‘What about you? Have you no longing for a husband and children? You are great with children. I see you all the time with other people’s children and you are so gentle and patient.’
She turned away from him and Callum knew that he’d fallen into a pit of his own making just as they were getting to know each other on an easier footing. Why had he made the conversation so personal when he knew how much Leonie veered away from such things?
‘Yes, I would like a family,’ she said eventually, ‘but I am wary of those sorts of commitments.’
They were seated next to each other on her sofa. Callum got to his feet and stood looking down on her. He held out his hand and when she took it raised her gently to her feet. They were only inches away from each other, but the look in her eyes made him feel as if it was a million miles that separated them, and suddenly he’d had enough of the tactful approach.
He reached out for her, swept her into his arms and kissed her—gently at first, then with rising passion—until he felt the wetness of tears on her face.
As he looked down on her in dismay she pushed him away.
‘Callum, please go. I didn’t ask you here for something like this to happen!’
‘No, of course you didn’t,’ he said tightly. ‘It won’t happen again. You have my promise on that.’
He opened the door, stepped out into the night and was gone.
Dear Reader
If you have read my earlier book, CHRISTMAS MAGIC IN HEATHERDALE, you will be familiar with this charming small market town—and if you haven’t here it is in summer time, when a nurse who loves children but has been denied them and a charismatic doctor who has lost his taste for marriage discover the kind of love that lasts for ever.
I do hope that you will enjoy meeting them!
Yours romantically
Abigail Gordon
ABIGAIL GORDON loves to write about the fascinating combination of medicine and romance from her home in a Cheshire village. She is active in local affairs, and is even called upon to write the script for the annual village pantomime! Her eldest son is a hospital manager, and helps with all her medical research. As part of a close-knit family, she treasures having two of her sons living close by, and the third one not too far away. This also gives her the added pleasure of being able to watch her delightful grandchildren growing up.
Heatherdale’s Shy Nurse
Abigail Gordon
MILLS & BOON
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Recent titles by Abigail Gordon:
CHRISTMAS MAGIC IN HEATHERDALE
SWALLOWBROOK’S WEDDING OF THE YEAR
MARRIAGE MIRACLE IN SWALLOWBROOK** SPRING PROPOSAL IN SWALLOWBROOK** SWALLOWBROOK’S WINTER BRIDE** SUMMER SEASIDE WEDDING• VILLAGE NURSE’S HAPPY-EVER-AFTER• WEDDING BELLS FOR THE VILLAGE NURSE• CHRISTMAS IN BLUEBELL COVE• COUNTRY MIDWIFE, CHRISTMAS BRIDE*
**The Doctors of Swallowbrook Farm *The Willowmere Village Stories •Bluebell Cove
These books are also available in eBook format from www.millsandboon.co.uk
Dedication
For Frances, a very special lady.
Contents
CHAPTER ONE
HE WAS HOME, Callum Warrender thought contentedly as he lay watching spring sunshine light up his bedroom in an apartment by a lazy river that ran through the prestigious small market town of Heatherdale. Back where he belonged in the place he loved the best.
After sleeping for most of a long transatlantic flight from America he had woken to hear a member of the cabin staff asking passengers to fasten their seat belts as they would shortly be landing at one of the biggest airports in the area, and, suddenly wide awake, the pleasure of the moment had washed over him.
He’d spent six months on an exchange arrangement with a large children’s hospital in the States and for the most part had enjoyed the change and the challenge it had presented. Yet he had refused when the chance to become a regular member of its staff had been presented to him.
Work-wise it hadn’t been a joy ride. He’d worked long and hard alongside other experts in his field, with each taking note of the others’ expertise in orthopaedic paediatrics. Yet there had been time to socialise too.
He’d been wined and dined by those he’d come to demonstrate his skills to, and had met more than a few attractive women on those occasions