by Karin Baine
As an adult, he still looked for that reaction, and found it hard these days to accept that it was normal curiosity that had people asking questions about his job, family, past. His fault, but another old habit hard to let go. It stopped his expectations getting away from him, and stopped him from even beginning to wonder if he could be a good father if he ever got into a permanent relationship.
The TV remote Mallory had picked up remained still in her hand. ‘There’s also the adventure of heading out on foot into the bush or up a mountain to look for people who’ve got into trouble.’ She spoke faster, higher, and the spark was back in her gaze.
‘You’re an adrenaline junkie?’
Now a grin came his way. ‘As long as I operate safely and carefully, yes.’
He usually liked quiet women, not ones who attacked the world, but here he was, enjoying Mallory’s company a lot. Was he more tired than he realised? Or was this the attraction? ‘Remind me not to have an argument with you.’ He didn’t know if the adrenaline junkie ever took over from the careful, safe woman at the controls.
Her laughter filled the room, and his chest. ‘Think I’d toss you out of the chopper?’
‘Not a chance. I’m not going for a ride with you.’ His grin came automatically, as though he was totally at ease with Mallory. At this realisation, his mouth flattened and he went to pour his coffee, trying to stifle the sudden sense there was a storm coming his way, one that would pick him up and shake out the past, open the gates to hope and something far more foreign—happiness. And stability.
His over-tired mind was playing games with him. He really knew nothing about this woman, and certainly not enough to wipe away everything that had kept him strong and safe over the years. Glancing around, his gaze landed on one of the photos that had caught at his heart earlier. Mallory sitting on the sofa she was on now, with her maman and père beside her, smiles splitting everyone’s faces and love filling their eyes. Did she know how lucky she was? Lucky they had been there for her, had kept her with them and loved her so much?
For once he didn’t feel the bitterness that rose when he saw families together like this. The air of confidence clinging to Mallory suggested that her family’s love had made her strong and kind; the reasons he was staying here tonight and not along the road in an empty house. Envy touched him before it disappeared into a fragile happiness over being with a woman who demanded nothing of him he wasn’t prepared to give. Too early to be thinking that, maybe, but he couldn’t deny she was getting under his skin, touching him in a way that was foreign to him, but he still seemed to understand.
Tomorrow he’d wake up and realise he was an idiot and that this was all to do with exhaustion and wishful thinking. Not reality with a kind, sexy woman at the centre.
Copyright © 2021 by Sue MacKay
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ISBN-13: 9781488074981
The Surgeon and the Princess
Copyright © 2021 by Karin Baine
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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