Carol Marinelli - Playing the Playboy's Sweetheart

LONDON’S MOST DESIRABLE DOCS

Heroes, heartbreakers … and husbands?

Amongst the glittering lights of London the hard-working doctors and nurses at The Royal are the talk of the town—and none more so than Hugh and Anton!

Passionate and dedicated, these brilliant docs spend all day saving lives and all night breaking hearts. Their own hearts are kept under lock and key … until two sexy single ladies turn their lives upside-down and force them to question everything they ever believed in!

CAROL MARINELLIrecently filled in a form where she was asked for her job title and was thrilled, after all these years, to be able to put down her answer as ‘writer’. Then it asked what Carol did for relaxation. After chewing her pen for a moment Carol put down the truth—’writing’. The third question asked: ‘What are your hobbies?’ Well, not wanting to look obsessed or, worse still, boring, she crossed the fingers on her free hand and answered ‘swimming and tennis’. But, given that the chlorine in the pool does terrible things to her highlights, and the closest she’s got to a tennis racket in the last couple of years is watching the Australian Open, I’m sure you can guess the real answer!

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I have especially enjoyed writing these two stories, because the first is set in summer and it’s rather lovely to watch as Emily’s little holiday break becomes rather more complicated—thanks to the very charming, very blond Hugh.

Then I got to take myself straight into winter and a lovely English Christmas, with Louise determined to enjoy it this year. She’s rather cheeky, very flirty, and absolutely the last thing that brooding, incredibly sexy Anton needs right now.

Ho, ho, ho!

And in the midst of all that along came Alex and Jennifer, tap-dancing across the stage as I tried to write—more about them later!

I love my job!

Happy reading

Carol x

Cover

About the Author CAROL MARINELLI recently filled in a form where she was asked for her job title and was thrilled, after all these years, to be able to put down her answer as ‘writer’. Then it asked what Carol did for relaxation. After chewing her pen for a moment Carol put down the truth—’writing’. The third question asked: ‘What are your hobbies?’ Well, not wanting to look obsessed or, worse still, boring, she crossed the fingers on her free hand and answered ‘swimming and tennis’. But, given that the chlorine in the pool does terrible things to her highlights, and the closest she’s got to a tennis racket in the last couple of years is watching the Australian Open, I’m sure you can guess the real answer!

Title Page Playing the Playboy’s Sweetheart Carol Marinelli www.millsandboon.co.uk

Dear Reader Dear Reader Dear Reader PROLOGUE 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 CHAPTER FIFTEEN CHAPTER SIXTEEN CHAPTER SEVENTEEN Copyright I have especially enjoyed writing these two stories, because the first is set in summer and it’s rather lovely to watch as Emily’s little holiday break becomes rather more complicated—thanks to the very charming, very blond Hugh. Then I got to take myself straight into winter and a lovely English Christmas, with Louise determined to enjoy it this year. She’s rather cheeky, very flirty, and absolutely the last thing that brooding, incredibly sexy Anton needs right now. Ho, ho, ho! And in the midst of all that along came Alex and Jennifer, tap-dancing across the stage as I tried to write—more about them later! I love my job! Happy reading Carol x

PROLOGUE

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

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Copyright

HUGH LINTON CAME with a warning attached.

Emily hadn’t even put on her scrubs for her first shift as theatre nurse at The Royal—a busy London hospital—before being told by Louise, one of the other nurses, that the surgical registrar who was operating this Monday morning was, by anyone’s standards, a heartbreaker.

‘Is Candy very upset?’ Louise asked a colleague as she tucked her long blonde hair into her hat.

‘What do you think?’ came the response. ‘I just saw her in the canteen, crying her eyes out with a little crowd gathered!’ She smiled at Emily. ‘I’m Annie.’

‘Hi, Annie,’ Emily said, but Annie was already back talking to Louise.

‘Mind you,’ Annie continued, ‘I don’t get why she’s carrying on so much—surely everyone should know that if you go into any sort of a relationship with Hugh it’s going to be fleeting at best, heartbreak at worst.’

‘Watch yourself.’ Louise winked at Emily.

‘No need to,’ Emily said, ‘because he shan’t be breaking mine!’ But though she had laughed as she’d said it, in fact she wasn’t joking.

Emily loathed anything remotely fleeting and no one would get close enough to break her heart. She had decided that many, many years ago.

Still, she was somewhat sideswiped by Hugh Linton’s exceedingly good looks because when he first walked into the operating theatre Emily found out first-hand what the word ‘presence’ meant.

He was very tall and his hair was as blond as Emily’s was dark. He had the greenest eyes that she had ever seen and his voice was deep and clear, the type who rarely needed to repeat themselves. His smile, as he chatted with Louise and then caught Emily’s eye, did make a slight blush spread across Emily’s cheeks and confirmed what she already knew—Hugh Linton was far from her ideal man!

‘Morning, everyone!’ Alex, the senior consultant, came in, having just been in to have a last word with the patient before surgery. ‘It’s going to be a long one,’ he warned as he went off to scrub.

The operation was for the removal of an abdominal tumour in a twenty-six-year-old man. It was a complex tumour and before the operation commenced and the patient was brought in, Alex explained why he was doing open surgery as opposed to keyhole, which was his speciality. Then there was time for a little chat.