The Italian Doctor

The Italian Doctor
Jennifer Taylor

Not the marrying kind?Staff nurse Maggie Carr had hated Luke Fabrizzi on sight and was irritated that everyone else worshiped the handsome new Italian senior resident.Their conflict had stemmed from resentment when Maggie's family had tried to introduce them with marriage in mind. When it dawned on Luke that they could avert their families by staging a relationship, Maggie agreed. It was a truce that led them to the root of their strong feelings and yet another battle – a fight against their real desires and emotions.

“A woman in love should look touchable. Turn around and I’ll show you what I mean.”

Before Maggie Carr could utter a word, he had spun her around to face the mirror. She watched in shocked silence as Luke Fabrizzi eased his fingers through her hair to separate the strands.

“That’s better.” His voice grated and the rawness it held simply added to the tension that had been building.

“Better?” she repeated, her own voice sounding unnaturally husky.

“Uh-huh.” His hands fell to her shoulders and she trembled when she felt their warmth on her skin. “Better, but not quite perfect…. Not yet…. ”

He turned her around to face him and she knew he was going to kiss her. There was a moment, one tiny, fragile particle of time, when she almost resisted, and then his mouth found hers….

Dear Reader (#ua82c171b-eae2-5db4-ad70-6ef771cec928),

Take one fiery, independent woman. Add one devastatingly attractive and sexy Italian-American man. Then step back and watch what happens!

When Maggie Carr appeared in one of my earlier books, I just knew that she had to have her own story! The problem was finding the right man for her.

Along came Luke Fabrizzi, the gorgeous Italian-American surgeon whom Maggie had met during a visit to her grandmother’s house in Milan. Sparks had flown when Maggie and Luke had first met so she isn’t at all happy when he turns up again at Dalverston General Hospital, where she works.

Luke is going to be working there on the hospital exchange scheme. That means Maggie will have to put up with him for six whole months! Quite frankly, she isn’t looking forward to it, but she soon realizes that Luke isn’t at all as she had imagined him to be.

When Maggie and Luke discover they are both victims of their families’ loving attempts at matchmaking, they decide to join forces. They can have six blissful months free from family interference. After all, neither of them is the marrying kind….

Enjoy!

Jennifer Taylor

The Italian Doctor

Jennifer Taylor

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

CONTENTS

Cover (#u7d7390ff-50d2-50ad-8e88-0c1fba7c61aa)

Dear Reader (#u6ed5892d-4120-5b50-ac53-292ed48f53af)

Title Page (#u911015e4-2689-58e6-850a-5967f04ebb3c)

CHAPTER ONE (#ulink_1b9c540b-4270-5ceb-ad43-972257eb8391)

CHAPTER TWO (#ulink_0a4c4879-46d5-532c-a574-8a1f5a04e10c)

CHAPTER THREE (#ulink_4ec22de0-3c87-5316-975a-6abf18acd816)

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)

CHAPTER TWELVE (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER ONE (#ulink_eae31742-6d91-5690-8461-46b9af184788)

‘HE IS just so gorgeous! On a scale of one to ten he scores a definite eleven. It isn’t just his looks, though, is it? It’s the whole scrumptious package.’

Staff Nurse Maggie Carr bit her lip—hard! It was the only way to stop herself saying something derogatory. She had deliberately not joined in the conversation for that very reason and could only hope that her colleagues would change the subject soon.

Maggie sighed as she realised how unlikely that was. Ever since Luke Fabrizzi had set his well-shod, size-ten foot through the doors of Dalverston General Hospital the female members of staff had talked about little else. Frankly, she was sick and tired of hearing his name mentioned!

Picking up a magazine, she noisily flicked through its pages, trying to blot out what the other two were saying. Maybe she was biased, but even if she and Luke Fabrizzi hadn’t had that confrontation at her grandmother’s house in Italy earlier in the year she swore that she would have felt the same about the handsome surgical registrar.

She’d been dismayed when he’d arrived from Boston to work on the hospital’s exchange scheme. Frankly, she’d hoped never to see him again, only fate had intervened. Now they worked together on a daily basis and Maggie was finding it increasingly difficult to hide her feelings. Oh, he was an excellent doctor and she didn’t dispute that, but in her view Luke Fabrizzi was the most arrogant, the most egotistical, the most…

‘He’s just so honest. I think that’s his most attractive feature, although there are plenty to choose from, aren’t there?’ Angela Graham, the newest recruit to the surgical ward, sounded dreamy as she continued. ‘But to my mind the most important thing about a man is whether or not he tells you the truth. When Donna Parsons from Obs and Gynae started fishing for information about whether he had a girlfriend back in Boston, he was so open about why he didn’t have one.’

Angela sighed wistfully. ‘It’s such a shame that Luke’s so committed to his career that he feels he hasn’t time for a long-term relationship, isn’t it? But at least he admits it and doesn’t try to string a woman along, like so many men do.’

‘Oh, I agree!’ Doreen Baker, the middle-aged part-timer, added her own heartfelt endorsement. ‘If there’s one thing you need from a man it’s honesty. You don’t want someone who spins you a line all the time.’

There was only so much she could stand! Maggie tossed her magazine onto the table and stood up. She saw the other two look at her and shook her head in despair.

‘You two need your heads examined!’ she declared, her dark brown eyes flashing. ‘I can’t believe that you are so…so naïve that you’ve been taken in like this!’

Doreen grinned, not at all perturbed by the outburst. She and Maggie had worked together for some time and she was used to the younger woman’s sometimes fiery temperament. ‘Do I take it that you aren’t a member of Luke Fabrizzi’s flourishing fan club? Funny. I would have thought he’d be right up your street, Maggie. You two must have a lot in common with your family backgrounds.’

‘I have nothing whatsoever in common with that man!’

Maggie strode to the sink and emptied the dregs of her coffee down the drain. Renovations to the hospital’s canteen had begun the previous week so they were taking their morning break in the ward kitchen. Temporary canteen facilities had been set up in the basement, but it was such a trek from the surgical ward that they went there only at lunchtime. The work was being carried out on the floor above them and she raised her voice as the whine from some kind of high-powered machinery filtered down through the ceiling.