Best Friend to Perfect Bride

Best Friend to Perfect Bride
Jennifer Taylor

A bride worth waiting for!Dr James MacIntyre had always hoped that Bella English would one day be more than just his ‘best friend’. But on Bella’s wedding day, Mac swore that his feelings would remain hidden for ever.Three years later and Mac is back at Dalverston – working in paediatrics alongside a newly divorced Bella! And it’s clear that those long-buried feelings are still as heartachingly, pulse-racingly powerful as before…Surely turning back the clock would be a bad idea…except that it feels so very, very right!

Dear Reader (#ulink_49300f21-31d5-5ee1-a0cf-c884b98b4f8d),

Should best friends fall in love? That is the question that both Bella and Mac ask themselves after they meet again following Bella’s divorce. Their relationship was so clear in the past: they were friends and nothing more than that. However, all of a sudden they find their feelings for one another changing.

It comes as a huge shock to Mac. After all, he’s convinced that Bella is to blame for the demise of her marriage. But the more time they spend together, the harder he finds it to believe that. As for Bella—well, she has never been good at relationships. She has always had great difficulty showing her feelings, so to suddenly discover just how hard it is to remain emotionally detached when Mac is around scares her. After all, she doesn’t have a good track record when it comes to relationships, does she? Even if it was her ex-husband’s fault that their marriage failed. Is it realistic to hope that she and Mac can switch from being friends to lovers?

Helping Bella and Mac work through their problems was a real pleasure. I grew extremely fond of them during the course of writing this book. They deserve to find happiness after everything they’ve been through, and I hope you will agree that they truly earn their happy ending.

Best wishes to you all

Jennifer

JENNIFER TAYLOR has been writing Mills & Boon® novels for some time, but discovered Medical Romance™ books relatively recently. She was so captivated by these heart-warming stories that she immediately set out to write them herself! Having worked in scientific research, Jennifer enjoys writing each book, as well as the chance to create a cast of wonderful new characters. Jennifer’s hobbies include reading and travelling. She lives in northwest England. Visit Jennifer’s blog at jennifertaylorauthor.wordpress.com (http://jennifertaylorauthor.wordpress.com)

Best Friend to Perfect Bride

Jennifer Taylor

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

Dedication (#ulink_10d06786-beb6-5229-bab5-e49595361342)

For Charlotte, who told me about the boat Gallina, and for James, who owns her.

Many thanks for providing me with the perfect home for my hero.

Table of Contents

Cover (#uf3b88274-0bb8-5576-ad1b-476e1146de63)

Dear Reader (#u44e66974-8e5a-5ec2-ac28-8de714bf22c4)

About the Author (#u7b2e56ab-4e85-5d51-b980-4094d1f99422)

Title Page (#ud3a0cfa8-5277-5603-b5f7-88f33957a77c)

Dedication (#udadd88b3-e2b6-569f-8a2b-308c9b088e10)

CHAPTER ONE (#uc3426dd0-727d-5a91-9ccf-5b7235650c22)

CHAPTER TWO (#ud59d35c9-b3ea-5873-b7b4-5a61534e76ab)

CHAPTER THREE (#u9d9df353-8c23-531c-804f-f877155b8000)

CHAPTER FOUR (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FIVE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER SIX (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER ELEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)

EPILOGUE (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER ONE (#ulink_04bd836e-fe19-5cec-8db0-1e91397a8e2f)

SHE HADN’T CHANGED. Tall and slender, her red-gold hair coiled into an elegant knot at the nape of her neck, Bella English looked as beautiful today as she had done the last time he had seen her. On her wedding day.

‘Mac! I heard you were back. Good to see you, mate. How are you?’

‘Great, thanks, Lou.’

James MacIntyre—Mac to all who knew him—turned and grinned at the elderly porter. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Bella move away from the desk but he kept his attention firmly focused on the other man. After what his old friend Tim had told him, he wasn’t all that eager to speak to her.

‘You’re looking well, I must say, Lou. Obviously, moving to the new paediatric A&E unit has done you the power of good. You look a good ten years younger than the last time I saw you!’

‘I wish!’ Lou’s grizzled face broke into a wry smile. ‘It’d take major surgery to turn me into Dalverston’s very own version of George Clooney.’ He glanced over Mac’s shoulder and grimaced. ‘Anyway, I’d better get going. Catch you later.’

‘Yep.’

Mac didn’t need to check to see what had caused Lou to beat a hasty retreat. He could smell her perfume, that subtle fragrance of freesias that Bella always wore. She had told him once that it was made especially for her and that had fitted perfectly with everything he knew about her. Bella was the sort of woman who would have her very own perfume. Nothing about her was ordinary or commonplace.

Mac turned slowly around, taking stock of all the details he had missed before. Although Bella had always been slender, she was verging on thin now, he realised. And even though her complexion was as creamy as ever, there were dark circles under her green eyes that hinted at far too many sleepless nights. Was it guilt that had kept her awake? he wondered a shade bitterly. A noisy conscience clamouring to be heard, even if it was too late in the day? After all, even Bella must feel some degree of remorse about ending her marriage to Tim.

‘Hello, Mac. I heard you were back. How are you?’

The greeting was almost identical to Lou’s, but Mac had to admit that it made him want to respond very differently. He experienced an uncharacteristic urge to take her by the shoulders and shake her, demand to know why she had done such a cruel thing. She had ruined Tim’s life—didn’t she care? Didn’t she care either that she had broken all those promises she had made three years ago to love, honour and cherish the man she had married? He had sat through the ceremony, listened to her cool clear voice swearing a lifetime’s devotion, and had believed every word. If he was honest, he felt almost as let down as poor Tim must do.

The thought shocked him so that it was a moment before he answered. He and Bella had never been anything more than friends—he had made sure of that. So why should he feel so disillusioned? He blanked out the thought, knowing it was foolish to dwell on it. If he and Bella were to work together for the next few months, he couldn’t allow recent events to stand in the way.

‘Fine, thanks. Looking forward to working in the new unit.’ He glanced around and nodded. ‘It looks great, I must say. Obviously, no expense has been spared.’

‘No. Everything is state of the art. We’ve been open for almost a month now and I still have to pinch myself when I come into work. I can’t believe that we have such marvellous facilities to hand.’

She gave a husky laugh and Mac tensed when he felt the tiny hairs all over his body spring to attention. He had forgotten about her laugh, forgotten how soft it was, how sexy. It had been her laugh that he had noticed first, in fact. He had been standing in the lunch queue in the university’s refectory when he had heard a woman laugh and he had turned to see who it was …