[BookStrand Contemporary Romance, HEA]
Donya Spencer, a busy art gallery manager in London, finds herself battling double vision and dizziness. She doesn’t have time to be ill and finds herself battling the national health care system for months. When she finally gets to see a specialist, she finds the man to be sexy, handsome, and very much her type. Knowing there can be no relationship due to medical ethics, she tries to resist his charming manner.
Colin Knight is the heir to a baronetcy whose father is pressuring him to marry and have children. This is an impossible task for Colin. He’s also a neurosurgeon who hasn’t opened his heart to love since the death of his young girlfriend many years ago. He works hard at the career he pursues relentlessly in an effort to somehow atone for the accident that killed his love. He meets Donya, and the comfortable bachelor life he’s made for himself is turned upside down.
A BookStrand Mainstream Romance
STORY EXCERPT
She looked around and noticed Alec StClair standing sideways in the doorway talking with someone she couldn’t see. The other man had his back to the room. She rose, shook off her melancholy, and approached Alec.
“Hey, Alec, remember me from the gallery?” She touched him on the shoulder.
He turned around. “Of course I do, Donya. You’re the other bridesmaid—the one that planned that huge art show. Do you know Colin Knight?”
She glanced up the man who had been speaking to Alec. “Yes. We’ve met. How are you?” She held her hand out to be shaken. Oh, God. It was her doctor. She hoped he wouldn’t say anything. This was pretty awkward.
“I’m fine. And you?” He smiled down at her and shook her proffered hand.
“Passable.”
“Sorry, guys,” Alec said. “I’m going to have to leave you for a second. I think Roxanne has had too much to drink. I recognize the signs that she’s going to fall out. I better go get her a chair.”
“Alec, there you are in your role of rescuer again.” Donya laughed.
“Yep. That’s me. I’m a regular knight in shining armor. Although I shouldn’t say that as a true Knight is standing there beside you.” He laughed at his own joke and made his way across the room to Roxanne.
Donya looked up at Colin. “I had rather hoped for a certain Dr. Knight to be my knight in shining armor to fix my head. But, alas, I’m afraid it’s going to be too late.”
“I do intend to be your surgeon. What do you mean, too late?”
“I lose more vision by the day, and the surgery couldn’t be scheduled as quickly as I’d been led to hope for by you.”
“What do you mean? When’s it scheduled? I told my nurse to set you first available.”
“It’s set for two weeks from this coming Monday.”
“What? That’s not acceptable. I had no idea.”
“That was what your nurse told me. She said the operatory would not be available for me until then. Apparently, they were booked solid for three weeks.”
“Damned National Health Service,” he muttered. He took her hand. “Donya. I promise you, I’m going to see what I can do to move up the date. I’m sorry about this. I have no real control over the availability of the facilities. There’re so many rules and regulations involved. But I promise, I’ll do what I can.”
“I understand that there may be people in more urgent need than me, but I’m frustrated with the whole thing.”
“I know. I know. Believe me, I get that way, too. Sometimes I wonder why I’m still trying to help people. The system needs some serious revamping.”
Tara danced over, with yet another glass of wine in her hand, to where Colin and Donya were talking. “Why are you so solemn? This is a party, and I command you to dance. Now.” She spun off. She took a big swig of her wine and spilled most of it down her shirtfront.
Colin shrugged at Donya. “She has had some wine tonight, huh? Would you like to dance?”
“Sure. If you think it proper to dance with one’s surgeon.” Can I handle him holding me in his arms? He’s so magnetic and handsome, I may pass out.
“I wasn’t sure if they knew I’m your surgeon, so I didn’t say anything. I think it may be harder for you if you refuse my offer, as Tara seems a bit worse for wear and she may make a scene. Even though she looks pretty in pink, I know she can be an arse sometimes.”
“I have no intention of turning down your invitation to dance, and no, they don’t know you’re my surgeon and I prefer to keep it that way. Was the ‘pretty in pink’ comment a reference to the movie?” she asked.
“Yeah. And me being your surgeon is our secret.” He took her hand and moved toward the dance floor.
They approached the floor. The tempo changed and a slow song, Gerald Alston singing the Sam Cooke song “You Send Me,” came on. Colin held out his arms to Donya, and she stepped into them. They swayed slowly across the floor. “I thought I recognized you from somewhere when you came in my office,” Colin said. “I couldn’t place you, but I knew I’d seen you. What Alec said reminded me of where. It was at the gallery gala night. Are you an artist? Is that how you know Tara?”
“No. I’m not an artist. Just an art lover and former magazine junior editor who went to Oxford to obtain a History of Art degree when I got bored with editing. I’m the manager of the gallery. I saw you there that night, too. If you recall, you caught me in the hallway and told me I needed to see a doctor. Why didn’t you tell me you were a doctor?”
“Why didn’t you say anything that day in my office?” he asked, seeming to deflect her question.
“I was afraid that you wouldn’t perform my surgery if you knew we had mutual friends.” The truth was, she was terrified to lose her chance to get well, but she wasn’t ready to share that with him.
“No. Actually, that’s how I get a lot of referrals.” He smiled down at her.
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