A Surgeon for the Single Mom Read online

  From bachelor doc...

  ...to family man!

  As a single parent and helicopter rescue doc, fiercely independent Effie Robinson has no time for romance! So when hotshot neurosurgeon Talank Basu proposes a mutually beneficial dating ruse, what could be the harm? Only, Effie’s not prepared for how protected and supported he makes her feel... Tak’s fighting their sizzling attraction just as much as she is—will they finally give in and trust in their once-in-a-lifetime chemistry?

  He didn’t realize they’d reached her apartment until she stopped outside the door and turned to him, her hands playing with each other in that way of hers that he shouldn’t already be able to recognize as anxiety.

  “Well. This is me.” She screwed up her nose. “Um...thanks for this evening. It was...”

  He was too close, he realized belatedly. Too close, and too intent. Wholly unable to tear his eyes from her lips, the rise and fall of her chest, which betrayed how shallow her breathing was, or the way her tongue flickered out to moisten her lips as though her body knew what it was doing even if her head didn’t intend it.

  Before he could think twice, Tak lowered his head, the fleeting sensation of her hot breath on his chin only charging his body all the more, and claimed her mouth with his own.

  He knew he was in big trouble in an instant.

  She tasted of lust and longing, and pure sensation. All exploding inside him. Like detonating a charge he’d known all along would send him skyrocketing.

  He couldn’t get enough.

  Dear Reader,

  What happens when two people find they desire the very thing that, for years, they’d shied away from the most?

  My heroine, Effie, is the epitome of a strong, independent heroine. Having never really had a proper childhood, she was pushed and pulled between a frequently lapsing mother and foster homes. Ultimately, she ended up pregnant at seventeen, and at Oxford University complete with her newborn daughter at eighteen.

  For thirteen years Effie’s life revolves around the two things she absolutely loves: being a doctor and being a mother, with no room for anything—or anyone—else. Other people could only let them down. And then she meets Tak.

  For a heroine as strong as Effie, my hero really needed to step up. And who better than a renowned neurosurgeon who is also compassionate, and who practically raised his three younger siblings with little input from his absentee parents?

  But Tak has his own emotional obstacles and vulnerabilities. His life now is all about enjoying the carefree existence that was denied to him as a child. Exactly what Effie doesn’t need!

  I had a great deal of fun seeing how Effie and Tak’s story unfolded, and I truly hope you enjoy reading their story as much as I enjoyed writing it.

  Charlotte x

  A Surgeon for the Single Mom

  Charlotte Hawkes

  Books by Charlotte Hawkes

  Harlequin Medical Romance

  Hot Army Docs

  Encounter with a Commanding Officer

  Tempted by Dr. Off-Limits

  The Army Doc’s Secret Wife

  The Surgeon’s Baby Surprise

  A Bride to Redeem Him

  The Surgeon’s One-Night Baby

  Christmas with Her Bodyguard

  Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com.

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  To Monty and Bart.

  How I enjoyed seeing my two little men walk all the way to the stone bridge on our section of the Canal du Midi for the very first time. Xxx

  Praise for Charlotte Hawkes

  “The romance that shone throughout the story was well-written, well thought out and one of greatness. The characters were some of the most thought out that I’ve come across lately. This is definitely one to pick up for an amazing story.”

  —Harlequin Junkie on The Surgeon’s Baby Surprise

  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

  EPILOGUE

  EXCERPT FROM FROM DOCTOR TO DADDY BY BECKY WICKS

  CHAPTER ONE

  ‘REALLY? THIS IS what you dragged me down here for?’ Talank Basu pressed his shoulder against the doorjamb of the hospital’s resus department and rolled his eyes at his kid sister. ‘I expected some medical emergency, not a schoolyard blind date request.’

  ‘Oh, relax,’ Hetti snorted, in a way that no one else talking to him would ever have dared. ‘I’m not asking you to marry the woman—just take her to the hospital ball as your plus one.’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Please, Tak? Effie’s new to the air ambulance job, and new to the area, and what’s more she’s really nice. But she has already fended off advances by at least four single doctors and two nurses that I know about, so going alone to the gala would be like painting a bullseye on her back. She could use a bit of support.’

  He grinned, unable to resist his habitual teasing of her. ‘Ah, now I understand. She’s another one of your waifs and strays, is she, Hetti?’

  ‘Stop it.’ She swatted him good-naturedly. ‘You’re as bad as Mama. You know she wouldn’t know compassion if it walked and swamped her in a massive cuddle.’

  ‘Don’t disrespect her, Hetti.’ Tak frowned automatically.

  But instead of backing down, his sister held her ground, narrowing her gaze. ‘Why does she always get a free pass with you, Tak? Still? We’re not kids any more, so you don’t have to protect us from who she really is. You sacrificed your entire childhood practically raising Sasha and Rafi and me, being Mama and Papa all rolled into one just to shield us from our parents’ inadequacies. Papa was off having his never-ending affairs, and Mama... Well, you know. And that was before Baby Saaj.’

  Tak didn’t bother answering. It wasn’t worth the argument. Their parents weren’t worth the argument.

  Over Hetti’s shoulder he could see people milling about, waiting for the next trauma victim to come in. A rare calm before the proverbial storm. The helicopter was only a few minutes out now, and Hetti had got her team together and all the equipment she thought they might need. Now it was just a matter of waiting, and soon the place would be a flurry of activity again.

  ‘Anyway...’ Hetti shook her head as though dislodging the argument. ‘Effie isn’t one of my “waifs and strays”, as you so indelicately put it. She was an A&E doctor with me back when I was at Allport Infirmary last year. Turns out Effie has landed herself a plum role on the air ambulance across this way, too.’

  ‘Air ambulance? She must be particularly good.’

  ‘Oh, she is.’ Hetti nodded. ‘Effie was always exceptional. Noticed things other doctors missed...knew stuff even senior consultants might not know. It was no wonder the air ambulance snapped her up. Even you might be impressed.’

  ‘If you’re that taken with her then why don’t you make her your plus one?’

  For a moment it looked as though Hetti might want to say more, but then she sucked in a deep breath
and grinned back at him in that disarming way of hers that he recognised from when she was a toddler.

  ‘Well, I would, but I’m on call that night,’ she shot back instantly, making Tak smile. ‘And, no, before you say anything, I don’t want you to get that changed for me, because then it will mean some other poor sucker who hasn’t got a medical god for a brother will end up missing out on the ball instead.’

  ‘Your choice.’ Tak shrugged. ‘But I told you—I’m going to the ball stag. Although right now I’m going home.’

  He should have gone ten minutes ago—well, technically he should have gone three hours ago. However, he’d wanted to stay with his last patient a little longer, and his neurology emergency department had been busier than usual for the time of night.

  And now he was here. Because Hetti had asked him to be and because, doctor in her own right or not, she was always going to be his baby sister.

  If he’d known Hetti’s call wasn’t about a patient but about dating he wouldn’t have bothered. Especially when she was giving him grief. Like right now.

  ‘Wow, the rumour mill will love that. Eligible bachelor Tak Basu attends one of the highest profile events of the year alone? Congratulations. I don’t think you could have come up with a better way to stir up the already feverish interest in your love-life, whilst simultaneously encouraging Mama to push you towards an arranged marriage of her preference.’

  ‘It’s precisely because of those reasons that I’m going alone,’ Tak growled—not that it had much effect on his unperturbed sibling. ‘I’ve had enough of being potentially married off to every woman I speak to, let alone date.’

  ‘Only because you’d rather be married to your career. The King of Awake Craniotomies—determined to be better than all the rest of us who want such humble things as relationships, and love, and someone to share their life with.’

  ‘You’re enjoying this, aren’t you? I never said I was better than anyone,’ Tak pulled a face.

  ‘No, but I know you think it. Still, as someone who is actually allowed to love you and want the best for you, I have to warn you that if you attend the gala alone then, despite your intentions, it will look like an advertisement for the fact that you’re shockingly single right now.’

  ‘Well, it isn’t.’

  ‘I know that. But every woman within a hundred-mile radius who fancies her chances is going to be beating down your door. And that’s a conservative estimate. Pretty stupid for an intelligent guy.’

  He laughed despite himself. ‘So, let me get this straight. Now you’re saying you want me to take some new trauma doctor to the ball for my benefit?’

  Hetti wrinkled her nose. ‘I’m saying you and Effie could be the perfect foil for each other. Neither of you wants a relationship, but you both need someone to keep would-be suitors at bay. And to buy you some time with Mama and the various so-called aunts who have a whole host of potential brides for you all lined up.’

  ‘Yes, this Effie woman might say she doesn’t want a relationship, but she will. They always do.’

  ‘Geez, big-headed, much? Watch you don’t get stuck in the doorway on your way out, won’t you?’

  Hetti thumped him hard in the arm. Or at least she tried to.

  She shook her hand and grimaced. ‘My God, they’re right. You really do have the body of a PT instructor rather than a doctor. No wonder you’re so ridiculously arrogant.’

  ‘Not arrogance,’ Tak hunched his shoulders. ‘At least not intentionally. It’s just fact. No matter how clear I try to be at the start that I’m not in it for a relationship which is going to lead to marriage down the line.’

  ‘Well, not this time. I’ve met her, and I’ve seen what she’s like with every guy who has tried to flirt with, bar none. She totally shoots them down. Nicely but firmly, no hesitation. Trust me—she is definitely not going to change her mind about wanting a relationship any time in the next lifetime or so.’

  ‘I don’t have to trust you.’ Eyeing the clock, Tak began to make his move. ‘I’m not doing it. Even for you, Little Hemavati.’

  She swatted him, laughing. ‘Only Mama calls me Hemavati. Just like she calls you Talank. It’s her twisted way of trying to show she’s in control. But at least wait and see Effie. You never know. You might actually like her. She’s focussed and driven—just like you. And she’s also pretty stunning.’

  ‘I’m going now.’

  Tak slung his bag onto his back and prepared to head out into the corridor just as the double doors on the other side of Resus banged open and the air ambulance crew burst through with their patient. The new doctor with them had to be this Effie person.

  Suddenly he realised he’d seen her once before. A couple of months ago when she’d brought in a forty-eight-year-old head injury patient—Douglas Jacobs, who had taken a tumble down a rocky hillside.

  ‘This is Danny, a male cyclist in his twenties,’ the young woman announced clearly, expediently, her eyes moving quickly across the resus team, taking in the faces and commanding them with ease. ‘About one hour ago he was travelling at approximately twenty-five miles per hour when a car pulled out of a side road in front of him. Danny tried to swerve but hit the car and was seen to be thrown about three metres into the air before striking the ground with some force.’

  Tak lowered his bag again, his attention focussed on the new doctor. He couldn’t have said what made him stay. Or perhaps he just didn’t want to acknowledge it.

  Hetti had been right—although neither of them had realised it. Dr Effie Robinson had indeed impressed him. Along with Douglas Jacobs their patient.

  ‘He was wearing a crash helmet but it shattered on impact. Witnesses say he was unconscious for possibly ten seconds. On arrival GCS was nine.’

  There was nothing unusual in any of this. Not the patient, not the injuries, not the doctor. So why was he so transfixed? Watching her command the team in her bright orange flight suit, with her glossy hair—a rich, deep red colour—scraped back so severely and twisted so tightly into a bun that it made his eyes water just looking at it?

  Last time he’d seen her but hadn’t paid attention. He’d been too focussed on his patient. But this time it wasn’t his patient. And his attention was all on her.

  Why? Because she had red hair and blue eyes? Unusual, but hardly unique. So...what?

  There was nothing to soften her appearance—not even a hint of make-up. Yet there was no doubt that she was beautiful. And something else—something he couldn’t pinpoint, something innate that spilled out from those icy blue eyes. Despite himself, Tak found he was staring, caught up by her and helpless to do anything other than stop and listen.

  She barely needed to pause and check her notes. Words flowed smoothly whilst her control of the situation was flawless. He had seen plenty of efficient, skilled air ambulance doctors but she stood out—just as she had a few weeks ago.

  There was no reason he should be edging closer, as though he was a latecomer to the team. Her gaze took in the team again, and then she lifted her eyes and connected with his.

  Everything stopped. Any thoughts in his head evaporated, leaving...nothing. It was like nothing that he’d ever experienced before.

  So this was Effie.

  He stared, unable to look away, and then, incredibly, she blinked once and moved on to the rest of the team. Her voice as steady, and as clear, as even as before. Whilst he felt, by contrast, as though his chest had just been belted by the downdraft from a set of helicopter rotor blades. It was an unfamiliar experience.

  ‘He has been intubated and has a right thoracotomy with a flailed segment. Top-to-toe injuries: closed head injury, a six-centimetre right temporal laceration, right clavicular fracture, suspected dislocated shoulder, suspected multiple rib fractures, right thoracotomy and a pelvic splint was applied. He’s had morphine and midazolam for sedation and was stable during transfer. Immediat
e needs are further assessment and imaging to check for internal organ damage.’

  She wrapped things up neatly, her gaze steady.

  ‘Okay, we’re going to need a whole-body CT, but he isn’t stable enough yet to take for imaging.’ Hetti stepped in smoothly. ‘Allison, what’s his BP and heart-rate?’

  Effie stepped back to allow the team to take over, nonetheless still on hand to answer any further questions. It was testament to both teams that the handover was seamless, and Effie was soon completing her final paperwork.

  Whilst he still stood there. Still watching her. His brain still struggling to get back into gear.

  The only thoughts rattling around his head now were echoes of Hetti’s words to him. Her ludicrous suggestion which wouldn’t have been out of place in a school playground.

  And yet here he was, unable to get it out of his head. As though, fittingly, he was nothing but a schoolboy. Yet he’d never been a schoolboy—at least not in that sense of the term.

  Even as a teenager he’d been the man of the house. Hetti was right—he had practically raised Hetti and Rafi and Sasha. Sometimes alongside their mother—or Mama as Hetti called her—but oftentimes in lieu of her. Especially after Baby Saaj had been born. Ill from the start, his two years on this earth had been a fight every second of every day.

  For years Tak had shielded his younger siblings from his father’s absences as much as possible. Listening to their mother offer up one convincing excuse after another, praising his father’s work as a doctor so they wouldn’t realise what a derelict father and cruel husband he was.

  The kind of man Tak never wanted to be like.

  Hetti might think it was because he was more interested in his career than in having a family, but she’d be wrong. At least she would only be partly right. Forging a career as the kind of neurosurgeon capable of performing a vast array of brain surgeries on awake patients automatically made him the worst kind of unreliable boyfriend. And he was happy with that.