Taking a chance on love…
China Davis is happy. She is. So what if her family is a mess? She has careful control over her own life! Yet when new hotshot doc Payton Jenkins arrives, that control is suddenly put to the test….
Payton left a successful Chicago practice the moment he recovered from cancer, desperate to live a full life. But it’s soon clear that beautiful Golden Shores nurse China is hiding from even the simplest of pleasures….
Can Payton show China that there’s more to life…?
Heart of Mississippi
Hot sultry nights with delicious docs—in the heart of Mississippi…
Kelsey and China Davis grew up with dark secrets that rocked their once steady family foundations. While China wants to stay in Golden Shores, Kelsey can’t wait to leave….
But neither sister expects to meet the two gorgeous docs who have come to Golden Shores searching for a fresh start. And once the fireworks start, it’s not long before pulses are racing and temperatures are rising!
The second story in Susan Carlisle’s
Heart of Mississippi duet
THE MAVERICK WHO RULED HER HEART
is also available this month from Harlequin® Medical Romance™.
Dear Reader,
For many years I’ve spent a week here and a week there on the Gulf Coast. I’ve been to a number of places in the world, but the beaches of the Gulf are the most beautiful. Clean white sand, radiant sunshine, friendly people—pure pleasure. When I placed China and Payton in this setting I knew it would be a wonderful backdrop for their romance. Their love story has been great fun to write. No two people could be more different and more alike at the same time. It was joy mixed with frustration trying to get China and Payton together while they were fighting to stay apart.
On a personal note, my heart goes out to anyone who has been touched by cancer. My family and friends certainly have been. I look forward to the day when this ugly disease is eradicated forever. I’d also like to add a special thank you for the quality help I received from the staff of the Crestview Nursery in Crestview, Florida. All the plant information was much appreciated. I love you all.
I hope you enjoy Payton and China’s story. I like to hear from my readers. You can find me at www.susancarlisle.com.
Susan
THE DOCTOR WHO MADE HER LOVE AGAIN
Susan Carlisle
Recent titles by Susan Carlisle:
SNOWBOUND WITH DR. DELECTABLE
NYC ANGELS: THE WALLFLOWER’S SECRET*
HOT-SHOT DOC COMES TO TOWN
THE NURSE HE SHOULDN’T NOTICE
HEART SURGEON, HERO…HUSBAND?
*NYC Angels
These books are also available in ebook format from www.Harlequin.com.
Praise for Susan Carlisle:
“Susan Carlisle pens her romances beautifully…. Hot-Shot Doc Comes to Town is a book that I would recommend not only to Medical Romance fans but to anyone looking to curl up with an angst-free romance about taking chances and following your heart.”
—HarlequinJunkie.com
Dedication
To Zach
I love you, Z.
Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ONE
WHAT WAS THIS guy doing? China Davis waited for the driver to park so she could take the space next to him. She watched appalled as the red-hot-off-the-line foreign sports car straddled the parking line.
Really? This person was going to take up two spaces in the far-too-small parking lot during morning rush hour?
Disgusted, China observed the driver do just as she’d feared. She would have to go around the building and park in the strip mall parking lot. She’d be lucky if she could juggle the donuts and coffee back to the car without spilling one or both all over her scrubs.
China glanced at the tag on the slick vehicle as she passed. Illinois. It was a little early for the summer crowd to be showing up. Still mid-May, she’d been looking forward to another few weeks of peace before the beach mob invaded.
Living in a small southern coastal town had its advantages but there was a downside also. Four out of the twelve months the locals had to contend with the influx of people. It didn’t help that here was only one main road into town, which had no choice but to end when it met the water of the gulf. From there the driver had to choose east or west along the beach.
Dolly’s Donuts was located on the main road. As the local morning hangout for the senior citizens, it was also the place in town for quality donuts. China’s mom had pointed out more than once to her that patience was a virtue. That might be so but China had promised hot donuts, and she didn’t like to disappoint.
As she hurried into Dolly’s, she mentally reviewed her order list. She glanced at her wrist watch. Yes, she was going to be late. Something that had never happened before. The line at the counter was four deep when she slipped into the tight glassed-in space that was Dolly’s customer area. The place still had the feel of a fifties-era coffee shop, with a few metal stools with orange seats facing a long narrow counter.
China studied the tall man in front of her with the wide shoulders. His dark hair was cut supershort, as if it had been shaved off and was beginning to grow out.
One customer down, three more to go.
Her attention returned to the man. He wore a salmon-color polo shirt that fit him loosely but contrasted nicely with his dark coloring.
She peeked around him to see what was happening with the next patron. The man gave her a pointed look and she straightened, finding her place in line again. Her father had used that same look to make her and her siblings fall in line.
Another down. China stepped forward. Thankfully the man ahead of her was next.
“What do you consider your best donut?” he asked.
Oh, no! He was going to get Roger started on donuts. She’d be lucky to make work by lunchtime.
Dolly’s husband stated in a voice of authority from behind the cash register, “We sell a lot of these.” He pointed to a tray of glazed. “But the best, I believe, are the double chocolate. We make a special...”
China zoned out as Roger went into a monologue on how the dough was prepared.
“I’ll get you some fresh ones from the back.”
“That sounds great,” the man in front of her said, as if he had all the time in the world. He probably did, but she sure didn’t. They were expecting her at the clinic and she needed to be on time. She worked hard not to receive complaints about her actions; she wanted no conflict.
When Roger ambled off, China leaned around the man and said in a low voice, “You’re not from around here or you’d know better. Don’t ever get Roger started. It goes on forever.”
The man pinned her with a dark look of disapproval that made her chest tighten as she shrank back into her place. He turned his back to her again. She wouldn’t be saying anything further to this guy.
In the brief moment she’d seen his face straight on she’d been able to tell he was thin. No tan line marked his temple from eye to ear where sunglasses might have been. In fact, he looked as if he could use a little time outside. Still, he had a
n interesting face. Not handsome in the Hollywood leading man sense of the words but more in an attention-grabbing way.
“Here you go,” Roger said. “How about coffee?”
“Black,” the man said in one deep syllable.
Roger turned away and a full minute later slid the coffee container across the counter and quoted the man his total.
With relief, China moved closer, anticipating her turn. As she did so the man rotated and bumped against her.
“Excuse me,” he said, with an air of authority.
“I’m sorry,” China said, sliding to the side to dodge his coffee cup and moving well out of his way. She didn’t want to cause any more of a scene. It had been on impulse for her to have spoken to him to begin with.
He strolled by her before she turned to placed her order. While Roger bagged it she looked out the glass doors at the broad back of the exasperating man. He headed straight for the fancy sports car. I should have known.
The man was one of those who thought he was entitled because he was handsome and drove a fancy car!
* * *
Payton pulled the Mercedes into a parking space behind the clinic to face a wall of greenery that was overgrown. In his other life it would have been another row of cars in a spiraling parking garage. He looked at the 1940s wooden house that had been converted into a treatment center. The Golden Shores Walk-in Clinic in Mississippi. It was nothing like the state-of-the-art facility he was used to, nothing resembling the highly charged E.R. in Chicago where ambulance sirens blared every few minutes.
Truthfully, nothing about Golden Shores was like the place he’d called home his entire life. Here the buildings went no higher than three levels when he was used to skyscrapers and glittering glass. Two-lane roads were the norm. None of those eight-lane interstates with cars whizzing by. If he got behind a truck pulling a boat then he had to sit back for the ride. Everything moved slower and people spoke with a drawl. But this was what he wanted. The easier pace, the chance to enjoy life. A place to recover. He’d moved nine hundred miles from family and friends to find his own destiny. Cancer had taken its toll and now it was time for him to take control. Create the life he wanted.
He hadn’t counted on the cute but weird local who had been behind him at the bakery. She’d certainly not been tuned into the idea of a relaxed pace. Donuts weren’t his usual fare for breakfast so hopefully the chance of running into her again were slim to none.
Payton gathered his coffee and donuts and got out of the car. Unsure where to enter the building, he spied a sign stating it was the employees’ entrance and started toward it just as a compact car whipped into the lot. He pushed the door open and found himself at the end of a passage that ran the length of the house.
Closing the door behind him, he headed towards the voices coming from the front. The floor creaked in places as he walked down the wooden plank hall. No serviceable white-tile floors of a hospital E.R. in sight. Along the way he passed small rooms located on the left side. Those had to be the exam rooms. Directly across from the third one was a small room that looked like an office. Next to it and just before the waiting room was an alcove that appeared to be the lab area. Can you say go back in time thirty years?
The end of the hall opened into a waiting room with a waist-high counter to the right that served as the reception desk. Chairs that looked like hand-me-downs from the hospital business office were pushed up against the other walls.
All talking stopped as he came into view. Three pairs of eyes fixed on him as he said, “Hello. I’m Dr. Jenkins, I hope you’re expecting me.”
Suddenly each woman started speaking. Finally, the middle-aged one with the red spiky hair waved a hand and the other two stopped. “Hi, I’m Jean, the office manager. This is Robin.” She indicated the young woman to her left, who appeared to be fresh out of college and was smiling at him as if he were a candy bar. “She’s one of the nurses. And this...” she pointed to the middle-aged woman sitting at the desk “...is Doris. She handles Reception. We heard you were coming and we’re glad to have you.”
“Thanks. I’m glad to be here. So we handle everything with one nurse?”
“Well, no. I don’t know where China is but she should be here in a minute. It isn’t like her to be late.”
“Hey, someone give me a hand,” a voice that was vaguely familiar called from the door through which he’d just entered. “You wouldn’t believe the idiot in front of me at Dolly’s,” the disembodied voice said, dripping aggravation.
Down the hall came the woman who had been at the donut shop. Her attention was focused on maneuvering her way in the narrow space and she seemed to be struggling to keep several bakery bags and the purse that was slipping off her shoulder in place. Her chin-length, straight brown hair swung as she walked. She had a petite frame that made her almost seem fairy-like, especially dressed in hot pink scrubs.
The voice grew closer. “He took up two parking spaces. Asked Roger questions. Everyone in town knows not to ask Roger—” She came to an abrupt halt and her cocoa-colored eyes grew wide. “You!”
“Yes, I would be the idiot,” Payton said in a voice that held a hint of humor.
There were soft chuckles from the other women.
“Wh...What are you doing here?”
“I’m Dr. Jenkins. The new doctor.”
Eyes the same shade as the deepest part of the ocean twinkled at China.
Jean stepped forward. “I see you two have already met. Let me help with those.”
China handed her the sack of donuts and the paper tray with four coffees. “I said I’d bring donuts,” she murmured, unable to take her eyes off the doctor. How had she missed that shiny car in the parking lot? Because he’d made her late and she hadn’t been paying attention.
“I can see,” he said crisply. He looked at the coffee Jean held. “It looks like it was a good thing I stopped and got my own. You hadn’t counted on me.”
China’s face heated. No, she hadn’t. Why did he have to sound so gracious about it? To make her feel more guilty? The door behind him buzzed, preventing her from apologizing. She had never been so happy to see a patient.
“Dr. Jenkins, let me show you the office,” Jean said. “Robin will put the patient in exam one. When you’re ready we can get started for the day.”
The doctor gave China an unwavering look for a second before he followed Jean down the hall.
With relief, China sank into a chair next to Doris.
“Auspicious way to start the day,” Doris quipped.
“Only you could use a big word to sum up total and complete embarrassment.”
“Aw, honey. Such is life. Go do your job and all will be well.”
The buzzer announced another patient. China opened the bottom cabinet and stored her purse. “I guess I’d better get busy before I look worse. Donuts and coffee will have to wait.”
After Doris had taken the information from the mom of an eight-year-old boy, China led them to examine room two. There she took the child’s vitals and noted the mom’s recitation of his symptoms.
“The doctor will be in to see you in a few minutes,” she said, before stepping out into the hall and placing the chart in a tray beside the door. As she turned to go to the front, she ran smack into a wall of male chest. A large hand cupped her shoulder to steady her.
“Are you going to be running into me all day?” a voice asked from above her head.
China stepped away and looked up at the insufferable doctor. “No. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.” China pulled the chart from the tray and handed it to him. “Your patient is waiting.”
His low chuckle followed her down the hall. She shook her head. Obviously making good first impressions wasn’t her thing.
China waited as Dr. Jenkins examined the boy and told the mom, “I’m going to hav
e the nurse do a strep test and see what we’ve got. I’ll be back in after we know for sure.” He smiled reassuringly.
She followed him out of the room.
“It’s China, isn’t it?” he asked.
She nodded.
“Exam two needs a strep test. Where do I find those?”
“I’ll take care of it.”
China moved by him, taking special care not to make contact. She went into the lab and he followed. “They’re right here.” She opened the cabinet. “I’m, uh, sorry about calling you an idiot.”
He shrugged his shoulder. “It’s okay. Sometimes I am.”
Now he was being charming. She hadn’t expected that.
“Thanks. I’ll get this done.” China held up the pre-prepared swab with its plastic cap. “I’ll let you know the results right away.”
Doris came down the hall. “China, your mom’s on the phone.”
She wished she could make it clear to her mom not to call her during work hours. “Please tell her I will call her back.”
“I’ll take care of the test if you need to get that,” Dr. Jenkins offered.
“No, I’ll do it.”
China waited for the doctor to come out of the exam room where Robin had placed another patient. When he stepped out she said quietly, “The boy has strep.”
“Thanks for letting me know.”
The rest of the morning passed in much the same way. At lunchtime China and Doris took their meals brought from home outside to the table. Robin and Jean would eat later.
“So how is Dr. Jenkins working out?” Doris asked.
“He seems to have a solid medical background, is great with the patients and thorough.”
“Well, that was certainly a clinical evaluation,” Doris remarked.
“I guess it was but I’ve not seen him do anything past strep and stomachache.”
“Jean said Administration at the hospital told her he’s from Chicago.”
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