by Joanna Neil
The one that got away!
Pediatrician Caitlin Braemar has moved back home to Buckinghamshire for a fresh start! She never expected to find her first love, Brodie Driscoll—who’s still drop-dead gorgeous—living next door…or that he’d be her new boss!
In the past, Brodie always lived up to his bad-boy reputation, but as they work to save the little lives in their care, Caitlin starts to see Brodie in a whole new light!
And it’s becoming clear that she might just be the woman to tame him...
His gaze was dark with yearning, smoky with desire, and in that instant she lost herself, caught up in the flow of that heated current.
Caitlin needed his strength right then, his powerful arms around her—everything that meant shelter and protection from the outside world. She ran her fingers up over his chest, laced them around the strong column of his neck.
His kiss was gentle, coaxing, a slow, glorious exploration of everything she had to offer. His lips brushed hers, the tip of his tongue lightly, briefly tracing the full curve of her mouth, seeking her response. She kissed him in return, and in a feverish surge of passion he drew her close, easing her into the welcoming warmth of his taut, muscular thighs.
Her soft curves meshed with his hard, masculine frame and a ragged sigh escaped her, breaking in her throat. He kissed her thoroughly, desperately, his hands moving over her in an awed, almost reverent journey of discovery.
“Brodie…” She didn’t know what she wanted to say…just his name was enough. She wanted him, needed him, longed for him to make her his.
Dear Reader,
First love, young love…such an intense, wonderful experience. Is it possible that it can survive the ravages of time and be a “forever” kind of love?
Well, the answer to that is maybe. Sometimes it needs to change and mature, to grow into something else before young lovers can reach the fulfilment they long for.
Life in general—along with a broken romance and a troublesome background of family secrets—manages to get in the way and mess things up for Caitlin and Brodie when they meet up again in the beautiful surroundings of rural Buckinghamshire.
I hope you enjoy reading about their skirmishes and triumphs as they find one another once more.
With love,
Joanna
RESISTING HER REBEL DOC
Joanna Neil
Books by Joanna Neil
Harlequin Medical Romance
Dr. Right All Along
Tamed by Her Brooding Boss
His Bride in Paradise
Return of the Rebel Doctor
Sheltered by Her Top-Notch Boss
A Doctor to Remember
Daring to Date Her Boss
Temptation in Paradise
Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.
Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER ONE
‘WHAT WILL YOU DO?’ Molly stood by the desk at the nursing station, riffling through the papers in a wire tray. ‘Will you go to the wedding?’ She sent Caitlin a sympathetic glance. ‘It must be a really difficult situation for you.’
Caitlin nodded. ‘Yes, it is, to be honest. These last few weeks have been a nightmare. It’s all come as a complete shock to me and right now I’m not sure how I’m going to deal with it.’ She pulled a face, pushing back a couple of chestnut curls that had strayed on to her forehead. Her shoulder-length hair was a mass of wild, natural curls but for her work at the hospital she usually kept it pinned back out of the way. ‘I don’t want to go but I don’t see how I can avoid it—when all’s said and done, Jenny’s my cousin. My family—my aunt, especially—will want me to be there for the celebrations. I don’t want to be the cause of any breakdown in family relationships by not going. It will cause a huge upset if I stay away.’
Yet how could she bear to watch her cousin tie the knot with the man who just a short time ago had been the love of her life? She and Matt had even started to talk about getting engaged and then—wham!—Jenny had come along and suddenly everything had changed.
Her usually mobile mouth flattened into a straight line. When she’d opened the envelope first thing this morning back at the flat and taken out the beautifully embossed invitation card, her spirits had fallen to rock-bottom. She’d had a sick feeling that the day was headed from then on into a downward spiral.
Sure enough, just a few minutes later as she had opened the fridge door and taken out a carton of milk, her prediction was reinforced. She’d shaken the empty carton in disbelief. One of her flatmates must have drained the last drops of milk and then put it back on the shelf. She’d stared at it. No coffee before starting work? It was unthinkable!
‘I can see how awkward it is for you.’ Molly sighed, bringing Caitlin’s thoughts back to the present. ‘Families are everything, aren’t they? Sometimes we have to do things we don’t want to do in order to keep the peace. I just wish you weren’t leaving us. I know how you feel about working alongside Jenny and Matt but we’ll miss you so much.’
‘I’ll miss you too,’ Caitlin said with feeling. Molly was a children’s nurse, brilliant at her job and a good friend, but now, as Caitlin looked around the ward, she felt sadness growing deep inside her. She’d been working at this hospital for several years, specialising as a children’s doctor, making friends and getting to know the inquisitive and endearing children who had come into her care.
It would be such a wrench to put it all behind her, but she knew she had to make a fresh start. She couldn’t bear to stay while Matt was here. He had betrayed her and hurt her deeply. ‘We’ll keep in touch, won’t we?’ she said, putting on a bright face. ‘I won’t be going too far away—Buckinghamshire’s only about an hour’s drive from here.’
Molly nodded. She was a pretty girl with hazel eyes and dark, almost black hair cut in a neat, silky bob. ‘Are you going to live at home? Didn’t you say your mother needed to have someone close by her these days?’
‘Yes, that’s right. Actually, I thought it would be a good chance for me to keep an eye on her now that she’s getting on a bit and beginning to get a few aches and pains. It’s been worrying me for quite a while that I’m so far away.’ She smiled. ‘I think she’s really quite pleased that I’ll be staying with her for a while, just until I can sort out a place of my own.’
She started to look through the patients’ charts that were neatly stacked on the desk. Her whole world was changing. She loved this job; she’d thought long and hard before giving in her notice, but how could she go on working here as long as Matt was going to be married to her cousin? And, worse, Jenny was going to take up a job here too.
She shuddered inwardly. It was still alien to her to think of him as her ex. They’d been together for eighteen months and it had been a terrible jolt to discover that he’d fallen out of love with her and gone off with another woman.
‘I shall have to look for another job, of course, but there are a couple of hospitals in the area. It shouldn’t be too difficult to find something. I hope not, anyway.’ She straightened up and made an effort to pull herself together. No matter how much she was hurting, she knew instinctively that it was important from now on to make plans and try to look on the positive side. She had to get over this and move on. She glanced at Molly. ‘Perhaps we could meet up from time to time—we could go for a coffee together, or a meal, maybe?’
‘Yeah, that’ll be good.’ Molly cheered up and began to glance through the list of young patients who were waiting to be seen. ‘The
test results are back on the little boy with the painful knee,’ she pointed out helpfully. ‘From the looks of things it’s an infection.’
‘Hmm.’ Caitlin quickly scanned the laboratory form. ‘It’s what we thought. I’ll arrange for the orthopaedic surgeon to drain the fluid from the joint and we’ll start him on the specific antibiotic right away.’ She wrote out a prescription and handed it to Molly.
‘Thanks. I’ll see to it.’
‘Good.’ Caitlin frowned. ‘I’d like to follow up on him to see how he’s doing, but I expect Matt will take over my patients when I leave here. I’ll miss my little charges.’
Caitlin phoned the surgeon to set things in motion and then went to check up on a four-year-old patient who’d been admitted with breathing problems the previous day. The small child was sleeping, his breathing coming in short gasps, his cheeks chalky-pale against the white of the hospital pillows. He’d been so poorly when he’d been brought in yesterday and she’d been desperately concerned for him. But now, after she had listened to his chest and checked the monitors, she felt reassured.
‘He seems to be doing much better,’ she told his parents, who were sitting by his bedside, waiting anxiously. ‘The intravenous steroids and nebuliser treatments have opened up his airways and made it easier for him to breathe. We’ll keep him on those and on the oxygen for another day or so and you should gradually begin to see a great improvement. The chest X-ray didn’t show anything untoward, so we can assume it was just flare-up of the asthma. I’ll ask the nurse to talk to you to see if we can find ways of avoiding too many of those in the future.’
‘Thank you, doctor.’ They looked relieved, and after talking with them for a little while longer Caitlin left them, taking one last glance at the child before going back to the central desk to see if any more test results had come in.
‘There’s a phone call for you, Caitlin.’ The clerk at the nurses’ station held the receiver aloft as she approached the desk. ‘Sounds urgent.’
‘Okay, thanks.’ Caitlin took the receiver from her and said in an even tone, ‘Hello, this is Dr Braemar. How may I help?’
‘Hi, Caitlin.’ The deep male voice was warm and compelling in a way that was oddly, bone-meltingly familiar. ‘I don’t know if you remember me—it’s been quite a while. I’m Brodie Driscoll. We used to live near one another in Ashley Vale?’
She drew in a quick breath. Brodie Driscoll! How could she possibly forget him? He was the young man who had haunted her teenage dreams and sent hot thrills rocketing through her bloodstream. Just hearing his name had been enough to fire up all her senses. He had been constantly in her thoughts back then—and to be scrupulously honest even now the sound of his voice brought prickles of awareness shooting from the tips of her toes right up to her temples.
Not that she’d ever let on that he had the power to affect her like this—not then and certainly not now! Heaven forbid she should ever fall for the village bad boy, let alone become involved in any way with him. He was a rebel, through and through, trouble with a capital T... But who could resist him? His roguish smile and his easy charm made him utterly irresistible.
‘Oh, I remember,’ she said softly. She couldn’t imagine why he was calling her like this, out of the blue. Not to talk about old times, surely? Her pulse quickened. Maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad idea, after all...?
‘That’s good, I’m glad you haven’t forgotten me.’ There was a smile in his voice but his next words brought her out of her wistful reverie and swiftly back to the here and now. ‘I’m sorry to ring you at work, Caitlin, but something’s happened that I think you need to know about.’
‘Oh? That’s okay...what is it?’ She’d no idea how or why he’d tracked her down, but he sounded serious, and all at once she was anxious to hear what he had to say.
‘It’s about your mother. I’m not sure if you know, but I moved into the house next door to hers a couple of weeks ago, so I see her quite often when she’s out and about on the smallholding.’
She hadn’t known that. Her mother was always busy with the animals and the orchard; knowing how friendly she was with everyone it was easy to see how she and Brodie would pass the time of day with one another. Her mouth curved. It was good that she had someone nearby to take an interest in her.
‘What’s happened?’ she asked. ‘Are the animals escaping on to your property?’ Her mother could never resist taking in strays and wounded creatures and nursing them back to health. ‘I know the fence was looking a bit rickety last time I was there. I made a few running repairs, but if there’s a problem I’ll make sure it’s sorted.’
‘No, it isn’t that.’ There was a sombre edge to his tone and Caitlin tensed, suddenly alert. ‘I’m afraid it’s much more serious,’ he said. ‘Your mother has had an accident, Caitlin. She had a fall and I’m pretty sure she’s broken her hip. I called the ambulance a few minutes ago and the paramedics are transferring her into it right now. I’ll go with her to the hospital, but I thought you should know what’s happening.’
Caitlin’s face paled rapidly. ‘I— Yes, of course. I... Thank you, Brodie. I’ll get over there... I need to be with her.’ She frowned. ‘What makes you think she’s broken her hip?’ She added tentatively, ‘Perhaps it’s not quite as serious as that.’
‘That’s what I was hoping, but she can’t move her leg and it’s at an odd angle—it looks as though it’s become shorter than the other one. I’m afraid she’s in a lot of pain.’
‘Oh, dear.’ Those were typical signs of a broken hip. The day was just going rapidly from bad to worse. ‘Will they be taking her to Thame Valley Hospital?’
‘That’s right. She’ll go straight to A&E for assessment.’ He paused as someone at the other end of the line spoke to him. She guessed the paramedic had approached him to say they were ready to leave.
‘I’m sorry, I have to go,’ he said.
‘All right...and thanks again for ringing me, Brodie.’ She hesitated then said quickly, ‘Give her my love, will you, and tell her I’ll be with her as soon as I can?’
‘I will.’ He cut the call and Caitlin stood for a moment, staring into space, trying to absorb what he’d told her.
‘Are you all right?’ Emerging from one of the patients’ bays, the senior registrar came over to the desk and looked her over briefly. ‘You’re as white as a sheet,’ he commented. ‘What’s happened? Is it something to do with one of the patients?’
She shook her head. ‘My mother’s had an accident—a fall. A neighbour’s going with her to the hospital—it sounds as though she’s broken her hip.’
‘I’m so sorry,’ he said with a frown. ‘I know how worrying that must be for you, especially with her not living close by. You’ll want to go to her.’
‘Yes, I do... But are you sure it’s all right?’ She wanted to jump at the chance to leave but she had patients who needed to be seen.
‘It’s fine. I’ll take over your case load. Don’t worry about it. I’m sure Molly will fill me in on some of the details.’
‘Thanks,’ she said, relieved.
She left the hospital a short time later, walking out into warm sunshine. The balmy weather seemed so at odds with what was happening.
She picked up an overnight bag from her flat. The news was dreadful and she was full of apprehension about what she might find when she caught up with her mother. It was a relief at least to know that Brodie was with her. She must be in shock and in terrible pain but it would be a comfort to her to have someone by her side. Caitlin would be eternally grateful to Brodie for the way he had responded to her mother’s predicament.
Guilt and anxiety washed over her. She should have been there; somehow she should have been able to prevent this from happening... She tried as best she could, but it wasn’t always possible for her to get away every week, with shift changes and staff shortages and so on. It was frustrating.
Her heart was thumping heavily as she drove along the familiar route towards her home town
. She had the car window wound down so that she could feel the breeze on her face, but even the heat and the beautiful landscape of the Buckinghamshire countryside couldn’t distract her from her anxiety.
How bad was it? Being a doctor sometimes had its disadvantages—she knew all too well how dangerous a hip fracture could be, the complications involved: perhaps a significant amount of internal bleeding and the possibility of disabling consequences.
She gripped the steering wheel more firmly. Think positively, she reminded herself. Her mother was in good hands and she would be there with her in just a short time.
A few minutes later she slid the car into a parking bay at the Thame Valley Hospital and then hurried into the Accident and Emergency department, anxious to find out how her mother was getting on.
‘They’ve been doing some pre-op procedures, X-rays and blood tests and so on,’ the nurse said. ‘And as soon as those are complete the surgeon will want to talk to her. Mr Driscoll thought maybe you might like to have a cup of coffee with him while you’re waiting. He asked me to tell you he’s in the cafeteria.’ She smiled and added good-naturedly, ‘If you leave me your phone number, I’ll give you a ring when it’s all right for you to see your mother.’
‘Okay, thanks, that’ll be great.’ Caitlin wrote down her number on a slip of paper and then hurried away to find Brodie.
He caught her glance as soon as she entered the cafeteria. ‘Hi there,’ he said with a smile, coming to greet her, his blue gaze moving fleetingly over her slender figure. She had discarded the hospital scrubs she’d been wearing and had on slim, styled black jeans topped with a loose, pin-tucked shirt. ‘It’s good to see you, Caitlin.’
‘You too.’ Her voice was husky, her breath coming in short bursts after her rush to get here. That was the excuse she gave herself, but maybe the truth was that it was a shock to see Brodie in the flesh after all these years.
The good-looking, hot-headed youth she remembered of old was gone and in his place stood a man who simply turned her insides to molten lava. This man was strong, ruggedly hewn, his handsome features carved out of...adversity, she guessed, and...success? There was something about him that said he had fought to get where he was now and he wouldn’t be giving any ground.
