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A Forever Family For The Army Doc
Meredith Webber
Rescued by the single mumAs a nurse and single mum, Izzy Halliday has her hands full. The last thing she needs is the distraction of a man—even one as irresistible as new hospital director Nicholas Macpherson!Former army doc Mac came to Wetherby to heal his soul—but the sparks flying between him and stunning redhead Izzy aren’t bringing him much peace! Mac came in search of a quiet life, but time with Izzy and her daughter soon teaches him the unexpected joys of chaotic family life…The Halliday FamilyFour fostered siblings, all finding love!
Rescued by the single mom
As a nurse and single mom, Izzy Halliday has her hands full. The last thing she needs is the distraction of a man—even one as irresistible as new hospital director Nicholas Macpherson!
Former army doc Mac has come to Wetherby to heal his soul—but the sparks flying between him and stunning redhead Izzy aren’t bringing him much peace! Mac is in search of a quiet life, but time with Izzy and her daughter soon teaches him the unexpected joys of a chaotic family life...
‘What’s the problem?’
‘Well, at the risk of sounding embarrassingly ridiculous, I’d like you to understand it’s just dinner...not a date.’
Mac’s eyes twinkled—and her stomach churned.
‘I don’t date, you see,’ Izzy added, hoping to stop the churning with practicality. ‘Well, not at the moment.’
‘So dinner...not a date. That’s okay.’
The smile playing around his words only added to the stomach-churning!
She sighed again, shrugged, and finally said, ‘I can’t be late home.’
And if he thought she hadn’t noticed the satisfied expression on his face as she finally agreed he was wrong.
Used to getting his own way, was he?
A sure sign this was a man to be wary of.
Dear Reader (#ulink_1d40b16a-760f-5e61-960b-59c6543148c8),
In this book you’ll meet Izzy, a foster child brought up by an extraordinary couple who have opened their home and their hearts to waifs and strays, fostering many children over a long period of time.
The house is quiet now, the children all grown up, though Izzy remains living in The Old Nunnery with her foster parents and daughter Nikki. But because of the love they received from their foster parents, Hallie and Pop Halliday, the children are all close, and in the next three books you’ll meet more of them—Lila, Stephen and Marty—and follow their lives and their loves as they meet the people who will help them create their own families.
These stories—Lila’s in particular—have been in my head for a long time, and somehow this seemed the right time to tell them. I hope you enjoy meeting ‘the Halliday Mob’, as they were always known around town, and following their lives as they seek families of their very own.
Meredith Webber
A Forever Family for the Army Doc
Meredith Webber
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
MEREDITH WEBBER lives on the sunny Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia, but takes regular trips west into the Outback, fossicking for gold or opal. These breaks in the beautiful and sometimes cruel red earth country provide her with an escape from the writing desk and a chance for her mind to roam free—not to mention getting some much needed exercise. They also supply the kernels of so many stories it’s hard for her to stop writing!
Books by Meredith Webber
Mills & Boon Medical Romance
Wildfire Island Docs
The Man She Could Never Forget
A Sheikh to Capture Her Heart
Date with a Surgeon Prince
The Accidental Daddy
The Sheikh Doctor’s Bride
The One Man to Heal Her
Visit the Author Profile page
at millsandboon.co.uk (http://millsandboon.co.uk) for more titles.
When my sister and brother-in-law discovered they were unable to have children they began adopting babies and fostering older children, eventually adopting six of them. The family they blended together became very special—not only to each other but to our wider family—and brought fun and joy and laughter to all our lives. This particular sister has been my greatest support as a writer, and the first reader of all my books, so to Jenny, and all her family, this book and those that follow it are for you.
Praise for Meredith Webber (#ulink_4abd55d1-468e-5ef5-b68c-f89512ba2a6c)
‘The romance is emotional, passionate, and does not appear to be forced as everything happens gradually and naturally. The author’s fans and everyone who loves Sheikh romance are gonna love this one.’
—Harlequin Junkie on
The Sheikh Doctor’s Bride
Contents
Cover (#uce8bc438-3e5c-56d3-9c17-49d6f2d35738)
Back Cover Text (#u2e3bf40f-628f-5b59-b20e-e6915d32f82c)
Introduction (#u5434a3dd-4b0f-5919-b7db-c70f78abd44f)
Dear Reader (#ulink_254f9722-c7a7-5883-8c55-c99e3a19f87c)
Title Page (#u55800b22-9f47-5d70-afb2-cf72875cb8e1)
About the Author (#u8ee636db-f8a0-5cc2-ac16-e1a7cc7afd97)
Dedication (#u3227e6c6-9678-5192-bfe3-a65ac62c33da)
Praise (#ulink_fdc64a4b-25c8-5e53-a5cb-c660a847fdb0)
CHAPTER ONE (#ulink_29356a1e-59f8-53af-812e-d8a3abdffda4)
CHAPTER TWO (#ulink_09e108a3-05dc-5641-8dc9-dffdcd27fcaf)
CHAPTER THREE (#ulink_dbdb04ab-a7d6-54d8-97a6-958875528fcf)
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)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ONE (#ulink_e447c692-9cb5-5b39-8a84-787e2fbba844)
IZZY PACED HERSELF on the run along the coastal path, which, right now, bordered a small sheltered beach. Ahead, the path rose high over headland cliffs, and further on it wound through coastal scrub. A truly beautiful part of the world—the place she loved, the place she belonged.
She’d been working nights, so this early-morning run was in the nature of a reward. A little treat before returning to her real world—making sure Nikki was ready for the start of the new term, catching up with her parents to get the latest family news, walking the dogs across the lush paddocks around the house—relaxing!
Nikki!
Her daughter would be thirteen next month—thirteen going on thirty—sensible, loving, doing well at school. So why was there always a little knot of worry tucked beneath Izzy’s sternum where Nikki was concerned?
Izzy stopped—well, jogged on the spot—peering down onto the beach where an unidentifiable lump of something lay just beyond the lapping water.
Too big to be a body, she told the lurch in her stomach, but best she check.
Scrambling down over lumpy rocks from the path to the sandy beach, she caught a glimpse of movement up ahead.
Someone else heading towards the unknown object?
Or someone leaving the—
No! It was definitely too big for a body; besides, the movement had now resolved into a person, tall, dark-haired—lots of dark hair—definitely heading for the lump.
Izzy was the first to reach what was now apparent as a beached mammal, and knelt beside it, speaking quietly, touching it gently—a baby whale? Surely it must be because dolphins were a different shape, sleeker, their faces pointed, beaked...
Although the sun was not yet high in the sky, the animal’s skin was hot. Izzy ripped off her T-shirt, dunked it in the waves and spread it over the animal’s back.
‘Good idea,’ a deep voice said. ‘I’ve a towel in my pack, I’ll get that.’
He’d turned and was gone before Izzy could get a good look at him, nothing but an impression of a very unkempt man with a lot of facial hair and plenty more in a tangled mess all over his head.
‘Bring something like a bottle or a cup if you’ve got one, and clean water, too.’
She yelled the order after him then returned to studying the animal, trying to remember things she’d learned when she and Nikki had visited Sea World some years ago.
Sea mammals usually stranded themselves on their side.
Tick!
This one certainly had.
The stranger returned.
‘Porpoise,’ he said in an authoritative voice.
‘You think? I thought maybe baby whale.’
A shout of laughter made her look up, and up, to the tousled-haired man standing above her.
‘Whale calves are three times the size of this fellow and weigh a ton or more.’
‘Know-it-all,’ Izzy muttered to herself, but as the man had dunked his towel in the water and was efficiently covering the animal she could hardly keep arguing with him.
And why was she arguing?
Did it matter?
‘I think the first thing is to get it onto its belly.’
Bit late now to tell him she’d already thought of that.
‘But the fresh water?’
Ha, something she knew that he didn’t!
Deep inside she wondered at the petty thoughts flashing through her head but hopefully he wouldn’t have noticed the momentary pause before she answered.
‘Just pour a little over each eye, like where he’d have an eyebrow, so it will run down. I seem to remember you need to keep the eyes moist but—’
‘The salt gets encrusted on them if you use sea water,’ he finished for her, smiling, so white teeth flashed in the mess of dark hair.
And something gave a tiny tug in the pit of Izzy’s stomach...
No! Not that! No way!
