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Luke nodded and smiled wryly ‘That’s what the world is supposed to think The truth is Jennifer Taylor would never have stayed on bed rest in the White House, which is why she’s here’
Abby shook her head She couldn’t believe this was happening And she hadn’t worked out as more incredible to her—the fact the First Lady was in Mendocino Valley and nobody knew, or the fact that Luke Storm had just catapulted his way back into her life She pulled her professional head back on ‘How far along is she? Thirty? Thirty-teeks?’ Abby’sto remember what she’d seen in the press
‘She’s just under thirty-teeks’
‘Where on earth has she been staying and how come no one knows about it?’
Luke s in one of the mansions in the hills around here—I think you call it “Millionaires’ Row”?’ He naely popular rock star ned one of the nearby houses ‘Apparently he’s good friends with the President and offered his house to theotten out’
‘But how did she get here?’ He could see herthe distance in her head between Mendocino Valley and Washington before co to the obvious conclusion ‘Who on earth let a woman in her condition fly?’
Luke gave a snort ‘You haven’t met Jennifer Taylor yet, have you? Prepare yourself And remember, she didn’t exactly fly commercial And she had her own obstetrician with her’
Abby’s face clouded in puzzlement ‘Well, where the hell is he?’
‘He’s the MI I’ scene around her
And he watched her Drinking up her appearance, just for a second The long sheen of blonde hair that he remembered had been cut into a sharp bob, short at the back with tapering longer layers at the front It suited her, highlighting her high cheekbones and clear skin He caught a waft of so pink lips She was still using the sao It gave hi that sweet, juicy gel, sending waves of nostalgia down his spine His eyes swept over her body Even hidden in shapeless green scrubs he could see the outline of her small breasts and neat hips Perfection couldn’t be hidden And in ast all his panic and confusion a wave swept over hi that only Abby had ever done to him He felt as if he had just come home
His eyes fell to their hands, still tightly clasped When was the last tiht she’d broken up with hiive up on her dreao?
‘Luke?’
Her voice pulled him back from memory lane His head flicked around and he pulled her towards the doors and grabbed a nearby gurney ‘Come with me, Abby’
She stopped, just for a second, and glanced towards the open-mouthed staff ‘Nancy, set up for an early delivery, please’
She grabbed hold of the rail on the gurney and followed as he pulled it outside towards a sleek black car The fresh sea winds i it before landing it back on top of her head like freshly whipped led mess from her eyes as she took in the scene in front of her
Six black-suited ically positioned around the car, their eyes scanning in every possible direction The faint whoop-whoop of helicopter blades could be heard in the distance A craggy-faced man put his hand on Luke’s arth of her body, ‘Who’s this?’ The voice was brusque and gruff
‘Our saviour’ Luke’s eyes caught hold of Abby’s and she took a deep breath Five years on and nothing had changed He could still stop her heart with one look And it killed her Because everything had changed
The nearside door was open and Luke gestured for her to look inside She bent forward, re more blonde strands of hair from her mouth, and peered inside
‘You’re not going to put ht to the point with only the slightest hint of strain in them
Abby smiled at the pale face ahead of her and ducked inside the car out of the sea winds ‘Hi, I’m Abby, one of the doctors at Pelican Cove’ The spacious interior of the car nearly h out loud Her entire Mini Cooper could fit inside the rear passenger space She slid along the cream leather seats and looked at the familiar face next to her
Jennifer Taylor was the darling of the nation A feisty, intelligent lawyer, she had refused to stop working when her husband had becohts and wasn’t afraid to put her neck on the line when necessary More importantly, she was also the first First Lady in nearly fifty years to deliver while her husband was in office
Abby took in her short gasps, her grey jogging suit and trainers and her normally immaculate brown hair pulled back into a ponytail The press would have a field day if they saw her like this—in all the news reports Abby had never seen this woman with so much as a hair out of place She could see the worry lines across her brow and the fatigue in her eyes She leaned over and took her hand ‘I think the gurney is for the other guy’ She nodded in the direction of the sweating, grey-haired er seat ‘Do you want et you a wheelchair or
do you think you can walk in?’
Jennifer looked up through her heavy eyes with steely reserve ‘I’’
‘Okay, letthe leather upholstery and waited for Jennifer to swing her legs frouided her inside, surrounded on all sides by the black brigade
Nancy estured towards a nearby side roo her to the roo equipment
Luke gave a shout at her back as the gurney went speeding past and into the nearby trauma rooave her a quick nod and followed Luke into the room
Abby settled Jennifer on the bed and swung her legs up She pulled out the backrest and watched in auards ‘Wait outside, gentle examined’ She shut the door with a quick sla her aret past me’
Abby switched on thethe today?’ She turned her head to Nancy ‘Can you take a BP reading and get me a foetal heart rate, please?’
Jennifer shifted uncomfortably on the bed ‘Callback pain last night NothingI could do would make me feel any better Then at around breakfast time today, just after I’d used the bathroo’
‘Your waters have broken?’
‘I think so Dr Blair was going to check forchest pain and …’ Her voice tailed off as tears brimmed in her eyes ‘This isn’t supposed to happen I’m onlyto go back to Washington to have the baby there’ She lay back against the pillows, resting her hands on her swollen abdo to be so worried’