Dr Daddy's Perfect Christmas

“We’re friends, Nora. Let me be there for you while I’m here.”

Her eyes widened as she licked her lips. Desire twisted in Eli’s stomach that had nothing to do with the old feelings he had for her. Those were gone, those were a lifetime ago.

This thread of attraction was for the woman she was now, the stubborn, sexy, vibrant woman who kept insisting she didn’t need anybody.

“I have friends, Eli.” She offered an innocent, sweet smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “You’re here to take care of your father and work. There’s no need for you to add anything else to the mix.”

Unable to help himself, Eli reached out, slid a hand across her silky cheek and stroked his thumb across her lower lip.

“Maybe I want to add you to the mix,” he murmured as he stepped closer.

* * *

Dr Daddy’s Perfect Christmas

Jules Bennett

www.millsandboon.co.uk

National bestselling author JULES BENNETT’S love of storytelling started when she would get in trouble as a child and would tell her parents her imaginary friends were to blame. Since then, her vivid imagination has taken her down a path she’d only dreamed of. And after twelve years of owning and working in salons, she hung up her shears to write full-time.

Jules doesn’t just write Happily Ever After—she lives it. Married to her high school sweetheart, Jules and her hubby have two little girls who keep them smiling. She loves to hear from readers! Contact her at [email protected], visit her website, www.julesbennett.com, where you can sign up for her newsletter, or send her a letter at PO Box 396, Minford, OH 45653, USA. You can also follow her on Twitter and join her Facebook fan page.

To Stacy Boyd and Gail Chasan, editorial dream team.

Thank you both so much for loving this series as much as I do!

Contents

Cover

Introduction

Title Page

About the Author

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

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Extract

Copyright

Chapter One

Don’t look, just keep walking.

Dr. Eli St. John walked up the freshly dusted, snow-covered sidewalk toward his parents’ bungalow and refused to even glance over to their neighbor’s house.

Since he’d be calling Stonerock, Tennessee, home again for the next few months, he’d no doubt see that neighbor more often than he’d like. But on his first day back, he preferred to ease into being home, ease into knowing she was now within reaching distance. Not that he would do anything about it.

He was such a coward.

An uncomfortable weight settled in his chest at the thought of seeing his one-time love, the woman he’d never forgotten, the woman who’d married his best friend.

Eli wiped the snow off the bottom of his boots on a Santa Claus welcome mat, and before he could reach for the handle, the door swung wide open, causing an evergreen Christmas wreath to bounce in protest.

“I’m so glad you’re here. I knew we could count on you.”

Eli sank into his mother’s familiar embrace. Before he could step over the threshold of the front door, his mother, Bev, was there to greet him with a smile and love. Just like she’d done each time he’d come home from a tour of duty.

Now, the times he had sneaked in after curfew as a teen were a different story. But that hell-raiser had grown up, leaving the proverbial good times behind.

Leaving Nora Parker behind. Now that he was going to be home for a good bit of time, dodging the one woman who still owned a small portion of his heart would be nearly impossible. Not only was she his parents’ neighbor, she was a recent widow, and his parents loved her like she was the daughter they never had.

Turning his attention back to the reason for his homecoming, Eli eased back from his mother’s embrace and met her gaze.

“What’s this?” she asked, brushing her fingertip along his most recent scar.

Refusing to get into the reasons behind the scar, he shrugged. “Army injury.”

He wasn’t lying, technically. There was no way he would ever come clean about the ugly reminder of how he’d spent his last encounter with his best friend.

The last time he’d seen Todd alive, they’d gotten into a drunken fistfight. Out of character for both of them, but Eli would do it again in a heartbeat, given the reasons behind the unleashed rage.

His mother hugged him again. “I’m so proud of you for serving, but selfishly I’m glad you’re done for good.”

Bev pulled back and Eli stepped into the foyer.

“How’s Dad?”

Nodding, she started forward toward the living room. “He’s okay. You of all people know doctors make the worst patients.”

Eli laughed, thankful that he was home, but worried what he’d encounter when he saw his father. The man had always been so robust, so full of life and busy caring for others. But his father had failed a stress test earlier in the week and a heart cath showed he had some major blockage.