âI donât do dreams,â he said roughly. âWeâve both been there, Jill. But whatwe have⦠Friendship. Respect. Lily. Is itenough to build a marriage?â
âFor Lilyâs sake?â
âNot completely,â he said. âJust a little bit for our sakes.â
âBecause we love Lily,â Jill whispered. âI guess we already have a ruddy great hole in our living room wall.â
âWe might as well make it permanent,â Charles said. Heâd released her hand. âWhat do you say, Jill? For all our sakesâ¦will you marry me?â
âCharles, if you really mean itâ¦â
âI really mean it.â
âThen Iâll marry you,â she whispered, and despite the enormity of their decision Charlesâs eyes creased into laughter.
âIâm supposed to get down on bended knee.â
âAnd Iâm supposed to blush and simper.â
âI guess we make do with what weâve got.â He caught her hand again, and before she guessed what he intended he lifted and lightly brushed the back of her hand with a kiss. âIt makes sense, Jill. Thereâs no one Iâd rather marry.â
Marion Lennox is a country girl, born on an Australian dairy farm. She moved onâmostly because the cows just werenât interested in her stories! Married to a âvery special doctorâ, Marion writes Medical⢠Romances as well as Mills & Boon>® Romances. She used a different name for each category for a whileâif youâre looking for her past romances, search for author Trisha David as well. Sheâs now had 75 romance novels accepted for publication.
In her non-writing life Marion cares for kids, cats, dogs, chooks and goldfish. She travels, she fights her rampant garden (sheâs losing) and her house dust (sheâs lost).
Having spun in circles for the first part of her life, sheâs now stepped back from her âotherâ career, which was teaching statistics at her local university. Finally sheâs reprioritised her life, figured whatâs important, and discovered the joys of deep baths, romance and chocolate. Preferably all at the same time!
Recent titles by the same author:
WANTED: ROYAL WIFE AND MOTHER*
HIS ISLAND BRIDE
A ROYAL MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE*
THEIR LOST AND FOUND FAMILYâ
*In Mills & Boon® Romance
â Crocodile Creek
CROCODILE CREEK
A cutting-edge medical centre.
Fully equipped for saving lives and loves!
Crocodile Creekâs state-of-the-art Medical Centre
and Rescue Response Unit is home to a team of expertly trained medical professionals. These dedicated men and women face the challenges of life, love and medicine every day!
In September, gorgeous surgeon Nick Devlin
was reunited with Miranda Carlisle A PROPOSAL WORTH WAITING FOR by Lilian Darcy
Then dedicated neurosurgeon Nick Vavunis
swept beautiful physiotherapist Susie off her feet MARRYING THE MILLIONAIRE DOCTOR by Alison Roberts
In November sexy Angus Stuart comes face to face
with the wife he thought heâd lost CHILDRENâS DOCTOR, MEANT-TO-BE WIFE by Meredith Webber
And this month sees Crocodile Creek
Medical Director Charles Wetherbyâs final bid to make nurse Jill his longed-for bride A BRIDE AND CHILD WORTH WAITING FOR by Marion Lennox
CHAPTER ONE
âYOUâLL have to be married or sheâs going to someone else.â
Tomâs words were a bombshell, dropped with devastating effect into the quiet of Charles Wetherbyâs office. Jill and Charles stared at Lilyâs uncle in disbelief and mutual shock.
It was Wendy who filled the silence. Wendy was Lilyâs social worker. Sheâd handled the details when the little girlâs parents had been killed a year ago. Thereâd been immediate agreement in the aftermath of tragedy. Charles and Jill would care for her.
âLetâs just recap, shall we?â Wendy said, buying time in a situation that was threatening to spiral out of control. âTom, the situation until now has seemed more than satisfactory.â
It had. Dr Charles Wetherby, medical director of Crocodile Creek Air Sea Rescue Base, was a distant cousin of Lilyâs mother and a friend of Lilyâs father. In this remote community relationship meant family. Jill Shaw was the director of nursing at Crocodile Creek, and it had been Jill who Lily had clung to in those first appalling weeks of loss.
âWeâve loved having her,â Jill whispered.
They had. Neither Jill nor Charles could bear to think of six-year-old Lily with an unknown foster-family. Theyâd rearranged their living arrangements, knocking a door between their two apartments, becoming partners so Lily could live with them.
Theyâd become partners in every sense but one, but that one was what was bothering Tom now. Tom was Lilyâs legal guardian. He had six kids by two marriages and he didnât want his niece, but heâd become increasingly unhappy about her current living arrangements.
âCharles and Jill have both loved having her,â Wendy reiterated, taking in Charlesâs grim stoicism and Jillâs obvious distress. âAnd itâs great for Lily to stay in Croc Creek. She was born here. Sheâs friends with the local kids. Her fatherâs prize bulls are housed locally and Lily still loves them. Crocodile Creek provides continuity of identity, and thatâs imperative.â