Leonie Knight: Suddenly Single Sophie

Leonie Knight

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Cover

Title Page Suddenly Single Sophie Leonie Knight www.millsandboon.co.uk

About the Author About the Author Originally a city girl, LEONIE KNIGHT grew up in Perth, Western Australia. Several years ago, with her husband, two young sons and their Golden Retriever, she moved south to a small rural acreage located midway between dazzling white beaches and the magnificent jarrah forest of the Darling Scarp. Now her boys have grown and left home, and the demands of her day-job have lessened, she finds she has more time to devote to the things she loves—gardening, walking, cycling, reading, and of course writing. She has spent most of her adult life working in first a suburban and then a rural general medical practice—combining that with the inspiration she gets from her real-life hero, it is only natural that the stories she writes are Medical ™ Romances. This is Leonie Knight’s debut book!

Dedication To my unfailingly supportive husband, Colin, and my amazing writing friends, Anna, Teena, Lorraine, Susy and Claire. Thank you for your faith in me.

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

Epilogue

Copyright

Originally a city girl, LEONIE KNIGHTgrew up in Perth, Western Australia. Several years ago, with her husband, two young sons and their Golden Retriever, she moved south to a small rural acreage located midway between dazzling white beaches and the magnificent jarrah forest of the Darling Scarp. Now her boys have grown and left home, and the demands of her day-job have lessened, she finds she has more time to devote to the things she loves—gardening, walking, cycling, reading, and of course writing. She has spent most of her adult life working in first a suburban and then a rural general medical practice—combining that with the inspiration she gets from her real-life hero, it is only natural that the stories she writes are Medical ™Romances.

This is Leonie Knight’s debut book!

Dear Reader

Inspiration for the novels I write sometimes emerges from the unlikeliest of places. The idea for the story of Sophie and Will’s bumpy journey along the road to finding love originated from a TV documentary about a rundown, inner-city suburb destined for destruction. It was saved by a courageous and spirited group of people, determined to make better lives for themselves.

To outsiders, the residents of my fictional suburb of Prevely Springs have little hope of ever achieving that elusive better life . Will Brent—an overworked, brooding but devoted GP—tries his best to help, but it takes the addition of a bubbly socialite from the other side of the country, with a mission to make a difference , Dr Sophie Carmichael, to turn his hopes and dreams into reality and release him from his tortured past.

I wanted to show a community working together to overcome serious and sensitive problems as a backdrop to the unlikely romance between my hero and heroine, and their attempt to overcome their own inner demons. I believe the more difficult the journey, the greater the satisfaction at arriving at the final destination.

I hope you enjoy reading my story about Sophie, Will and the people of Prevely Springs as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Leonie

To my unfailingly supportive husband, Colin,

and my amazing writing friends, Anna, Teena,

Lorraine, Susy and Claire.

Thank you for your faith in me.

‘YOU’RE better off without him.’

Sophie Carmichael’s body-racking sobs began to subside as her best friend Anna put her arm around her shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Sophie reached for a handful of tissues and noisily blew her nose. Venting her distress in a tearful outburst definitely helped ease the rawness she felt. She took a deep breath and managed a wilted smile.

‘I still can’t understand how he could be so cold … and two-faced,’ Sophie said. ‘He didn’t even have the courage to tell me to my face.’

‘It could have been worse. He might have broken up with you with a text message. Vanessa’s boyfriend—’

‘I know, I heard. But they’d only been together for two minutes, not nearly two years.’ Sophie wiped away the last of her tears and felt her fighting spirit begin to return. It made sense now why Jeremy had stopped pleading with her to move in with him. He apparently wanted a live-in lover, not a wife. And he’d found one—who was now pregnant with his child. She’d wondered if the two of them had planned the whole scenario.

Sophie clenched her teeth, not wanting to believe her ex was capable of such blatant and calculated cheating. She wasn’t going to let a two-timing, deceitful rat like her ex-fiancé ruin her life, though.

‘Didn’t Jeremy make it quite clear he didn’t want kids until he’d finished his training and set up in private practice?’

‘That’s right. And muggins me went along with it.’ Sophie slumped back in her seat and sighed. She tried to stand back from her churning emotions and look at the situation objectively. ‘You’re right, you know. I’m glad I found out about Jeremy’s unfaithfulness before we actually tied the knot. I am better off without him.’

The women sat in silent contemplation for a minute or two before Anna finally spoke.

‘What are you going to do now?’

Sophie had asked herself that same question a hundred times over the past weeks since she’d found out about Jeremy’s infidelity by overhearing a conversation at the hospital where he worked. She had naively believed it was purely unfounded gossip. When she’d confronted him, though, he’d not wasted words in telling her the brutal truth. It seemed everyone had known before she had. She’d never felt so humiliated in her life and was grateful the news hadn’t spread to the staff of her father’s general practice where she worked.

At least she’d been able to choose the time and place to tell her parents—but it hadn’t made it any easier. Her father’s attitude had left her firstly stunned and then outraged. Ross Carmichael still thought the sun shone from Jeremy’s nostrils and seemed to believe they’d get back together again. She couldn’t believe he could be so insensitive to her feelings. Her mother had hardly disguised her disappointment. She’d often reminded Sophie of her relentlessly ticking biological clock and didn’t like the idea of the mob of grandchildren she so dearly wanted being put on hold. Of course Sophie still wanted a family but now, at thirty-one, unceremoniously dumped and unexpectedly single, she was in no hurry.

‘I really don’t know. I haven’t had a chance to think about it but one thing I do know for sure.’

‘And what’s that?’ Anna was stroking Sophie’s cat, which had jumped up on her lap, probably sensing the calmer of the two women was Anna.

‘I’m going to steer clear of men for a while.’

Anna smiled. ‘They’re not all rotten, you know.’

‘I didn’t say they were, but—’

‘You need a break. I can understand that. It’s early days.’