by Annie O'Neil
Her off-limits boss...
Is worth breaking the rules for!
In this Single Dad Docs story, physiotherapist Maggie Green’s instant attraction to her buttoned-up new boss Dr. Alex Kirkland might be against the rules, but since becoming an amputee she’s determined to live life to the full—including embarking on a fling! As their chemistry intensifies, Alex and his adorable son’s acceptance of Maggie for who she is, makes her long for something she never thought possible...a family.
Single Dad Docs quartet
Book 1 – Tempted by Her Single Dad Boss by Annie O’Neil
Book 2 – Resisting Her English Doc by Annie Claydon
Look out for the next two books, coming soon:
Book 3 – The Single Dad’s Proposal by Karin Baine
Book 4 – Nurse to Forever Mom by Susan Carlisle
“Both the main characters were fascinating and I loved their back stories, as they’re so different, and yet, they’re so great together.”
—Harlequin Junkie on One Night with Dr Nikolaides
“Annie O'Neil is a master of her craft when it comes to feeling what her characters feel and the whole mix together is what made me adore this story.”
—Goodreads on Reunited with Her Parisian Surgeon
Single Dad Docs
Finding their forever family!
Alex Kirkland and Cody Brennan are both dedicated doctors and doting single dads! So setting up their own prestigious clinic, with built-in childcare, seems like the perfect solution. And when the Maple Island Clinic opens its doors, they’re joined by two more gorgeous single dad docs.
Juggling patients and parenthood doesn’t leave much room for romance, until they meet the four women who are about to capture their hearts and make their families complete!
Find out more in
Tempted by Her Single Dad Boss by Annie O’Neil
Resisting Her English Doc by Annie Claydon
Available now!
And look out for
The Single Dad’s Proposal by Karin Baine
Nurse to Forever Mom by Susan Carlisle
Available February 2019!
Dear Reader,
You know when you hit upon something that just clicks? That’s exactly what happened when the four of us got together to write about our sexy single dads. Not only were we totally in love with the fathers—each of them dealing with parenthood in their own inimitable, always heartfelt ways—but we loved putting them in the heart of the community on Maple Island. At least once a day, one of us vowed we were going to move there only to remember it was entirely fictional. I hope you enjoy their journeys as much as we have. There is definitely a lot of spirit on Maple Island and, thankfully, some awfully huge hearts.
If you want to let me know what you thought of the books, please do get in touch. I adore hearing from you all. You can find me on Facebook or Twitter and I’ve also got an email: [email protected].
Enjoy!
xx Annie O’
Tempted by Her Single Dad Boss
Annie O’Neil
Books by Annie O’Neil
Harlequin Medical Romance
Hope Children’s Hospital
The Army Doc’s Christmas Angel
Hot Greek Docs
One Night with Dr. Nikolaides
Italian Royals
Tempted by the Bridesmaid
Claiming His Pregnant Princess
Paddington Children’s Hospital
Healing the Sheikh’s Heart
Hot Latin Docs
Santiago’s Convenient Fiancée
Christmas Eve Magic
The Nightshift Before Christmas
The Monticello Baby Miracles
One Night, Twin Consequences
London’s Most Eligible Doctor
Her Hot Highland Doc
Her Knight Under the Mistletoe
Reunited with Her Parisian Surgeon
Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.
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This one goes with a big fat happy heart to Susan, who corralled us together; Christine, who kept us sane; and Karin, whose spirit kept the flame well and truly burning. You’re all amazing. I’m so delighted to have “discovered” Maple Island with you all. Perhaps we’ll meet there again one day? Big love x Annie
Praise for Annie O’Neil
“Santiago’s Convenient Fiancée...is a vibrant, passionate love story with a medical backdrop that adds the drama quotient to this already captivating story.”
—Goodreads
Annie O’Neil won the 2016 RoNA Rose Award for her book Doctor...to Duchess?
Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
EXCERPT FROM RESISTING HER ENGLISH DOC BY ANNIE CLAYDON
CHAPTER ONE
“OW!” MAGGIE HADN’T meant to yelp. Keeping her cool for her young patients was paramount.
Had the ferry surfed a huge wave or hit something? Just make sure the children are unhurt.
“Everyone okay?”
She heard a pair of yesses as she peeled her hands off the ambulance floor. “Looks like the ocean’s a bit rough outside of Boston Harbor, kiddos. Maybe the ferry captain’s seen Moby Dick!”
Without looking, Maggie knew her knees would be bloodied and a bump would be growing on her head. How she’d managed to fly past the ambulance’s two vacuum mattresses and conk her head on the gurney wheels was beyond her. She quickly pushed herself back up to a sitting position and checked her patients. They were the priority here, not her.
The ten-year-old twins seemed fine, if a bit wide-eyed at the sudden movement. The ferry journey to the Maple Island Clinic hadn’t been billed as a funfair ride. Nor was it meant to be. The weather had checked out fine, which was precisely why they’d opted for crossing on New Year’s Day before the predicted snow moved in.
She looked down at her knees and saw a bit of blood seeping through the dark fabric as her right hand gingerly checked for...yup...a grade A head bump.
What a way to make a first impression at her new job.
She winced at the misplaced vanity as she tried to pull her wild tangle of red curls back into submission. This wasn’t a beauty contest. Not landing on the kids had been the goal, particularly since their spinal injuries had been from collapsing scaffolding. The last thing they needed was her falling on them right after they’d been released from critical care.
She shoved away the rush of fear that had come with the sudden movement and reminded herself of her priorities.
Arriving at Maple Island with the children safe and sound was the goal. She was good at goals that involved patients. It was only the personal stuff that needed work.
“Billy, you all right up there?” She received a grunt from the paramedic who’d driven them onto the ferry. Better than a moan, she supposed. Or nothing.
“Looks like I should’ve stayed put
and kept my seatbelt on, shouldn’t I?” Talking endlessly wasn’t necessarily going to calm them down but—
The piercing screech of the ferry’s alarm came so short and sharp Maggie almost gave her roller-coaster scream. Not the best “responsible adult” response. She was meant to be soothing the patients, not freaking them out. As her last boss had constantly reminded her, not everyone was a finely wired adrenaline junkie.
Not everyone had to give themselves a reason to live at the age of thirteen, though.
Before she could get her seatbelt on, another lurch flattened her to the floor again. Oof.
“We’ve got a bit more than we bargained for in terms of adventure, haven’t we, kids?” They both responded with something indecipherable beneath the screech of the siren.
Clonk.
A small tub of supplies found a perch on her head.
Mercifully the siren stopped.
Maybe it had been a pod of whales.
“Sorry, Maggie. Was on the phone with Vick. Everyone all right back there?” Billy stuck his head into the back as he untangled himself from the coiled radio cables. “Vick just doused herself in hot coffee up on the passenger deck.”
“Ouch.” Maggie winced. Painful way to get through a New Year’s Day hangover. “Did she burn herself?”
“Nah. But she’s going to check if anyone up there needs help. The weather’s closed in. Total blinder. I’d better ring the clinic and let them know this isn’t going to be a straightforward journey.” He held up the tangle of wires as proof the radio was out of commission. “Do you have the clinic’s emergency number?”
Maggie glared at him then flicked her brown eyes toward the children. “Ixnay on the ary-scay alk-tay, my friend.”
He looked at her blankly, then huffed. “I don’t do pig Latin.” He made a gimme, gimme gesture with his hand. “Number for the clinic, please, Mags.”
Maggie recited it from memory, reminding herself that Billy had valiantly maneuvered the ambulance onto the ferry’s small car deck when Vicky, the original driver, had announced an urgent need for coffee. They could’ve parked diagonally if they’d wanted to. Not one other car had followed behind them onto the dinky car deck. Had every other person in Boston read a different weather report from the one she’d had or were they all just hungover, like Vicky?
She’d checked the weather about a hundred times. It was meant to be calm today, snow tomorrow.
The clinic would go ballistic if anything happened to these two. And she wouldn’t blame them. They’d been through enough. The terror of their house’s scaffolding collapsing on them. Spinal surgery. Critical Care. Parents having to wage war with the insurance company and carry on working so they didn’t lose what little money they did have. It had been a horrific holiday season for all of them. The one silver lining had been the clinic taking them gratis. She wasn’t going to let anything stand in the way of them getting the rehab they deserved. Not the weather. Not a cranky paramedic. Not on her watch.
“Actually...” she pulled out her own phone “...I’d better do it.”
“Why?” Billy’s arm shot out and only just missed her face as they both sought to stabilize themselves from another lurch.
“Because Boston Harbor’s put me down as the contact and I’m the one signing the children over. My job. My responsibility.”
“You’re their physio. I’m in charge of the ambo, which makes me king of everyone who’s in it.”
She knew Billy wasn’t trying to get one up her, but the caveman approach made her bridle.
Don’t let fear guide you. You can’t control everything.
That’s what she’d told herself after that night. The night her blind trust in Eric had exploded into painful emotional shrapnel.
It was years ago. Move on. Not everyone was judging her. Billy didn’t even know about her...her situation...so...
It was time to stop tarring everyone with the same brush.
They both pitched toward the right side of the ambulance as another wave bashed the side of the boat.
What the heck was happening out there? Armageddon?
Doing her best to not freak the children out, she tried appealing to Billy’s macho side. “Go on, Billy. Be a hero and find out what’s going on.” She threw in a lame, “It’s my name on the paperwork,” then wiggled her phone between them as if that settled the matter.
The truth? They did need to find out what was happening and she wasn’t sure her sea legs were up to whatever was happening out there. Besides, if something truly bad was going on, she needed a plan to get the children off the ferry, stat. No way was she losing them or exacerbating their critical injuries. Not when they’d already dodged the entrance to death’s door a little less than a week ago.
Billy threw the radio cables onto the passenger seat of the front cab. “You know what I think?”
No. And judging by the narky tone of Billy’s voice she didn’t want to.
“I think someone wants first dibs on the boss man.”
“Ha! Hardly.”
She waited for him to get out of the ambo before she let her yeah, right face drop.
Okay. Totally. But it wasn’t a factor right now. In an emergency.
She only did crushes from a distance. The second she stepped on to Maple Island? It would be work only.
Besides, her “crush” was nothing more than professional admiration.
Dr. Alex Kirkland was the answer to her prayers, professionally.
She was good at her job and working for Alex would only make her better. Not that she’d even spoken to him yet. She’d been hired by the clinic’s co-founder, Cody Brennan, when he’d been over visiting a post-op patient she had been treating at Boston Harbor.
This was the chance of a lifetime and she wasn’t going to let her poor taste in boyfriends destroy her future. It had taken three long years to build herself back up again after what Eric had done to her and no way was she going to let his arrival back in Boston push her back to that soul-destroying emotional precipice again.
She thumbed through her phone, barely catching her balance as the ferry reacted to another impact. There were high screeching sounds this time. The unmistakable scream of metal on rock.
Her heart dropped to her knees. Her badly bruised knees.
Didn’t matter.
Maggie did another quick check of Peyton and Connor’s stats. All good, despite the fact that being bounced around like this wasn’t strictly on the rehab list. Just as well she and Billy had agreed to keep the children strapped into the ambulance instead of stretchering them onto the semi-exposed passenger desk as one officious cost-cutting administrator at Boston Harbor Hospital had suggested. Er...anyone ever heard of patient safety? She might be a goofball on any number of fronts, but patient welfare was definitely not one of them.
“You two all right?” She received a pair of dopey smiles. The painkillers were obviously doing their job. Excellent. The last thing she wanted was to add fear to the mix.
A crisp, efficient male voice answered the ringing phone with the name of the clinic.
“Hello? It’s Maggie Green here from Boston Harbor. May I speak with Dr. Kirkland please?”
“This is he.”
An unexpected trill of anticipation twirled around her heart and squeezed it tight. Alex Kirkland was legendary when it came to rehabilitation. His clinic. His terms. The place was a wonderland for a dedicated rehab physio. A job there was a true professional coup.
And a great place to hide away from ex-boyfriends.
The ferry came to a sudden halt then just as quickly felt like it was falling backwards. She yelped and braced herself to avoid falling on the children.
“Is everything all right?” he asked.
She wanted to say yes. She wanted to say everything was on track. Instead...she was going to have to set aside her
deep-seated instinct not to ask for help.
“Not really. I’m on the ferry with the Walsh twins and—Whoa!”
Alex’s voice clicked into the type of quick, professional tone an emergency operator would use. He was calm, assuring. “Maggie, can you still hear me? Are you with the children now?”
“Yes.”
“Are they all right?”
“Yes. We’re on the ferry as scheduled. Dr. Valdez got us all sorted at the docks, but it—Oops!”
Her hands flew out to brace herself and in the process knocked a supplies basket off the wall. She arched her body so the small boxes of gauze would fall on her and not Connor. The last thing he needed was more things falling on him.
“Maggie, where is Dr. Valdez now?”
She inched her way back to her seat and buckled herself in again.
“He had to stay in Boston to do an emergency surgery. The children are fine, but a fierce storm’s blown in unexpectedly and the ferry seems to have run into some trouble.”
The back door to the ambo flew open, along with a huge gust of wintry air. It was Billy. His features had turned ashen. “We’ve hit a rock. A big huge—”
Maggie drew a line across her throat and pointed at the children. She mimed closing the door as she tried to keep her voice steady. “We appear to have had a bit of a collision.” As she watched Billy struggle to close the doors behind him, her mind reeled with ways to get the children off safely. The wind was obviously too strong for a helicopter. Not to mention that their clear day had turned into one with zero visibility. They must be halfway between Boston and Maple Island. Only half an hour on a good day. On a bad one? She didn’t have a clue.
The ferry was being bashed around by the waves so there wasn’t a chance in the universe the tiny lifeboats would be of any use. Unless they were sinking.
Oh, jeezy-peeps. They’d better not be sinking.
“Can you send anyone to fetch us? We might be in somewhat of a pickle here.” The biggest type of pickle, actually. The life-or-death kind if this was going the way she feared. Maggie bit down on the inside of her cheek so hard she drew blood.
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