The Surgeon's Baby Secret. Amber Mckenzie

       She wasn’t ready for this. She wasn’t ready for Ryan.

      Why now? Except she couldn’t really begrudge his arrival in her life, because without him there was the possibility she wouldn’t be alive. Could she trust him? Her instincts said yes, but she had been so wrong before that the person she really couldn’t trust was herself.

      “I don’t know what to think about any of this.”

      “What does your gut tell you?”

      Her gut told her that she wanted more. More of Ryan and more of the feelings he was bringing out in her. What would be the harm in spending more time together? Indulging in the feelings he brought out in her? Her first fling, and then in less than a week they would go their separate ways. At best he would become a beautiful memory to carry with her as she carved out her new life.

      At worst—well, really, what couldn’t she face after everything she had already been through …?

      AMBER McKENZIE’s love of romance and all the drama a good romance entails began in her teenage years. After a lengthy university career, multiple degrees and one formal English class, she found herself happily employed as a physician and happily married to her medical school sweetheart.

      She rekindled her passion for romance during her residency and began thinking of the perfect story. She quickly decided that the only thing sexier than a man in scrubs was a woman in scrubs. After finishing training and starting her practice she started writing her first novel. Harlequin’s So You Think You Can Write contest came at a perfect time, and after a few good edits from her wildlife biologist childhood best friend the manuscript was submitted. The rest is history!

      Amber currently lives in Canada with her husband. She does her best to juggle her full-time medical practice with her love of writing and reading and other pursuits—from long-distance running to domestic goddess activities like cooking and quilting. Multitasking has become an art form and a way of life.

      The Surgeon’s

      Baby Secret

      Amber McKenzie

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      MILLS & BOON

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      To all my female physician friends. Heather, Kate, Jaclyn, KP, Erin, Allison, Rebecca and Kristen, it has been amazing being your friend and colleague. Thank you for sharing your lives and friendship with me. You are all both talented and beautiful, like the perfect romance novel heroine.

      Table of Contents

       Cover

       Excerpt

       About the Author

       Title Page

       Dedication

      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

       CHAPTER ONE

      WAS SHE RUNNING away from her problems? Yes—and who could blame her? Erin thought as she ventured farther up the hills that comprised Arthur’s Seat. Was it working? No. Her trip across the Atlantic to Edinburgh had done nothing to change her circumstances or block the thoughts and feelings that had been tormenting her. The message that had awaited her at hotel check-in had confirmed that.

      She looked around her at the lush greenery of the hills, the blue of the sky and the distant sparkle of the ocean. It was breathtaking, even with the signs warning of the dangers of severe wind gusts. She wished everything in life could come with such warnings. Then maybe she would have seen the hidden danger that had been disguised as her dreams coming true.

      Erin stopped to catch her breath and smiled ruefully to herself. She felt as if she spent every day running from one delivery to another as an obstetrics resident, but maybe she wasn’t as fit as she’d thought, as she took in another deep breath. She looked up the path and saw a bench and made her way toward it. Maybe this hadn’t been her best idea. She hadn’t even dressed for a hike, her gray blazer and heeled boots a poor choice for any athletic pursuit. But this hadn’t been her plan. Nothing had been her plan. But another message from her now ex-husband had pushed her into the open air before she had even set sight on her hotel room.

      She felt another wave of anger pass through her just as another gust of cold wind hit. She wanted to still be angry with him. Anger, indignation, hurt, she had felt them all when the truth had first come out, but now all those emotions she had once felt toward Kevin Dufour, her newly ex-husband, had long ago burnt out and had been replaced by disappointment in herself.

      She reached back into the pocket of her blazer and pulled out the printed message that had interrupted her attempt at escape.

      Erin—Divorce finalized. I think we can agree that you don’t belong at Boston General. Kevin

      Was he right? Was it worth having to deal with the aftermath of Kevin to stay where she loved to work? Damn, she was doing it again, letting someone else make her doubt herself. Why was she so weak? How had she been so naive?

      She felt the gust as she watched the note slip from her hands and tumble down the slope. Instinctively she lunged for it, not wanting Kevin’s cruel words to sully the beauty of the landscape surrounding her.

      He watched, as if in slow motion, as the woman jumped from the steep