A Most Desirable M.D.

A Most Desirable M.D.
Anne Marie Winston

Dr. Kane Fortune challenged death regularly, but making love to virginal Allison Preston shook him to the core. And called for a shotgun wedding! Though the kindly nurse's unassuming ways had made her practically invisible to him, Allison's provocative modesty now aroused an all-consuming need in Kane. But when Allison learned she wasn't pregnant, Kane had to face the facts. And convince Allison that their marriage wasn't about duty…but about love.

THE TEXAS TATTLER

All the news that’s barely fit to print!

Fortunes Discover New Heirs

Scandal was the last thing Miranda Fortune wanted to bring her family when she returned to Red Rock with her son, Kane. But now it appears that the town won’t be talking about the latest party this society matron has given—but the two infants she gave up for adoption!

According to Crazy Hearts Motel manager Hal Davies, an old rodeo cowboy pulled up to his establishment, looking for a room. “He was drunk as a skunk, but he claimed to be Kane and Gabrielle’s daddy…and said he’d just tracked down their illegitimate siblings.” P.I. Flynn Sinclair confirmed the rumor.

Local tongues are also wagging about Kane’s quick engagement to nurse Allison Preston.

Sources at the hospital where both parties work said the couple had always acted more like friends than lovers. “But one day, we practically caught them doing the horizontal mambo in the staff lunchroom!” reports one surprised, unnamed staffer.

Don’t know if there’s any connection between these two events…but the Tattler can only wonder if any more shake-ups are in store for the powerful Fortune family!

Dear Reader,

Welcome to the world of Silhouette Desire, where you can indulge yourself every month with romances that can only be described as passionate, powerful and provocative!

Fabulous BJ James brings you June’s MAN OF THE MONTH with A Lady for Lincoln Cade. In promising to take care of an ex-flame—and the widow of his estranged friend— Lincoln Cade discovers she has a child. Bestselling author Leanne Banks offers another title in her MILLION DOLLAR MEN miniseries with The Millionaire’s Secret Wish. When a former childhood sweetheart gets amnesia, a wealthy executive sees his chance to woo her back.

Desire is thrilled to present another exciting miniseries about the scandalous Fortune family with FORTUNES OF TEXAS: THE LOST HEIRS. Anne Marie Winston launches the series with A Most Desirable M.D., in which a doctor and nurse share a night of passion that leads to marriage! Dixie Browning offers a compelling story about a sophisticated businessman who falls in love with a plain, plump woman while stranded on a small island in More to Love. Cathleen Galitz’s Wyoming Cinderella features a young woman whose life is transformed when she becomes nanny to the children of her brooding, rich neighbor. And Kathie DeNosky offers her hero a surprise when he discovers a one-night stand leads to pregnancy and true love in His Baby Surprise.

Indulge yourself with all six Desire titles—and see details inside about our exciting new contest, “Silhouette Makes You a Star.”

Enjoy!

Joan Marlow Golan

Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire

A Most Desirable M.D.

Anne Marie Winston

ANNE MARIE WINSTON

Pennsylvania native Anne Marie Winston loves babies she can give back when they cry, animals in all shapes and just about anything that blooms. When she’s not writing, she’s chauffeuring children to various activities, trying not to eat chocolate or reading anything she can find. She will dance at the slightest provocation, occasionally gets suckered into amateur theater performances and weeds her gardens when she can’t see the sun for the weeds anymore. You can learn more about Anne Marie on the Harlequin/Silhouette Web site at www.eHarlequin.com.

Meet the Fortunes of Texas

Meet the Fortunes of Texas’s Lost Heirs. Membership in this Texas family has its privileges and its price. As the family gathers to welcome their newest members, they discover a murderer in their midst…and passionate new romances that only a true-bred Texas love can bring!

CAST OF CHARACTERS

Dr. Kane Fortune: While Kane’s verdict was still out on his new relatives, this doctor knew that no Fortune walked away from his responsibilities. And he was an honorable man.

Allison Preston: Fate had just made plain-Jane Allison Preston’s secret wish come true. But her dream was about to become a nightmare unless she could make Kane Fortune see that he belonged with her forever….

Miranda Fortune: This Fortune heiress had been estranged from her family for over twenty-five years, but now the secret that drove her out of Red Rock, Texas, is about to be revealed!

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

One

Dr. Kane Fortune slammed through the doors of County General Hospital in San Antonio, Texas, frustration and fury eating at his gut like a living thing. Damn, but he hated to lose a patient. Hated it, hated it, hated it.

He supposed every doctor did, but somehow the babies always seemed the worst to him. This one had been particularly tough. The young father had broken down and cried until they’d had to call his family physician in to offer comfort and medication. That guy had wanted his child so much…too bad every father in the world didn’t care that deeply. The anger that bubbled up from far down inside him was old and bitter. If he ever had children, he’d be there for them every step of the way. He took a sharp left across the parking lot, striding toward the rugged Ford Explorer he’d bought while he still lived in California, his head down, hands jammed in his trouser pockets.

He almost ran the woman down before he realized she was standing in his path.

“Whoa—I’m sorry.” He reached out automatically to steady her, cupping her elbow, and only then did he realize who it was.

“Allison.” He stopped, still holding her elbow, thunderstruck.

Allison Preston was a pediatric nurse with whom he worked on a near-daily basis in the neonatal unit. She was steady, sensible, reliable, and without question his favorite person in the hospital. They’d gotten into the habit of having coffee together once or twice a week if they happened to be in the cafeteria or the staff lounge at the same time. He still wasn’t sure how it had happened, but Allison had become the one person in whom he could confide the pressures of the life-altering decisions he was often forced to make. He’d actually begun to anticipate when she would take her breaks and time himself so that his would coincide. She was the best listener he’d ever met, and her quiet understanding had soothed him on more than one occasion.

But the Allison standing before him wasn’t the pale, buttoned-down nurse with her blond hair scraped back in a severe bun to whom he was accustomed. This Allison had yards and yards of thick, bouncy, curling sunlit tresses that she’d been in the process of unpinning when he’d nearly run her down. The curls cascaded around her shoulders and down her back, glowing in the early morning light with an almost unnatural sheen as they slithered free of the bun. The jolt he’d given her had sent one wayward lock flying across her face and he watched, mesmerized, as she hooked a finger through the curl and tugged it aside.

“Dr. Fortune. Kane,” she said belatedly, when he pointed a finger at her, silently reminding her that he’d told her to call him Kane when they weren’t working. “I’m sorry, too. I should have been paying more attention.”

“I, uh, I was distracted.” The words were a lame effort. He still couldn’t believe it was the same woman he thought he knew. “I’ve never seen you with your hair down,” he said slowly. “You have…a lot of hair.”

A faint hint of pink color crept into her cheeks and she ducked her head in a self-conscious manner he recognized. “A mess, you mean,” she corrected. “I’ve thought about getting it cut, but I just haven’t gotten around to it.”