Leonie Knight - Suddenly Single Sophie

She tried to focus on the positives.

She’d never been a quitter.

Leaving home hadn’t been a mistake.

She wasn’t running away from her problems, just taking a break to regroup.

Her objective while in Perth was to work, and learn, and prove to herself she wasn’t afraid of leaping out of her comfort zone into the wild unknown.

She also planned to show her toad of a fiancé that she was quite capable of fulfilment … and independence … and happiness … without him.

She scowled.

Jeremy … her fiancé … Not any more.

It hadn’t taken as much courage as she’d thought to relocate to the other side of the country, even if it was only for a couple of months. The last thing she needed was a holiday with endless empty time on her hands—work was definitely the answer, and work on the other side of the country was perfect. She needed time out without having to deal with the tattered remnants of her life; without the distraction of the opposite sex; without having to get approval for everything she did from her father or Jeremy.

‘Things can’t possibly get any worse,’ she muttered as she locked the car. She glanced at the single visible window and caught a glimpse of two curious faces not quite pressed against the glass. One was a teenage girl and the other …

She instantly forgot her troubles.

The dark-haired man was half smiling, and even through the grubby glass she could see he was … absolutely gorgeous.

He waved and then ducked away from the window as if he’d been caught in the act of being nosy.

Then he reappeared.

When she saw him standing in the doorway, all mussed-up hair, baggy clothes and brooding dark, black-brown eyes, she knew she’d made the right decision in leaving Sydney.

If this man was Dr Brent, it would be no hardship to work with him but she’d have to be careful. He was too damned attractive for his own good and she’d bet her last dollar he had no idea he had all the attributes to turn women’s heads.

Slinging her bag on her shoulder, she strode towards the ramp leading up to the back entrance. She still couldn’t rationalise the preconceived image she’d conjured up of Dr Brent, with the man standing in the doorway.

On the phone he’d come across as kind, conservative, passionate about his job and desperate for a second GP to share his increasing patient load. He’d also sounded … weary.

She’d thought he’d be middle-aged and suspected he might be looking for someone young and fresh to share the patient load at the practice, if the wording in his ad in the widely read Australian General Practice magazine was anything to go by. He’d really wanted someone who was prepared to commit long term, with a view to partnership.

But it appeared that type of candidate was thin on the ground and she definitely wasn’t that person either. She had no illusions that her escape from her failed relationship and the gossip of Sydney’s heartless, egocentric socialites was anything but temporary. She just needed time to heal.

Sophie was totally realistic about her future. She had solid reasons to return to the city she loved. All her friends were in Sydney; she owned a beachside apartment at Collaroy she didn’t want to give up; and had adopted a feisty feline named Max that she couldn’t leave in her friend Anna’s care for ever. She planned to go home as soon as the fallout from her broken relationship settled, and she’d made sure Dr Brent knew she wasn’t planning on staying permanently.

And the reality of this man standing in the doorway had just made her decision to have a break much easier.

Could this seriously good-looking hunk possibly be her new boss?

She was about to find out.

For a moment Will Brent was spellbound by the woman’s penetrating china-blue eyes, fascinated by the tilt of her cute, lightly freckled nose, captivated by her hesitant smile.

‘I’m Will Brent and I assume you’re Dr Carmichael. Can I take your bag?’ he asked as he extended his hand in greeting.

She offered hers and it felt cool, soft and damp. Was she nervous?

‘Yes. Please, call me Sophie, and, no, thanks. I’ll be fine.’

‘Come in,’ he said in what he hoped was a welcoming tone.

She repositioned the bag on her shoulder as she stepped from the short ramp into the building. He suspected she could be just what the practice needed. So if her first impression of Prevely Springs Medical Clinic was to go as smoothly as he’d planned, he’d have to remain totally objective, professional … look beyond the attractively packaged woman standing on his threshold.

Attractive didn’t mean dependable . It meant the pain of betrayal; it meant shallow; it meant priorities very different from his. What twisted lapse of judgement had let him fall in love all those years ago?

Will did a quick reality check.

He had no right to prejudge or compare.

Sophie Carmichael was simply a colleague, who happened to be beautiful.

And he mustn’t think of her in any other way.

There was no way he could burden any woman with his problems. He still felt the hurt and disappointment of his past and the weight of the emotional debt he was struggling to pay. He had chosen to lead a solitary life in the rough inner-city suburb he’d grown up in. And he’d made a promise, nearly twenty years ago, to stay and in some way give back to this community.

Love, marriage, children … The fantasy just didn’t fit with the dark reality of his life.

He’d caused the two people he’d loved most in the world so much anguish. There wasn’t a day went by when his heart didn’t fill with regret for those angry, irresponsible teenage years that had shaped his future. His devotion to his practice and the salt-of-the-earth people in the Springs was the only way he knew to repay his grandparents, and he often lamented that they weren’t alive to witness his achievements.

He’d only recently admitted, though, that he needed help to keep going. The long hours he worked, being on call weekends and after hours, was wearing him down to near breaking point. He had high hopes for the woman standing in front of him.

Releasing Sophie’s fingers from his grip, he did a lightning rethink of where he could conduct the interview but came to the conclusion every room in the building was in a similar state of disarray to his own.

Better the mess you know …

Usually it wouldn’t bother him but he felt an unsettling compulsion to make a good impression and wished he’d chosen something more stylish to wear than his crumpled khaki chinos and faded short-sleeved checked shirt. But she’d find out soon enough that tidiness and fashion weren’t high on his priority list.

He cleared his throat in an attempt to take his mind off Sophie Carmichael’s creamy smooth shoulders and the soft curve of her neck. Somehow the inappropriateness of her attire didn’t seem so important any more.

‘We’ll go down to my consulting room. It’s the second door on the right,’ Will said in a voice he hardly recognised.

She followed him down to his room and he stepped back to let her in first. Glancing around the cluttered office, he wondered if the hint of a frown on her face was due to disapproval. She was probably used to working in much more luxurious surroundings and he hoped she wouldn’t be put off.

‘Please, sit down.’

She sat in one of the patient chairs, legs crossed, hands resting in her lap, and he wondered what she was thinking. He’d done his best to prepare her.

The couple of times he’d talked to her on the phone he’d been totally honest with her, revealing Prevely Springs was an underprivileged area. But he’d told her the work was challenging and potentially rewarding. To her credit, she’d still seemed keen. Her agreement to commit to even a few weeks with him had rekindled a light at the end of what had recently become a very long, dark tunnel.