by Kate Hardy
‘I hate chocolate cake. Even posh, award-winning, super-special Viennese chocolate cake,’ she said.
He smiled. ‘But you tried it anyway because I asked you to.’
‘You danced with me without complaining that I hurt your toes.’
‘You didn’t hurt my toes. You’re perfectly capable of dancing, whether it’s a waltz or a jitterbug.’ He grinned. ‘As long as you’re being led by someone who knows what they’re doing.’
‘Like you.’
He stroked her face. ‘Teamwork. We’re good together, Toni, at work and outside. And all I could think about on the way back from London was you. I don’t belong in London any more; I belong here, with you and our baby and Archie. This is where my life is. Where I want to be. You want commitment? You’ve got it. Because I love you, Toni Butler. I love everything about you and my world’s a better place with you at its centre. And I really want to marry you. Not because of the baby, because of you.’
He loved her.
Just the way that she loved him.
This time, she’d found the right man. One who wasn’t going to let her down or give her ultimatums. One who’d actually commit to her.
‘I probably should ask you somewhere a lot more romantic. I maybe should’ve asked you in Vienna, in the middle of all the butterflies—because that’s when I realised how much you make my world feel full of colour,’ Ben said. ‘But I want to be a family with you and Archie. I want to make sandcastles with our children and look for shells. I want to run on the beach with our dog at sunrise, and treat our patients, and be a proper part of this community. I want it all, and I want it with you. Will you marry me, Toni? Be my love, my life?’
‘What do you think, Arch? Should we say yes?’ she asked.
The dog gave a single woof.
‘I agree,’ she said with a smile. ‘I love you, too, Ben. Yes.’
EPILOGUE
Ten months later
BEN STOOD IN the porch of the huge flint-built church at Great Crowmell with Toni at his side; he was carrying their daughter, Elizabeth, while she was carrying their son, Max. The twins were fast asleep; the godparents—Jessie, Kit, Stacey and Nick—were waiting inside with his parents, toddler Josh and a host of their friends. Archie had special dispensation to be at the christening, just as he had at the wedding, and was sitting under the watchful eye of Kelly.
‘You’re beautiful, Mrs Mitchell, and I love you very much,’ he said, stealing a kiss. ‘Are you ready for this?’
‘Ready.’ She smiled at him. ‘Let’s go and join our family and friends. And then we can get this party started...’
* * *
If you enjoyed this story, check out these other great reads from Kate Hardy
Heart Surgeon, Prince...Husband!
Carrying the Single Dad’s Baby
Unlocking the Italian Doc’s Heart
Their Pregnancy Gift
All available now!
Keep reading for an excerpt from A Nurse to Tame the ER Doc by Janice Lynn.
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EPILOGUE
Ten months later
BEN STOOD IN the porch of the huge flint-built church at Great Crowmell with Toni at his side; he was carrying their daughter, Elizabeth, while she was carrying their son, Max. The twins were fast asleep; the godparents—Jessie, Kit, Stacey and Nick—were waiting inside with his parents, toddler Josh and a host of their friends. Archie had special dispensation to be at the christening, just as he had at the wedding, and was sitting under the watchful eye of Kelly.
‘You’re beautiful, Mrs Mitchell, and I love you very much,’ he said, stealing a kiss. ‘Are you ready for this?’
‘Ready.’ She smiled at him. ‘Let’s go and join our family and friends. And then we can get this party started...’
* * *
If you enjoyed this story, check out these other great reads from Kate Hardy
Heart Surgeon, Prince...Husband!
Carrying the Single Dad’s Baby
Unlocking the Italian Doc’s Heart
Their Pregnancy Gift
All available now!
Keep reading for an excerpt from A Nurse to Tame the ER Doc by Janice Lynn.
Join Harlequin My Rewards today and earn a FREE ebook!
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A Nurse to Tame the ER Doc
by Janice Lynn
CHAPTER ONE
YES! NURSE TAYLOR HALL mentally pumped her fist in the air as she looked across the Rockin’ Tyme music festival medical tent at the tall man wearing a “Medical Staff” T-shirt and navy shorts.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Her body had noticed a man.
Sure, the current tingles were just sparks of physical attraction, but as she’d thought good old-fashioned lust a thing of the past at the age of twenty-five, Taylor cherished the incoming zings.
She wasn’t dead inside after all.
Her ex hadn’t accomplished quite as much as she’d given him credit for this past year. Thank God.
Seeming to sense someone was watching him, the medical staff hottie glanced up from the clipboard he’d been studying and met Taylor’s gaze with eyes so brilliant she questioned if they were colored contacts. She was positive she’d never met him, but recognition flashed in his baby blues and a huge smile lit his face.
Wow. Just wow.
Awareness sparks burst into blistering red-hot flames.
Crazy that something as simple as physical attraction could make her feel so ecstatic, especially since she wasn’t interested in a relationship, but Taylor credited the heat as a sign she was healing. She truly had progressed from the beaten down woman she’d been at her divorce a year ago.
Of course she had. She was a strong, independent woman who didn’t need a man to hold her hand. She held her future. No one else.
The job interview she’d gone to earlier that day had been yet another sign of how far she’d come. She’d moved on from the past and was taking charge of her life in new and exciting ways.
Curious at the man who’d awakened her libido when she’d been so oblivious to the opposite sex for so long, she took in his features. He wasn’t the most handsome man she’d ever seen, not even close to her ex’s Hollywood perfect good looks. But there was something about this guy that had drawn her attention the moment she’d stepped into the Rockin’ Tyme music festival medical tent, which was abuzz with activity.
His s
houlder-length, sun-kissed brown hair, pulled back with a rubber band, and skin told a story of someone who loved to be outdoors and spent a lot of time doing so. Someone who didn’t worry about his outward appearance, but who’d been blessed with natural good looks. Friendly face and eyes, great smile, nice body, and if he was who she thought he was, he was Amy’s friend.
Her bestie had never liked Taylor’s ex.
Amy had said she would know Dr. Jackson Morgan when she saw him. Everything inside her had “known” this man—or sure wanted to.
Taylor smiled at the hunk standing twenty or so feet away. Would he think her certifiable if she walked over to thank him?
He immediately put his clipboard down on the table in front of him and crossed the tent. Had he read her mind and was going to say, “You’re welcome.”?
Ha. She’d hug him for real.
She fought back another smile and told herself to get a grip. Just because her body suddenly remembered it was female, it didn’t mean she would dare act on those zings. After the raking over the coals Neil had put her through, she had planned to avoid men forever. Not all men were like Neil. She knew that. But no matter how many sparks and tingles, no matter how excited she was that her insides weren’t dead, when it came to men, her brain warned her to steer clear.
Men weren’t worth the trouble.
Once upon a time she’d thought she needed one. The last year had taught her she was just fine without one.
Better than fine.
“Taylor, right?” He grinned, causing happy lines to fan out from his eyes.
Great smile, she thought again as she nodded. Genuine, not calculated. A smile that radiated as much from his eyes as his mouth.
“I’m not a crazy stalker.” He chuckled. “Amy Sellars told me to be on the lookout for you.”
Another wave of disappointment that Amy wasn’t there hit Taylor. Not that Amy could help it that her grandmother had fallen and broken a hip two states away, but Taylor had really been looking forward to catching up with her best friend. Amy had come to Louisville last summer immediately following the finalization of Taylor’s divorce, but that seemed forever ago, and Taylor hadn’t done much more than cry.
Tears for lost dreams and tears of happiness that she’d escaped Neil’s controlling, abusive hands.
“Amy has a picture of the two of you on her fireplace mantel,” the medical staffer continued. “I recognized you immediately.”
Taylor knew the photo he spoke of. She had the same one displayed at the tiny apartment she’d leased following moving out of Neil’s sprawling showplace. The photo was a close-up following her and Amy’s nurse pinning ceremony. Their smiles had been huge, as had their dreams for the future.
Her university roommate had tried for years to get Taylor to work the infamous annual festival that took place in her hometown. Taylor finally had and now Amy wasn’t even in town.
Agreeing to work the music festival had been more about spending time with her friend than the generous sum she’d be paid for her three twelve-hour shifts. But the extra pay wasn’t a bad thing.
Still, if her job interview that morning had gone as well as she thought, they’d soon have lots of catch-up time.
If all went according to plan, she’d be living with her former roomie yet again. Amy had tried to get Taylor to relocate last summer, but Taylor had needed to put her life back together on her own. She’d needed to stand on her own two feet. It would have been too easy to let Amy take over and just have gone through the motions.
Which was what Taylor had done her whole life.
Gone with the flow. Done what had been expected. First with her parents and then with Neil. She’d never stepped outside the boundaries they’d set. Not until she’d left Neil and filed for divorce.
She was a work in progress but was happy with the woman emerging from the wreck she’d been. She was still peeling back the layers of years of toeing the line, but most mornings she liked the person staring back at her in the mirror.
“Amy was excited you’re working the festival.”
Taylor’s attention zoned back in on the man who was studying her. The man who’d been inside her friend’s apartment.
Was Amy dating him? She hadn’t said so, but her friend had been enthusiastic when talking about him. She’d gotten the impression Amy had been hinting at a possible romance between Taylor and the doctor during the music festival, hints Taylor had ignored because she’d not been interested in a man since long before her divorce. She had no plans for a relationship and, even if she had, she’d just as soon have her fingernails ripped out as to get involved with another doctor.
He held out his hand. “Jackson Morgan.”
He’d introduced himself without using his medical title, something her ex would never have done. Kudos for that.
“Nice to meet you, Jackson.” Taylor returned his smile, shook his hand, and marveled at the tingles of awareness that shot up her arm at the warmth of his hand.
Men sworn off or not, the guy was electric.
“My friends call me Jack,” he commented as she pulled her hand free from his.
“Jack.” Taylor let the name roll off her tongue. “You’re the hotshot traveling emergency medicine doctor Amy works with at Rockin’ Tyme each year.”
“My reputation has preceded me yet again.” His eyes danced with mischief.
Taylor tried to recall what her friend had said but couldn’t pull up much. She’d thought Amy matchmaking when she’d gone on and on about the doctor they’d be working with at the festival. Taylor had been excited about seeing her best friend, not about meeting a man. What had Amy said?
“Good looking, funny—can’t wait for you to meet him. Think you’ll really like him. He’s the best.”
“Nothing bad,” she admitted, smiling at Jack. If he and Amy were an item, then good for her friend and even better for this guy. Any man would be lucky to call Amy his own. If he was good to her friend then, doctor or not, Taylor would hug him for a totally different reason than the one that had hit her upon first seeing him.
“Good to know she’s not talking smack about me.” He glanced around the medical tent, his gaze skimming over the cots along a far side where a group of workers was chatting. “I’ll miss her being here. Hated to hear about her grandmother.”
“That makes two of us. She convinced me to sign on and now she’s not here.” Following his gaze out the open flaps of the tent, she took a deep breath. “I can’t help but wonder what she’s gotten me into.”
“No worries. She made me promise to take good care of you.”
Taylor’s gaze cut to his. “Oh?”
He grinned, and his eyes crinkled. Wow, such a great smile. “At least a dozen times—and that was just this morning.”
Taylor smiled. Her friend always had looked out for her.
If only Taylor had listened better.
Jack working as a traveling doctor must create relationship problems. “Do you get to see her often?”
“I see Amy several times a week,” he answered, looking a little surprised at her question. “I liked Warrenville so much I temporarily relocated here a couple of months ago to fill in for a doctor on an extended medical leave.”
“Oh.” Had her perky friend influenced that decision? Good for Amy. Taylor was happy for her but why hadn’t Amy told her? Maybe her friend had been afraid of jinxing whatever was happening. Still, that Amy hadn’t mentioned their relationship made Taylor sad as once upon a time they’d shared everything.
Then again, hadn’t she put on a face for her friend for years? Not wanting Amy to know the truth behind her miserable marriage?
“Have you met the rest of the crew?” Jack asked, drawing her focus back.
Taylor shook her head. “Do you already know each other?”
“Mostly,” he admitted. “There ar
e always a few new people, but most of us come back each year. It’s a tradition. A lot of the staff are locals, but some do travel. It’s a good bunch who work the medical tent. You’ll enjoy hanging with us.”
Either way, it was just for a few days so she’d survive. She’d survived worse. Besides, wasn’t she all about new life experiences and stepping outside the box she’d lived in for so long?
“How did you get involved with the festival?” she asked, glancing out the front of the medical tent to the “oasis” that was located about a hundred yards away. Fake palm trees planted in a huge sand pit with splash pools for play and cooling down during the hot July heat.
This was definitely a new life experience.
“Music festivals are in my blood. My grandparents were hippies and actually met at Woodstock.” Grinning, he made a peace sign with his fingers. “I’ve been going to festivals since before I could walk. My parents thought I’d grow up to be a musician—or a gypsy,” he added, chuckling. “But medicine called me. Since I left med school, I’ve worked numerous festivals every year so it’s a balance of work and play. Makes me feel I’ve evolved from those days of driving across the country with a car load of buddies with nothing on our brains except good music and good times.”
“Sounds like fun.” Taylor couldn’t imagine the carefree trips he was describing. Her strict parents had barely gotten by and Taylor had had her first job at fifteen. She’d been working ever since. Even then, there’d never been money or time for cross-country road trips to soak up the sun and music. For a short while early in their relationship she’d felt happiness and a sense of peace with Neil. After their wedding, nothing had been carefree during those torturous two years.
“The best.” Jack grinned, but something was off in his smile as he looked back out over the festival. “Let me give you the low down on how things will run the next few days in the tent and introduce you to the others.”
Taylor was scheduled to work Thursday and Friday from four a.m. to four p.m. and on Sunday from four p.m. to four a.m. on Monday.
