Buch lesen: «Craving Her Ex-Army Doc»
Praise for Amy Ruttan
‘I highly recommend this for all fans of romance reads with amazing, absolutely breathtaking scenes, to-die-for dialogue, and everything else that is needed to make this a beyond awesome and WOW read!’
—Goodreads on Melting the Ice Queen’s Heart
‘A sensational romance, filled with astounding medical drama. Author Amy Ruttan makes us visualise the story with her flawless storytelling. The emotional and sensory details are exquisitely done and the sensuality in the love scene just sizzles. Highly recommended for all lovers of medical romance.’
—Contemporary Romance Reviews on Safe in His Hands
Sealed by a Valentine’s Kiss
These untamed docs are almost too hot to handle!
Welcome to Crater Lake, Montana, where doctors Carson and Luke Ralston were born and raised. Big Sky Country gives these gorgeous brothers the space to leave their difficult pasts firmly behind them … until two new additions to the landscape—feisty surgeon Esme Petersen and east-coast ace Dr Sarah Ledet—upset their careful balance!
Find out what happens in
Carson and Esme’s story His Shock Valentine’s Proposal
and
Luke and Sarah’s story Craving Her Ex-Army Doc
Don’t miss the Sealed by a Valentine’s Kiss duet from Mills & Boon Medical Romance author Amy Ruttan
Available from February 2016!
Dear Reader,
Thank you for picking up a copy of Craving Her Ex-Army Doc.
I’ve mentioned before that brothers seem to be in my cards. I love writing about brothers, and I love my little brother to death—though when we were younger that wasn’t always the case. Like my hero Luke, setting booby traps for Carson from His Shock Valentine’s Proposal, I’m afraid I was often duct taping my brother to various walls.
My mother always warned me that my brother would grow up to be bigger than me one day. She was right. He towers over my five-eleven height at six foot four. Thankfully all transgressions of childhood are in the past, and my brother is one of my best friends. Just one word, which doesn’t make sense to anyone but the two of us, and we’re on the floor laughing.
Carson is Luke’s rock—though Luke might not want to admit it. Luke admires his younger brother, and maybe … Just maybe … envies the love that Carson found with Esme in His Shock Valentine’s Proposal.
Perhaps love is actually in the cards for lone wolf Luke Ralston, but it’s not going to come easy. He’s a stubborn man, and it’s going to take an equally strong and stubborn woman—my lovely heroine Sarah Ledet—to tame him.
I hope you enjoy the second book in my Sealed by a Valentine’s Kiss duet.
I love hearing from readers, so please drop by my website, amyruttan.com, or give me a shout on Twitter @ruttanamy.
With warmest wishes,
Amy Ruttan
Born and raised on the outskirts of Toronto, Ontario, AMY RUTTAN fled the big city to settle down with the country boy of her dreams. Life got in the way, and after the birth of her second child, she decided to pursue her dream of becoming a romance author. When she’s not furiously typing away at her computer, she’s a mom to three wonderful children.
Craving Her
Ex-Army Doc
Amy Ruttan
For my boys. For the times you have fun together
and the times you drive each other crazy.
Remember this, Aidan, James will grow bigger than you.
Love you both.
Table of Contents
Cover
Praise for Amy Ruttan
Excerpt
Dear Reader
About the Author
Title Page
Dedication
PROLOGUE
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
EPILOGUE
Copyright
PROLOGUE
“GET OUT OF my OR!”
“Not on your life.” Luke stood his ground. He wasn’t about to be pushed out of the OR by the arrogant upstart trauma surgeon at the hospital. “I got him off the mountain and I’m not going to let him die on my watch. So if you want me out of your OR you’re going to have to physically remove me.”
Those blue-green eyes behind the surgical mask glittered with barely concealed rage and Luke smiled behind his own mask, knowing he’d pushed the surgeon’s buttons. She was some hotshot surgeon from out east. One who had been teaching a workshop in Missoula and got called in when Shane was brought in, because Missoula was slammed.
There had been several landslides after a small earthquake rocked the area. All hospitals in a hundred-mile radius were overflowing with the injured. If Luke had the supplies he could’ve set up a mobile OR in Crater Lake. He’d worked in worse conditions in Afghanistan.
Only, he hadn’t practiced surgery since his honorable discharge and he certainly wasn’t going to start on Shane Draven. He did surgery when needed, but he preferred practicing in the wilderness. So in this situation he’d rather this trauma surgeon work on Shane.
Still, she needed to know he was just as capable as her. He would have done the surgery another way. That was why he was questioning her.
She was cocky and full of herself. She definitely needed to be taken down a peg or two and he was just the guy to do it.
He might not practice as a traditional doctor, but he was just as much a surgeon as this woman. He had spent time on the front line, patching up soldiers in the midst of fire. How many lives had he saved? He wasn’t sure, because he didn’t keep score. All that mattered was saving lives. That was why he’d joined the army, it was what he’d wanted for so long, but he’d given it up for another.
Don’t think about that now.
This surgeon had sized him up the moment he’d rushed in with Shane Draven’s stretcher. She thought he was nothing but a first responder or a paramedic. Obviously a surgeon who didn’t know any better. Paramedics were on the front line.
Usually he wouldn’t question another surgeon in the OR, unless the patient was at serious risk, but the moment he walked into the OR with Shane she’d been treating him like a second-class citizen. Which was why he decided two could play at that game. So he questioned her every move.
She wanted a fight? Oh, he’d give her a fight.
“I will physically remove you,” she snapped.
“I’d prefer you focus on my patient, Doctor, rather than argue over my presence here.”
Her angry gaze met his. “You’re questioning my skill, Mr… .”
Luke grinned smugly. “It’s Dr. Ralston.”
Her eyes widened in obvious surprise. “Doctor? I thought you were a paramedic.”
“Looks can be deceiving, I guess, but I am a doctor. Though I’m not insulted you thought I was a paramedic, but I suppose that’s the reason why you feel I should be kicked out of your OR.”
She cursed under her breath. “Doctor or paramedic, it doesn’t matter. I won’t have you undermining my authority in my OR.”
“This isn’t your OR. You’re not from around here.”
“When I’m operating it’s my OR, whether or not I’m from here.”
Luke had to admire her spunk. And she was right. Perhaps he’d been undermining her a touch, but this was a man he’d pulled off the mountain and Dr. Eli Draven was this patient’s father. He had made it clear that he was going to hold Luke responsible if Shane died, because Luke had allowed Dr. Petersen to place the chest tube.
Luke didn’t know what Dr. Draven had against Dr. Petersen and he didn’t really care. He’d pulled Shane down off the mountain. He was responsible for Shane’s life. Dr. Draven had been throwing his weight around in the Missoula hospital, because the chief of surgery was one of his former students.
Besides, Shane was also the nephew of Silas Draven, who was sending Luke the most work up on the mountain, and Silas Draven was someone he didn’t want to mess with. Luke appreciated all the work, but still he felt responsible for taking care of Shane. Luke, his brother, Carson, and Dr. Petersen were all instrumental in getting Shane Draven to Missoula alive.
Luke hadn’t left Shane’s side since they were airlifted off the mountain and he wasn’t going to leave him now.
No man gets left behind. Every life gets saved.
Luke’s commanding officer’s words rang true to the credo he lived by and it wasn’t going to change now. He’d served two tours of duty as an army medic. Even when he couldn’t live by that credo, when life couldn’t be saved, it still drove him.
Don’t think about losing patients now. Not with Shane on the table.
He shook those thoughts away. There was no place for them here.
“I got this man down off the mountain. He’s my patient whether this is your OR or not.”
“If you stay, Doctor, keep your opinions to yourself, then.” She looked away and continued to work on Shane. A true hardened trauma surgeon, as he’d been once.
Damn, she’s a spitfire.
He admired that about her and if circumstances had been different, meaning if he had any interest in pursuing a relationship again, he’d go after a strong-willed spitfire woman like her, but she was off-limits.
All women were.
He wanted to say more, but he knew when it was best to keep his mouth shut. As long as Shane’s life was saved, and then he could get Eli Draven off his back, but he still watched the surgeon like a hawk.
“Yes, Doctor.” And he gave her a little salute.
The surgeon mumbled a few choice words under her breath, but continued working on Shane.
Luke tried not to move toward the side of the table, where the lead surgeon stood, because if he did that then she would have grounds to throw him out of her OR.
He might be a bit of a control freak when it came to his patients, but there was no way he’d push it any further. He wasn’t leaving this OR. He wasn’t going to leave Shane Draven behind.
He didn’t even know her name and he didn’t care; she seemed to be competent. That was all that mattered.
When the surgery was over and they were wheeling Shane to the ICU, Luke gave up his perch in the OR. He planned to be on that ICU floor and personally monitoring Shane until he came out of the woods, as it were.
Dr. Ralston is a fine surgeon and a heck of an officer.
Only that wasn’t entirely true. Not anymore. He wasn’t an officer anymore. He’d given it all up. He didn’t renew his commission because his wife was done being an army wife, but then Christine had left him. He did it all for her and for nothing.
Luke shook that thought from his head. Nope. He wasn’t going there, because he wasn’t going to let that happen again.
No one was going to dictate how his life should be again. Which was why he wouldn’t settle down into a practice with Carson. It had been Christine’s wish after he finished his tours of duty. He’d partner with Carson, raise a family with Christine and do what he loved, practicing medicine. He’d been planning to do that. Luke was going to give up the army for his wife to make her happy. At least that had been the plan.
Then it all went to hell in a handbasket.
Christine left him when he finished his second tour, for his best friend, Anthony.
He cursed under his breath as he walked down the hall to the ICU. He was angry at himself for allowing those thoughts to creep into his head again. To let her creep into his thoughts again. It was because he was in a hospital again.
Surrounded by people.
On his mountain it was just the sky, the wind, the trees and the majestic behemoths rising from the earth toward the clouds.
On his mountain he was himself and he had no one to answer to. No one but him controlled his life, his fate, his destiny.
“Hey!”
Luke spun around and saw a woman in surgical scrubs and cap approach him. The physical attraction was immediate. Full red lips, which were slightly pouty. White-blond hair peeked out from under the scrub cap and big blue-green eyes sparkled with annoyance.
Oh. No.
It was the spitfire surgeon. He’d only seen her over the surgical mask. Now seeing that she was a gorgeous woman with a strong personality to boot, well, that was a dangerous combination for Luke.
“Can I help you?” he asked.
She crossed her arms and sized him up. “I’m looking for a Dr. Ralston. Do you happen to know where he is?”
Luke took a step back, in case she started swinging, but then the words sank in and he realized she didn’t know who he was. But then, he’d been wearing a surgical mask, cap and gown when he’d been in the OR with Shane. And this surgeon wasn’t a local surgeon. She was visiting. She wouldn’t recognize one person from another behind a surgical mask, because not being at this hospital every day he certainly didn’t.
This could be fun, one part of him thought. While the other part told him to walk away and not entangle himself with her, because he knew she spelled danger.
“Why do you need him?”
She huffed. “If you see him tell him Dr. Ledet is looking for him.” She turned to walk away and for a brief moment, one fraction of a second, he saw himself grabbing Dr. Ledet and pulling her into his arms, kissing her. Forcing the image away, he overcame the urge to taste those soft, moist lips, running his hands through her blond hair.
Maybe doing a little bit more than that.
Definitely dangerous.
“Where can he find you?” Luke asked.
She glanced at her watch. “After eight he can’t. I’m flying back to New York.”
“New York?”
“Yeah, I was here on business and decided to lend a hand for an old teacher. A fat lot of good that did me when I had to deal with an arrogant jerk like Dr. Ralston.”
“Well, if I see him before eight I’ll tell him.”
She didn’t thank him, just nodded curtly and walked away.
A New York surgeon, eh? Well, that was too bad, but it was for the best.
He’d never see her again.
It would’ve never worked anyway and not because of the distance, but because he would never let it.
CHAPTER ONE
Six months later, mid-January, Crater Lake, Montana
I HATE THE COLD. I hate the cold.
Sarah thought coming from New York she’d be used to the frigid temperatures of northwest Montana. New York State bordered Canada, too; it should be the same, but it wasn’t. Not at all. This was a different kind of cold. There was no moisture in the air and as she tried to shake the remnants of bone-chilling frigidity from her brand-new office, she couldn’t remember why she’d decided to take this job in Crater Lake, Montana.
Dr. Draven.
Right. Her teacher from medical school. Dr. Eli Draven. She didn’t study under him, because she didn’t have an interest in becoming a cardio-thoracic surgeon, but she remembered him clearly from her days at Stanford.
He was a good teacher, if not a bit full of himself. He’d taken a shine to her until she’d decided not to pursue cardio; then she was no longer his star, but he still spoke highly of her and when this job was offered to her by Dr. Draven’s brother, she couldn’t pass up the opportunity, because she was more than ready to get out of New York and out of her father’s iron grip.
No matter what she did, nothing was good enough for her parents.
They still saw her as their baby.
And they wouldn’t be happy until she was living a pampered life in a Central Park West penthouse, married to an investment banker or a lawyer or even a doctor.
She couldn’t be the doctor, however.
That was unacceptable.
Why do you need to work, pumpkin? Your husband, if you marry well, can take care of you.
Her mother’s archaic way of thinking made her shake her head. Sarah peeled off the thick parka she’d bought when she moved out to Montana and hung it on the coat rack in her office. There were no cabs in Crater Lake, unless you counted the very unreliable Bob’s Taxi, and she didn’t.
At least she’d bought a car when she first landed in Missoula and had snow tires put on it. She was well versed in the rugged country living she was immersing herself in, even if she did complain about the cold just a bit.
Why do you want to go work out in the wilderness?
Sarah’s sister, who was married to a very prominent surgeon and occupied one of those coveted penthouse suites on Central Park West, couldn’t understand what was driving her to do this.
Sometimes Sarah wasn’t even sure herself.
Because your dad got you your prestigious appointment in that Manhattan hospital. It wasn’t you.
Sarah sighed when she remembered. After a summer of touring around different hospitals in each state, presenting her Attending’s research and teaching different surgeons on using the newest model of robotic surgery, she came home to New York to accept one of the most prestigious positions offered to a trauma surgeon at Manhattan Grace, only to find out that the only reason she was chosen to tour the country and work with Dr. Carroll was that her father was friends with Dr. Carroll. They played a few rounds of golf in the Hamptons. Even her brother-in-law pulled strings for her as if she couldn’t make it on her own.
It just shook the foundation of everything Sarah had thought she knew.
It had knocked her confidence completely. Perhaps she wasn’t the surgeon that she’d thought she was? So she’d turned down the position, much to her father’s chagrin.
This was why she distanced herself from people. So many people trying to control the course of her life. She just couldn’t trust anyone.
Not even herself.
Do you know how many strings I’ve had to pull for you over the years? Just so you can play doctor? Come to your senses, Sarah.
Sarah came to her senses all right. She threw the job back in her father’s face, sold her apartment on the Upper West Side and took the job offer from Silas Draven to be the general practitioner and general surgeon at his newly opened ski lodge.
The ski lodge was set to open in one month, on Valentine’s Day, and Sarah couldn’t wait to get started. It would be a slower pace of life, but at least she would be able to help people here. She could be a doctor and not worry that her father was pulling strings to get her whatever she wanted. She was burned-out and really didn’t know who she was or what she wanted anymore. She didn’t even know if she wanted to be a surgeon and that thought terrified her, because for so long surgery had been her life.
For now a general practitioner sounded good. She could practice medicine and figure out where to go next. It sounded almost too good to be true.
Yeah. She could do this.
She smiled to herself and picked up her diploma from Stanford, in its frame, which was looking so forlorn on her desk. In fact her whole office was a complete disaster, with boxes and supplies scattered everywhere.
This was not an office yet. She couldn’t see patients in a place that looked as if a storage unit had exploded. It wasn’t very professional.
“Time to make this place my own.” She spied the stepladder that had been left by the painters in the corner. She grabbed a hammer and a nail. She’d never hammered anything in her life, but there was always a first time for everything.
“I can do this,” she said, as if trying to reassure herself. How hard could it be to hammer a nail into a wall? She had this. Except where she wanted to put the nail in was a little out of her reach for the stepladder. So she climbed to the very top of the ladder and held the wall for a bit of balance. Her perch was precarious, but all she was doing was hammering in one nail and it wasn’t that big of a drop down to the carpet.
She lined up the nail and held the hammer, ready to drive the nail home.
“Did you check for a stud?” a male voice asked from behind.
“What …?” Sarah turned, surprised that someone had snuck into her office and she hadn’t heard them, but in the process of turning around she forgot what a precarious perch she had on the top of the stepladder and lost her footing.
Sarah closed her eyes and waited for her backside to hit the floor, but instead she found herself landing in two very strong arms and being held against a broad, muscular chest.
“You shouldn’t stand on the top of a …” He trailed off.
“Who are you to tell me …?” Sarah opened her eyes and bit back a gasp as she stared up at the most stunningly handsome man she’d ever seen. Brown hair, with just a bit of curl, deep blue eyes and a neat beard, which just added to the ruggedness of his face.
Those blue eyes of his were wide with surprise and then she had the niggling sensation that she’d seen this face before, but couldn’t recall when or where.
“What in the name of all that’s good and holy were you doing up there with a hammer?” he demanded as he quickly set her down on her feet and took a step back from her as if she were on fire.
“Excuse me?” she asked. Who did this guy think he was?
“I’m telling you that wasn’t a smart move climbing up on that ladder. You could’ve killed yourself if I hadn’t showed up.”
“Why did you show up? Who are you?”
His blue eyes flashed and he crossed his arms, fixing her with a stare that was meant to frighten her. Well, it didn’t scare her.
“I’m here to take you out.”
“Out? I don’t believe I made any dates with anyone since I arrived in town.”
He smirked. “Not on a date, darling. Though if I were to go on a date with someone, you’re quite the fetching thing.”
“Fetching? Darling?”
He held up his hands. “Look, I was teasing. I’m not interested in dating coworkers, let alone headstrong doctors from out east. I’m to take you out on the skis to show you some of the private residences being built and how to access them.”
“Oh.” She was slightly disappointed. Not that she had any interest in dating a mountain man, but a fling might’ve been fun. Especially since this mountain man was deliciously handsome.
Don’t think like that. You’re here to prove yourself, not date.
Sarah didn’t date.
Her parents had tried over and over, setting her up with the right sort of man. Well, in their eyes anyway. It was just easier to concentrate on work and not bother with dating, romance or sex.
All the right kind of men Sarah had dated briefly in her early twenties were all wrong. It never felt right. There was never that spark or connection one was supposed to feel when falling in love with someone, but then again, since she’d never experienced it, maybe it was just a myth.
Men seemed to gravitate to her because she was a socialite and came from money. It was all about status for them, and as she was too focused on her career, she never pursued a man on her own and she never made the time to look for a man beyond her parents’ circles.
Single life was so much easier.
And lonely.
“Do you know how to ski?” he asked disparagingly, breaking her chain of thoughts.
“No.” Then she groaned inwardly at the thought of going back outside in the cold.
“I thought as much,” he said condescendingly. “Well, I’ll give you a few minutes to suit up so we can head out.”
It was the tone that sparked a vivid memory for her suddenly. She could see those dark blue eyes glittering above a surgical mask. Defying her.
Get out of my OR!
Not on your life.
No way. It couldn’t be him. It just couldn’t be him.
“What’s wrong?” he asked. “Don’t like the cold?”
“It’s not that. I think I know you.”
He smiled. “Do you?”
“What’s your name?” she asked.
Don’t be him. Don’t be him.
Then he grinned like the cat who’d got the cream. “Dr. Luke Ralston.”
Damn, but then she was ticked. She’d put that memory of her time in Missoula far from her mind, not giving it much of a second thought because, really, what did it matter? She was in New York, let Luke Ralston have Montana.
Besides, Shane Draven had pulled through.
It was all trivial. Except now she was in Montana, working on their patient’s uncle’s resort and Dr. Luke Ralston was her coworker? This was a totally messed-up situation. Something she was not comfortable with.
“You knew exactly who I was.”
Luke shrugged. “Not at first, but when you fell into my arms it all came back to me.”
“And you didn’t say anything? Like, maybe, ‘Hey, we know each other, we’ve worked together before’ or something like that?”
He shrugged again and then hooked his thumbs into the belt loops on the waist of his tight, tight jeans. “What does it matter?”
“It matters a lot. You’re a jerk!”
“Why am I a jerk? I mean, I did save you from probably concussing yourself or something.”
“You were the guy I talked to in the hallway in Missoula. When I asked who Dr. Ralston was, you said you didn’t know where he was. You lied to me.”
“I didn’t really want to argue with you in the hallway. I was on my way to the ICU to check on my patient. To make sure he pulled through surgery.”
“He was my patient.”
He grinned, smugly. “I brought him down off that mountain. He was my patient. You were just a locum surgeon. You didn’t stay to make sure he made it through the night. You headed back east, to wherever you came from. I knew nothing about you and I didn’t trust you. Of course, now you’re going to be a regular here in town.”
“Had I known there was a Ralston in Crater Lake I would’ve turned the job down.”
Luke chuckled. “You must’ve taken this job on an impulse, then.”
“Why do you say that?”
“If you’d researched Crater Lake you’d realize the family practice in town is run by a Ralston. I wasn’t really hiding my identity. Not in my town.”
Damn. He was right. She hadn’t really looked to see what physicians were in town. She’d taken the job so quickly. She’d just been so eager to get out of New York City and away from her father’s control. Crater Lake had sounded like a nice small town, and a job catering to the rich and famous in a resort had sounded perfect. It was a chance to prove herself to those who moved in her parents’ circles.
Then maybe she could step out of her father’s shadow. She wouldn’t be Sarah Ledet, New York heiress and daughter of Vin Ledet, one of the wealthiest men on the eastern seaboard. She’d be Dr. Ledet, physician.
“You’re regretting your decision to take this job, aren’t you?” Luke asked. “I can see it on your face. You look absolutely horrified.”
“Not the job, just who I have to work with.”
He grinned and then laughed. “You’re still a spitfire.”
“Spitfire?”
“It’s a compliment.”
Sarah tried not to smile. She didn’t want to smile. He was the jerk who’d disrupted her OR, given her a hard time and then lied to her. He was the one who’d questioned her surgical procedure and every move she’d made on that patient until she’d snapped. Only his smile had been infectious and she couldn’t remember the last time she’d laughed, even though she was ticked off that it was him. The thorn in her side from last summer, standing right there in her office.
She should just throw him out. As she should have done from her OR.
When she glanced back up at him the lighthearted mood had changed. He looked annoyed and uncomfortable.
“What?” she asked.
“Nothing.”
“Something changed. Just a moment ago you were complimenting me and joking. Now you look annoyed.”
“I’m annoyed we’re wasting the light standing around pointing fingers.”
“Okay, you’re right. I’m sorry.”
“Well, I would gear up. I don’t have all day to wait around for you.” He walked out of her office leaving her standing there absolutely confused.
What had just happened?
Sarah wasn’t sure, but she knew it would be best to keep her distance from Luke Ralston, though that was going to be tricky seeing how she was about to be dragged out on the mountain in the bitter cold with a man who was a little bit dangerous.
Not just a little bit dangerous.
A lot.
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