Twin Surprise For The Single Doc

Her eyes met his and she could see they were not warm and forgiving but neither were they icy. They were sad. They were filled with a look close to disappointment and she felt her heart sink a little further. She had never been quite so rude to a stranger before. Heaven knew what day he had endured and she had behaved abominably.

Circumstance had made her distrust the male population. She had not even thought how her behaviour would affect the handsome stranger sharing the slowest elevator on the west coast of North America, until he’d pointed it out. But she was surprised by his reaction. She assumed most men would have shrugged it off but he seemed genuinely disappointed, almost as if he was directing the disappointment inward for some reason.

With a humble and heartfelt expression she replied, ‘I really do apologise. I’m very sorry and there’s really no excuse for my behaviour.’ Taking a deep breath, she outstretched her hand like an olive branch. ‘I’m Claudia Monticello, slightly hormonal mother-to-be and having a very bad day. I could add that I’m perhaps a little stressed right now as I’m flying back to the UK tomorrow and I have so much still to do. I have to see my obstetrician and finish packing. There’s so many things I have to remember...’ And so much she wanted to forget. But she had no intention of telling the handsome stranger that.

‘Well, perhaps you do have a reason to be a little on edge,’ he said, looking into her eyes, almost piercing her soul. ‘Apology accepted. Patrick Spencer, doctor, not eavesdropper.’

Claudia smiled. She had picked the wrong profession too. As she kept staring into his eyes, she noticed they were a deep blue with flecks of grey. Like storm clouds swirling over the deepest part of the ocean. She felt herself wondering why he hid such stunning eyes behind dark sunglasses. They were too captivating a shade to be hidden. She shook herself. His eye colour was not something she needed to busy her mind with at that time. Nothing about him was her concern, she told herself as she noticed there was only a short trip of eight floors until they reached street level and she would never see the man again.

But it did feel strangely reassuring to be in the elevator with a man with a medical background after the fleeting contraction she’d experienced. She knew they were commonplace nearing the latter part of pregnancy and it appeared to have been a once-off but his nearness made her feel a little safer.

No, very safe and she didn’t know why.

Out of a sense of awkwardness in the silence that were now sharing, she glanced up again to check how many floors they had travelled. The elevator had not picked up any speed. She was glad they weren’t in the Burj Khalifa in Dubai or the boys would be ready for pre-school at the rate they were travelling.

With her mind brought to travel, Claudia was excited to be heading home. Once her obstetrician signed her flight clearance she would be on her way back to London. Her contract with the television studio had finally ended, leaving her free to return home. Instinctively, she patted the recent ultrasound scans tucked safely in her bag. She had no swelling in her legs and her blood pressure had been fine at the last visit. Her pregnancy had been uneventful until the twinge, something which was at complete odds with her disastrous personal life. But she was grateful she had something positive upon which to focus.

As they passed the fourth floor and the elevator seemed to almost pause, suddenly she felt another more intense contraction. Claudia tried to smile through it but suspected it was closer to a grimace. Braxton Hicks contractions were a lot different to what she had expected. She had been told that a woman could experience up to four in an hour but she hadn’t thought they would be so close together.

Patrick eyed her with concern but, just as he opened his mouth, the stalling elevator came to a jarring halt. Claudia grabbed the railing to steady herself and they both looked up to see the floor light flickering and waited for the doors to open. But they didn’t. Instead the lift dropped what she imagined to be another floor and stopped. Patrick had already taken two purposeful steps towards Claudia and she felt his strong arms wrap around her to prevent her from falling. His touch should have worried her but instead a wave of relief washed over her. She was not alone.

‘Let’s get you on the floor. It will be safer.’ Hastily he pulled off his jacket and dropped it to the elevator floor before gently lowering Claudia onto it.

‘Your jacket—it will be ruined.’

‘At this moment, a ruined jacket is not my concern. You are,’ he said matter-of-factly but with an unmistakable warmth in his voice and one Claudia didn’t believe she truly deserved after her behaviour. ‘When are the babies due?’

‘The twins aren’t due for another six and a half weeks and I’m fine, really I am,’ she insisted as she tried to sit gently and not move and crease the jacket underneath her. ‘I’m flying out tomorrow with the doctor’s approval; it’s the last possible day that the airline will allow me to travel.’

‘You’re cutting it fine with the whole long haul at almost thirty-four weeks,’ he replied with his brows knitted. He added, ‘You seemed to be in pain a moment ago.’ It was a question he framed as a statement. He didn’t want to appear overbearing but he was concerned. He was also doubtful whether she should be travelling at such a late stage of pregnancy. Even with a clean bill of health, it seemed risky for her to take a long haul flight so close to delivering.

‘Yes, just one of these Braxton Hicks contractions.’

‘You’re sure?’ His frown had not lifted as he spoke.

This time it was a question and she sensed genuine concern. It heightened hers.

‘Absolutely,’ she said, followed by a nod. It wasn’t the truth. The truth was that she had never been quite so scared in her life but she had to push that reality from her mind and remain positive. The worst-case scenario was too overwhelmingly frightening to consider without collapsing into a heap. She had been holding everything together tenuously for so many months her nerves were threadbare.

‘If you say so,’ he told her, doubt about her response evident in his tone. ‘Just stay seated till we reach the ground.’ He retrieved his mobile phone from his trouser pocket, but Claudia assumed there was no reception through the heavy elevator walls as he turned and reached for the emergency telephone.

He didn’t take his eyes away from Claudia, even when the standard response finished and he cut in. ‘This is Dr Patrick Spencer, I’m in Terrace Park Towers, Wilshire Boulevard, not far from Highland. We’re somewhere between the fourth floor and street level and the elevator’s come to a halt. I have a female resident with me. Approximately thirty-four weeks pregnant.’ He paused. ‘No, no, there’s no immediate medical emergency. I have the resident seated and there’s no obvious physical injuries but I want a crew to get us out stat. And after the jolt it would be wise to send an ambulance. The patient may need to head to the hospital for a routine obstetric examination.’

With that he hung up and turned his full attention back to Claudia.

Her resolve to remain calm had deserted her, despite attempts to tell herself she was overreacting. She wasn’t overreacting. Her eyes darted to the steel doors, willing them to open, and then back to Patrick, unsure what she was willing him to do.

‘We’ll be out of here before you know it,’ he said and very gently wiped the wisps of hair from her brow, now covered in tiny beads of perspiration. ‘They’re on their way.’

‘Yes, they are... I’m afraid.’

‘There’s nothing to fear. Just stay calm and the crew will have us out of here very quickly. And there’ll be an ambulance on hand if we need one.’

‘It’s not the crew I’m talking about...it’s the babies. I’m afraid my twins are on their way... This isn’t Braxton Hicks, Patrick. I’m in labour.’

CHAPTER TWO (#ulink_3180c4a9-9a09-5f37-a61d-b50e1c972edb)

CLAUDIA’S WATER BROKE only moments later, confirming she was very much in labour and going to deliver her babies in an elevator unless a miracle happened. As she wriggled uncomfortably on the hard elevator floor with only Patrick’s now soaking wet jacket beneath her, she stared at nowhere in particular and prayed with all of her might that it was a bad dream. One from which she would wake to find herself giving birth in a pretty delivery room in a London hospital surrounded by smiling nurses...nurses just like her sister, Harriet. She always allayed Claudia’s medical concerns with sensible and thoughtful answers delivered in a calm manner, just like the way their mother had always spoken to them.

How she wished more than anything that Harriet was with her. She would know what to do. She always did...but, as Claudia looked at her surroundings from her new vantage point on the floor, she knew it was pointless to wish for her sister to be there. Or for a birthing suite. She would have neither. Harriet was in Argentina to do something selfless and wonderful and she was paying for her own irresponsible behaviour by being trapped in a Los Angeles elevator in the first stage of labour.

Giving birth to the babies of a man who didn’t give a damn.

With the help of another she didn’t know.

The next painful wave of contractions broke through her thoughts. Labour had not come on slowly or gently. And there was no point worrying about dust soiling Patrick’s jacket; the piece of clothing was now past being saved.

The jacket was of no concern to Patrick, who was kneeling beside Claudia. At that moment he would give a dozen of his finest jackets to make this woman he barely knew comfortable if only he could. But he had nothing close to a dozen of anything to make what lay ahead easier. The situation was dire. There was no way around that fact but Patrick intended to do everything to ensure Claudia remained calm and focused. All the while he fought his own battle with a past that was rushing back at him. Fine perspiration began lining his brow but he had to push through. He heard Claudia’s heavy breathing turn to panting and knew he couldn’t give in to his thoughts. Not for even a minute. He had to stay with Claudia.

For the time being at least.

‘There’s no cell reception but if I can get through on the elevator phone, who can I call? Your husband, boyfriend...your family?’

Claudia shook her head, a little embarrassed by the answer even before she delivered it. Harriet was on and off the communication grid for almost two days while she travelled and even if she could contact her it would be unfair to worry her. And she knew there was no point reaching out to the babies’ father. He wouldn’t care.

‘No, there’s no one to call.’

Patrick’s eyes met hers in silence. He was surprised and saddened to hear her answer. While she clearly had her defences up initially, Patrick had not suspected for even a moment that a woman like Claudia would be alone in the world.

Unexpectedly, he felt himself being pulled towards her. He was never pulled towards anyone. Not any more. Not for years. He had locked away the need to feel anything. To need anyone...or to be needed. But suddenly a tenuous and unforeseen bond was forming. And he suspected it was not due just to the confines of the elevator.

Claudia wriggled some more and looked down at the jacket. ‘I’m so sorry...’

‘Claudia—’ he cut in as he looked intently into her eyes, not shifting his gaze for even a moment, not allowing himself to betray, to any degree, the very real risks that he knew lay ahead ‘—you’re in labour and you think I’m worried about a jacket.’

‘But it’s ruined.’

‘The only thing I care about now is finding something clean for the babies. Do you have anything in your bag? Anything I can wrap them in?’

Claudia shook her head. While her bag was the fashionably oversized style, it held very little, other than her wallet, apartment keys, her phone, a thin, flimsy scarf, a small cosmetic purse and a bottle of water. And her ultrasound films.

Patrick couldn’t wait any longer. There would be two babies arriving and they needed to have something clean to rest upon while he tended to their mother. He was not going to put them on the floor of the elevator. Without hesitating, he began to unbutton his white linen shirt and, slipping it from his very toned and lightly tanned body, he spread it out.

Claudia knew she was staring. She was helpless to pull her gaze away. The man about to deliver her babies had stripped bare to the waist. It was overwhelming and almost too much for her to process. The whole situation was quickly morphing from a bad dream into a nightmare. She was about to give birth to the sons of a man who didn’t love her and they would be delivered by a half-naked stranger in a broken elevator. Tears began welling in her eyes as the waves of another contraction came. This one was more powerful than the last and she struggled to hide the level of pain.

Patrick reached for her hand. ‘I want you to squeeze my hand when the contractions happen.’

‘I’ll be fine,’ she told him as the contraction passed and she felt uncomfortable getting any closer to the semi-naked stranger than she already was. His arms looked lean but powerful. And she could smell the light tones of his musky cologne.