In the Doctor's Bed

In the Doctor's Bed
Brenda Jackson

The skills of a surgeon…Having a crush on her drop-dead-gorgeous boss could get Hopewell General intern Jaclyn Campbell fired…especially with the prestigious Virginia hospital reeling from a shocking scandal. But head resident Lucien De Winter is impossible to resist. And he’s arousing a healthy dose of desire as the good doctor wages an all-out war to make the sheltered Southern belle his own.…The heart of a lover Head over heels for Jaclyn, Lucien vows to keep their relationship a secret. He knows they’re playing a dangerous game, but he can’t live without the sensual sister. Even if it means putting his hardfought career on the line, the seduced surgeon is ready to risk it all. Because Lucien knows that the only thing to cure his acute condition is a lifetime of love. …

Lucien felt his mind and body unleash turbulent emotions that he’d held back for the past eighteen months

Now he was giving in to a hunger to a degree he hadn’t known was possible. There was this ravenousness that was invading his body and obliterating any kind of control. And he was giving in to it. Letting it dominate.

Her tongue tasted just as he’d known it would, with a sweetness that was turning his cells into jelly. There was a faint taste of the spiced coffee she’d drank earlier, but mostly it was all woman and it was so captivating he couldn’t imagine how it would be not to kiss her.

He pushed that thought out of his mind as he continued to devour her mouth, lips, tongue. There wasn’t a part of her mouth he hadn’t invaded and sampled to his heart’s content. And she was kissing him back with a hunger just as greedy as his own.

Dear Reader,

I enjoy doing continuity books where I get to work with other authors. In this particular continuity—Hopewell General Hospital—I got to work with three outstanding authors, Ann Christopher, Maureen Smith and Jacquelin Thomas.

The four of us are introducing you to the staff of Hopewell General and how interns face daily challenges, especially when it comes to love. I’ve always enjoyed a good medical show and admit to being a General Hospital fan. And being a romantic at heart, I love to read a sexy romance story with a sexy hero, and I believe these four stories will definitely satisfy any romantic cravings you might have.

I hope all of you enjoy reading Lucien and Jaclyn’s story as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Happy reading!

Brenda Jackson

In the Doctor’s Bed

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author

Brenda

Jackson

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

To the love of my life, Gerald Jackson, Sr.

To all my readers. This one is for you.

Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.

—Proverbs 3:3

Chapter 1

The moment Jaclyn Campbell stepped off the elevator she felt her nerves kick in. Tension stirred in the pit of her stomach, and her pulse throbbed at the base of her throat. It was as if she was back in high school and had been called to the principal’s office. The only difference was she wasn’t sixteen anymore, but a twenty-six-year-old woman, an intern at Hopewell General Hospital, and she had gotten summoned to the office of the chief of staff, Dr. Germaine Dudley.

Taking a deep breath and inserting her sweaty hands in the pockets of her slacks, she paused at the desk of Dr. Dudley’s administrative assistant, Mona Wells. The older woman glanced up from the paperwork just long enough to say, “Go on in, Dr. Campbell. They’re waiting on you in the conference room.”

They? The pit of Jaclyn’s stomach nearly dropped to the floor. Who were “they”? She wondered just what kind of trouble she had gotten into. Granted she and Kayla Tsang, E.R.'s head nurse, never saw eye-to-eye on much of anything. Jaclyn had known from the first day of orientation it would behoove her to stay out of the woman’s way.

Nurse Tsang was a stickler for rules and had the attitude of an old sourpuss, which was sad for someone who was only thirty-five years old. Jaclyn smiled to herself upon recalling what her roommate and fellow intern, Isabelle Morales, had told her just last week. “Miss Thang”—as other staff members called the nurse behind her back—needed to get laid.

Quickly wiping the smile off her face and drawing in another deep breath, Jaclyn knocked on the door.

“Come in.”

Jaclyn entered the room to find three individuals sitting at a long table. Her gaze first went to Dr. Dudley who was seated at the head of the table, and as usual his gaze raked over her. It wasn’t the first time she’d thought the man had a roving eye. Isabelle also had caught him ogling her and other young female interns the same way. That was probably the only mark against the man. The married, sixty-something father of three was well-respected in the medical field, and he had some political clout as well because he and the governor were college chums.

Her gaze then swept across the length of the table. The woman seated to the right of Dr. Dudley was Camille Hunter, the attractive public relations director of the hospital. Although Jaclyn didn’t know Camille that well, she’d always found the young woman friendly enough when they’d passed in the halls or met in the elevator.

And last but definitely not least was the man who’d captured Jaclyn’s heart her first day at Hopewell. Dr. Lucien De Winter, chief resident.

She wasn’t ashamed to admit to herself that she had a crush on the man and had for months. Her mother had warned her that it would be that way when she met her true mate. Jaclyn wasn’t sure how Dr. De Winter would fit into her future, but right now he was just a nice specimen of a man that any woman would love to lay claim to.

Even while sitting down, Dr. De Winter was tall, and had a muscular build. His black hair was cropped short and he had the sexiest brown eyes any man had a right to have. And that neatly trimmed mustache and goatee only accentuated a pair of sensuous lips.

Their gazes met briefly before she swiftly moved her eyes back to Dr. Dudley. “Nurse Tsang said you wanted to see me, sir,” she said.

“Yes, come in and join us, Dr. Campbell. We won’t bite.”

She nervously crossed the room and sat in one of the chairs that happened to be directly across from Dr. De Winter.

“Now, Dr. Campbell, the reason you were summoned here today was to first thank you for your bravery as well as your loyalty in reporting the drug abuse of one of your fellow interns. I know that wasn’t an easy decision to make, and I want to assure you that you did the right thing and you are appreciated for doing so. We were hoping we would be able to handle this matter rather quietly, but it seems that won’t be the case.”

Jaclyn nodded, trying to follow what Dr. Dudley was saying, but her close proximity to Dr. De Winter was distracting her. Was that heat she felt radiating off the man? She wouldn’t be surprised given how drawn she was to him. It was an attraction she’d constantly tried to downplay, thanks to the hospital’s no-fraternization policy regarding managers and those reporting to them.

“The Matthews family has threatened the hospital with a lawsuit.”

Jaclyn blinked. Lawsuit? That one word pulled her attention back to Dr. Dudley. “I don’t understand, sir.”

“And neither do we, Dr. Campbell. Thanks to you reporting to Dr. De Winter what you knew regarding Dr. Matthews and our own proof of certain events, we’d hoped the matter could be handled discreetly. However, we have been notified that the Matthews family has decided to sue the hospital.”

Jaclyn raised a brow. “On what grounds?”

“That we reacted in the extreme and that Dr. Matthews was wrongfully terminated.”

Jaclyn frowned. “How can they say that?” Although she’d asked the question, in a way she already knew the answer. The Matthewses just happened to be one of the richest families not only in Alexandria but in all of Virginia. It was a known fact they were Hopewell’s biggest benefactors. They even had a wing named after them. Their son Terrence had also been an intern. Jaclyn hated being the reason for Terrence’s termination, but she felt she’d done the right thing when she’d witnessed his attempting to steal drugs from the hospital pharmacy more than once.

“The hospital feels we had sufficient grounds to release him. And although we are faced with a lawsuit as well as the withdrawal of the Matthewses’ support to the hospital, we will deal with it,” Dr. Dudley said assuringly.

He then glanced over at Camille. “As public relations supervisor it will be your job, Ms. Hunter, to make sure the hospital maintains its stellar reputation through all of this. I can just imagine the type of image the Matthewses will try painting us with.”

Camille nodded, her expression sober. “I will.”

Dr. Dudley smiled at Camille, a smile that made Jaclyn’s flesh crawl. She wondered if she was the only one who’d caught on to it. She glanced over at Dr. De Winter and their gazes met, and not for the first time she thought she felt something emitting from the dark eyes holding hers.

Knowing she was just imagining things, she drew in a deep breath and shifted her attention back to Dr. Dudley as a question suddenly burned in her mind. “Now that there’s a lawsuit pending, does that mean I will be named as the person who was …”

“The whistle-blower?” Dr. Dudley finished for her. “You won’t have that to worry about. Your name will be held in the strictest confidence and protected by hospital policy. It has been proven that Dr. Matthews does indeed have a drug problem and it will be up to the Matthews family to prove otherwise.”