Just a Family Doctor

Caroline Anderson

THE MAN BEHIND THE DOCWhen Mark Jarvis arrives at Audley Memorial Hospital as a paediatric Senior House Officer, Nurse Allie Baker's heart skips a beat. Allie’s been in love with Mark for years, and now they’re finally in the same place emotionally she’s going to make the most of being able to declare her love publicly! Allie experiences the best moment of her life when Mark proposes, but it’s quickly followed by an earth-shattering bump when she learns that Mark wants to become a GP. Allie watched her parents struggle continually with the pressures of her father's general practice, and she’s vowed she’ll never have that life. Allie can’t ask Mark to give up his vocation, but is she really going to give up the man she loves just because hewants to be a family doctor…?THE AUDLEY—where love is the best medicine of all…

Just a

Family Doctor

Caroline Anderson

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

Table of Contents

Cover (#u187deed8-6285-53fd-864d-bb00dc61adf8)

Title Page (#u8049c685-5058-521d-b558-c761d91081e3)

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER ONE (#uca5bf3dd-256e-5c22-a918-08b799ae0279)

ALLIE heard a soft footfall behind her. There you are,’ she said. ‘I thought you were never coming. Anna, we’re going to have to get this rota sorted out—I need the weekend of the—ah!’

Her hands flew up and grasped the fingers covering her eyes—firm, masculine fingers, strong and unyielding and attached to someone with a sexy chuckle and a wicked sense of humour.

‘Guess who?’ a voice said, and she stopped struggling instantly, all her senses leaping to attention. The voice sounded strangely familiar. It couldn’t be—could it?

‘Mark?’ she said incredulously, and the hands fell away, releasing her.

‘Damn. You guessed.’

She leapt up and spun round, and laughter bubbled up inside her. ‘It is you!’ she exclaimed, and found herself wrapped in a huge hug. She indulged herself for a moment, then pushed away, looking up at him with laughing eyes, scanning his face in delight. ‘You sneaky rat! And how did you know where I was—did my mother tell you?’

The answering smile was swift and wide, lighting his gorgeous grey eyes and crinkling them at the corners. He looked good enough to eat, but then he always had. ‘I’m afraid so,’ he confessed.

‘So, what are you doing here?’ she asked in amazement.

‘I’ve come to say happy birthday,’ he said with a grin.

‘What—all the way from London?’

He chuckled. ‘No. Actually, all the way from Andrew Barrett’s clinic. I’m working here—doing a paediatric rotation. I started today.’

‘Really? That’s amazing, we’ll be working together! Oh, Mark, that’s wonderful! I haven’t seen you for such a long time—’

‘Five years.’

‘Is it really?’ she said in amazement. ‘I suppose it must be—I was nearly eighteen, and I’m twenty-three today. Oh, Mark, it’s really good to see you again. We ought to catch up—lunch? Oh, damn, no, I can’t do lunch, I’m meeting my housemates for a drink. You could come?’ she suggested doubtfully.

‘I’d rather have you to myself—it’s difficult to catch up in a crowd. How about tonight? Are you going out?’

‘No—I’m not. Beth and Lucy were both busy tonight—that’s why we’re having lunch.’

‘No hot date?’

‘No date at all, hot or otherwise,’ she said with a wry chuckle. ‘Tonight would be lovely.’

‘Where do you live?’

‘Just behind the hospital in a little terraced house. Where are you?’

‘I’ve got a room in the hospital—one of those ghastly things like university halls. It could be worse, I suppose. It’s got an en suite shower room and trees outside the window, but it’s pretty grim.’

‘You ought to get a flat.’

‘I’m hoping to buy a house—I just need time to look. I’ve got my next job lined up in the same area, so I thought I’d buy now. Why not? The sooner the better, frankly, after last night. Talk about rowdy.’

‘You’re getting too old,’ she teased, and he laughed.

‘Tell me about it.’ He g