“Look,” he said. “The Wentworths are good people. I hope that once you think this over, you’ll reconsider giving me the information they need.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Arquette, but I won’t be changing my mind. Now if you’ll excuse me...”

Despite Amanda’s best intentions to just turn and march away, she found herself practically standing toe-to-toe with the source of her irritation. The audacity of the man. Just who did he think he was, anyway, coming into her office like this and disrupting her day? Making her feel breathless. She wasn’t obligated to help him, even though he seemed to think she was.

Actually, it didn’t surprise her at all that she was already at odds with him. From the moment her eyes had locked with his, she had known that he was going to be trouble. Big-time trouble. The kind of trouble she had purposely avoided for years now. Handsome. Intelligent. Cocky. He had the makings of a good old-fashioned heartbreaker. Thanks, but no thanks. Once in a lifetime was more than plenty for her. She had a purpose in life now...a reason for being. She had her patients and they needed her. And she needed them. They were her joy, her life. Perhaps, she would never totally come to terms with the way her life had turned out. Undoubtedly, she would never forget the hurt she had suffered at the hands of her ex-fiancé. But there were some things she simply had to accept.

Suddenly, Amanda realized what she was doing to herself and returned her attention to the present. “I have to get back to my patients now, Mr. Arquette. Good day.”

Then she made a mental note to look into the matter of Sabrina Jensen once again. If, indeed, Sabrina was hiding out, then she was probably alone and frightened. She might even be in need of food and medical attention. But no matter the difficulties Sabrina was having to endure, Amanda would have gladly traded places with her. It had to be a wonderful feeling to be carrying the baby of the man you loved. Unfortunately, she would never know.

Once again, Amanda turned to leave the room. Just as she did, she came face-to-face with her receptionist. The young woman looked frantic. “What is it, Kathy?” Amanda asked.

“Doc Lucas,” she said excitedly. “You’d better come quick. It’s Lucy Foreman. She says her baby is coming—and I think she’s right.”

“Is she on the phone?”

“No, she’s in the waiting room.”

Oh, good Lord, Amanda thought. Just what she needed right now. An emergency delivery—and at her office, no less.

She hurried down the hall toward the waiting room. “Is her husband with her?”

“No,” Kathy said, following alongside her. “She’s alone.”

“Great,” Amanda muttered.

Stopping short, Amanda spun around and glared at Sam Arquette who had been following behind at a distance. “Don’t leave just yet, Mr. Arquette,” she said. “I may be needing your assistance. More than likely, someone is going to have to help me move my patient to an examining room.”

“You’re joking, right?” he replied, halting in his tracks to gape at her.

“No,” Amanda said. “I’m afraid not.”

Sam frowned. “I presume I have a choice in this matter.”

“Of course,” she answered, squaring her shoulders as if to say, if that was how he felt, she didn’t really need him, after all.

But Sam figured it was costing her a lot to ask him for his help. If there was one thing he had already come to realize about Dr. Amanda Lucas, she wasn’t a woman who liked having to depend on a man for anything. Well, hey, that wasn’t his problem.

“Okay, Doc,” he said. “I’m in.”

In a heartbeat, Amanda turned and rushed down the hallway toward her patient.

As Sam followed at her heels, he couldn’t help but wonder what he was getting himself into.

Chapter Two

Now that Amanda had a moment to think over what she had just done, she had no idea what had made her decide to get him involved. Stupidity, she supposed. Initially, she had thought that, under the circumstances, Sam could have come in handy. But even if that did turn out to be the case, it didn’t excuse the fact that he was arrogant and demanding, and that any woman with a lick of sense could have easily seen that about him, first and foremost, before noticing how handy he might have been. But was she looking at him with a lick of sense?

Uh-uh. Oh, no, not her. From the moment she had laid eyes on him, she had yet to use an ounce of her brain power.

Which told her one thing. She had better get a grip on herself—and quick. She didn’t have time to be toying around with thoughts of Sam Arquette. At this very moment, she had an emergency on her hands.

Still, Amanda found that her heart was pounding like crazy at the idea that Sam Arquette was following close on her heels and that if she so much as paused, even for a second, he would be right on top of her.

Needless to say, she didn’t pause, not even as she swung open the door leading from the back part of her office into the waiting room area. The last thing she wanted was to have Sam Arquette on top of her. In fact, the very thought of it left her feeling breathless.

“Has anyone called an ambulance?” she asked, taking in some badly needed air. She had several reasons for needing it. Of course, the number one reason was Sam Arquette himself. The man was...well...suffocating.

“No, not yet,” Kathy replied.

“Then do it,” Amanda ordered, hurrying forward.

Within a split second of scanning the entire waiting room, Amanda saw Lucy Foreman hunched over in a chair in one corner of the room. Crouched down at Lucy’s feet was Sheré, Amanda’s nurse. She was taking Lucy’s blood pressure.

Amanda hurried over, then bent down in front of her patient. “What’s going on, Lucy?” she asked, trying to evaluate the situation for herself. For the moment, at least, Sam Arquette was nowhere within her immediate thoughts. Still, her pulse was racing from the urgency of the moment—and, regardless of what else she told herself, from the fact that it was him, she knew, who was now standing right behind her, practically breathing down her neck. As a result, chills ran rabid down her spine.

But, regardless of her reaction to Sam Arquette, one thing was becoming perfectly clear to her.

Ready or not, there was a baby on the way, and it looked as though he or she wasn’t planning to wait around very much longer for the rest of the world to figure that out.

“It’s the baby, Dr. Lucas,” Lucy cried out.

“I know, Lucy,” Amanda said in a comforting voice. “But don’t worry. Everything is going to be okay. Where’s Tom?”

Tom was not only Lucy’s husband, but he was also supposed to be her coach during labor.

“At a cattle auction in Freemont Springs,” Lucy replied, tears brimming in her eyes.

Amanda stood and drew in a deep breath. Freemont Springs was almost two hours away from Mason’s Grove. There was no way Tom Foreman could make it back to Mason’s Grove in time to be at his wife’s bedside for the birth of their first child. One thing about babies, they were notorious for ignoring the readiness of others and coming into this old world when they were good and ready.

And, without a doubt, Lucy’s baby was ready.

“I can’t do this without Tom,” Lucy cried out.

“Of course, you can,” Amanda said, giving her patient a warm, reassuring smile. In her experience as an OB doctor, it never failed that when a woman went into labor, the one person she wanted at her side was the man she loved. But sometimes that simply wasn’t possible. She thought of Sabrina Jensen. If Mr. Arquette’s story was true, the young waitress would have to deliver her baby into the world all alone. As a woman, Amanda allowed herself a moment to feel sad for Sabrina; however, as a physician, she knew she had to get a grip and focus on what was happening right now.

“I know you were counting on Tom being here with you,” she said, gazing at Lucy, “but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. Just think about it, honey,” she added, her whole manner growing serious, but confident. “You could do this all by yourself if you had to. But, of course, you don’t have to. I’ll be with you every step of the way.”