Carter walked around her other side and slid his arm around her waist, taking some of her weight. ‘There’s no way that ankle is fine. I’d bet my career on it.’
Dan appeared next to them, a mound of colourful parachute in his arms. ‘Did you hurt yourself, Lily? Is something up?’
She wrinkled her nose. ‘Bad landing. Somebody distracted me at the last minute. But I’m sure it’s just a sprain.’
Dan shook his head. ‘The doc doesn’t get these things wrong. Better go back to his place and get it seen to.’ He tossed a set of keys to Carter. ‘Take the pick-up. I won’t need it for a few hours.’ He pointed across the field. ‘I’ve got parachutes to repack.’
‘His place!’ Lily exploded. ‘I don’t think so!’
Carter smirked, his arm tightening around her waist. He looked down at the fiery bundle in his arms. ‘I think he meant it figuratively. He didn’t mean my house—he meant San Francisco General.’ He stopped for a second then gave her a wicked glance. ‘But I can take you back to my place if that’s what you want.’
Lily mumbled under her breath. That was the last thing she wanted. She was trying to get away from John Carter. Not end up indebted to him.
His arm swept underneath her, catching her beneath the knees and cradling her between his arms.
‘What on earth do you think you’re doing?’
‘My job,’ he muttered as he took long strides towards the pick-up a few hundred yards away. ‘Best keep the weight off that.’
Lily fumbled in the pocket of her flight suit, pulling out her smartphone. ‘If you let me know where we’re going, I can text one of my friends to meet us there.’
‘Uh-huh.’ John Carter made the right noises, but shook his head as he swung open the pick-up’s door and plunked her down on the passenger seat.
‘What does that mean—uh-huh? Is that yes or no?’
‘Don’t you ever stop talking?’ Carter slid in the driver’s door next to her and clicked his seat belt in place. He folded his arms across his chest. ‘I’m taking you to the ER at San Francisco General. I’ll be able to fast-track you through and get you X-rayed. Once I’ve seen those X-rays we’ll discuss what type of treatment you need.’ He pointed at her phone, ‘And put that away. There’s no point calling in anyone until we know what’s happening. And anyway we need some privacy—we need to talk.’
‘Talk about what, exactly?’ Lily’s voice rose in pitch. She was getting more stressed by the second. She was being kidnapped by a gorgeous, slightly crazy doctor. Was this one of her mad dreams? Any minute now she’d look down and she’d be wearing a princess dress.
Carter started the pick-up and moved off, concentrating on the rugged terrain of the field and its effects on his passenger. He kept his mouth closed. The last thing he needed to do right now was upset Lily. He needed her on his side if he’d any chance at all of getting his baby back.
Had she felt it too? He thought he’d seen something flash in her eyes when he’d touched her. That connection. That crazy feeling of something happening.
He shot her a sideways glance. She looked totally different from the photo on file at the clinic. If they’d lined up a dozen women, he would never have picked out Lily as the woman in the photo.
She caught him staring. ‘What is it? What are you looking at?’
His eyes ran over her body. ‘You’re not exactly what I was expecting.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
Carter frowned. ‘You don’t look anything like your picture.’
Lily wrinkled her nose. ‘Are you talking about the hair?’ she lifted her hand self-consciously to touch her dyed blonde locks. ‘Funny thing about donor clinics—they’re not big on any type of toxin being introduced into the body—including hair dye. So, while I was on the books, so to speak, I had to stick to my natural colour.’
Carter nodded slowly. Lily was going to prove tougher work than his attorney had thought. ‘So you’re not on the books now?’
She shook her head. ‘I shouldn’t be. I thought my profile had been taken down. Why? Did you find it there?’
Carter pulled off the field onto the smooth tarmac. The hospital was only a fifteen-minute journey away. Fifteen minutes to try and persuade Lily Grayson to help him win his baby back.
Lily’s eyes were fixed on the road ahead. ‘To be perfectly honest, I’m a bit freaked out by all this. Last time I donated my eggs was over three years ago. The last thing I expected was someone to turn up and ask me questions about it.’ She shifted around in her seat so she was facing him. ‘What exactly do you want, John Carter?’
Carter shifted in his seat. In an ideal world he would have tracked Lily Grayson down, knocked on her door and sat down and spoke about this rationally, convincing her to help him out.
But in the last two weeks things had exploded around him. His ex-wife had vanished without a trace. The letter from the clinic had just been the tip of the iceberg. His life had been transformed into a whirlwind of frantic telephone calls, internet searches and visits to his attorney. He’d barely had the chance to really think about what all this meant. There were so many legal complications. So many things he could never have considered. Asking Lily Grayson for help was one of them.
How fair was it that he had to ask a virtual stranger for help to get his baby back?
He swerved the truck, pulling into the side of the road and turning to face Lily. ‘I’m sorry about this, Lily—it’s far from ideal.’ He ran his fingers through his dark hair. ‘A little more than three years ago my wife Tabitha and I had IVF via the clinic you’d registered with. My wife didn’t have any viable eggs of her own, so we had to opt for a donor. The donor we picked was you.’
His clear blue eyes were fixed on hers. And for some reason they were distracting her. They were darker than she’d first thought. Like deep, tropical pools. A girl could get lost inside a set of eyes like that.
What’s more, he was deadly serious. This guy wasn’t some nut job. Some crazy stalker from a website. Dan would never have let her leave with anyone like that. Dan trusted this guy. He trusted him to look after her. But Dan had no idea about the other stuff, the underlying current between them.
Lily bit her lip. This was it. This was where she found out if something had gone wrong with one of her eggs—one of this couple’s embryos.
Carter stared at his hands. ‘IVF didn’t work out. It was a strain on our marriage, and we split up shortly afterwards.’
Lily was shocked. This wasn’t what she’d expected to hear. ‘I’m sorry,’ she mumbled. ‘I thought you wanted to talk to me about a baby.’
‘I do.’ His words were abrupt.
‘I don’t understand…’
Carter pulled an envelope from his pocket. He handed the letter to Lily. It was rumpled—as if it had been pulled from his pocket on numerous occasions—and dated two weeks ago. But why were her hands trembling?
She took the letter and with the first few words let out a gasp, her eyes skimming the page.
Dear Mr Carter
It is with much regret we write to you…never happened before in our establishment…one of your embryos has been implanted into another client…this was only discovered when we went to destroy your embryos as previously agreed…unfortunately this coincided with our other client having a detailed scan of their baby…I would advise at this time you deal with our legal counsel…
* * *
Her