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Suddenly Single Sophie
Leonie Knight
Suddenly
Single Sophie
Leonie Knight
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Table of Contents
Cover (#u7d744fb9-70ef-596e-a1ee-fa8aa18a275f)
Title Page (#uf111d09a-8771-54a6-998d-5af020b158e6)
About the Author (#ud97d2dcb-74d9-5fb4-90fe-1f8c1ecebeca)
Dedication (#u7351e3b6-212f-540a-8518-702f7439dd34)
Prologue (#u26eb78d4-6333-5337-908b-44ac1d77c0e6)
Chapter One (#uc900e648-e9e3-5cb1-9aad-e8d8a4a26e09)
Chapter Two (#uc8778e61-65ac-5edf-98e8-a9beb27dcd88)
Chapter Three (#u052eff64-cae1-5ede-9740-22e66709e750)
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)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Author
Originally a city girl, LEONIE KNIGHT grew up in Perth, Western Australia. Several years ago, with her husband, two young sons and their Golden Retriever, she moved south to a small rural acreage located midway between dazzling white beaches and the magnificent jarrah forest of the Darling Scarp. Now her boys have grown and left home, and the demands of her day-job have lessened, she finds she has more time to devote to the things she loves—gardening, walking, cycling, reading, and of course writing. She has spent most of her adult life working in first a suburban and then a rural general medical practice—combining that with the inspiration she gets from her real-life hero, it is only natural that the stories she writes are Medical
Romances.
This is Leonie Knight’s debut book!
Dear Reader
Inspiration for the novels I write sometimes emerges from the unlikeliest of places. The idea for the story of Sophie and Will’s bumpy journey along the road to finding love originated from a TV documentary about a rundown, inner-city suburb destined for destruction. It was saved by a courageous and spirited group of people, determined to make better lives for themselves.
To outsiders, the residents of my fictional suburb of Prevely Springs have little hope of ever achieving that elusive better life. Will Brent—an overworked, brooding but devoted GP—tries his best to help, but it takes the addition of a bubbly socialite from the other side of the country, with a mission to make a difference, Dr Sophie Carmichael, to turn his hopes and dreams into reality and release him from his tortured past.
I wanted to show a community working together to overcome serious and sensitive problems as a backdrop to the unlikely romance between my hero and heroine, and their attempt to overcome their own inner demons. I believe the more difficult the journey, the greater the satisfaction at arriving at the final destination.
I hope you enjoy reading my story about Sophie, Will and the people of Prevely Springs as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Leonie
To my unfailingly supportive husband, Colin,
and my amazing writing friends, Anna, Teena,
Lorraine, Susy and Claire.
Thank you for your faith in me.
PROLOGUE
‘YOU’RE better off without him.’
Sophie Carmichael’s body-racking sobs began to subside as her best friend Anna put her arm around her shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Sophie reached for a handful of tissues and noisily blew her nose. Venting her distress in a tearful outburst definitely helped ease the rawness she felt. She took a deep breath and managed a wilted smile.
‘I still can’t understand how he could be so cold … and two-faced,’ Sophie said. ‘He didn’t even have the courage to tell me to my face.’
‘It could have been worse. He might have broken up with you with a text message. Vanessa’s boyfriend—’
‘I know, I heard. But they’d only been together for two minutes, not nearly two years.’ Sophie wiped away the last of her tears and felt her fighting spirit begin to return. It made sense now why Jeremy had stopped pleading with her to move in with him. He apparently wanted a live-in lover, not a wife. And he’d found one—who was now pregnant with his child. She’d wondered if the two of them had planned the whole scenario.
Sophie clenched her teeth, not wanting to believe her ex was capable of such blatant and calculated cheating. She wasn’t going to let a two-timing, deceitful rat like her ex-fiancé ruin her life, though.
‘Didn’t Jeremy make it quite clear he didn’t want kids until he’d finished his training and set up in private practice?’
‘That’s right. And muggins me went along with it.’ Sophie slumped back in her seat and sighed. She tried to stand back from her churning emotions and look at the situation objectively. ‘You’re right, you know. I’m glad I found out about Jeremy’s unfaithfulness before we actually tied the knot. I am better off without him.’
The women sat in silent contemplation for a minute or two before Anna finally spoke.
‘What are you going to do now?’
Sophie had asked herself that same question a hundred times over the past weeks since she’d found out about Jeremy’s infidelity by overhearing a conversation at the hospital where he worked. She had naively believed it was purely unfounded gossip. When she’d confronted him, though, he’d not wasted words in telling her the brutal truth. It seemed everyone had known before she had. She’d never felt so humiliated in her life and was grateful the news hadn’t spread to the staff of her father’s general practice where she worked.
At least she’d been able to choose the time and place to tell her parents—but it hadn’t made it any easier. Her father’s attitude had left her firstly stunned and then outraged. Ross Carmichael still thought the sun shone from Jeremy’s nostrils and seemed to believe they’d get back together again. She couldn’t believe he could be so insensitive to her feelings. Her mother had hardly disguised her disappointment. She’d often reminded Sophie of her relentlessly ticking biological clock and didn’t like the idea of the mob of grandchildren she so dearly wanted being put on hold. Of course Sophie still wanted a family but now, at thirty-one, unceremoniously dumped and unexpectedly single, she was in no hurry.
‘I really don’t know. I haven’t had a chance to think about it but one thing I do know for sure.’
‘And what’s that?’ Anna was stroking Sophie’s cat, which had jumped up on her lap, probably sensing the calmer of the two women was Anna.
‘I’m going to steer clear of men for a while.’
Anna smiled. ‘They’re not all rotten, you know.’
‘I didn’t say they were, but—’
‘You need a break. I can understand that. It’s early days.’
Max, Sophie’s Burmese bundle of masculine feline charm, gracefully stretched, began purring loudly and rubbed his chin on Anna’s thigh, as if defending the male of the species.
‘Maybe you need a holiday,’ Anna continued.
‘A permanent holiday.’ Sophie suddenly realised what she really needed was a working holiday; a complete break from her predictable life. She’d always had her father, or Jeremy, or the expectations of the high-flying social set she moved in to make the big life decisions for her. Or at least nudge her in a certain direction. It hadn’t bothered her in the past, but now … She felt manipulated, controlled and wanted a taste of freedom. If she made mistakes, at least they would be her own.
‘I might look at leaving Sydney for a while, maybe head north.’ She paused and felt her heart pumping faster. It was a lightbulb moment and made a great deal of sense. She would only stagnate in her father’s practice and was tired of listening to the woes of the affluent, worried well-to-do. She remembered when, as an enthusiastic new graduate, she’d wanted her work to make a real difference to her patients’ lives. There was little chance of that happening if she stayed where she was. Her mind started to work in overdrive.
‘Or even west. I’ve heard there’s a shortage of GPs over in Perth.’
Anna looked only mildly surprised, as if she’d been expecting it.
‘Well, good for you, Dr Sophie.’ She lifted Max from her lap and dumped the protesting cat on the floor then added, ‘How about we open that bottle of wine I brought?’
‘Great idea. And I’ll see if I can rustle up some comfort food,’ Sophie said with a grin. She felt renewed, ready to take on whatever challenges life presented.
While Anna uncorked the Chardonnay, Sophie loaded generous serves of chocolate cheesecake on plates.
When they sat down again, Anna raised her glass.
‘To your new life,’ she said as they clinked glasses.
‘Without the complication of men,’ Sophie added.
CHAPTER ONE
‘SHE’S here. Come and have a look,’ Caitlyn called from the tea room.
Dr William Brent didn’t share his young receptionist’s excitement at what he presumed was the arrival of the new doctor. It was barely twenty minutes since the last patient had left. Saturday morning clinics were supposed to finish at midday and today he’d particularly wanted to run to schedule. But it was already after two o’clock, the time he’d planned to meet Dr Sophie Carmichael.
She was late. Not an ideal start.
He was a busy man and didn’t have spare time to waste on waiting. He had a house call after the interview and a meeting with a builder scheduled for mid-afternoon.
He dismissed his annoyance in the name of an urgent need for an assistant and hoped Caitlyn was right.
Sophie Carmichael’s phone call, just over a month ago, had come at the right time and he’d invested a considerable amount of energy in getting the well-qualified Sydney doctor to relocate, even if it turned out to be for only a couple of months.
‘Quick, you’ve got to see this, Dr Brent.’ Caitlyn stood in the doorway to his office with a broad grin on her face and Will couldn’t help but feel a sense of foreboding.
Why was Caitlyn so excited and, worse, why was she grinning?
He followed her down the short corridor to the tea room and peered through the small, grubby window.
‘Oh, my God!’ The words escaped before Will had time to check them and now he understood why his young receptionist was so insistent he have an advanced viewing.
Will glanced at Caitlyn, who was still grinning, but couldn’t stop his eyes returning to the new arrival. His heart dropped. She was driving a nippy little sports car. He didn’t usually trust first impressions but had the gut feeling this stern-faced young woman, whom he could see clearly in the open-topped vehicle, would be as at home in his practice as caviar at a sausage sizzle.
But he was truly desperate.
Working twelve-hour days, being on call weekends and after hours, as well as trying to find time to get his plans for the community centre off the ground was wearing him down to near breaking point. There just weren’t enough hours in the day.
He had to keep an open mind.
‘If that’s the new doc, I hope she’s better at fixing sick people than she is at parking her car,’ Caitlyn said.
Will squinted through the dirty glass, watching the wine-red cabriolet being manoeuvred into a space that was way too small.
‘Ouch.’ He felt the scrape of metal on metal as the front-end passenger side didn’t quite clear the carport post. If she was the new doctor, and Will had no reason to think otherwise, it was definitely not a good start to their working relationship.
But the show wasn’t over.
The woman seemed to be having problems unfolding the roof to secure the vehicle. She huddled over the dash and first the windscreen wipers activated then the hazard lights flashed before the roof finally jerked into place. She abandoned the car and squeezed her petite frame into the gap between her fancy sports car and Will’s elderly, slightly battered station wagon. She was in shadow so Will could no longer see her face, but her body language clearly conveyed frustration and anger. He was fascinated. Mesmerised, even.
‘Look what she’s wearing.’ Caitlyn was obviously enjoying the spectacle but her tip-off was unnecessary. How could anyone not notice the woman’s outfit? It was so out of place for a meeting, no matter how informal, with her new employer. She wouldn’t last five minutes in this neighbourhood decked out in low-slung, skin-tight black jeans with lolly-pink high-heeled sandals and a top that was body-hugging, and exposing more skin than …
‘Whoops. She’s seen us.’ The girl’s attempt to duck away from the window wasn’t quick enough, but at least she’d tried to look discreet. Will suddenly realised his jaw was gaping and he snapped his mouth shut the moment the woman’s blazing eyes met his. But he couldn’t take his eyes off her. He could see her more clearly now and there was something about the determined thrust of her jaw and the resolute expression on her fine-featured face that captivated him.
It didn’t take her long to compose herself, though. She smiled and waved as she hoisted a large bag over her shoulder and headed towards the back staff entrance.
‘I’ll put the kettle on, then?’ At least Caitlyn was thinking sensibly. He needed a coffee.
‘Good idea. I’ll go and meet her.’
He took a couple of deep breaths, ran his fingers through his too-long hair and smiled as he opened the back door.
Sophie Carmichael had finally arrived at the Prevely Springs Medical Clinic. She was tired, frustrated and wondering if she’d made a huge mistake. Not sleeping the previous night, coupled with an inconvenient run of bad luck, hadn’t helped. She felt like getting on the first flight back to Sydney.
The move to Western Australia was supposed to be about taking control of her life but obstacles had appeared at every turn. She should have arrived in Perth in plenty of time to make it to the hotel she’d booked for the night. She’d planned to at least get a few hours’ sleep and then shower and change before her interview.
But the best-laid plans …
