The Doctor's Wife For Keeps

Surgeon Luke Anderson let her go once...

But this time around he’ll get down on one knee!

Seeing pediatrician Kate Saunders again, Luke can feel the chemistry that still sizzles between them. But bruised from his failed marriage, he doesn’t believe in happy-ever-afters anymore. Until he’s reminded of the marriage pact they made in college...and realizes Kate may be the one woman who was worth waiting for!

ALISON ROBERTS is a New Zealander, currently lucky enough to be living in the south of France. She is also lucky enough to write for the Mills & Boon Medical Romance line. A primary school teacher in a former life, she is now a qualified paramedic. She loves to travel and dance, drink champagne, and spend time with her daughter and her friends.

Also by Lauri Robinson

The Fling That Changed Everything

The Forbidden Prince

Their First Family Christmas

A Life-Saving Reunion

The Surrogate’s Unexpected Miracle

Sleigh Ride with the Single Dad

Rescued Hearts miniseries

The Doctor’s Wife for Keeps

Twin Surprise for the Italian Doc

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk.

The Doctor’s Wife for Keeps

Alison Roberts

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-07487-2

THE DOCTOR’S WIFE FOR KEEPS

© 2018 Alison Roberts

Published in Great Britain 2018

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

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Version: 2020-03-02

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For Sarah, Luke and Brendan,

with lots of love and very fond memories

of our adventures in the Czech Republic. xx

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

Extract

PROLOGUE

‘I THINK WE’RE LOST.’

Kate Saunders slowed the SUV she was driving to take another hairpin bend on this alpine road that seemed to be going on for ever and getting narrower as the tall forest pressed in on both sides. She glanced sideways at her companion—her best friend and flatmate, Georgia.

‘Whose bright idea was it to enter this international medical rescue competition? Oh, yeah...yours...’

‘It’s an adventure.’ Georgia was grinning. ‘Admit it—you’re loving it already.’

Kate snorted, tipping her head a little to ease the crick in her neck. ‘Road trips always sound more fun than they actually are. It’s a hell of a long way from Scotland to the back of beyond in the Czech Republic. I’ve never even heard of the town we’re trying to find.’

‘Rakovi. It’s a ski resort. And this is the biggest competition of its kind in the world. I’ve been hearing about it for years—ever since I became a paramedic.’

‘Well, I’ve never heard of it.’

‘That’s because you’re a doctor and your lot aren’t as adventurous.’

‘Hmm...’ There was some truth in that. Kate had been focused on her career from the moment she’d been accepted for medical school at the age of twenty two. Georgia had helped her celebrate her thirty-fifth birthday a few months ago and her idea of a gift had been to enter her in this competition as a doctor/paramedic team. She had already booked accommodation in London and Germany to break up the travel and, probably thanks to the bottle of excellent champagne they were sharing, it had seemed like a brilliant idea at the time.

Now she wasn’t so sure.

‘Have we even got out of Poland yet?’

‘Ages ago. It’s not far now.’

‘We don’t want to be late for registration.’

‘Don’t stress. They’ve got a couple of hundred teams from about twenty different countries to process. If we’re a bit late it’ll just mean we don’t have to queue for so long.’

Kate slowed again to cross a narrow bridge over a tumbling mountain stream. ‘I can’t believe we’re competing in such a huge field.’

‘It’s broken up into categories, remember. There’ll be paramedic teams with their ambulances from all over Europe. I can’t wait till the end where everybody drives in convoy around all the local villages with their lights and sirens on. I’ve heard it’s a memorable experience. Then there are the doctors and medical student teams and other combinations. I just hope there’s enough like us to give us our own category, otherwise we’ll be competing against teams that have up to four members.’

‘I just hope I don’t make an idiot of myself. I’m a paediatrician, Georgie. I work in a nice, safe hospital with any amount of resources and backup. You would have been better to pick an emergency specialist.’

‘You do plenty of emergency work. And you’ve lived with me long enough to qualify as an honorary paramedic. You’ve even been out on the road with me a few times. You’ll be brilliant and who cares if we don’t win? We’re here to have fun, remember? To have an adventure and meet lots of new people and...’ Georgia’s grin was decidedly mischievous now. ‘We’re both single and gorgeous. Have you thought about how many men there are going to be at this thing?’

‘Georgie...’ Kate shook her head. ‘You never give up, do you? You’ve only just got over the last disaster and you’re ready to do it again?’

‘Oh, I have no intention of falling for someone. What’s that saying? The best way to get over a man is to get under another one?’

Kate had to laugh. And she had to admire Georgia’s resilience. At least she kept trying and Kate hadn’t even done that for quite some time. It was so disheartening when a relationship failed to live up to expectations and the goalposts of true love and that dream family and children of her own got shifted a little further away yet again.

‘Casual sex has never appealed to me.’

‘Yeah...you’re so old school, Kate. An ultimate romantic. You really believe that you’re going to see ‘the one’ across a crowded room and it’ll be love at first sight and a happy-ever-after with a few bluebirds fluttering over the carpet of rose petals and...’

‘Oh, stop it,’ Kate growled. Her friend’s tone was teasing but, disturbingly, there was an element of truth in the scene. Not the bluebirds, of course. Or the rose petals.

But, yeah...she did believe that ‘the one’ was out there somewhere and that happy-ever-afters were quite possible for the lucky few. And who knew? It wasn’t beyond the realms of possibility that he might be amongst this huge, random gathering of people with a common interest.

A flicker of excitement that had nothing to do with the adventure of competing lifted her spirits noticeably. And with that flicker came a rush of affection for her friend. Poor Georgia had been through the mill when it came to men so it was no wonder she was a little on the bitter side at the moment.

‘Just be careful, hon. Okay?’

‘Of course.’

Kate had seen that innocent look before. It meant that she was hiding something.

‘You have given up on that hare-brained scheme you came up with after that bastard, Rick, walked out, haven’t you?’

‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’

‘Oh, yes, you do. The one where you gave up on men completely and were going to have a baby all by yourself?’ As much as Kate adored children, she couldn’t imagine choosing to have a family on her own. The whole package was the goal and there was a proper order to do it in. You fell in love, got married and then had a baby. Georgia was only a year older than she was. They still had time...didn’t they?

‘Well, obviously I haven’t given up on men completely. And I’m over Rick. He’s ancient history—like all the others. Ooh, look...a signpost. We’re only fifteen kilometres away.’

That flicker of excitement ignited into a small but steady flame. Kate hadn’t given up on men completely either and maybe fate, in the form of Georgia’s determination, had pushed her in the direction of this competition for a reason.

‘Halleluiah.’ Kate grinned at her friend. ‘The end is in sight.’

‘Nah...the beginning is in sight.’ Georgia stretched her arms above her head and gave a whoop. ‘Bring it on.’

CHAPTER ONE

NO WAY...

It couldn’t be...

‘Come on, Kate. You can get your T-shirt later. We need to register and then find our room.’

A firm nudge made Kate turn her head and start moving again. ‘Sorry... I thought I saw someone I knew.’

‘Who?’

‘Luke. Luke Anderson. An old friend. We went through med school together.’

‘Hmm...’ Georgia was scanning the queues in front of a line of desks. ‘Can you see what’s on that sign?’

‘The desks are divided into alphabetic sections according to the country the team is representing. “S” is over there.’ This time it was Kate leading the way. She approved of such disciplined organisation and it boded well for a smoothly run competition. The people behind the desks were looking weary. How many hundreds of people had they processed already? There was still a queue in front of the section that included ‘S’.

Kate looked around at the sea of people, many of whom were in the uniforms of their ambulance organisation, with bright orange or red overalls and jackets. It was noisy and she could hear languages she couldn’t identify. A lot of people seemed to know each other very well and enthusiastic greetings added to the aura of controlled chaos. At least she had a few minutes to take it all in as they waited their turn.

‘So...this Luke...’ Georgia raised an eyebrow. ‘Is he good looking?’

‘I guess...’ Kate tried to recapture that fleeting glance to decide whether it was possible she had really seen him. ‘Very tall. Dark hair. Brown eyes.’

‘Oh... I love brown eyes. My favourite.’

Kate’s breath came out in a huff. They were both women in their mid-thirties. Independent and successful. Were they really having a conversation that made them sound like boy-mad teenagers?

‘I haven’t seen him for five years. Since he got married.’

‘Oh...’ The tone was very different this time. Georgia’s interest had evaporated.

For some reason that annoyed Kate. ‘We were really good friends. We lost touch because his wife couldn’t handle him having a female friend. I’d love to catch up. I don’t even know what part of the world he’s living in now. But he’s a paediatric surgeon so it’s pretty unlikely he’d come to something like this.’

‘I’ll bet he’d say the same thing if he thought he’d seen you.’

Kate couldn’t argue with that. Not that there was any more time to even think about it because they’d reached the front of the queue. There were folders of documents to collect that included detailed instructions and maps. They received large identification numbers that they would have to wear pinned to their clothing at all times and coloured wristbands that were clipped on.

‘These numbers go on your vehicle.’ The official’s English was excellent but heavily accented. ‘These are your vouchers for meals and this is your room number. Go to the accommodation block and they will show you where to go. Don’t forget the welcome ceremony and briefing at nineteen hundred hours. If you hurry, you should have time for a meal first.’

The ski resort sprawled over several levels on the steep hillside with a road that separated each level in a zigzag. A road that was jam packed with vehicles parked on both sides of it. The variety of colours was amazing. Red and white predominated but there were yellow and green emergency vehicles with various designs of reflective stripes and insignia. Amongst the dozens of ambulances and marked emergency Jeeps and SUVs—many of which were also decorated with flags and other accessories, Georgia’s car looked small and plain. And it was parked far enough away to make it a mission to collect their bags.

‘You’ve got a Scottish flag, haven’t you?’

‘Och, aye...’ Georgia nodded. ‘One for each front window. And a bagpipe-playing bear that we can attach to the front bumper. We can do that later, though. I’m starving...’

‘I’ll just put the vehicle number stickers on. It was one at the front and one at the back, wasn’t it? Did they say which part of the windscreen it should go on?’

Georgia shook her head. ‘Just make it visible. You can read the rules later.’

Kate frowned. ‘I’ll just put the front one on the dashboard for now. If we stick it in the wrong place, it might not come off.’

Georgia paused in her task of hauling their bags from the back to give Kate a loaded glance.

‘You know, sometimes you make me feel like I’m out with my mother.’

‘If it keeps you out of trouble then that’s a good thing.’

‘I’m a big girl, Kate. I can look after myself.’ But Georgia was smiling now. ‘It’s a good thing you’re here, though. We certainly won’t get eliminated for breaking any rules. And, hey...how good is it that we’ve got our own category? There must be at least five other teams that have a doctor and one or two paramedics with them. Maybe one of them includes your friend.’

Kate pulled out the handle of her bag and started wheeling it down the road.

‘Doubt it. It must have just been someone who looked a bit like him. I’ve seen a dozen tall men with dark hair since then.’

Because she’d been looking?

She was still looking, she realised as they lined up and presented their meal vouchers in exchange for a plate laden with stew and dumplings. There was a bar open in the dining area and many tables had people enjoying a beer or wine with their meals. So many tables. So many people.

She’d already decided Luke couldn’t possibly be here so why was she scanning the room so carefully now?

‘There’s some space on that table.’ Georgia led the way. ‘Do you mind if we join you guys?’

‘Please do.’ The man’s face lit up beneath sun-streaked blond hair as he looked at Georgia. ‘I’m Dave. This is Ken and that’s Sally, who’s stuffing her face there.’

‘You’re from Australia, right?’

‘No. New Zealand.’ Dave sighed heavily. ‘Everybody thinks our accent is the same but it really isn’t.’ He grinned at Georgia. ‘No mistaking yours. You’re Scottish.’

‘I am. I like your uniforms. Are you paramedics?’

‘Yeah... You guys?’

‘I’m a paramedic. Kate’s a doctor. Is this your first time here?’

‘Sure is. Never seen anything like it.’

‘Where are you based at home? City or country?’

‘Auckland. Biggest city in the country. And up there in the top cities of the world to live in. You should come and visit sometime.’

‘Oh? What’s so great about Auckland?’

The conversation, as they swapped details about their home towns and talked about how little they knew of what was to happen tomorrow, was lively but Kate was only half listening.

Why was it so unsettling, she wondered, to be disappointed that she’d made a mistake? It wasn’t as if Luke had ever been anything more than a friend.

On his side, anyway.

On her side, too, after she’d got over that silly crush. And it hadn’t been that hard, had it?

Humiliating, maybe, when she’d felt invisible as anything more than a friend, but they had been very good friends and that was something special. Something that often lasted way longer than any romantic relationships. They’d studied together, competed fiercely to see could get better marks in exams and had supported each other in those first, nerve-racking encounters with real patients in real hospitals.

They’d kept in touch all through those early years of their careers after medical school, even though they’d ended up in different cities and she’d convinced herself that she was genuinely delighted when he’d fallen head over heels in love with the gorgeous Nadia—a nurse he’d met in his first year as a surgical registrar. She hadn’t been the one for Luke but she’d cared enough about him to wish him complete happiness with the woman who’d been lucky enough to be chosen.

Okay, it had been more than a little hurtful when contact had ceased but she’d always hoped that, one day, when Nadia felt more secure, the friendship would somehow be rekindled. A hope that had been slowly evaporating over the years, however. She hadn’t even thought about Luke for quite a long time. Until she’d thought she’d spotted him...

Maybe, when she got home, she’d find out where he was working these days. Drop him an email, even, and just say hi.

The plan was satisfying enough to enable her to put the distraction firmly to one side and tune in properly to the conversation around her. New Zealand was a place that had always fascinated her and she was keen to hear about what it was like to live and work there.

By the time she followed the others to get to the welcome ceremony and briefing, she had completely forgotten about Luke Anderson. It was taking more than enough concentration not to lose sight of Georgia or their new friends as they squeezed into a very crowded room.

‘Excuse me...’ She had to turn sideways to get past a group of medics wearing heavy coats with fluorescent stripes and rescue insignia. They were big men and maybe they hadn’t heard her because one of them stepped back and pushed Kate into the person on the other side of the space she’d been trying to get through. She felt hands grip her arms as someone tried to prevent her falling.

‘Oh, I’m so sorry.’ Kate could feel her face reddening as she regained her balance.

‘No problem. It’s a bit of a squeeze in here, isn’t it?’

Kate’s jaw dropped as she lifted her head. She knew that voice so well...

‘Oh, my God... Kate?’

A huge, dumb grin was spreading over her face but words had deserted her. Not that she needed them for a moment because Luke had enveloped her in a hug that was making it difficult to take a breath.

‘Kate?’

The voice came from behind her and she turned as the tight hold loosened.

‘Oh, thank goodness. I thought I’d lost you.’

‘Georgie...this is my friend, Luke...’

Someone was tapping on a microphone, which triggered a screech of feedback that made people groan.

‘Sorry about that but welcome, everybody... If we could have a bit of quiet, please?’

Kate shut up immediately but Luke didn’t appear to have heard the request.

‘What on earth are you doing here?’

‘It was a birthday present,’ she muttered. ‘Long story...’

‘Shh,’ someone behind her hissed. ‘We’re trying to listen.’

Luke made an apologetic grimace but then winked at Kate.

‘Later,’ he mouthed, turning to peer over the heads of others to see who was speaking.

Kate started listening, too. After the welcome speech and a list of how many countries were participating, another speaker got up to share important information.

‘Between eleven-thirty and midnight tonight, you will all receive your list of events. You will be given the GPS coordinates of the scenario and a start time. Please be there at least ten minutes before that time. If you are late, you will not be admitted and you will not be marked in that section of the competition.’

Georgia elbowed Kate. ‘No chance of that happening,’ she whispered. ‘Not when I’m with you.’

The dig at her compulsion to follow directions to the letter failed to bother Kate. How could it when she was feeling so unexpectedly good?

She had Luke standing on her other side and, every so often, they glanced sideways—apparently at the exact same moment—to catch each other’s gaze. And every time it happened, the feeling got stronger.

It was like going home. Or back to a beloved place, like where you’d had your summer holidays all through childhood. A feeling of something so familiar you could relax completely. Of something that had the promise of delivering the same good things it always had.

And, yes...there was something more.

A flicker of that initial crush, perhaps? A realisation that none of her own relationships had ever worked well enough because that flicker had never been fanned into something that had felt as meaningful as even her friendship with Luke had been?

‘The rally covers a period of twenty-four hours and you will have both a daytime and a night-time section. There will be twelve tasks for you to complete but there will be breaks in your schedule during which you can take meals or have a rest.

Time to catch up properly with an old friend, perhaps? The feeling of anticipation took on a softer edge for Kate. A warm glow, even.

There were pictures on a big screen on the wall now. There was a map of the local area as an official explained how far they might have to travel to get to some of the scenarios and what local landmarks and hazards to watch out for.