The Surgeon's Convenient Husband

by Amy Ruttan

  Surprise reunion...

  ...with her husband!

  Dr. Ruby Cloutier agreed to a marriage with army doc Aran Atkinson in name only so she could continue working in Alaska. Aran’s military service has suitably kept them apart—and their attraction at bay—until he unexpectedly returns, more brooding and tempting than ever! Now working together on life-threatening cases, it’s getting harder to resist the burning chemistry between them. Suddenly Ruby finds herself inconveniently falling for her convenient husband!

  A smile tugged on the corner of Ruby’s lips and made Aran’s pulse race.

  Since he met her all those years ago, for that brief time, he hadn’t seen her smile genuinely once. Her smiles on their wedding day had been forced and for show.

  This smile... It was genuine.

  It was like she understood him.

  She cleared her throat and looked away, the smile disappearing. She stopped, pointing at a door that led down another hall. “Human Resources is down the hall. Third door on the left.”

  Aran nodded. “Thank you.”

  “Sure.” She turned to leave.

  “Ruby, maybe...” He paused. “Can I take you to dinner tonight?”

  “What?” Ruby couldn’t really believe what she was hearing.

  “I asked if I could take you, my wife, out to dinner?” His blue eyes were twinkling and he was smiling at her.

  “Dinner?”

  “You know, where two people share a meal? We have had a dinner together before, if you recall.”

  “I hardly call a sandwich in the cafeteria after a round when we were residents a meal.”

  “Well, then it’s time to rectify that, don’t you think?”

  Dear Reader,

  Thank you for picking up a copy of Ruby and Aran’s story, The Surgeon’s Convenient Husband.

  I love Alaska and it was fun to revisit it and write another book in one of my favorite settings. And to include a place that’s very dear to me: the Northwest Territories. I love being able to set my books in places I’ve always wanted to go, but it makes it all the better when I’ve been there myself.

  Aran is at a loss. He’s lost his career due to an injury and he doesn’t feel settled. He doesn’t know what he wants in life and married Ruby as a favor.

  Ruby never planned on ever getting married. Her main focus in life is to save others, to somehow make up for her father’s death.

  Of course, love always finds a way. Even in the most stubborn, broken hearts.

  I hope you enjoy Aran and Ruby’s story.

  I love hearing from readers, so please drop by my website, amyruttan.com, or give me a shout on Twitter, @ruttanamy.

  With warmest wishes,

  Amy Ruttan

  The Surgeon’s Convenient Husband

  Amy Ruttan

  Books by Amy Ruttan

  Harlequin Medical Romance

  Hot Greek Docs

  A Date with Dr. Moustakas

  Christmas in Manhattan

  Navy Doc on Her Christmas List

  Royal Spring Babies

  His Pregnant Royal Bride

  Hot Latin Docs

  Alejandro’s Sexy Secret

  Tempting Nashville’s Celebrity Doc

  Unwrapped by the Duke

  Convenient Marriage, Surprise Twins

  The Surgeon King’s Secret Baby

  A Mommy for His Daughter

  NY Doc Under the Northern Lights

  Carrying the Surgeon’s Baby

  Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.

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  For my mom. My heart will never be the same. I love you.

  Praise for Amy Ruttan

  “From start to finish, this book was entertaining.... The instant chemistry these two have from the moment they’re introduced together into the story sets the fast pace of the book.”

  —Harlequin Junkie on His Pregnant Royal Bride

  “Beautiful, captivating prose and engaging dialogue. The storytelling in Alejandro’s Sexy Secret is vibrant and unique.”

  —Goodreads

  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

  EPILOGUE

  EXCERPT FROM RESCUED BY HER RIVAL BY AMALIE BERLIN

  CHAPTER ONE

  Anchorage, Alaska

  SLEEP. I NEED SLEEP.

  Ruby was exhausted. She’d just flown to a bush camp at the DEW Line and then back again because of an injured tourist who had been mauled by a bear. They had managed to get the tourist out of the bush camp and to Wainwright, but there had been no surgeon there at the time.

  So Ruby had done the surgery. She had stabilized the man and then, with a couple members of her team, she’d brought him back down after the surgery. The Air Ambulance wouldn’t have been able to handle it. The man had needed surgery before he could travel. He would have died on the trip in the Medevac.

  This was why Ruby loved her job so much. This is what she lived for. Saving lives on the frontier.

  Still, she was beat tired, and very thankful for the midnight sun of the summer. Her internal clock was a bit off, and all she wanted to do now was go home and have a rest. She thought it was morning, but she couldn’t be quite certain. And she was pretty sure there was something that she was supposed to do today.

  Only she couldn’t remember what.

  “Dr. Cloutier. I was just looking for you!”

  Ruby groaned inwardly and turned around to see Jessica Atkinson, the hospital director at Seward Memorial, and her voice screeching through the fog of her exhaustion reminded her of what she’d forgotten.

  Oh. Right.

  It was not that she didn’t like her, but she was just so exhausted, and she’d completely forgotten about today. Today was the day her husband Aran, Jessica’s son, was coming to Anchorage after his honorable discharge.

  How could I forget?

  She hated herself for forgetting that piece of information. So she plastered on the best, most energetic smile that she could.

  She and Aran had been residents together, and when Ruby had had to return to Canada, which had meant giving up all her plans to implement a wilderness trauma team based out of Anchorage, it had been a huge blow. That was when Aran had suggested they get married—so she could stay and finish her work while he enlisted in the Army.

  At first Ruby had been against a fake marriage. She hadn’t wanted to endanger her plans or Aran’s career, but Aran had insisted.

  So five years ago they’d got married, and a month ago she’d received word that he’d been injured while on a tour of duty and, after a period of recovery in Germany, would be honorably discharged to his home in San Diego.

  She hadn’t gone down there because she’d been so busy with her rounds here up north, and she regretted not going. And, judging by the stern look on Jessica’s face now, she should really be regretting her choice. It had been five years since she’d seen Aran. He’d been her friend, or the closest thing she�
��d had to a friend, and he’d done her a huge favor.

  “Jessica, I haven’t seen you in a while. How was your trip to San Diego?” Ruby avoided asking about Aran. She was worried that he was more injured than the initial reports had let on.

  “Good, but hot. I much prefer the north.” Jessica hesitated, then said, “I’m hoping you can come to my office. I have to talk to you about something.”

  A shudder ran down Ruby’s spine when she saw how uneasy Jessica was. It must be something bad that Jessica wanted to tell her. She had always been pretty good at reading people—it helped when she was dealing with patients, because not everyone told the truth, and helped especially when she was having to deal with people who lived in the bush and didn’t have much trust for people who lived in the city.

  Or tourists who got drunk and baited a bear.

  And, even though Ruby wanted to tell Jessica no, she couldn’t. Ruby still felt so guilty about not going down to San Diego to see Aran, even though Aran had sent her an email and told her it was okay that she didn’t come. That he didn’t mind and knew her work was important.

  She should have ignored that and gone anyway.

  “Sure.” Ruby stifled a yawn and fell into step beside Jessica.

  “I know you’re tired, Ruby,” Jessica said sympathetically. “I heard that you just got back from Wainwright and brought in a bear attack patient?”

  Ruby nodded. “A drunk tourist who thought it would be great to get a close-up selfie with a bear, and a bear who thought, Oh, here’s an easy meal.”

  Jessica shook her head and then opened the door to her office. “When will people learn?”

  “Never!” Ruby said as she followed Jessica into her office.

  “Have a seat.”

  Jessica walked around and sat down on the opposite side of the desk and Ruby’s stomach twisted into a knot. The last time she had been in this situation she had learned that her work visa was ending and that she was going to be sent back to Canada.

  As much as she loved her home in the Northwest Territories, the government there didn’t have the money or the manpower to fund Ruby’s big aspirations to bring more medical care to the north. Her hope was to one day go back and have the territorial and federal government see what she had done in Alaska. She was getting closer now, but five years ago she hadn’t been ready.

  Ruby was having an extreme sense of déjà-vu and she didn’t like it too much. “Jessica, you’re making me a little nervous,” she admitted.

  “It’s nothing bad. Well, I don’t think it’s bad...” Jessica trailed off.

  “But I’ll think it’s bad?”

  “You might not be happy about it. I know how particular you are about your team.”

  That wasn’t a good start.

  Ruby was particular about her team. Working in extreme weather under difficult circumstances and in difficult terrain took a very special kind of person and Ruby was picky about that.

  She stiffened her spine and crossed her arms, bracing herself for the worst. “Okay...”

  “As you must know, Aran has been honorably discharged from the Armed Forces after he suffered a leg injury.”

  It was a dig at her and Ruby knew that. She deserved it. “Yes. I do know.”

  “Aran is your husband,” Jessica reminded her gently.

  “I know, Jessica, and I’m sorry I didn’t go down to see him. My work... I had a lot of rounds to finish and...”

  Jessica raised her hand. “I get it. I respect it. And Aran understands too. It’s just...this whole fake marriage thing...”

  “Has Aran found someone else?”

  Ruby knew it was possible. Aran was handsome and charming. If she was a different person she might have fallen for him. Every time he walked into a room she could see the dreamy expressions cross women’s faces.

  She was pretty sure she’d had the same wide-eyed look a few times when she’d used to see him, but she’d kept him at a distance. They’d been work friends—nothing more.

  And, since she’d been the only female resident he hadn’t slept with during their residency, she had often been paired up with him.

  She’d thought his proposal for a fake marriage before he’d left a bad idea, but he’d convinced her it would be fine...

  “You’re insane.” Ruby shook her head and tried to walk away from him.

  Aran jogged up beside her and flashed her that bright smile that always melted so many hearts. Including hers, sometimes, but she’d never let him know that.

  “So you’ve told me before,” he said. “I’m not wrong about this, though.”

  Ruby stopped and crossed her arms. “A marriage of convenience? That’s something that’s only done in the movies or romantic fiction. In real life it’s fraud!”

  “It’s not fraud.”

  Aran took her hands in his and she tried to control the tremble of excitement he caused in her by his touch.

  “We’re friends.”

  “Work friends.”

  He sighed. “We like each other, at least.”

  “I’ll give you that.” She smiled. “What do you get out of doing me this huge favor right before you ship out?”

  “I’m doing this for you. I believe in you and you’ll owe me one.”

  “Okay. As long as you’re sure.”

  “Positive. Will you marry me, Ruby Cloutier?”

  Ruby shook the thoughts away. She had been attracted to him, but she didn’t want any kind of relationship. Her “marriage” to Aran had stopped a lot of friends from trying to set her up. Which had been great. Still, if Aran found someone else she couldn’t blame him. She couldn’t give him what he wanted.

  Can’t you?

  “Does he want a divorce? If that’s what this is about it’s no problem. Honestly, I’ve thought about getting it done and over with, but I’ve been so busy...”

  Jessica shook her head “It’s not that—and anyway you still don’t have a Green Card. Immigration will want to interview the both of you now that Aran has been honorably discharged.”

  “Then what is this about?” Ruby asked, hoping she didn’t come off sounding too testy. But she was exhausted and just wanted to get to the point.

  “Aran is coming here to work and I want him on your trauma team.”

  Ruby blinked a couple of times. She wasn’t certain that she heard Jessica clearly. “What?”

  “He has military training and he’s a perfect fit.”

  Only he wasn’t. Aran was a fine surgeon, and military training was an asset, but she remembered how much he hated the north. How he’d complained bitterly during the winter and through the darkness. He wasn’t suited to living up here. He’d told her so enough times.

  Maybe he’s changed.

  Ruby bit her lip. “I vet my team very closely. We all have to work together seamlessly. Aran didn’t seem interested in what my team does when I first talked about it. He supported it, yes, but didn’t ever seem keen on being a part of it.”

  It was a nice way of saying she’d thought Aran wouldn’t be able to hack it.

  Jessica folded her hands across the desk. “It’s the only way I can get him to come home. He will be on your team. You have a spot...”

  “No offense, Jessica, but I was going to interview someone else for that position.”

  “Ruby, you can do this favor for me. I’ve been able to facilitate your stay in this country, and I’m the one who fights with the rest of the board about keeping your vital services. Like you, I think it’s important that your venture expands and that you’re able to teach your services across the north. Too many people die needlessly because there is no access to healthcare or mental healthcare.”

  Ruby’s mind drifted for a second. Jessica was right. Too many people died because they couldn’t get help right away. Just like her father. Her father
who had taught her everything about the north...

  “Momma, what’s wrong?” Ruby asked, peering through the doorway from the kitchen to the front hall.

  She could see her mother leaning against the door, her hand covering her face, her shoulders shaking. Beyond her stood two RCMP officers, their faces crestfallen.

  “Momma?” Ruby asked again.

  Lieutenant Alexander looked at her. He was her older brother’s best friend and his eyes were full of tears. He would tell her the truth. Ruby was a big girl of twelve.

  “Ruby, it’s your papa. There was an accident at the mine...”

  Ruby took a deep breath and tried to shake the memory away.

  This was why she was doing what she was doing, but she was selective about who was on her team and who wasn’t. Part of her didn’t want to take on Aran because she knew how he hated the north, but another part of her realized he was a man with military training.

  Although the leg injury worried her...

  Sometimes her work took them out into the wilderness, and they had to hike from where they could land the plane. And then there were natural disasters. If he couldn’t keep up, then what would happen?

  “Okay,” Ruby said cautiously. “But he knows that this is my team, right? He knows that I’m in charge? The Aran I remember from our resident days was very headstrong.”

  Jessica nodded and smiled. Ruby could see the relief on her face.

  “Yes, he knows that.”

  “When does he arrive?”

  “He’ll be here in five minutes. I know you’re tired...”

  “It’s fine,” Ruby said, though really it wasn’t. She needed to sleep. She’d been up too long, But she had to stay and talk to her husband of five years.

  That thought made her chuckle to herself.

  She was really tired.

  There was a knock, and then the door opened and Ruby turned in her chair, expecting to see the same man from all those years ago.

  Instead it was a very different man from the one she’d last seen five years ago who walked through the door.