Sue MacKay - Surgeon in a Wedding Dress

How stupid to think doing a complete flip-over of her life would change anything.

She shoved her fists into her jacket pockets, already knowing she should have stayed at home for these months. Back in her gorgeous apartment overlooking Auckland’s inner harbour, the vibrant City of Sails, where money talked. Where gorgeous, chic sandals stayed gorgeous, not getting ruined the moment she hopped out of her car.

The months in Port Weston stretched out before her like an endless road. But she wasn’t quitting. Port Weston might be like nothing she was used to, but she had to stay. She’d given her word.

Then her eyes focused on Daniel Reilly, and for some unknown reason she wondered if she should leave right away, while she still could …

Dear Reader

The West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island is a very special place. It is wild and rugged, and stunningly beautiful. They breed them tough down there, and they need to. It is an area that has had more than its fair share of tragedies—the most recent being the Pike River Coal Mine disaster.

I have created a town that is an amalgam of all the towns along the coast as I couldn’t pick a favourite. The idea came to me on a trip home from Hokitika, when we came across a similar accident as that in the beginning of this story. Unfortunately the outcome was very different. That’s where writers have the upper hand. I have spent hours sitting on the beach in this district: beaches that show the full force of nature. It is that nature that forges the people who live in this remote area.

I hope you enjoy Dan and Sarah’s story. Sarah, a true blue Aucklander, learns with Dan at her side to appreciate the spirit of the people in this area, and all the wonderful everyday things they have to offer. Dan is beginning to live again, drawn out of a funk by the sassy, citified goddess sharing his home.

Cheers!

Sue MacKay

www.suemackay.co.nz

With a background working in medical laboratories, and a love of the romance genre, it is no surprise that SUE MACKAYwrites Medical ™Romance stories. An avid reader all her life, she wrote her first story at age eight—about a prince, of course. She lives with her husband in beautiful Marlborough Sounds, at the top of New Zealand’s South Island, where she can indulge her passions for the outdoors, the sea and cycling.

Also by Sue MacKay:

RETURN OF THE MAVERICK

PLAYBOY DOCTOR TO DOTING DAD

THEIR MARRIAGE MIRACLE

These books are also available in ebook format from www.millsandboon.co.uk

To Tania

For all the moments we have shared, and the moments to come.

And

Kate David: the newest and very supportive member of the Blenheim Writers’ Group.

Sue MacKay

www.millsandboon.co.uk

NEW YEAR’S DAY. Resolutions and new beginnings.

‘Huh.’ Sarah Livingston scowled. As if anything new, or interesting, was likely to be found down here in the South Island, so far from the cities. Thanks to her fiancé—very ex -fiancé—coming to this godforsaken place had more to do with excising the pain and hurt he’d caused, and nothing at all to do with anything new.

But there was a resolution hiding somewhere in her thinking. It went something like ‘ Get a new life ’. One that didn’t involve getting serious with a man and being expected to trust him. Surely that was possible. There had to be plenty of men out there willing to date a well-groomed surgeon with a penchant for fine dining; who didn’t want anything other than a good time with no strings.

So why couldn’t she raise some enthusiasm for that idea? Because she hadn’t got over her last debacle yet. Six months since she’d been dumped, let down badly by the one man who’d told her repeatedly he’d loved and cherished her. Her heart still hadn’t recovered from those lies. Or from the humiliation that rankled every time someone at work spoke of how sorry they were to hear about her broken engagement. Of course they were. Sorry they’d missed out on going to her big, fancy wedding, more like.

After learning of the baby her fiancé was expecting with that sweet little nurse working in Recovery, Sarah had started putting in horrendous hours at the private hospital where she was a partner. It had been a useless attempt to numb the agony his infidelity caused her. Not to mention how she’d exhausted herself so she fell into bed at the end of each day instead of drumming up painful and nasty things to do to the man she’d loved.

And it was that man’s fault her father had decided, actually insisted, she get away for a few months. What had really tipped the scales for her in favour of time away from Auckland was that her ex was due back shortly from his honeymoon in Paris.

Swiping at the annoying moisture in her eyes, Sarah pushed aside the image of her beautiful French-styled wedding gown still hanging in its cover in the wardrobe of her spare bedroom.

Why couldn’t she forget those damning words her fiancé had uttered as he’d left her apartment for the last time. You should never have children. You’d be taking a risk of screwing up their lives for ever.

It had been depressingly easy to replace her at work with an eager young surgeon thrilled to get an opportunity to work in the prestigious surgical hospital her father had created. And who could blame the guy? Not her. Even being a little jaded with the endless parade of patients she saw daily, she still fully understood the power of her father’s reputation.

‘So here I am.’ She sighed. ‘Stuck on a narrow strip of sodden grass beside the coastal highway that leads from nowhere to nowhere.’

Her Jaguar was copping a pounding from a deluge so heavy the metalwork would probably be dented when the rain stopped. If it ever stopped.

Using her forearm to wipe the condensation from the inside of her window, she peered through the murk. The end of the Jag’s bonnet was barely visible, let alone the road she’d crept off to park on the verge. Following the tortuous route along the coast where numerous cliffs fell away to the wild ocean, she’d been terrified of driving over the edge to a watery grave. But staying on the road when she couldn’t see a thing had been equally dangerous.

So much for new beginnings. A totally inauspicious start to the year. And she still had to front up to the surgical job she’d agreed to take. Sarah’s hands clenched, as they were prone to do these days whenever she wondered what her future held for her. These coming months in Port Weston were an interim measure. This wasn’t a place she’d be stopping in for long. Fancy leaving a balmy Auckland to come and spend the summer in one of New Zealand’s wettest regions. Yep. A really clever move.

Her father’s none-too-gentle arguments aside, the CEO of Port Weston Hospital had been very persuasive, if not a little desperate. He’d needed a general surgeon so that Dr Daniel Reilly could take a long overdue break. A forced break, apparently. What sort of man did that make this Reilly character? A workaholic? She shuddered. She knew what they were like, having grown up with one. Or was she an arrogant surgeon who believed no one could replace him? Her ex-fiancé came to mind.

Sharp wind gusts buffeted the heavy car, shaking it alarmingly. Was she destined to spend her three-month contract perched on the top of a cliff face? On the passenger seat lay one half-full bottle of glacial water, a mottled banana and two day-old fruit muffins that had looked dubious when she’d bought them back at some one-store town with a forgettable name. Not a lot of food to survive on if this storm didn’t hurry up and pass through.