‘A heartwarming tale of two opposites falling for each other. Annie O’Neil has done a fabulous job with her first offering. Highly recommended for readers of medical romance.’
—Goodreads on The Surgeon’s Christmas Wish
‘A poignant and enjoyable romance that held me spellbound from start to finish. Annie O’Neil writes with plenty of humour, sensitivity and heart, and she has penned a compelling tale that will touch your heart and make you smile as well as shed a tear or two.’
—CataRomance on The Surgeon’s Christmas Wish
‘A terrific debut novel, and I am counting down the days until the release of Annie O’Neil’s next medical romance!’
—CataRomance on The Surgeon’s Christmas Wish
Cole automatically reached for her coat and helped her slip into it.
‘You’re too kind.’
If only she knew. Cruel to be kind was more like it.
As Lina slipped her arms into the sleeves and shrugged the coat over her shoulders Cole was struck by how fragile her neck looked. Before they’d gone out she’d swept her hair up into some sort of semi-tamed twist. A few tendrils had come loose and were brushing along the length of her neck, her shoulders. It was taking some serious self-control to stop himself from reaching forward and letting the pad of his thumb or the length of his finger draw down the length of her neck. He could just as easily imagine dipping his lips to kiss the bare, pale swoop of skin between her neck and shoulder …
Lina abruptly turned around, their noses nearly colliding. Cole instinctively grabbed hold of her so she could steady herself, but in that moment—and it was just a moment—with her face within kissing distance, her eyes catching his, Cole knew he’d have to channel his deepest powers of control or risk everything.
I’m so glad you’re here! And ‘here’, this time, is in my semi-adopted town of London. Both Lina and Cole—my hero and heroine—come from other countries and fall in love in London! I can say from experience it is a delight! Then again, falling in love just about anywhere is lovely, isn’t it?
Sometimes I struggle with getting the names of my characters just right—but this time I had a double dose of inspiration.
There is a great physiotherapist character who is named after our WHSmith Competition Winner #WHSBookmarks Gemma Holland! It’s such a great name, and it was easy to make her character just as fabulous. Gemma, I hope you enjoy your literary incarnation! I have my fingers crossed that this book will delight you.
My second splash of inspiration came from a most excellent friend—Michelle. All I had to do was turn her into a Polish ballerina and voilà! Lina Keminsky was born.
I hope you enjoy this journey of healing and new beginnings. Please do feel free to let me know what you think. I love to hear from readers. I can be reached on my website, annieoneilbooks.com, or via Twitter @AnnieONeilBooks.
Annie O’ Xx
ANNIE O’NEIL spent most of her childhood with her leg draped over the family rocking chair and a book in her hand. Novels, baking and writing too much teenage angst poetry ate up most of her youth. Now Annie splits her time between corralling her husband into helping her with their cows, baking, reading, barrel racing (not really) and spending some very happy hours at her computer, writing.
London’s Most Eligible Doctor
Annie O’Neil
This book is a delight to dedicate!
The heroine—Lina Keminsky—is inspired by one of my favourite people in the world. She is kind, passionate, and a most excellent maker of strawberry daiquiris! Thank you, Michelle Kem, for being the flame of creativity behind this flame-haired heroine.
Table of Contents
Praise for Annie O’Neil
Dear Reader
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
IT WAS OFFICIAL. This was Lina’s worst ever nightmare in the history of nightmares. Who knew it would have such well-appointed surroundings? En Pointe’s reception area was about as Zen and soothing as it got. Creams and sages and tactically placed throw pillows in accent colors just the right side of understated chic. The polar opposite of the way she felt.
Auditioning—no, scratch that—interviewing for a job where she’d have to face her demons every day from nine to five? Someone up there was really testing her. Or having a mighty fine belly laugh. If this was her ultimate low, she was well and truly looking forward to the high.
A dark twist of pain tightened in her stomach. She’d had her highs—as a prima ballerina for three glorious, unbelievably wonderful years. Yes, she’d had her highs.
When she’d received the call from her former dance captain that there was a job going here, her first instinct had been to refuse it. It didn’t even sound real to her. Something officey at London’s premier dance clinic? That was the one job going in the whole of the city? Not that anyone in the ballet owed her anything. Not now.
She scanned the room. Okay. Fair enough. From the lack of a human on Reception she could see it was not a pretend job they’d made up just to get her out of her flat, but really? The path from prima ballerina to phone answerer was a bitter pill to swallow and already it felt