James didn’t once take his gaze from Sarah. He was watching her closely, as though he was mesmerised, taking in the warmth of her response, the soft flush of heat that flared in her cheeks.
The breath caught in her throat, and a familiar hunger surged inside her as she returned his gaze. There was a sudden dull ache in her chest—an ache that came from knowing her unbidden yearning could never be assuaged. He still had the power to melt her bones and fill her with that humiliating need that would forever be her downfall.
She closed her eyes briefly. How on earth would she be able to work with him over the weeks, months, that lay ahead?
Sarah looked out of the window. She had to keep things between them on a professional footing. That was the only way she could survive. From now on it would become her mantra …
Dear Reader
Once bitten, twice shy … So the old saying goes. It’s one that intrigues me … How, I wondered, would a young girl respond if the man she yearned for turned her away? Wouldn’t she do her utmost to steer clear of him in the future?
That’s exactly how it was for Sarah, after James Benson rejected her as a vulnerable teenager. Meeting him again, years later, she’s alarmed to discover that she still has feelings for him—but she can’t possibly act on them.
Besides, she has way too much going on in her life, with her young half-brother and half-sister to look after, as well as the responsibility of working as a doctor in a busy emergency department.
Add to the mix the tranquil setting of a picturesque Cornish fishing village—a favourite with me—and I think you’ll agree we have the perfect prescription for romance!
Love
Joanna
About the Author
When JOANNA NEIL discovered Mills & Boon®, her lifelong addiction to reading crystallised into an exciting new career writing Mills & Boon® Medical™ Romance. Her characters are probably the outcome of her varied lifestyle, which includes working as a clerk, typist, nurse and infant teacher. She enjoys dressmaking and cooking at her Leicestershire home. Her family includes a husband, son and daughter, an exuberant yellow Labrador and two slightly crazed cockatiels. She currently works with a team of tutors at her local education centre to provide creative writing workshops for people interested in exploring their own writing ambitions.
Recent titles by Joanna Neil:
DR RIGHT ALL ALONG
DR LANGLEY: PROTECTOR OR PLAYBOY? A COTSWOLD CHRISTMAS BRIDE THE TAMING OF DR ALEX DRAYCOTT BECOMING DR BELLINI’S BRIDE PLAYBOY UNDER THE MISTLETOE
These books are also available in eBook format from www.millsandboon.co.uk
Tamed by her Brooding Boss
Joanna Neil
CHAPTER ONE
‘SO, ARE you both okay …? Do you have everything you need?’ Sarah’s glance trailed over her young half-brother and half-sister, while she tried to work out if there was anything she had forgotten. It was a cool spring morning, with the wind blowing in off the sea, but the children were well wrapped up in warm jackets and trousers.
‘Do you still have your money for the lunch break, Sam?’ she asked, pausing to tuck a flyaway strand of chestnut-coloured hair behind her ear. He was such a whirlwind, she wouldn’t have been surprised to learn that he’d lost it somewhere between the front door of the house and the school gates.
Ten-year-old Sam was clearly feeling awkward in his brand-new school uniform, but he stopped wriggling long enough to dig his hand deep into his trouser pocket.
‘Yeah, it’s still there.’
‘Good. I’ll organise some sort of account for you both with the school as soon as I can, but for now make sure you get a decent meal with what you have.’ She gave Sam a wry smile. ‘I don’t want you to go spending it on crisps and junk food.’
His shoulders moved in brief acknowledgement and she turned her attention to Rosie. The little girl wasn’t saying very much—in fact, both children had been unusually quiet this morning. Perhaps she should have expected that, since it was their first day at a new school. They didn’t know this neighbourhood very well as yet, and they’d had to adjust to so many changes of late that it was understandable if they were struggling to take everything on board.
‘How about you, Rosie? Are you all right?’
Rosie nodded, her expression solemn, her grey eyes downcast. ‘I’m okay.’ She was two years younger than her brother, but in some ways she seemed a little more mature than him. It looked as though she was coping, but you could never tell.
‘I’m sure you’ll be fine, both of you.’ Sarah tried to sound encouraging. ‘I know it’s not easy, starting at a new school mid-term, but I expect your teachers will introduce you to everybody and you’ll soon make friends.’ She hesitated for a moment, but when neither child said anything in response she put an arm around each of them and started down the path towards the classrooms. ‘Let’s get you settled in—remember, if I’m still at work by the time school finishes, Murray from next door will come and pick you up.’
A few minutes later, she kissed them goodbye and left them in their cloakrooms, anxiety weighing heavily on her, but there was relief, too, when she saw that the other children were curious about the newcomers and had begun to talk to them.
Sarah pulled in a deep breath as she walked back to her car, trying to gather sustenance from an inner well of strength. It was difficult to know who felt worse, she or the children, but somehow she had to push those concerns to one side for the moment and get on with the rest of what looked to be a difficult day ahead.
It wasn’t just the children who were suffering from first-day nerves—she would be starting out on a new job, riding along in the air ambulance with the immediate care doctor for the area. That would carry with it its own difficulties … but that wasn’t what was troubling her. As a doctor herself, she hoped she was well prepared to cope with any medical emergency.
She set the car in motion, driving away from the small Cornish fishing village and heading along the coast road towards the air ambulance base where she was to meet up with James Benson.
Her hands tightened on the steering-wheel. Now, there was the crux of the problem. Even recalling his name caused a flurry of sensation to well up inside her abdomen and every now and again her stomach was doing strange, uncomfortable kinds of flip-overs.
How long had it been since she’d last seen him? A good many years, for sure … She’d been a teenager back then, naïve, innocent and desperate to have his attention. Her whole body flushed with heat at the memory, and she shook her head, as though that would push it away.
She’d do anything rather than have to meet up with him once again, but the chances of avoiding him had been scuppered from the outset. Maybe if she’d known from the start that he was a consultant in the emergency department where she’d wanted to work, she would never have applied for the post as a member of the team.
And how could she have known that he was also on call with the air ambulance? It was a job she’d trained for, coveted, and once she’d been drawn in, hook, line and sinker, there was no way she could have backed out of the deal.
She drove swiftly, carefully, barely noticing that she had left the coast behind, with its spectacular cliffs and rugged inlets, and now she was passing