by Janice Lynn
Their connection is undeniable...
Will it last forever?
Nurse Taylor Hall is finally putting her life back together postdivorce. And a fling with sexy playboy Dr. Jack Morgan, when they’re both working at a music festival, is the perfect way to move on. Their chemistry is electric, but Taylor isn’t looking for commitment, and besides, Jack’s leaving town soon... Unless their deep, unexpected bond can convince Taylor to fight for a second chance at forever...
“I want you, Taylor. A lot. More than a lot.”
The colored lights provided a soft glow around the oasis glittering in his eyes. “Hearing you say you want me, too, doesn’t generate a single patronizing thought.”
Staring into his eyes, seeing so much emotion reflected, Taylor swallowed. “What does it do?”
“Makes me want to kiss you even more than I already did.”
Jack wanted to kiss her.
She’d known that.
Still, his words thrilled her, made her want to jump up and down and dance around the sandpit like a giddy schoolgirl. His words also made her want to take off running again. As far as her feet would take her, because Lord help her at the things his admission did to her insides.
“We just met yesterday,” she reminded, herself as much as him.
His gaze held hers. “I haven’t forgotten.”
Her heart slammed against her rib cage so hard that surely he felt the impact of each beat. “It’s too soon.”
His thumb stroked across her jawline. “I know.”
But even as the words left his mouth, she leaned over and brushed her lips against his.
Dear Reader,
Over a decade ago a music festival began taking over my small hometown for a week each summer. For years I’ve mulled over writing a story set at just such a music festival, but I had to wait for the perfect characters. When Dr. Jack Morgan appeared in my vivid imagination, he insisted that a music festival background be his story and for me to find him a just-right heroine.
Nurse Taylor Hall has spent the last year putting her life back together. When she signs on to work a music festival’s medical tent, the last thing she’s thinking about is meeting a man. But the melody of romance entices and so does Jack. But can Taylor risk falling for a free-spirited man who dances to the beat of his own song when she knows he’s destined to leave?
I hope you enjoy Jack and Taylor’s story as much as I did writing it. I’d had years of experience—I mean research!—to create my setting and it was so much fun putting it on paper.
Happy reading and rock on.
Janice
A Nurse to Tame the ER Doc
Janice Lynn
Books by Janice Lynn
Harlequin Medical Romance
Christmas in Manhattan
A Firefighter in Her Stocking
Flirting with the Doc of Her Dreams
New York Doc to Blushing Bride
Winter Wedding in Vegas
Sizzling Nights with Dr. Off-Limits
It Started at Christmas...
The Nurse’s Baby Secret
The Doctor’s Secret Son
A Surgeon to Heal Her Heart
Heart Surgeon to Single Dad
Friend, Fling, Forever?
Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com for more titles.
Janice won the National Readers’ Choice Award for her first book, The Doctor’s Pregnancy Bombshell
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To Dr. Jay Trussler for his insight on working medical for a major music festival. Thanks for the tour, the stories and for answering all my questions.
Praise for Janice Lynn
“Ms. Lynn has delivered a really good read in this story where emotions run high and the chemistry was strong and only got stronger.”
—Harlequin Junkie on The Nurse’s Baby Secret
Contents
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
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
EPILOGUE
EXCERPT FROM PREGNANT BY THE SINGLE DAD DOC BY LOUISA HEATON
CHAPTER ONE
YES! NURSE TAYLOR HALL mentally pumped her fist in the air as she looked across the Rockin’ Tyme music festival medical tent at the tall man wearing a “Medical Staff” T-shirt and navy shorts.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Her body had noticed a man.
Sure, the current tingles were just sparks of physical attraction, but as she’d thought good old-fashioned lust a thing of the past at the age of twenty-five, Taylor cherished the incoming zings.
She wasn’t dead inside after all.
Her ex hadn’t accomplished quite as much as she’d given him credit for this past year. Thank God.
Seeming to sense someone was watching him, the medical staff hottie glanced up from the clipboard he’d been studying and met Taylor’s gaze with eyes so brilliant she questioned if they were colored contacts. She was positive she’d never met him, but recognition flashed in his baby blues and a huge smile lit his face.
Wow. Just wow.
Awareness sparks burst into blistering red-hot flames.
Crazy that something as simple as physical attraction could make her feel so ecstatic, especially since she wasn’t interested in a relationship, but Taylor credited the heat as a sign she was healing. She truly had progressed from the beaten down woman she’d been at her divorce a year ago.
Of course she had. She was a strong, independent woman who didn’t need a man to hold her hand. She held her future. No one else.
The job interview she’d gone to earlier that day had been yet another sign of how far she’d come. She’d moved on from the past and was taking charge of her life in new and exciting ways.
Curious at the man who’d awakened her libido when she’d been so oblivious to the opposite sex for so long, she took in his features. He wasn’t the most handsome man she’d ever seen, not even close to her ex’s Hollywood perfect good looks. But there was something about this guy that had drawn her attention the moment she’d stepped into the Rockin’ Tyme music festival medical tent, which was abuzz with activity.
His shoulder-length, sun-kissed brown hair, pulled back with a rubber band, and skin told a story of someone who loved to be outdoors and spent a lot of time doing so. Someone who didn’t worry about his outward appearance, but who’d been blessed with natural good looks. Friendly face and eyes, great smile, nice body, and if he was who she thought he was, he was Amy’s friend.
Her bestie had never liked Taylor’s ex.
Amy had said she would know Dr. Jackson Morgan when she saw him. Everything inside her had “known” this man—or sure wanted to.
Taylor smiled at the hunk standing twenty or so feet away. Would he think her certifiable if she walked over to thank him?
He immediately put his clipboard down on the table in front of him and crossed the tent. Had he read her mind and was going to say, “You’re welcome.”?
Ha. She’d hug him for real.
She fought back another smile and told herself to get a grip. Just because her body suddenly remembered it was female, it didn’t mean she would dare act on those zings. After the raking over the coals Neil had put her through, she had planned to avoid men forever. Not all men were like Neil. She knew that. But no matter how many sparks and tingles, no matter how excited she was that her insides weren’t dead, when it came to men, her brain warned her to steer clear.
Men weren’t worth the trouble.
Once upon a time she’d thought she needed one. The last year had taught her she was just fine without one.
Better than fine.
“Taylor, right?” He grinned, causing happy lines to fan out from his eyes.
Great smile, she thought again as she nodded. Genuine, not calculated. A smile that radiated as much from his eyes as his mouth.
“I’m not a crazy stalker.” He chuckled. “Amy Sellars told me to be on the lookout for you.”
Another wave of disappointment that Amy wasn’t there hit Taylor. Not that Amy could help it that her grandmother had fallen and broken a hip two states away, but Taylor had really been looking forward to catching up with her best friend. Amy had come to Louisville last summer immediately following the finalization of Taylor’s divorce, but that seemed forever ago, and Taylor hadn’t done much more than cry.
Tears for lost dreams and tears of happiness that she’d escaped Neil’s controlling, abusive hands.
“Amy has a picture of the two of you on her fireplace mantel,” the medical staffer continued. “I recognized you immediately.”
Taylor knew the photo he spoke of. She had the same one displayed at the tiny apartment she’d leased following moving out of Neil’s sprawling showplace. The photo was a close-up following her and Amy’s nurse pinning ceremony. Their smiles had been huge, as had their dreams for the future.
Her university roommate had tried for years to get Taylor to work the infamous annual festival that took place in her hometown. Taylor finally had and now Amy wasn’t even in town.
Agreeing to work the music festival had been more about spending time with her friend than the generous sum she’d be paid for her three twelve-hour shifts. But the extra pay wasn’t a bad thing.
Still, if her job interview that morning had gone as well as she thought, they’d soon have lots of catch-up time.
If all went according to plan, she’d be living with her former roomie yet again. Amy had tried to get Taylor to relocate last summer, but Taylor had needed to put her life back together on her own. She’d needed to stand on her own two feet. It would have been too easy to let Amy take over and just have gone through the motions.
Which was what Taylor had done her whole life.
Gone with the flow. Done what had been expected. First with her parents and then with Neil. She’d never stepped outside the boundaries they’d set. Not until she’d left Neil and filed for divorce.
She was a work in progress but was happy with the woman emerging from the wreck she’d been. She was still peeling back the layers of years of toeing the line, but most mornings she liked the person staring back at her in the mirror.
“Amy was excited you’re working the festival.”
Taylor’s attention zoned back in on the man who was studying her. The man who’d been inside her friend’s apartment.
Was Amy dating him? She hadn’t said so, but her friend had been enthusiastic when talking about him. She’d gotten the impression Amy had been hinting at a possible romance between Taylor and the doctor during the music festival, hints Taylor had ignored because she’d not been interested in a man since long before her divorce. She had no plans for a relationship and, even if she had, she’d just as soon have her fingernails ripped out as to get involved with another doctor.
He held out his hand. “Jackson Morgan.”
He’d introduced himself without using his medical title, something her ex would never have done. Kudos for that.
“Nice to meet you, Jackson.” Taylor returned his smile, shook his hand, and marveled at the tingles of awareness that shot up her arm at the warmth of his hand.
Men sworn off or not, the guy was electric.
“My friends call me Jack,” he commented as she pulled her hand free from his.
“Jack.” Taylor let the name roll off her tongue. “You’re the hotshot traveling emergency medicine doctor Amy works with at Rockin’ Tyme each year.”
“My reputation has preceded me yet again.” His eyes danced with mischief.
Taylor tried to recall what her friend had said but couldn’t pull up much. She’d thought Amy matchmaking when she’d gone on and on about the doctor they’d be working with at the festival. Taylor had been excited about seeing her best friend, not about meeting a man. What had Amy said?
“Good looking, funny—can’t wait for you to meet him. Think you’ll really like him. He’s the best.”
“Nothing bad,” she admitted, smiling at Jack. If he and Amy were an item, then good for her friend and even better for this guy. Any man would be lucky to call Amy his own. If he was good to her friend then, doctor or not, Taylor would hug him for a totally different reason than the one that had hit her upon first seeing him.
“Good to know she’s not talking smack about me.” He glanced around the medical tent, his gaze skimming over the cots along a far side where a group of workers was chatting. “I’ll miss her being here. Hated to hear about her grandmother.”
“That makes two of us. She convinced me to sign on and now she’s not here.” Following his gaze out the open flaps of the tent, she took a deep breath. “I can’t help but wonder what she’s gotten me into.”
“No worries. She made me promise to take good care of you.”
Taylor’s gaze cut to his. “Oh?”
He grinned, and his eyes crinkled. Wow, such a great smile. “At least a dozen times—and that was just this morning.”
Taylor smiled. Her friend always had looked out for her.
If only Taylor had listened better.
Jack working as a traveling doctor must create relationship problems. “Do you get to see her often?”
“I see Amy several times a week,” he answered, looking a little surprised at her question. “I liked Warrenville so much I temporarily relocated here a couple of months ago to fill in for a doctor on an extended medical leave.”
“Oh.” Had her perky friend influenced that decision? Good for Amy. Taylor was happy for her but why hadn’t Amy told her? Maybe her friend had been afraid of jinxing whatever was happening. Still, that Amy hadn’t mentioned their relationship made Taylor sad as once upon a time they’d shared everything.
Then again, hadn’t she put on a face for her friend for years? Not wanting Amy to know the truth behind her miserable marriage?
“Have you met the rest of the crew?” Jack asked, drawing her focus back.
Taylor shook her head. “Do you already know each other?”
“Mostly,” he admitted. “There are always a few new people, but most of us come back each year. It’s a tradition. A lot of the staff are locals, but some do travel. It’s a good bunch who work the medical tent. You’ll enjoy hanging with us.”
Either way, it was just for a few days so she’d survive. She’d survived worse. Besides, wasn’t she all about new life experiences and stepping outside the box she’d lived in for so long?
“How did you get involved with the festival?” she asked, glancing out the front of the medical tent to the “oasis” that was located about a hundred yards away. Fake palm trees planted in a huge sand pit with splash pools for play and cooling down during the hot July heat.
This was definitely a new life experience.
“Music festivals are in my blood. My grandparents were hippies and actually met at Woodstock.” Grinning, he made a peace sign with his fingers. “I’ve been going to f
estivals since before I could walk. My parents thought I’d grow up to be a musician—or a gypsy,” he added, chuckling. “But medicine called me. Since I left med school, I’ve worked numerous festivals every year so it’s a balance of work and play. Makes me feel I’ve evolved from those days of driving across the country with a car load of buddies with nothing on our brains except good music and good times.”
“Sounds like fun.” Taylor couldn’t imagine the carefree trips he was describing. Her strict parents had barely gotten by and Taylor had had her first job at fifteen. She’d been working ever since. Even then, there’d never been money or time for cross-country road trips to soak up the sun and music. For a short while early in their relationship she’d felt happiness and a sense of peace with Neil. After their wedding, nothing had been carefree during those torturous two years.
“The best.” Jack grinned, but something was off in his smile as he looked back out over the festival. “Let me give you the low down on how things will run the next few days in the tent and introduce you to the others.”
Taylor was scheduled to work Thursday and Friday from four a.m. to four p.m. and on Sunday from four p.m. to four a.m. on Monday.
“We’re on the same work schedule,” she commented, spotting Jack’s name on the schedule near hers.
“It’s not a coincidence,” he admitted, grinning. “Amy and you are purposely on the same schedule as mine. Didn’t see a reason to change it when Amy cancelled at the last minute. How else can I keep my promise if you and I are on different schedules?”
“How indeed?” At least she was guaranteed a friendly face during her shifts because Jack seemed to always smile. He was the most laidback person she’d encountered in a long time. Maybe ever. “Do most of the crew sleep or participate in the festival activities during their down time?”
“A mixture. Most take in a few concerts. But some hang around the camping area or leave the farm to check out local attractions.”
“Is that how you fell in love with the area?”