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The Doctor's Wife For Keeps
Alison Roberts
Surgeon Luke Anderson let her go once…But this time around he’ll get down on one knee!Seeing paediatrician Kate Saunders again, Luke can feel the chemistry that still sizzles between them. But, bruised from his failed marriage, he doesn’t believe in happy-ever-afters any more. Until he’s reminded of the marriage pact they made in college…and he realises that Kate might be the one woman worth waiting for!
Surgeon Luke Anderson let her go once...
But this time around he’ll get down on one knee!
Seeing pediatrician Kate Saunders again, Luke can feel the chemistry that still sizzles between them. But bruised from his failed marriage, he doesn’t believe in happy-ever-afters anymore. Until he’s reminded of the marriage pact they made in college...and realizes Kate may be the one woman who was worth waiting for!
ALISON ROBERTS is a New Zealander, currently lucky enough to be living in the south of France. She is also lucky enough to write for the Mills & Boon Medical Romance line. A primary school teacher in a former life, she is now a qualified paramedic. She loves to travel and dance, drink champagne, and spend time with her daughter and her friends.
Also by Lauri Robinson
The Fling That Changed Everything
The Forbidden Prince
Their First Family Christmas
A Life-Saving Reunion
The Surrogate’s Unexpected Miracle
Sleigh Ride with the Single Dad
Rescued Hearts miniseries
The Doctor’s Wife for Keeps
Twin Surprise for the Italian Doc
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk).
The Doctor’s Wife for Keeps
Alison Roberts
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ISBN: 978-1-474-07487-2
THE DOCTOR’S WIFE FOR KEEPS
© 2018 Alison Roberts
Published in Great Britain 2018
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.
® and ™ are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
For Sarah, Luke and Brendan,
with lots of love and very fond memories
of our adventures in the Czech Republic. xx
Contents
Cover (#u2aa7dc04-2bdb-5bc2-8166-eda0110a1eba)
Back Cover Text (#u6d7cb314-2b3b-51c6-88af-fed410d78bbe)
About the Author (#u879376ed-6a80-5d40-b43d-ec3953add88b)
Booklist (#u6d5111aa-064c-56c6-b41c-afd597fc47ee)
Title Page (#ub61ee4a4-4135-5c8e-8cb0-61569c174480)
Copyright (#u98565240-4de4-5e66-af2d-b66587762a57)
Dedication (#u32af401f-ab05-57e2-b51f-331723373bbd)
PROLOGUE (#uf33a4e2e-af04-5d65-b3eb-6a8eb3164979)
CHAPTER ONE (#uf569e814-e806-5991-8013-d7b400ff9121)
CHAPTER TWO (#ucb5b6882-43c4-57f8-a5d5-64edf5e2e6a5)
CHAPTER THREE (#litres_trial_promo)
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)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
PROLOGUE (#ua7fcba53-dff0-5697-b62c-02e5c137cd55)
‘I THINK WE’RE LOST.’
Kate Saunders slowed the SUV she was driving to take another hairpin bend on this alpine road that seemed to be going on for ever and getting narrower as the tall forest pressed in on both sides. She glanced sideways at her companion—her best friend and flatmate, Georgia.
‘Whose bright idea was it to enter this international medical rescue competition? Oh, yeah...yours...’
‘It’s an adventure.’ Georgia was grinning. ‘Admit it—you’re loving it already.’
Kate snorted, tipping her head a little to ease the crick in her neck. ‘Road trips always sound more fun than they actually are. It’s a hell of a long way from Scotland to the back of beyond in the Czech Republic. I’ve never even heard of the town we’re trying to find.’
‘Rakovi. It’s a ski resort. And this is the biggest competition of its kind in the world. I’ve been hearing about it for years—ever since I became a paramedic.’
‘Well, I’ve never heard of it.’
‘That’s because you’re a doctor and your lot aren’t as adventurous.’
‘Hmm...’ There was some truth in that. Kate had been focused on her career from the moment she’d been accepted for medical school at the age of twenty two. Georgia had helped her celebrate her thirty-fifth birthday a few months ago and her idea of a gift had been to enter her in this competition as a doctor/paramedic team. She had already booked accommodation in London and Germany to break up the travel and, probably thanks to the bottle of excellent champagne they were sharing, it had seemed like a brilliant idea at the time.
Now she wasn’t so sure.
‘Have we even got out of Poland yet?’
‘Ages ago. It’s not far now.’
‘We don’t want to be late for registration.’
‘Don’t stress. They’ve got a couple of hundred teams from about twenty different countries to process. If we’re a bit late it’ll just mean we don’t have to queue for so long.’
Kate slowed again to cross a narrow bridge over a tumbling mountain stream. ‘I can’t believe we’re competing in such a huge field.’
‘It’s broken up into categories, remember. There’ll be paramedic teams with their ambulances from all over Europe. I can’t wait till the end where everybody drives in convoy around all the local villages with their lights and sirens on. I’ve heard it’s a memorable experience. Then there are the doctors and medical student teams and other combinations. I just hope there’s enough like us to give us our own category, otherwise we’ll be competing against teams that have up to four members.’
‘I just hope I don’t make an idiot of myself. I’m a paediatrician, Georgie. I work in a nice, safe hospital with any amount of resources and backup. You would have been better to pick an emergency specialist.’
‘You do plenty of emergency work. And you’ve lived with me long enough to qualify as an honorary paramedic. You’ve even been out on the road with me a few times. You’ll be brilliant and who cares if we don’t win? We’re here to have fun, remember? To have an adventure and meet lots of new people and...’ Georgia’s grin was decidedly mischievous now. ‘We’re both single and gorgeous. Have you thought about how many men there are going to be at this thing?’
‘Georgie...’ Kate shook her head. ‘You never give up, do you? You’ve only just got over the last disaster and you’re ready to do it again?’
‘Oh, I have no intention of falling for someone. What’s that saying? The best way to get over a man is to get under another one?’
Kate had to laugh. And she had to admire Georgia’s resilience. At least she kept trying and Kate hadn’t even done that for quite some time. It was so disheartening when a relationship failed to live up to expectations and the goalposts of true love and that dream family and children of her own got shifted a little further away yet again.
‘Casual sex has never appealed to me.’
‘Yeah...you’re so old school, Kate. An ultimate romantic. You really believe that you’re going to see ‘the one’ across a crowded room and it’ll be love at first sight and a happy-ever-after with a few bluebirds fluttering over the carpet of rose petals and...’
‘Oh, stop it,’ Kate growled. Her friend’s tone was teasing but, disturbingly, there was an element of truth in the scene. Not the bluebirds, of course. Or the rose petals.
But, yeah...she did believe that ‘the one’ was out there somewhere and that happy-ever-afters were quite possible for the lucky few. And who knew? It wasn’t beyond the realms of possibility that he might be amongst this huge, random gathering of people with a common interest.
A flicker of excitement that had nothing to do with the adventure of competing lifted her spirits noticeably. And with that flicker came a rush of affection for her friend. Poor Georgia had been through the mill when it came to men so it was no wonder she was a little on the bitter side at the moment.
‘Just be careful, hon. Okay?’
‘Of course.’
Kate had seen that innocent look before. It meant that she was hiding something.
‘You have given up on that hare-brained scheme you came up with after that bastard, Rick, walked out, haven’t you?’
‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’
‘Oh, yes, you do. The one where you gave up on men completely and were going to have a baby all by yourself?’ As much as Kate adored children, she couldn’t imagine choosing to have a family on her own. The whole package was the goal and there was a proper order to do it in. You fell in love, got married and then had a baby. Georgia was only a year older than she was. They still had time...didn’t they?
‘Well, obviously I haven’t given up on men completely. And I’m over Rick. He’s ancient history—like all the others. Ooh, look...a signpost. We’re only fifteen kilometres away.’
That flicker of excitement ignited into a small but steady flame. Kate hadn’t given up on men completely either and maybe fate, in the form of Georgia’s determination, had pushed her in the direction of this competition for a reason.
‘Halleluiah.’ Kate grinned at her friend. ‘The end is in sight.’
‘Nah...the beginning is in sight.’ Georgia stretched her arms above her head and gave a whoop. ‘Bring it on.’
CHAPTER ONE (#ua7fcba53-dff0-5697-b62c-02e5c137cd55)
NO WAY...
It couldn’t be...
‘Come on, Kate. You can get your T-shirt later. We need to register and then find our room.’
A firm nudge made Kate turn her head and start moving again. ‘Sorry... I thought I saw someone I knew.’
‘Who?’
‘Luke. Luke Anderson. An old friend. We went through med school together.’
‘Hmm...’ Georgia was scanning the queues in front of a line of desks. ‘Can you see what’s on that sign?’
‘The desks are divided into alphabetic sections according to the country the team is representing. “S” is over there.’ This time it was Kate leading the way. She approved of such disciplined organisation and it boded well for a smoothly run competition. The people behind the desks were looking weary. How many hundreds of people had they processed already? There was still a queue in front of the section that included ‘S’.
Kate looked around at the sea of people, many of whom were in the uniforms of their ambulance organisation, with bright orange or red overalls and jackets. It was noisy and she could hear languages she couldn’t identify. A lot of people seemed to know each other very well and enthusiastic greetings added to the aura of controlled chaos. At least she had a few minutes to take it all in as they waited their turn.
