Alison Roberts - The Playboy Doctor's Proposal

And Ryan looked at her.

There was no mistaking the sensation of free fall. The feeling that all the cells in her body were charged with some kind of static electricity, desperately seeking a focus for their energy.

That focus was to be found in the depths of the dark eyes that were so close to her own. This was a connection that transcended anything remotely physical. The caress of that eye contact lasted only a heartbeat, but Hannah knew it would haunt her for life.

It was a moment of truth.

A truth she hadn’t expected.

One she most certainly did not want.

She was in love with Ryan Fisher.

How lucky am I?

To have colleagues who are also my friends, whose skills I have the utmost respect for, and who share a love of the genre and a dedication to making each story the best yet.

To work together and have the challenge of a scope broad enough to link several books, along with the sheer fun of intertwining the stories of each other’s characters, is an enriching experience.

So here we are, back in Crocodile Creek, and we’re throwing a cyclone at our own bit of northern Australia. Scary stuff!

I’m more likely to experience a bad earthquake or maybe a tsunami where I am in New Zealand, but it’s a good idea to be prepared for whatever dramatic turns nature can take, and we can get some bad storms at times.

Here’s what you can do if a strong wind warning is issued:

Bring your pets inside and move stock to shelter

Secure outdoor furniture

Tape across large windows to prevent shattering

Stay inside during storm

Partially open a window on the sheltered side of the house

Stay away from doors and windows

If you have to go outside, watch out for dangling and broken power lines

Is a cyclone enough of a link for our stories? We didn’t think so. There’s also a little boy called Felixx….

Happy reading!

Love,

Alison

The Playboy Doctor’s Proposal

Alison Roberts

www.millsandboon.co.uk

A cutting-edge medical center. Fully equipped for saving lives and loves!

Crocodile Creek’s state-of-the-art medical center and rescue response unit is home to a team of expertly trained medical professionals. These dedicated men and women face the challenges of life, love and medicine every day!

Look for three more stories revisiting Crocodile Creek in Harlequin® Medical Romance™.

Cover

Dear Reader Dear Reader Dear Reader Title Page PROLOGUE CHAPTER ONE CHAPTER TWO CHAPTER THREE CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE CHAPTER SIX CHAPTER SEVEN CHAPTER EIGHT CHAPTER NINE CHAPTER TEN Extract Copyright , How lucky am I? To have colleagues who are also my friends, whose skills I have the utmost respect for, and who share a love of the genre and a dedication to making each story the best yet. To work together and have the challenge of a scope broad enough to link several books, along with the sheer fun of intertwining the stories of each other’s characters, is an enriching experience. So here we are, back in Crocodile Creek, and we’re throwing a cyclone at our own bit of northern Australia. Scary stuff! I’m more likely to experience a bad earthquake or maybe a tsunami where I am in New Zealand, but it’s a good idea to be prepared for whatever dramatic turns nature can take, and we can get some bad storms at times. Here’s what you can do if a strong wind warning is issued: Bring your pets inside and move stock to shelter Secure outdoor furniture Tape across large windows to prevent shattering Stay inside during storm Partially open a window on the sheltered side of the house Stay away from doors and windows If you have to go outside, watch out for dangling and broken power lines Is a cyclone enough of a link for our stories? We didn’t think so. There’s also a little boy called Felixx…. Happy reading! Love, Alison

Title Page The Playboy Doctor’s Proposal Alison Roberts www.millsandboon.co.uk

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

Extract

Copyright

‘SHH, now, Felixx!’

‘Hush, OK?’

‘Silence. We have to have silence for Alanya to get well.’

For days this was all he’d heard, it seemed to Felixx. He crept around on the edge of Alanya’s illness, too scared to ask how bad she was, shut away from seeing her except for one or two short visits to the wellness shelter each day, during which he knew he had to be silent or she wouldn’t get better fast enough.

Sometimes he asked people, ‘How’s Mummy?’ He liked to call her Mummy because that’s who she was. She always wanted him to call her Alanya, because that was her spirit name, but as she couldn’t hear him right now, he said ‘Mummy’ and it helped a little bit.

The silence helped, too. He had to stay as quiet as anything, or she might not get well. He knew that, but it was so hard. The fish on his sneaker helped. Mummy had drawn it with his felt pens. Mostly the bright orange one. She’d done it the day he’d showed her the hole.

‘We can’t afford a new shoe just yet,’ she’d said. ‘So let’s make it special. The hole can be his eye, see?’

He could poke his finger in the hole. In and out. It was tight at first but now it was easy. His finger went in and out.

In and out.

It helped him to stay quiet. To stop the questions he so badly wanted to ask, like, ‘Mummy…Alanya…are you feeling better? Do you need more medicine?’

She didn’t seem to be eating very much. They gave her carrot juice to drink, to drain the toxins from her system. How long did toxins take to drain?

Where did they come out?

He was too scared to ask any of these questions, but he listened more than the healing sisters thought. He heard words like ‘worried’ and ‘taking too long’ and after this he stayed even quieter, stopped even asking, ‘How’s Mummy?’ in case his talking, even outside the healing shelter, was the thing stopping her from getting well.

Late one night…he couldn’t remember, maybe the sixth or seventh night of her illness…he couldn’t sleep, and crept over to the healing shelter because there was light coming from its windows. It was cold and his feet were bare and he didn’t dare go inside, but he listened underneath the window and heard more words. ‘Getting worse’ and ‘I don’t know’ and ‘ambulance’.

After this, everything got so confusing, when he thought about it he couldn’t think the way it had gone. He fell asleep on the couch on the veranda of the healing shelter, and a big car came with red lights. He hid under the blanket in case he got in trouble for being there. He heard men’s voices. ‘Too late’ and ‘useless’ and ‘bloody quack treatments’. Someone found him—Raina, one of the healing sisters—and he pretended to be asleep and she carried him gently in her arms to his bed, and by the time he got there he must have really been asleep because he didn’t remember anything else until morning.