Return of Dr Irresistible. Amalie Berlin

      

Dear Reader

      I’d love to open this letter with something deep and philosophical that inspired me to write RETURN OF DR IRRESISTIBLE. Or I could go on at length about my fascination with the circus microculture, and about how it doesn’t matter because at heart people are people …

      But really …? I just wanted to write about the circus! Who doesn’t like the circus?

      My motivation was really that deep at the start. So, naturally, as I had no vested interest in the subject at the outset, writing the book provided me with insights into my own psyche. I should expect that to happen by now, but it’s always a surprise when it does.

      It doesn’t matter if you grew up in the suburbs, in a circus, or in the hills of Appalachia: everyone feels like the weirdo or an outsider at some point. And you always have to step outside your safe zone to grow past that.

      Take risks. Be brave. And, for the love of chocolate and fat, and roly-poly puppies, go to the circus whenever you can! :)

       Amalie xo

       www.amalieberlin.com

      Twitter: @AmalieBerlin

      Facebook: www.facebook.com/amalie.berlin

       Return of Dr Irresistible

      Amalie Berlin

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      MILLS & BOON

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Dedication

      To my little brother Seth, a great writer whose name will be on the front of a book before long. He who read my first book (even though it’s a romance) and promotes my new releases to the point that my secret identity is no longer secret with my family (doh!).

       If I end up on the prayer chain for acts of text-based naughtiness it’s all his fault.

      To my editor, Laurie Johnson. She’s either very brave or she’s got a heck of a poker face. This was our first book together and she didn’t even hesitate when I emailed to let her know: ‘I WANT TO WRITE A MEDICAL ROMANCE SET AT THE CIRCUS!

       YAY!’ Nerves. Of. Steel.

Praise for Amalie Berlin:

      ‘A sexy, sensual, romantic, heart-warming and pure emotional, romantic, bliss-filled read. I very much look forward to this author’s next read, and being transported to a world of pure romance brilliance!’

       —goodreads.com on CRAVING HER ROUGH DIAMOND DOC

      Contents

       Cover

Dear Reader

       Title Page

Dedication

Praise

Chapter One

Chapter Two

       Chapter Three

       Chapter Four

       Chapter Five

       Chapter Six

       Chapter Seven

       Chapter Eight

       Chapter Nine

       Chapter Ten

       Chapter Eleven

       Copyright

CHAPTER ONE

      FOR TEN YEARS Dr. Reece Keightly had been dreading this night.

      He’d known it would come to this. Of course he’d known. It was all on his shoulders—the dynasty, the future of the company and the weight of the past. Two centuries of history all ending with him.

      The tenth-generation owner of Keightly Circus was the one who would tear it all down. Nice round number, ten. Like Fate had decreed it. Like he was just filling the role assigned to him. Like it wasn’t his fault.

      Except it was. That’s how they’d see it.

      Reece took a step forward, shuffling with the crowded line to the ticket booth. The traditional last annual stop of the circus was always Atlanta due to its proximity to where they summered, but it was also the best crowd. The local, hometown circus returning triumphant from a season on the road, played out the last week near home. Traditional, like so many other things with his family’s circus. Keightly’s prided themselves on tradition.

      Due to the coverage given to the impending closing—local television and radio stations had blared the news for weeks—they were enjoying record crowds for the last performances. For Atlantans, parents had been coming with their children for generations. Another tradition that would be violated after this year.

      As excited as he was to see the show—and he never lost that excitement—the prospect of seeing people he cared for putting their lives in danger built in him a kind of extreme awareness of the world around him. It slowed things down, pulled him out of himself, and amplified every ounce of fear until it became a physical sensation, the taste of cold metal on the back of his tongue and he couldn’t swallow past it.

      Excited terror. He almost longed for ignorance, to be just one of the crowd, another random person in line who only knew the fantasy. But Reece knew the horror too.

      All around him children giggled and chattered happily. Ahead, inside the massive blue tent, the band tuned up, readying to start the show, and every note