by Karin Baine
From playboy...to father and husband?
Hunter Torrance, former Demons hockey star, is back—now as the team physiotherapist. And while team doctor Charlotte Michaels doesn’t believe he’s changed his playboy ways, the attraction between them is undeniable!
Hunter has worked hard at becoming a father to little Alfie, his newly found son. With Charlotte’s help, he knows he can be—though she guards her heart as fiercely as he does his. He’s sure they could be a family—if only they can take the risk!
“I found a bottle of white in your fridge. I hope that’s all right?”
Charlotte turned around to hand him a glass and took a sip from her own. Hunter watched the liquid coat her lips, and a sudden thirst came upon him that had nothing to do with alcohol.
“Was tonight that bad you couldn’t wait for me to get back?” he teased, and took a drink before placing the glass back on the kitchen counter.
“I thought it would get the wine and music out of the way quicker so I could see what else you had planned.” She bit the inside of her cheek as she teased him right back.
He slowly and silently took the glass from her and set it down. Somewhere in the distance the saxophone sounds of ’90s power ballads set the mood for seduction as he moved in. “Nothing’s planned. I thought we’d just see where the night takes us again.”
It took him straight to her parted lips to indulge in the tangy taste of wine and temptation. He inhaled the scent of her sweet perfume as he bunched her hair in his hands and deepened the kiss. She was most definitely real and his for as long as she wanted.
Over these past days she’d given him everything he could have ever asked for, joining forces to help him in work and at home and trusting him not to let her down. That was a big deal given her past, and he wanted more than anything to prove he’d been worth the risk.
Dear Reader,
Ice Hockey Dude, as my hero Hunter has been affectionately known throughout the writing process, has been in the planning stages for a very long time. Ice hockey is a relatively new sport to Belfast, and, like the town in my book, it brought much excitement with it. Along with a host of handsome Canadian players who did indeed fall in love with local girls and are still here over a decade later. A romance novel just waiting to happen!
As with all bad boys, Hunter Torrance has taken some taming, but with the help of my fabulous editor, Laura, I’ve finally wrestled him into submission. Now all we need is Charlotte Michaels, the team doctor, to forgive him his sins and learn to trust him again…
Happy reading!
Karin xx
REFORMING THE PLAYBOY
Karin Baine
Books by Karin Baine
Harlequin Medical Romance
Paddington Children’s Hospital
Falling for the Foster Mom
French Fling to Forever
A Kiss to Change Her Life
The Doctor’s Forbidden Fling
The Courage to Love Her Army Doc
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This book is for my sisters, Heather and Jemma, who first got me hooked on ice hockey and encouraged my stalking of No. 28! Also for Jaime and Lucy, the next generation of Giants fans.
Thanks must go to Andrew, because without his help I never would’ve been able to write this book. Or so he would tell you. And to Ricky so he doesn’t feel left out!
It’s been a rough few years for all of us and though I never say it, I love you all. xx
Finally, to fellow author Annie O’Neil, you’ve been an angel and although we’ve yet to meet, you’ve become such a lovely friend.
Listen to the rhythm
Praise for Karin Baine
“The moment I picked up Karin Baine’s debut medical romance I knew I would not be disappointed with her work. Poetic and descriptive writing, engaging dialogue, thoroughly created characters and a tightly woven plot propels French Fling to Forever into the must-read, highly recommended level.”
—Contemporary Romance Reviews
Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
EPILOGUE
EXCERPT FROM THEIR DOUBLE BABY GIFT BY LOUISA HEATON
CHAPTER ONE
IF ALIENS HAD landed in the middle of this rural Northern Irish town and declared her their new supreme leader, Charlotte Michaels couldn’t have been any more surprised than she was now.
‘Hunter Torrance? The Hunter Torrance is the new team physiotherapist?’
Although he was standing there, casting a shadow over her, she didn’t quite believe it. Didn’t want to believe it. The Ballydolan Demons was her team, her responsibility, and having ice hockey’s most infamous bad boy on board wasn’t going to dig them out of the hole they were in.
‘Yes. Deal with it, Charlie. We need him.’ Gray Sinclair, the head coach, delivered the news and strode away, leaving her face-to-face with the new signing in the arena corridor. She’d been on her way to watch the team train when the pair had ambushed her and literally stopped her in her tracks.
‘Hunter Torrance, the new physio. For now. I guess my future employment will be dependent on results.’ The latest addition to the team held out his hand as he introduced himself but she wasn’t inclined to shake it until someone convinced her this wasn’t some sort of sick joke.
‘Like everything around here,’ she muttered. He wasn’t the only one on trial. This was her first season as team doctor, and so far, with the list of injuries they had, a run of poor results and the last physiotherapist quitting on short notice, it could be her last too.
With a build more like a willow tree than the mighty oaks usually associated with the sport, she’d worked hard to be taken seriously but now they’d landed her with a sidekick who still held the UK Ice Hockey League record for most time spent in the sin bin she was worried the professionalism of the medical staff would be in jeopardy. The ex-Demons player had undermined the team’s position in the league once before and she wouldn’t sit back and let him do it again. In any capacity.
He smiled at her then, even as she ignored his offer of friendship. It was a slow, lazy grin, revealing the boyish dimples which had made him a pin-up for many a girl around here. Her included. If someone had told her at eighteen she’d be working alongside this one-time NHL hunk some day she would’ve died with happiness. Now the sight of him here was liable to make her forget she was a strong, independent career woman and not that same vulnerable teen. Something she had no time for nine years on.
He hadn’t changed much in that time, at least not physically. Although this was probably the closest she’d ever been to him without the Perspex partition separating the players from the fans. He was still as handsome as ever, only now the pretty boy-band looks had morphed into the age-appropriate man-band version. Those green eyes still sparkled beneath long, sooty lashes, his dark hair was thick and wavy, if longer than she remembered, and he was dressed in a black wool coat, tailored blue shirt and jeans rather than the familiar black and red Demons kit. Damn but he’d aged well; the mature look suited him. I
t was a shame she could barely look at him without the abject humiliation of her past feelings for him spoiling the view.
‘It’s good to be back,’ he said, and continued walking towards the rink as though he was returning to an idyllic childhood home and not the scene of his past misdemeanours.
For a moment Charlotte contemplated walking back in the other direction and locking herself in a nice quiet room somewhere until he’d gone away. He’d appeared from the shadows as if he were a bad dream. Or a good one, depending on which Charlotte was having the fantasy—the young infatuated girl or the cynical woman who knew bad boys weren’t exciting or glamorous, they just screwed people over.
She didn’t. Instead, she followed him towards the ice. Hunter wasn’t to know she’d been enamoured with him to the point of obsession the last time he’d been on Northern Irish soil but he had cost her beloved Demons the championship with his antics. Even if she hadn’t been embarrassed by her teen fantasies she still wasn’t convinced he was up to the job and simply didn’t trust him to do it effectively.
‘Why are you here?’ Her forthright attitude obviously wasn’t something he was used to, or expecting. She could see him tensing next to her and she didn’t like it. To her, the guarded reaction meant he had something to hide. The very nature of his defensive body language said he was fighting to keep his secrets contained but she wouldn’t be fobbed off easily when it came to work matters.
‘No offence but you’re an ex-player for a reason. The drinking, the fighting, the generally bad attitude...they’re not qualities I look for in a co-worker either.’ His last appearance here had been a coup for the Demons to have him on board when no other team would have him. A big name for a budget price. Unfortunately, even this easy-going community hadn’t been enough to tame his wild ways. He’d become a liability in the end, his playing time down to single figures for his last matches, as opposed to the many minutes he’d spent in the penalty box. Eventually people had given up on him. Charlotte too, once she’d realised he wasn’t the man she’d thought he was when he’d snatched success away from the team. There’d been a collective sigh of relief when he’d flown back to Canada and she couldn’t say she was happy to work alongside someone prone to such unpredictability now either.
‘Ah, so you witnessed that particular phase of my life? In which case I can’t expect you to be performing cartwheels on my return but I can assure you I’m here to work, not to raise hell.’ Something dark flitted across his features that said he was deadly serious about being here, and sent chilly fingers reaching out to grab Charlotte by the back of the neck. She wanted desperately to believe that having him here would benefit the team, not hinder it, but she needed more proof than his word.
‘I don’t understand. Why would you want to come back to a team that holds memories of what I imagine was a very dark time for you? Especially to work off the ice rather than on it?’ She made no apology for her blunt line of questioning. It didn’t make sense to her and she’d made it a rule a long time ago to question anything she deemed suspect. She’d learned to follow her gut feeling rather than blindly take people at face value. It prevented a lot of pain and time-wasting further down the road.
‘Despite...everything, I like the place. I want to make this my home again. There’s also the matter of laying a few personal demons to rest and proving to you, and everyone else, I’m not that same hothead I was nine years ago.’ It had taken Hunter some time to answer her but when he did he held eye contact so she was inclined to believe what he was saying, even though she doubted it was the whole truth.
‘I trust you have all the relevant qualifications and experience?’ Although she expected his appointment was more to do with his connections here and last-minute availability than actually being the best man for the job, she couldn’t stop herself from asking. She needed someone who knew what he was doing on the medical staff with her.
‘All my papers are in order if you’d like to see them.’ He was teasing her now, the slight curve of his mouth telling her he wasn’t intimidated by her interrogation technique.
‘That won’t be necessary,’ she said, folding her arms across her chest as a defence against the dimples. This so wasn’t fair.
‘Look, I’m the first one to admit I was a screw-up. Not everyone will be happy to see me back but I’m sure we’re all different people now compared to who we were back then.’ He leaned back against the barrier, his coat falling open for a full-length view of the apparently new and improved Hunter.
That giddy, infatuated fan who shared Charlotte’s DNA insisted on taking a good, long look. Who was to say that Mr Sophistication here wouldn’t someday regress back to his rebellious alter ego too?
She’d never been a fan of that particular side of him. The young girl she’d been then had enjoyed the macho displays of the defenceman body-checking his opponents into the hoardings or dropping his gloves in a challenge fight. There was something primitive in watching that, even now, and there’d been times she’d wanted someone to defend her the way he had his teammates. He’d definitely been a crowd-and a Charlotte-pleaser for a time. But those later months when he’d fought with his own coach and smashed equipment in bad temper had made for uncomfortable viewing. It had felt like watching someone unravel in public and had come as no surprise to anyone when the Demons, or any team, had refused to renew his contract. He’d slunk back to Canada in disgrace, never to be heard of again. Until today.
‘Clearly Gray thinks you’ve changed since this was his doing and he’s the man in charge, not me. Well, I mean, if I was in charge I’d be a woman, not a man...’
‘Obviously.’ Hunter dropped his gaze to her feet and she followed it all the way back up to her eyes. He may as well have had X-ray vision the way he’d studied her form so carefully, smiling whilst she burned everywhere his eyes had lit upon her.
No, no, no, no, no! This wouldn’t do at all. Behind the scenes of an ice-hockey team was not an appropriate place to suddenly become self-aware and he certainly wasn’t an appropriate male to be the cause of it. These men were out of bounds. All of them.
Hunter mightn’t be a player, or one of her patients, but he was a colleague. Given their past history, albeit a one-sided affair, his presence here complicated matters even more for her. With the team languishing in the bottom half of the league her position was already a tad precarious, without him in the picture too. Especially when he kept looking at her as though he was trying to pick her up in a seedy bar.
‘Well, I’m sure you’ll want to meet the team...’ She backed away, reminding herself this wasn’t about her, Hunter or any ridiculous crush. They were both here to do a job and a team of sweaty, macho hockey players should be a good distraction from any residual teenage nonsense.
‘Maybe later. I wouldn’t want to disrupt training. We should probably use the time to get to know each other better so I can convince you I’m not here as some sort of punishment.’
‘That’s really not necessary.’ Charlotte gave a shudder. She knew all she needed to know about Hunter Torrance. Probably more than most due to her teenage obsession and enough for her to want to keep a little distance between them.
‘Hey, we’re both on the same team, right?’
‘Not by choice,’ she muttered under her breath.
It was no wonder the powers that be had kept this snippet of information from her until it was too late to do anything about it. She’d been surprised they’d found a replacement physiotherapist willing to see out the last few games of the season and hadn’t asked any questions, simply glad to have help getting the team back to fighting strength for the play-off qualifiers. Now she knew the good news had come with a catch.
‘Well, I’ll do my best not to get in your way. Actually, I wasn’t even expecting you to be here today. I thought team doctors practically only made appearances on match days with the slew of outside commitment
s and specialist clinics you all usually have to boost your salaries. I know this is a different league from the NHL in terms of rules, technical terms, profile and especially finances. Or are you the official welcome committee?’
She knew he was deliberately being facetious as he took a little payback for the hard time she’d given him so far. His sneer earned him her narrow-eyed stare, which usually had the power to wither a man at fifty paces, but the bad boy of the tabloids took it all in his stride. What was a dirty look in the grand scheme of things when she supposed his whole past would probably be raked over again in the national press when they got wind of his return?
‘Clearly, I didn’t get the memo we’d have a VIP joining us otherwise I would have dusted off my pom-poms.’
Hunter opened his mouth to say something then seemed to think better of it and simply shook his head. It was probably a good idea. She wasn’t in the mood for innuendo-based banter in the workplace, even if she had left the door wide open for it.
‘In answer to your question, I’m here for the play-off matches. I schedule my sports and musculoskeletal clinics around my time here so I don’t miss anything.’ It wasn’t easy but she used her personal leave to make sure she was here for the most important dates on the hockey calendar.
‘I’m sure there aren’t many who have such commitment.’ He seemed impressed that she took her role here seriously but that only made her blood boil a fraction more. If he’d ever been as dedicated as she was to the game he would understand the sacrifices she made. Experience had taught her Hunter wasn’t the team player the Demons needed.
‘This is my team. I want to see them win and I’ll do what I can to help realise that dream, but we do have our work cut out for us at the minute. Carter has a meniscus tear, Jensen has bursitis, Dempsey a groin strain, and Anderson, our star player, needs a serious attitude adjustment.’ She listed those battling injury who were already causing concern for the upcoming matches. He needed to understand the workload was substantial and this job wasn’t simply a position with a title.
