Hot-Shot Doc, Christmas Bride

Hot-Shot Doc, Christmas Bride
Joanna Neil

Hot-Shot Doc, Christmas Bride

Joanna Neil

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

Table of Contents

Cover page (#udf729bc5-7347-500e-b219-734bd29324f0)

Title Page (#ud1a4a420-a214-5041-bac3-3df520d6e7ef)

About The Author (#u1eff34cb-8f7c-5647-a6f0-62f61574d475)

Chapter One (#ub26272ca-2f51-5182-8d1b-01535dcdc0ae)

Chapter Two (#u8dbdcdcc-2709-57a2-ad80-a33318cefd19)

Chapter Three (#u0391cebb-5136-557e-8629-a2ab5721a111)

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)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

When Joanna Neil discovered Mills & Boon®, her lifelong addiction to reading crystallised into an exciting new career writing Medical

Romance. Her characters are probably the outcome of her varied lifestyle, which includes working as a clerk, typist, nurse and infant teacher. She enjoys dressmaking and cooking at her Leicestershire home. Her family includes a husband, son and daughter, an exuberant yellow Labrador and two slightly crazed cockatiels. She currently works with a team of tutors at her local education centre, to provide creative writing workshops for people interested in exploring their own writing ambitions.

Chapter One

‘THANKS for the lift, Tom. You’re an absolute lifesaver.’ Alison gave her neighbour a friendly wave and watched him drive away before hotfooting it into the hospital’s A&E department.

What a way to start the day. She’d had nothing but trouble with the car for the last week, and then today, when she’d tried to start the engine, it had simply spluttered and died. It had been plain from that point that she was going to be late for her shift. Only by a few minutes, but of all the days to break her perfect record it had to be this one—when the new boss was due to put in an appearance.

No one seemed to know very much about him—except that he’d been brought in at the last minute after one of the consultants had been taken ill—and from what she had heard he was only going to be here for two days a week. What kind of job was that? And what did he do for the rest of the time? The only other thing she knew about him was that he was a friend of one of the managers.

The doors of the unit swished open and she hurried along the corridor, bypassing Reception and heading towards the doctors’ restroom. If she could just slip off her jacket and sling her stethoscope around her neck before she made an appearance in the unit, perhaps he would be none the wiser.

‘Whoa…steady on there. Where’s the fire?’

She skidded to a halt and narrowly missed running headlong into the man who suddenly appeared in her path. As it was, her palms grappled with his chest as she sought to stop the collision, and at the same time a pair of large male hands reached out as though to steady her, circling her upper arms in a light but firm grip. The holdall that she carried over her shoulder swung forward with the momentum, and the man let out a soft ‘oomph’ as the weight of it slammed into his midriff.

‘Oh, I’m so sorry,’ she managed, sucking air into her lungs. Her fingers scrambled against fine-quality worsted material, and she realised that he was wearing a suit—dark grey and beautifully tailored. That was not a good sign, given that most of the male doctors of her acquaintance went around in rolled up shirtsleeves and trousers.

‘I didn’t see you,’ she said, lifting her gaze. ‘You seemed to come out of nowhere.’ The faint note of accusation hung on the air as she tried to work out whether he had emerged from the side corridor or the supplies cupboard. What on earth would this man be doing in either place? Only staff had access to these areas.

Then she looked at him properly for the first time, and his features came into sharp focus—all clean, angular lines, and crisp black hair, with grey eyes that appeared to look deep down into her soul. The breath seemed to leave her all over again. He was altogether striking. The kind of man who, once seen, was never forgotten.

‘Ah…’ he murmured. ‘That would be me in my ghostly guise—stalking the corridors of the hospital in wait for the unwary. It seems I struck lucky this time.’

She laughed. ‘Maybe. Though from the looks of you, you’re anything but ethereal. Anyway, coming into contact with all that hard muscle and bone was a dead giveaway.’ She studied him once again, her long, honey-blonde hair swirling about her shoulders with the upward tilt of her head. ‘It’s all right for you to let go of me now,’ she hastily reassured him. ‘I’m not running from a fire, but I am anxious to go on duty before anyone realises that I should have been here five minutes ago.’ She frowned. ‘I do hope you’re not my new boss in A&E. I really wanted to show him my best side.’

He gave a wry smile, looking her over, his gaze taking in her softly curving figure outlined by the cashmere top and gently flowing skirt that she was wearing. ‘I think you may have already done that,’ he murmured, a soft gleam in his eyes causing warm colour to rush into her cheeks.

Her mouth dropped open a fraction. Had she heard that right? She decided to ignore the remark. Thinking about it would have made her far too hot and bothered.

‘Oh, dear. That has to mean that you’re the new man,’ she ventured after a moment or two, her brow knotting. ‘What are you doing out here in the corridor? Shouldn’t you be in A&E, tending to the sick and injured?’

Slowly he released her, letting his hands fall to his sides. ‘I dare say I could ask the same of you,’ he countered. ‘But in the interests of good working relationships I think we’ll let that go for the moment. I’m sure you must have good reason for flying in here like a bullet from a gun.’

He looked her over, as though he was making sure she was still all in one piece.

‘As for myself,’ he added, ‘yes, I’m the new locum. And as to what I’m doing here in the corridor…I thought it would be a good idea to acquaint myself with the lie of the land and get to know the people that I’ll be working with. I must say I wasn’t expecting it to happen quite this way, but here in A&E we have to be ready for any eventuality, don’t we?’

‘I suppose we do.’ A wave of heat flowed along her cheeks. Had she really just asked her new boss what he was doing outside A&E? ‘So, you’ll be working here with us while Dr Meadows recovers from his heart attack?’

‘That’s right. I’m Josh Bentley. And you are…?’

‘Alison Randall, senior house officer.’ She winced, absorbing the fact that her worst fears had come to fruition. It seemed there was no end to what could go wrong today. How was she going to extract herself from this awkward situation? ‘We were all shocked when Steven was taken ill,’ she said. ‘He’s a lovely man…exceptional…irreplaceable…no one could possibly match up to him. He worked so hard, and he was so good with the patients.’

‘I can see that I have a lot to live up to,’ Josh said in a faintly whimsical tone. ‘I promise you I’ll do my best to fill his shoes.’

She groaned inwardly. Having her foot in her mouth was getting to be a habit. ‘I didn’t mean to imply that you wouldn’t be able to do that.’ She straightened her shoulders. ‘And about my being late—you have to understand I’m not usually tardy. My car wouldn’t start this morning. I had to beg a lift off my neighbour.’

He nodded, as though he had no problem with that, and then he turned his gaze to her holdall. ‘What’s all this, then? Are you planning on going away somewhere after work? Judging from the weight of it, you’ve packed for the long-term.’

She smiled as she shook her head. ‘No, nothing like that. I brought in some goodies for the cheque presentation ceremony later…just a few nibbles for people to snack on. I wasn’t sure whether anybody would have thought to make an occasion of it, and it occurred to me that we should do something to make it special. I expect you’ll be making a short speech, won’t you?’

He frowned. ‘I’m afraid you’ve lost me there. I’ve no idea what you’re talking about.’

‘Oh, dear.’ She floundered for a moment. ‘I was sure Management would have filled you in. They usually arrange for the press to be on hand—all in aid of good relations with the public and so on.’ She ran a hand through her silky hair in a distracted fashion, conscious of time running away with her. ‘I ought to drop off this holdall in the doctors’ restroom and let it be known that I’m on duty.’

He nodded, and walked with her along the corridor. ‘Perhaps you should tell me about this presentation? There’s nothing in the diary, and my secretary doesn’t come in until this afternoon. What’s it all about?’

‘Fund-raising. A group of people do their best to collect funds for the hospital—in particular the A&E unit. Of course most of the money they raise goes towards buying equipment for the hospital. Every year in December they drop by to present us with a cheque. Partly so that we can start arranging Christmas festivities for the patients. They bring presents for the children who will be staying in hospital over Christmas, either on the paediatric wards or in A&E, or on the observation ward next to A&E. Of course we don’t give them out until Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.’