Doctor's Orders (18 page)
“Me?” whispered Isabel weakly.
“Yes, you,” he said, and proceeded to kiss her in such a fashion that she was left in no doubt whatsoever. “You, you puritanical, bad tempered, Scottish woman, who has given me one hell of a run around!”
“I've given
you
the run around!” said Isabel indignantly. “I can't say that I've ever noticed you being particularly encouraging. You've been rude, bad tempered, awkward, and always believed the worst where I was concerned.”
“And what about you?” interrupted Mike, pulling her closer. “You've not given me much of a chance have you? I know I stupidly rushed things right at the beginning, and you've never forgiven me, have you? And then of course there was Cliff Peterson, and then Hugh Sinclair.” He folded his arms tightly round her, making escape impossible. “All in all, you've given me a pretty rotten time, Isabel McKenna. You're going to have to work hard to make it up to me!”
“Who said I was going to?” asked Isabel, flashing him a challenge with her blue eyes, although she already knew the answer.
“Your kiss said everything that words couldn't,” he whispered, his lips close to her ear. “Don't tell me you don't feel the chemistry between us, because I wouldn't believe you.”
“But we haven't known each other long,” she whispered back, allowing herself to be pulled further and deeper into his embrace. “We've both made mistakes before, how can we be sure we're not making another one?”
“Some things you just know,” said Mike slowly, “and I know I'll love you until the end of time. Even though I'm sure we'll fight.”
“Quite often, probably,” murmured Isabel contentedly, her lips touching the dark golden hairs that tangled on his broad chest.
Reaching down he tipped her chin up between forefinger and thumb. “Is that a Scots way of saying that you'll marry me?” he asked.
“I think it is,” whispered Isabel, still in a dream.
“Is there anyone I should formally ask for your hand in marriage?” he asked seriously.
“Only me,” said Isabel. Then she added teasingly, “I'll let you know after due consideration.”
“Start considering now,” said Mike, bending his powerful body over hers, his hand caressing her sunwarmed bare skin. “When you say yes, I'll stop kissing you, but until then⦔
Isabel slid her arms around his neck. “I have the feeling I'm going to postpone my answer for an awfully long time!” she murmured, as his mouth closed gently on hers.
About the Author
Ann Jennings was born and still lives in Hampshire, and has been a published romance author since 1984. She's had a varied career, a verbatim shorthand writer, a cabaret singer, a teacher, a hospital administrator and finally a full-time writer.
She has also written for and directed musicals and plays for the local theatre. She has always enjoyed travelling, and loved visiting New England, USA but now mostly travels to the family house in southern Tuscany in Italy, a country dear to her heart.
Look for these titles by Ann Jennings
Now Available:
Headlong Into Love
Intensive Affair
Nurse on Neuro
Doctor Knows Best
Runaway Sister
Doctor's Orders
Writing as Angela Arney
Cast the First Stone
Coming Soon:
Sold to the Surgeon
Nurse on Loan
Surgeon Ashore
New Beginnings
Really, Doctor!
Santa Lucia
The course of love can be as bumpy as a ride in a careening ambulance.
Doctor Knows Best
© 2014 Ann Jennings
Just Megan Jones's luck, the one time she enters the Casualty department as a patient and not a nurse, no one she knows is on duty to speed her through the examination and treatment of her sore wrist.
Worse, the only pair of eyes available to treat her belong to the arrogant, high-handed new physician consultant, Giles Elliott. It's bad enough his brusque manner rubs her the wrong way. Now he says he wants to reorganize her already efficient system in the department.
Just who does Giles think he is? Besides towering, dark and handsome, that is. Oh, and a man who one moment is vexing her to no end, the next making her shiver in her uniform with his devastating smile.
The more she learns about the reason he left his university position to return to patient care, the more she softens toward him. Now if only he'd stop treating her like a first-year long enough to notice she's a mature woman with a mindâand heartâof her own.
Enjoy the following excerpt for
Doctor Knows Best:
The store cupboard was quite large and unfortunately for Megan and the two pupil nurses it had a radiator in it. It had once been intended for use as an office, but due to some oversight on the part of the hospital architect, there was no ventilation or window. The young nurses struggled to turn off the radiator at Megan's request, but couldn't manage it. Megan had a try too, but was equally unsuccessful, so they carried on working in the rather hot and stuffy room. The net result of which was that by the time they had finished the task all three of them looked hot and flushed and extremely dusty.
Megan glanced at her watch as they placed the last box of plaster of Paris bandages on the shelf. It was five o'clock, time for the pupil nurses to go off duty. “OK, you two can go now,” she said briskly. “Thanks for all your hard work.”
“Are you sure everything is done, Sister?” asked one of the girls.
“Yes, thank you,” replied Megan, standing with her hands on her hips looking about at the reorganised cupboard with satisfaction. “I'll just write a note and pin it on the door asking the cleaners to give the floor a good wash, and that will be that. So off you go, and thank you.”
The two girls needed no second bidding, flying off down the corridor, chattering non-stop, towards the female changing rooms.
Megan felt tired now, but at least she had worked the thoughts of Giles Elliott out of her system. Absentmindedly she ran a hand across her forehead, pushing back the rebellious dark hair that had escaped from beneath her cap during her exertions. In a few moments Juliet Moore would be coming on duty, just time for her to write the note for the cleaners.
As she closed the door of the store cupboard behind her and stepped into the corridor, Megan suddenly became aware of two piercing blue eyes, with more than a hint of amusement in them, regarding her. She was also palpably aware of her very dishevelled appearance. Half-heartedly she tried to straighten her cap and push her hair back in place, acutely conscious of his blue eyes taking in every detail of her appearance. She felt her cheeks burning with embarrassment and knew she was turning crimson.
“Have you been having an orgy in the cupboard, Sister? If so, I'm very sorry to have missed it. I should have stayed here instead of going up to London!”
“I, weâ¦um⦔ If Megan was flustered before, he had completely unnerved her now, and to make matters worse he took a step nearer. Involuntarily she took a step backwards and ended up leaning against the store cupboard door. Her luminous brown eyes, fringed by their impossibly long lashes, looked panic-stricken as she unexpectedly felt herself falling backwards. The door to the store cupboard had not been fastened properly and the light pressure of her slim young body had been enough to send it flying open and her tumbling backwards. Hitting the floor with a thud that knocked all the air out of her lungs, Megan lay still for a split second.
“Megan, are you all right?” Giles' large frame was bending over her, lifting her gently to her feet.
Still dazed and bewildered, Megan clung to him, vaguely conscious of the comfortingly rough texture of his tweed jacket and the pervading masculine smell of his skin, with its faint, lingering perfume of aftershave. His face was so close to hers it would have been easy to reach up and kiss that strong, determined jawline, and Megan found herself terribly tempted to do just that.
Common sense prevented her. Instead she said, rather lamely, “I've been clearing out the store cupboard.”
He smiled down at her. “You seem to make a habit of falling over. What part of your anatomy have you damaged this time?”
Self-consciously Megan tried to push him away.
“Nothing,” she said firmly. “I'm sorry, it was a stupid thing to do.”
“Yes, it was rather,” he replied, his blue eyes smiling. He made no effort to release herâif anything, it seemed to Megan that his arms tightened around her a little.
Her long lashes fluttered down over the becoming curve of her high cheekbones as she lowered her gaze, unable to meet the searching blue of his eyes any longer.
“I'm all right now,” she muttered quickly. “Thank you very much for picking me up.” It seemed a rather inadequate thing to say but she couldn't think of anything else. In fact she found it difficult to think at all with his arms around her.
“Don't mention it,” came his low reply. “I really quite enjoyed it.”
“You did?” Megan's head came up in surprise and simultaneously his dark head came down to meet hers. She was briefly aware that he had kicked the cupboard door shut behind him before his lips came down on hers, blotting out everything. His mouth was hard and demanding, and Megan's natural instinct was to respond to the urgency of his kiss. A confusing mass of emotions spun like stars in her head.
Abruptly he let her go, saying, “That is what happens to young women who fall at my feet! You have been warned!”
Megan looked at him suspiciously. He was laughing at her.
“My goodness, Sister, you look as if you have never been kissed before,” he said. Now he was laughing out loud.
“Not in a store cupboard,” replied Megan stiffly, unsure which had unnerved her most, his kiss or his laughter. She tried to muster as much dignity as possible. “Personally I think it's much too stuffy in here for that type of activity.” She made to go past him, trying to reach the door.
His hand snaked out in a quick, agile movement, grasping her slender-boned wrist as she tried to reach the door knob. “Sorry, I shouldn't have teased you,” he said, but his blue eyes were still laughing.
Vainly Megan tried to wrench her wrist from his grasp, but against the strength of his long, strong fingers her ineffectual struggles made no impact at all.
“Tell me,” his voice was low, throbbing with a vibrancy that caused Megan's senses to reel, “where
would
you suggest for this type of activity?”
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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
11821 Mason Montgomery Road Suite 4B
Cincinnati OH 45249
Doctor's Orders
Copyright © 2015 by Ann Jennings
ISBN: 978-1-61922-189-5
Cover by Kanaxa
All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Original Publication by Mills & Boon: 1986
First
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
electronic publication: February 2015
