The Surgeon She Never Forgot. Melanie Milburne

       She stood mesmerised by the tether of his touch, by the intense blue of his gaze as it held hers.

      It was as if the busy, bustling world of the hospital had faded into the background, leaving them isolated in a bubble that contained memories of private moments—intimate moments only they knew about. Her heart kicked against her breastbone as his finger drew closer to her scalp. She could smell his aftershave. It wasn’t one she recognised but it was underpinned with his all too familiar smell: musk and soap and healthy potent male.

      ‘Do you want to know why I came back after so long out of the country?’ he asked.

      She drew in a breath that felt as if it had thorns attached. ‘To further your career,’ she said. ‘That’s always been your priority. Nothing comes before that.’

      He uncoiled the strand of hair and tucked it behind her ear. ‘A career is not everything, Mikki,’ he said as his hand dropped back down by his side. ‘It can’t keep you warm at night.’

       Dear Reader

      All my Medical^™ Romance titles to date have had a hero and heroine meeting for the first time within the first pages of the novel. But this time I wanted to revisit a failed relationship—a very popular theme I have explored several times in my Modern^™ Romance titles.

      The things that draw a couple together can often be the very things that tear them apart further down the track, and so it was with Mikki and Lewis. Their whirlwind affair in London tragically came unstuck and Mikki ran back home to Australia, to all that was familiar.

      But time has passed and their paths cross when Lewis comes to work as a leading neurosurgeon at St Benedict’s, where Mikki is an ICU specialist. Their careers are closely entwined, but so too is their history. The spark is still there, but can Mikki risk heartbreak all over again over the unreachable Lewis Beck?

      As brooding heroes go, Lewis has it all. He’s a loner, aloof, in control and needs no one. Or does he?

      Mikki is just the person to bring Lewis into contact with his feelings. It is only she who can reach that dark, secret place inside him where he has stored all the hurt, guilt and grief and disappointments that life has dished up. I loved watching their second chance at love unfold. It was an emotional journey for me writing it as I know many people do not get the second chance they hope and pray for.

      I hope you are deeply touched by their story.

       Melanie Milburne

      Melanie Milburne says: ‘One of the greatest joys of being a writer is the process of falling in love with the characters and then watching as they fall in love with each other. I am an absolutely hopeless romantic. I fell in love with my husband on our second date, and we even had a secret engagement—so you see it must have been destined for me to be a Harlequin Mills & Boon author! The other great joy of being a romance writer is hearing from readers. You can hear all about the other things I do when I’m not writing and even drop me a line at: www.melaniemilburne.com.au’

      

       Melanie Milburne also writes forModern™ Romance!

      ‘THE FIORENZA FORCED MARRIAGE

      by Melanie Milburne: insults fly, passion explodes, and it all adds up to an engaging story about the power of love.’ —RT Book Reviews

      The Surgeon

      She Never Forgot

      Melanie Milburne

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

       To my niece Claire Elizabeth Luke. You are a beautiful person inside and out. Love you. xx

      With special thanks to Dr David Rigg

      at The Royal Hobart Hospital, an intensive care specialist who was very generous with his time in helping me research some aspects of this novel. His dedication to his patients really moved me deeply. Thank you.

      CONTENTS

       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 ONE

      IT WASN’T that Mikki hadn’t expected to run into him at some point, she just hadn’t thought it would be quite like this. She had thought it through in her head: she would be in the doctors’ room, he would come in and she would look up, as casual as you please, and act as if what had happened between them seven years ago had never occurred. Or, alternatively, she would be in ICU, attending to one of the patients under her care, when he would come in. She would be all cool and professional, treating him exactly the same as she would treat any other specialist at St Benedict’s.

      But not like this. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. This wasn’t how she had planned it at all.

      As soon as she stepped into the restaurant she saw him. In spite of the subdued romantic lighting there could be no mistaking that tall rangy, dark-brown-haired figure. He was sitting alone at a table towards the back of the restaurant, his concentration on the menu in front of him, but then, as if some internal radar of his had picked up her presence, he raised his head and his startling ice-blue eyes met hers.

      Mikki felt like someone had landed a punch in her belly. The air gushed out of her lungs. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t move. She stood with her eyes locked on his, her heart going into a painful spasm for endless moments until she vaguely registered that someone was speaking to her on her left.

      ‘Dr Landon?’ the maître d’ said at her elbow. ‘Your mother called to say she would be ten minutes late. Shall I show you to your usual table?’

      Mikki turned and forced a polite smile to her stiff lips. ‘That would be fine. Thank you, Gino.’

      The maître d’ pulled out her chair for her and she sat down on legs that felt as spindly and ungainly as a newborn foal’s. She kept her head down, making a business of turning her mobile phone to the vibrate setting before she sat back with an ease she was nowhere near feeling. She daren’t look across at the other table but she could feel the weight of that penetrating all-too-critical, all–too-assessing gaze.

      Was he thinking how much she had changed since she had seen him last? Her honey-brown hair was longer now; she had gone from the urchin