www.millsandboon.co.uk

Cover

Title Page

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Copyright

CHAPTER ONE

ALLIE heard a soft footfall behind her. There you are,’ she said. ‘I thought you were never coming. Anna, we’re going to have to get this rota sorted out—I need the weekend of the—ah!’

Her hands flew up and grasped the fingers covering her eyes—firm, masculine fingers, strong and unyielding and attached to someone with a sexy chuckle and a wicked sense of humour.

‘Guess who?’ a voice said, and she stopped struggling instantly, all her senses leaping to attention. The voice sounded strangely familiar. It couldn’t be—could it?

‘Mark?’ she said incredulously, and the hands fell away, releasing her.

‘Damn. You guessed.’

She leapt up and spun round, and laughter bubbled up inside her. ‘It is you!’ she exclaimed, and found herself wrapped in a huge hug. She indulged herself for a moment, then pushed away, looking up at him with laughing eyes, scanning his face in delight. ‘You sneaky rat! And how did you know where I was—did my mother tell you?’

The answering smile was swift and wide, lighting his gorgeous grey eyes and crinkling them at the corners. He looked good enough to eat, but then he always had. ‘I’m afraid so,’ he confessed.

‘So, what are you doing here?’ she asked in amazement.

‘I’ve come to say happy birthday,’ he said with a grin.

‘What—all the way from London?’

He chuckled. ‘No. Actually, all the way from Andrew Barrett’s clinic. I’m working here—doing a paediatric rotation. I started today.’

‘Really? That’s amazing, we’ll be working together! Oh, Mark, that’s wonderful! I haven’t seen you for such a long time—’

‘Five years.’

‘Is it really?’ she said in amazement. ‘I suppose it must be—I was nearly eighteen, and I’m twenty-three today. Oh, Mark, it’s really good to see you again. We ought to catch up—lunch? Oh, damn, no, I can’t do lunch, I’m meeting my housemates for a drink. You could come?’ she suggested doubtfully.

‘I’d rather have you to myself—it’s difficult to catch up in a crowd. How about tonight? Are you going out?’

‘No—I’m not. Beth and Lucy were both busy tonight—that’s why we’re having lunch.’

‘No hot date?’

‘No date at all, hot or otherwise,’ she said with a wry chuckle. ‘Tonight would be lovely.’

‘Where do you live?’

‘Just behind the hospital in a little terraced house. Where are you?’

‘I’ve got a room in the hospital—one of those ghastly things like university halls. It could be worse, I suppose. It’s got an en suite shower room and trees outside the window, but it’s pretty grim.’

‘You ought to get a flat.’

‘I’m hoping to buy a house—I just need time to look. I’ve got my next job lined up in the same area, so I thought I’d buy now. Why not? The sooner the better, frankly, after last night. Talk about rowdy.’

‘You’re getting too old,’ she teased, and he laughed.

‘Tell me about it.’ He glanced at his watch and sighed. ‘Listen, I have to fly. I just wangled ten minutes and I’ve already been gone fifteen. How about meeting me at seven at the back entrance by the accommodation block?’

‘Sure. I’ll look forward to it. Where are we going?’

He shrugged. ‘Search me. I only arrived in this town last night. You choose—I’ll do as I’m told.’

‘OK. See you later.’

‘Sure.’

He waggled his fingers, whipped the door open and strode down the ward, leaving her staring after him with a daft smile on her face.

‘Who was that?’

She looked at Anna, watching Mark’s retreat with undisguised curiosity, and laughed. ‘An old friend. Mark Jarvis—he’s doing a paeds rotation. He just came to say happy birthday.’

‘It’s your birthday?’

‘Yup—and I get to do Darren’s colostomy pouch, just to celebrate. Want to help?’

Anna laughed. ‘I’ll come and cheerlead. So, tell me how you know that gorgeous hunk, you lucky girl!’

She shrugged. ‘He stayed with us five years ago and spent a couple of weeks with my father while he was doing his clinical-GP work experience.’

‘So you don’t know anything else about him? Like if he’s married or whatever?’

Was Anna really interested in him? Good heavens! What a thought—and a strangely disturbing one, at that …

‘I don’t know anything about him any more,’ she said, and realised that it was utterly true. She knew nothing, other than that he’d been a charming and delightful house guest, her mother had adored him, her father had thought he was excellent doctor material, and she—well, the less she thought about that, the longer her sanity might remain intact!

‘I’ll have to get my sleuths out,’ Anna mused. ‘Unless you want the first option on him?’

Allie laughed. ‘I don’t think so. I don’t think he’s interested—not like that. He certainly wasn’t then.’

The thought was curiously disappointing.

Mark strode along the corridor towards A&E, whistling softly under his breath and conscious of the smile that lingered round his eyes. Allie Baker, all grown up and even more gorgeous. Whoever would have thought it?

He wondered idly if she was involved with anyone at the moment. Her mother hadn’t been specific, and he hadn’t liked to ask her. Still, she didn’t have a date tonight, so maybe that was hopeful.

He turned the corner, pushed the door out of the way and headed for the work station in the centre of the busy A&E department.

‘Hi, I’m Mark Jarvis, paediatric SHO. I believe you wanted me?’

The nurse looked up and smiled. ‘Oh, hi. Yes, we’ve got a youngster with a classic appendix. Can you admit her and let the surgical team know?’

He gave a wry grin. ‘I can try. I’ve only just joined the department this morning. I’m not much of a paediatrician yet, I’m afraid, and as for the hospital routine—!’

She slid off her stool and returned the grin. ‘Come on, I’ll talk you through it.’

It was simple enough, once he’d learned the way things were done at the Audley Memorial. Not so very different from any of the other hospitals he’d been at recently while he’d worked his way through his house years. Surgery first, mainly, then a host of other short rotations, covering all the various aspects of medicine that would be useful to him when he did his training as a GP registrar in a few months’ time.

Of course it would have been quicker if he’d known straight away what branch he wanted to specialise in, but he’d been all round the houses before he’d finally made up his mind that general practice and not surgery was the job for him, and he supposed it was all useful experience.

However, the fragmented, nomadic lifestyle dictated by the last few years was very unsettling. It would be wonderful, he thought with an inward sigh, to settle down in one place and learn a routine that was going to last him longer than three or six months!