The Prince And The Midwife

“Please, call me Rafael.”

Whatever you think. Thank you so, so much... Gabby gritted her teeth and told herself she couldn’t feel bothered by Cameron’s immediate agreement to the same treatment she’d initially refused to agree to when Gabby had told her exactly the same thing. It was no secret doctors got more respect than midwives from many patients, and an über-handsome doctor who, by the way, happened to be a prince too? Jerk or not, it was no surprise that status-conscious Cameron was all too happy to go along with whatever he suggested.

“Bien.” He stood and turned to Gabby, and his warm expression cooled to one of professionalism. “I’d assume you have the mag sulfate and steroid ready?” Those startling green eyes slowly scanned the area again before pinning hers again with one dark eyebrow raised. “Except perhaps I should not assume that. When I first walked in I was shocked to see the state of this room, which is, well, I must say, terribly disorganized. I’m frankly very surprised by this, considering the stellar reputation of The Hollywood Hills Clinic and knowing James Rothsberg’s perfectionism.”

The irritation that had been simmering in her chest burst into a full conflagration of anger that surged through her blood and made her brain burn. Who did this guy think he was? Friend or no friend of James, prince or no prince, he had no right to waltz in like he owned the place, give it his version of the white-glove test, then criticize her without knowing a thing about the patients and medical situations she’d been taking care of for the past ten hours.

“I was in the process of cleaning and reorganizing it from an earlier, lengthy delivery when Cameron arrived in what might have been an emergency situation. I deemed taking care of her and her baby was a lot more important than tidying and prepping a room that could be tidied and prepped later. And the meds are ready.”

She stalked to the counter, gathering the items together and wishing she could throw them at his arrogant, judgmental face. He reached for them, his hand briefly touching hers, and it ticked her off even more that the feel of his skin brushing hers sent some kind of weird electric shimmer up her arm. The sensation could have been mistaken for attraction, if there had been anything attractive about the man.

Well, there were all those superficially attractive things, but she wasn’t a woman interested in slick, glossy men. Or any kind of man anymore, really.

With grudging respect, though, Gabby did have to admire how quickly and efficiently his long fingers administered the drugs, all the while keeping up a smoothly distracting conversation with their patient.

“All set,” he said to Cameron, giving her a warm and reassuring smile. “Now we wait, keep you comfortable, and check baby periodically through ultrasound and monitoring.”

“Thank you, Rafael. I’m so glad you and Gabby are the ones taking care of me.”

And Gabby was glad the next shift midwife would be arriving soon to deal with Cameron and Dr. Moreno. Not to mention that she was way overdue for a major nap.

“How about deciding what you’d like to have for dinner?” Gabby said as she brought her another sparkling water, along with a menu of options for her meal. The onsite Michelin-starred chef was amazing, and even the pickiest patients loved the elegant and trendy foods he prepared. “The midwife on the next shift will be checking on you throughout the night to make sure you’re comfortable. Then tomorrow morning I’ll be back to take care of you. In the afternoon it’ll be time to administer another steroid dose.”

“But I don’t want another midwife,” Cameron said, a twisting pout on her lips that had Gabby wondering how in the world she managed to still look so pretty doing it. “I want you to stay here with me tonight, Gabby.”

The fatigue Gabby had felt earlier was back in spades. She had a feeling if she closed her eyes she might fall asleep on her feet like a horse, and the vision of curling up in her own comfy bed and getting a solid night’s sleep nearly had her moaning, but she knew Cameron. And Cameron’s expectations. The Hollywood Hills Clinic was known for its exceptional medical care, and that included going above and beyond in every way.

Which meant she’d be spending the night here again.

“I appreciate you wanting me with you, Cameron. I—”

“Your staying here is important, since you are familiar with our special patient and her physical condition and worries,” Rafael interrupted smoothly. “Here is my contact information. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me for any reason.”

Did the man think he was boss of the world? Gabby felt like smacking that seemingly sincere smile from his handsome face as he handed her an elegantly embossed card, then turned to give one to their patient. When Cameron reached for hers, she clasped his hand along with it for a lingering moment, practically batting her long lashes at him as she smiled back.

“Thank you so much, Rafael. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your help and expertise during this terrifying time.”

“It’s beyond my pleasure. It is my calling to help mamas and their babies, whether a pregnancy is smooth and uneventful or high risk and worrying. I promise to take care of you and bebé to the best of my ability.”

Whereas Gabby and most other nurses and doctors didn’t? The guy was pure egotistical arrogance in a white coat, absolutely no doubt about that. And Gabby intended to tell him so, though somehow she’d have to tone down the strength of the language she’d really like to use when she did.

“As I started to say a moment ago, Cameron, I’m more than happy to stay,” she said, giving Dr. Moreno a pointed look she hoped he interpreted correctly—which was to tell him to keep his guest-in-this-hospital nose in his own business. “I’ll sleep better knowing I can check regularly on how you’re doing, and hopefully me being here will help you sleep better too.”

“Thank you, Gabby. I will sleep better.”

“Why don’t you rest now and watch a little TV? I’ll be back in a few minutes to find out what you’ve decided to order for dinner.” She turned to Dr. Full-of-Himself and somehow kept her voice cordial. “May I speak to you privately in my office, Dr. Moreno?”

He inclined his head again, and she sensed him following her from the room and down the marble-tiled hallway, past large windows with beautiful views Gabby normally enjoyed, but not at that moment. Right then, she had only one thing on her mind, which was giving Rafael Moreno a piece of it.

She stopped in front of the open door of her office and gestured for him to go inside but he stopped with her.

“Ladies first,” he said as he mirrored her gesture.

A man with good manners was usually appealing, but this didn’t feel like good manners. It felt more like he was just being controlling again, wanting things to be the way he wanted them and not giving her respect for the fact that it was her office. Which meant she should be calling the shots at that moment, even if it was something as simple as who entered the room first.

The smile she stuck on her face was stiff and fake and she didn’t care if he saw through it. While part of her knew it wasn’t something worth arguing about, he’d irritated her so much already she found herself digging in her heels. “No, I insist. You are a guest here at the clinic, after all.” And if that didn’t give him a strong hint that he’d overstepped his bounds, she was about to tell him so much more directly.

Those silky eyebrows rose at her, and their gazes clashed for several heartbeats until he inclined his head and stepped into the room. She shut the door behind her, not wanting anyone to overhear their conversation, and when she turned to look at him she had that oxygen-sucked-from-the-room feeling again. His height and the breadth of his shoulders made the room seem to shrink, and his erect posture and the utter self-assurance of his demeanor compounded the effect until she felt she couldn’t breathe.

Except breathing was necessary to give him a piece of her mind. Her mouth suddenly dry as sandpaper, she hoped he couldn’t sense her discomfiture as she stepped behind her desk instead of having them sit in the two chairs side by side, wanting to send another message that she was in charge of the maternity wing and its midwives and he should treat her accordingly.

“Please sit,” she said as she perched herself in her swivel chair.

But of course he didn’t. He simply stared down at her, and she suddenly felt like a bug-eyed hamster being eyed by a hawk. Rafael Moreno, standing there all confident and imperious, had utterly ruined the message she’d tried to send by sitting behind the desk, so now what was she supposed to do? Sit there craning her neck up at him while giving him a dressing-down? Or bob back up like a jack-in-the-box? Either one would make her look foolish and, worse, completely lacking in power and authority.

Damn the man.

“What is it you wish to discuss with me, Ms. Cain?”

She huffed out a breath, trying hard to regain some semblance of equilibrium, and slowly stood again to look him in the eye. Or as much as that was possible, considering he still had a good six or seven inches in height on her. “I know you are James’s friend, and I’m told you are good at what you do. Also that you are part of a royal family, which is perhaps why you feel you can do as you please.”

“I can do as I please.”

The arrogance of the words wasn’t diminished by the even modulation of his deep voice. Her heartbeat upped its tempo to double time, and that burning sensation prickled her scalp again. “Maybe you can in a lot of places, but not here, Dr. Moreno. I may be a midwife and not a physician, but I assure you that I’m the person in charge of the day-to-day operation of The Hollywood Hills Clinic’s maternity ward. While I am grateful you came quickly to see Cameron when James requested you to, I don’t appreciate you walking in and just taking over. Completely ignoring the notes I made on Ms. Fontaine’s chart and utterly dismissing my medical opinion and recommendation. Even worse, you said and did it all in front of the patient. That was insulting and rude, and frankly could have very well undermined her confidence in me, my knowledge, and my skills.”

The expression on his smooth, angular features didn’t change, but in the depths of his eyes there was a sudden, dangerous glint. Her breath caught and held in her chest during the long pause that crackled between them before he finally spoke. “Anything else?”

“Yes, actually.”

Gabby slowly walked around from behind the desk, taking that moment to get the air moving in her lungs again, hoping to calm both her tripping heart and her frustration. For the first time in her life she wished she was taller than her five feet six inches, but was so angry she came to stand nearly toe to toe with him anyway.

“I resent you saying that room was a mess, that it was substandard, and by association that I’m substandard. Even worse that you said it in front of our patient as well. I work very hard to keep my ward immaculately clean, organized and running smoothly, to keep these rooms as luxurious and beautiful as James insists they be, and our patients expect. But as an obstetrician you should certainly know that when there’s any kind of medical emergency, like the difficult twin births I was dealing with prior to Cameron arriving, it tends to mess up a hospital room. Is it possible that you never give that a thought, though, since an OB can often run in, catch a baby, play hero, then leave the cleanup to someone else?”

“I assure you,” he said in a silky-soft voice at odds with that glint sparking in his eyes, “I am well versed in hospital room chaos, having worked in all kinds of clinics around the world. I resent your implication that I’m a spoiled and selfish man unwilling to take on any task required of me. That is an unacceptable insult. Who and what I am is a doctor who prides himself on paying attention to every detail, and the fact is that the disarray of that room was obvious evidence that I had to take control of the situation.”

The small gap between them closed, and with his narrowed gaze so close, so intense Gabby found she had to break their eye contact before she got dizzy from it. Which then had her staring at his mouth, at lips that were hard and uncompromising, and somehow at the same time so soft and sensually shaped that her stomach did a strange little flip that didn’t feel at all like the anger pumping through her veins.

“And I assure you that was a misconception, and you taking control of the situation was both unnecessary and unwelcome.” Gabby resisted the urge to stroke her hand down her throat, swiping away the sweat she was sure must be forming there. Why did it suddenly seem so hot in this room? Was it her anger making her heart quiver, and was it her imagination that all that heat seemed to be shimmering right between them, practically pouring from his big, masculine body? “If you end up coming back to see Cameron, and I frankly would prefer a different physician do so, I would appreciate you showing me respect in front of our patient, and I will continue to show you that same respect.”

“Oh, I’ll be back, Ms. Cain, have no doubt about that. Whether you like it or not. When I make a commitment to a friend like James, and to a patient, I always see it through to the end.” His eyes were still narrowed, his words still spoken in that silky, soft tone that sounded odd, coming from lips that had been firmly clamped together the whole time she’d spoken. Then, to her utter shock, he reached for her hand and lifted it to those beautiful lips, pressing them to the back of it.

Both soft and firm, he kept them there for three long seconds, causing that weirdly disconcerting spark to fly up her arm again. Then he released it and, without another word, turned and strode out the door.

Gabby stared blindly at the wall beside her door, absently running her palm from the back of her other hand up her arm, feeling the gooseflesh still making all the little hairs stand at attention. “Well, Gabby, that went well,” she muttered to herself, barely able to catch her breath. “When it comes to verbal sparring to handle a problem, that man is clearly way out of your league.”

Which left her with a very difficult question. What she was going to do next to keep him from taking over her entire ward?

CHAPTER TWO

“YOU’VE ALWAYS BEEN a workaholic, but your schedule seems insane to me,” Rafael said as he sat across from James, glad his friend had finally found time to stop by the cliffside home Rafael was renting. “I thought I might be moving on from L.A. before we had a chance to share another drink.”

“Hey, I do things other than work.”

“Like what? Are you taking up golf?” Rafael asked with a grin, since he knew the man had zero interest in spending that much time on a game.

That drew a return grin from James. “No, but I do have a date in about...one hour,” he said, glancing at his watch. “And what do you mean, you might be moving on from L.A. soon? Is rolling stone Rafael already thinking about leaving? I thought you’d come here to go into hiding for a while.”

“Doesn’t seem to have worked too well. One or the other of my parents calls me practically daily with disapproving updates on the photos and completely exaggerated stories still showing up in the gossip magazines about me.”

“If you didn’t date strippers, maybe you wouldn’t have that problem.”

“I didn’t even know she’d been a stripper until it was splashed across all the papers.” He shook his head, wondering why everyone had to make such a big deal out of it anyway. “But if I hear one more word from my family about having to find a ‘suitable’ girlfriend, I may just become a monk.”

“Like there’s any chance of that,” James said with a smirk. “One of the reasons I always liked hanging out with you was because women flock around a prince like ants to a piece of candy. A good way for me to meet the cast-offs.”

“Because you have such a problem with meeting women,” Rafael said dryly. “Didn’t you just tell me you have a date tonight?”

“Yeah.” James’s face instantly settled into an oddly serious expression, and it struck Rafael that his friend might be getting back into a relationship with Mila Brightman, his former fiancée.

“I heard you’re having to spend time with Mila now you’re working with her charity,” he said casually, hoping James would talk to him about it if he felt a need to. “Are you seeing her again?”

“No. That was over long ago.” James seemed to be studying the condensation droplets on his iced-tea glass very intently, and Rafael wondered if it was to avoid looking him in the eye. “But I do think dating someone new is a good idea to, you know, distract me from thinking about the past.”

Rafael frowned. He knew their breakup had been hard on both James and Mila, but it had been James’s idea, after all. How much was he still bothered by it? “Maybe you and Mila—”

“I don’t really want to talk about it.” James set his glass down and put on the cool, professional face Rafael had seen many times when James wanted to put distance between himself and others. “Tell me about how things went with Cameron Fontaine. And by the way, I don’t think I’ve told you how much I appreciate you seeing her.”

“I’m glad you asked me. It’s what I do. Not to mention that not working and having to lie low in L.A. has been getting a little tedious, so I’m happy to be at the clinic.” Oddly, the first thing James’s question instantly brought to mind wasn’t his patient but a certain gorgeous midwife who was an all-too-attractive combination of warmth and smarts and toughness.

Thinking back, he realized he’d deserved the one-two punch she’d given him in her office. He should have shown her immediate respect instead of making her earn it, but in some of the places he’d worked, it had been important to make sure everyone knew what they were doing before you trusted them to. In spite of the chaotic condition of the room, it had been obvious that she was an expert when it came to the medical care of the patients. And wasn’t afraid to point it out in no uncertain terms to anyone who doubted that.

“What’s with that smile on your face?” James asked, quirking his eyebrow. “Did you fall in lust with Cameron?”

“No.” That would be a snowy day in the desert, and he practically laughed at the question. Cameron Fontaine was the kind of self-absorbed woman he met all too often and had no interest in even for just sex.

He wouldn’t admit to James that the woman he’d felt a stirring of lust for had been the clinic’s head midwife. A woman with a fiery temper to match the golden fire of her hair. The last thing he needed was the complication of dating someone he had to work with. Not to mention that dating anyone at that particular moment was asking for more trouble from the press and anger and disapproval from his family.

After the tabloids had blown up again with the juicy story of his latest girlfriend, his parents had insisted he stop embarrassing them. It all seemed so ridiculous since he’d dated the woman barely a month before they’d stopped seeing each other, which was how he liked to keep it. Any longer than that and a woman had a tendency to start thinking long term, and he had no intention of doing forever after with anyone. His brother had taken care of marrying to provide heirs, and saddled himself with a woman who didn’t even like him much. And the picture-perfect partnership of his parents’ arranged marriage? It didn’t hint at the cool distance between them, or question why they were on different continents half the time.

No, Rafael was never going to get stuck in some passionless marriage. He liked his freedom and planned to keep it, thank you very much. Lying low to let his parents simmer down a little was the price he had to occasionally pay for that freedom. With any luck, they’d soon stop throwing “suitable” women his way, wanting to torture him with the kind of loveless marriage they had.

“I’m not sure we’re going to be able to stop Cameron’s labor,” he told James, “but I’m hoping to be able to get her at least a second steroid dose before it happens. I’m heading over there soon to see how she’s doing.”

“Good. You’re the best at what you do, and I hope she knows that. I’m guessing she doesn’t mind that her doctor is a prince either.”

Probably true, but his royal status was something Rafael found to be a far bigger burden than a benefit. “I’ll text you with an update after I see her.”

“I’d appreciate that.” James stood, so Rafael did too. “I’d better get cleaned up for my date.”

He had to wonder how Mila would react to seeing photos of James with a doubtless beautiful woman in the media that followed him around as much as they followed him, but it wasn’t any of his business.

No, his present business was to keep a low profile and his own face out of the tabloids for as long as possible.

* * *

Gabby poured herself another cup of coffee, desperate to somehow keep her heavy eyelids from closing. During the night, when Cameron had slept, she’d managed to grab an hour or two of rest, but had jumped to attention every time Cameron had woken up, both worried that her labor might be advancing. That, combined with her recent double shifts prior to Cameron’s arrival, had left her without much in the way of reserve energy.

Gulping at the dark, hot liquid, Gabby moved to Cameron’s bedside again. “Any changes in the way you’re feeling?”

“No.” Cameron folded her arms across her chest and pouted up at Gabby. “And I’m awfully tired of just lying here. The only thing that makes it bearable at all is the good care you’re taking of me.”

“That’s nice of you to say.” Her words managed to fractionally perk Gabby up since, inside, she’d become a little tired of catering to the woman’s every whim. At least she apparently appreciated it. “I’m doing everything I can to keep you comfortable, and hopefully help baby stay in there a little longer.”

“I know I should apologize for being a tad complaining. Even grumpy occasionally. It’s just so tiresome being in this bed, but I know you understand that.”

“I do understand. Would you like your pillows plumped again?”

At her nod, Gabby complied, thinking it was good the pillows were faux down to prevent any allergens from being in the room, as real down would have been plumped to death by now. Cameron’s word “tad” was an understatement, but Gabby was pretty sure the woman truly didn’t realize that “Diva” should be her middle name.

“It’s not easy getting comfortable, sitting in a bed all day, or to keep from getting bored. I’ll bring you another book to read, if you like.”

“Maybe later.” She leaned back against her pillows with a long-suffering sigh. Just as Gabby was about to creep away, Cameron opened her eyes and started talking again. “And of course the other thing making it bearable to be here is Rafael. He’s just the sweetest, dreamiest thing, don’t you think? And he’s obviously a wonderful doctor.”

Dreamy, maybe, when it came to his looks. But sweet? Definitely not. It was an effort, but Gabby managed to keep a smile on her face and sort of agree. “He has an excellent reputation. I’m glad you like him.”

“Like him? I just love him! Adore him!” Cameron gushed. “I feel so lucky that he happens to be in Los Angeles right now. It seems like fate, doesn’t it?”

Privately, she didn’t think it was fate, unless the universe had decided to challenge Gabby by making life at the clinic difficult, having to work with someone as full of himself as Rafael Moreno. But she was a professional and could handle it, no matter what. And, to look at the positive, at least Cameron was happy.

She glanced at her watch. “If you’re not going to sleep right now, I’d like to get another ultrasound of baby, then give your next steroid injection.”

“Should we wait for Rafael?” Anxious blue eyes met hers. “He said he’d be here this afternoon, and I’m sure he will be.”

Damn the man for insisting he be in charge of everything, and basically telling the patient not to trust her. “I believe Dr. Moreno was simply being cautious because he doesn’t personally know me. But midwives are highly trained in all aspects of pregnancy and delivery, including caring for high-risk patients. You can trust me completely.”