouldn’t turn away from a charmer, someone who sent flowers, took her to romantic candlelit restaurants, but she’d favor more someone who was steady and responsible and paid the bills.

Derek fit her idea of perfect. He was drop-dead gorgeous, had a wonderful sense of humor, possessed all of the social graces and had money, to boot. He even thrilled her with a look.

Nearly at the entrance doors of Manhattan Multiples, Lara slowed her pace in response to the ring of her cell phone. Before saying hello, she’d guessed who was calling. Only her family tracked her down before eight-thirty in the morning.

Her sister Angela rushed a quick, airy hello, one that put Lara on the defensive instinctively. Angie’s previous matchmaking efforts had been disastrous. “I called to learn if you bought a new dress for Danny’s wedding,” she said.

Lara didn’t dare admit that she’d forgotten about her cousin’s wedding. “Not yet.” More important to her was who she’d take with her. “How is the baby?” she asked as she left the elevator.

“That tooth came through this morning.”

“Oh, how wonderful. How many does that make?” Lara asked and paused next to the nurses’ station to finish the conversation.

“Six. He has six. He bit Tom yesterday. What does your doctor say about biting?”

“My doctor isn’t a children’s doctor.” She resumed walking toward the staff lounge. “He’s an ob/gyn.”