Sometimes the deepest desire...
...is the one you’ve hidden the longest.
Realizing her world is dramatically falling apart, surgeon Mina’s childhood friend Kiah offers her a fresh start on the beautiful Caribbean island he calls home. She’s beyond grateful for his help in regaining the spirit and purpose she feared she’d lost. But when a long-denied attraction spills into their friendship, they must decide whether to risk everything on the breathtaking passion that’s quickly unraveling between them!
Something changed in her expression.
If he didn’t know her as well as he did, he’d have missed it, but, even so, he couldn’t interpret the emotion suddenly shadowing her eyes and fractionally tightening her lips.
When she reached out and trailed her fingers along his cheek, so lightly they could have been butterfly wings, he froze, startled by the surge of emotion engendered by her tender caress.
“Let me tell you a secret,” she said, leaning in so her face was close enough that he could have kissed her, if he dared. “Sometimes it’s far easier to accept your limitations than it is to fight against them and get your heart broken.”
Before he realized her intention, Mina closed the gap between them and placed her lips on his. Soft and sweet and warm, they teased his mouth, moving ever so slightly, and now he recognized what he was feeling.
Desire.
Need.
But this was Mina.
Mina!
Dear Reader,
Welcome to St. Eustace, home of the delectable Dr. Hezekiah “Kiah” Langdon. On finding his best friend, Dr. Mina Haraldson, depressed over the losses she’s sustained, Kiah convinces her to travel back to the island with him.
There, she’s surprised by the heat she discovers, and I don’t mean the weather!
Mina was inspired by two family members who are amputees, particularly my granduncle, Dr. William Aird, who lost his arm in an accident. Family lore states that after the accident, he pulled over, used his tie as a tourniquet and then drove himself to the hospital. There, while the nurses cried, he cracked jokes to cheer them up.
By the time I was old enough to know Uncle Billy, it seemed normal to me that he had only one arm and was still practicing medicine. An amazing man, he didn’t allow what could have been a career-ending event stop him.
My hope was to write a heroine with the same strength and resilience, even if, at first, she doubts herself and her abilities, and a hero to match her spark with fire of his own.
I hope you love Kiah and Mina as much as I do!
Regards,
Ann McIntosh
Best Friend to Doctor Right
Ann McIntosh
Ann McIntosh was born in the tropics, lived in the frozen north for a number of years and now resides in sunny central Florida with her husband. She’s a proud mama to three grown children, loves tea, crafting, animals (except reptiles!), bacon and the ocean. She believes in the power of romance to heal, inspire and provide hope in our complex world.
Books by Ann McIntosh
Harlequin Medical Romance
A Summer in São Paulo
Awakened by Her Brooding Brazilian
The Nurse’s Pregnancy Miracle
The Surgeon’s One Night to Forever
Surgeon Prince, Cinderella Bride
The Nurse’s Christmas Temptation
Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com.
For my amazing and wonderful niece, Victoria, and my granduncle, Dr. William “Billy” Aird, both of whom have been inspirations to me.
Praise for Ann McIntosh
“The Surgeon’s One Night to Forever is a story about meeting the stranger you never thought you will meet again ever. Author Ann McIntosh brought this story with emotions and medical drama. A reader would stay glued to the book till the last page to find what happens next.”
—Goodreads
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 THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
EPILOGUE
EXCERPT FROM SARAH AND THE SINGLE DAD BY DEANNE ANDERS
CHAPTER ONE
ALTHOUGH UNEXPECTED, THE sound of the buzzer heralding a visitor hardly registered.
Dr. Mina Haraldson lifted her head briefly off the couch cushion to stare blankly at the television, where a show she didn’t recall putting on flickered in the gloom of her living room. Thick mental fog blanketed her more securely than the heavy quilt she was huddled beneath, giving her respite from the world. There was a vague recognition of something unusual having happened, but she had no idea of what it was until the buzzer went off again.
No need to answer, or even see who it was. She hadn’t ordered food or anything else. Her parents, having been convinced their immediate presence was no longer necessary, had gone off to Florida for their usual winter break. Her brother was at home in BC. She knew that because she’d been forced to put on a happy tone the night before, for their weekly Friday night telephone conversation.
If she’d failed to convince Braden of her well-being, he’d have said something.
Somehow she must have done a good job. He’d rung off without trying to interrogate her, taking her word that all was well.
Perhaps now that her medical career was over she should take up acting. After all, a one-handed actor was far more feasible than a one-handed surgeon. She’d put that on her “future prospects” list, if she ever got up enough energy to start one.
Tears clouded her vision, and she closed her eyes. Leaning her head back against the cushions and pulling the quilt back up under her chin, she drowned anew in her reality.
Her uselessness.
When the buzzer went a third time, her jaw clenched.
“Go away!”
The shouted words drowned out the TV and echoed in the apartment, but the person down in the lobby couldn’t hear them, and the buzzer rang again.
Then her phone beeped, as well.
“Oh, for...”
Untangling her arm from the quilt, she fumbled around on the ground for her phone. Unlocking the screen, she squinted at the message, her heart turning over as she read it.
Answer the door, girl. Calypso Kiah is here and ready to party!
“Kiah?”
Shock dispelled the rage as swiftly as it had risen and was then overwhelmed by a
