Page 1 of The Naughty One
The Naughty One
A Doctor’s Christmas Romance
Young surgical resident Romy Sasse returns home to Washington State for the holidays to find her free-spirited mother has become engaged to the last person Romy would expect—multi-billionaire, Stuart Eames. As both of the families gather for Thanksgiving, Romy meets Stuart’s son, financier Gaius, and immediately takes a dislike to him. Her world is turned upside down, however, when she discovers Stuart’s other illegitimate son is none other than her new boss, surgical god, BlueAllende.
Inspired by Blue’s expertise in the operating theater, Romy is grateful when he decides to mentor her though her last year as a surgical resident, and soon it becomes clear that their chemistry extends further than the hospital. At first, Romy resists temptation; she doesn’t want to be seen as the doctor who slept her way to the top. But soon, the attraction between them becomesundeniable.
Marring her happiness, Romy finds that divisions with Blue’s family go deep. Gaius is psychotically jealous of his younger, illegitimate half-brother and will stop at nothing to ruin his career and his life. Having already made unreciprocated advances towards Romy, Gaius is outraged when Blue and Romy fall in love. As Christmas approaches and a severe ice storm hits Seattle, Gaius, with the help of anther malevolent force from Romy’s past, unleashes a campaign of terror which will not only test their skills in the operating theater, but risk their lives and their love aswell…
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PartOne
Chapter1
Seattle
Romy shovedher chestnut brown hair up into a ponytail as she jogged quickly along the hospital corridors.Damn Seattle traffic. She had been so organized right up until she’d hit the traffic accident on the Alaskan Way viaduct. Now she’d missed the first few minutes of rounds, and on the worst possible day. So not a good first impression to make. Still cursing herself, she hurried to catch up with her colleagues in the general surgerydepartment.
Rounding the corner at a fast clip, she heard his voice before she saw him, a deep, mellifluous tone which she knew made woman weak. She might never have met the man, but his voice was as legendary as his surgical skills. Oh yeah. And his body. People talked about that in the same breath as his medicalaccomplishments.
He spoke again and she thrilled at the husky hint of an accent—Italian, maybe?—init.
“If the infection worsens we’ll consider a shunt, but in all likelihood, it will resolve rapidly since it was caught at theoutset.”
Romy blinked in surprise at the words. Blue Allende, he of the oh-so-sexy voice, was a superstar surgeon. Not even forty years old, he was at the top of his game, and also at the top of most hospital’s wish-lists. With the reputed looks of a movie star and the serious, brooding intelligence of someone a lot older, Blue Allende’s reputation preceded him. So why was he standing around with a motley crew of doctors, nurses, and interns, discussing something as mundane as ashunt?
It gave her pause and jumpstarted her liking for the man who, apparently, wasn’t your average arrogant genius surgeon. But Romy was still late, and no doctor appreciated tardiness, particularly not one with such a packedschedule…
Goddamnit.
Stopping outside the door she saw a bunch of other residents and slipped in among them, hoping she wouldn’t be noticed and knowing she didn’t stand aprayer.
Her friend Mac, an affable African American with a sweet face and a wicked sense of humor, grinned and nudged her. “Late for the rockstar, Sasse,” he hissed, “geniusmove.”
Romy poked him with her elbow, rolling her eyes. “What did Imiss?”
Suddenly the crowd of doctors parted and she saw him where he’d been leaning over a sedated patient. Her breath caught in her throat as Blue Allende turned bright green eyes onher.
All the usual hospital noises faded into the background as she was caught in that fiercely intelligentgaze.
Jesus, Romy thought,this man doesn’t belong in an operating theater; he belongs on a cat walk or on the cover ofVogue.
He wasgorgeous.The bright green eyes were surrounded by thick, black eyelashes on a face carved from Italian marble. A shock of dark curls fell messily about his head … then she noticed his wide, sensual mouth set in a thinline.
Ah, shit. She’d like to have seen that mouth in something other than ascowl.
“Dr. Sasse,welcome.”
That voice from up close.Wowwowwow.And … he knew her name? Romy prayed not to stutter. “Apologies for my tardiness, Dr. Allende; it won’t happenagain.”
Was that a hint of amusement that flashed in those devastatingly beautiful eyes, and maybe a slight hitching up of the mouth? No sooner had Romy thought she’d seen it than it was gone. He turned back to his patient and Romy was grateful he hadn’t shamed her in front of everyone else. One more point in his favor,bigtime.
“Got away with it,” Mac muttered in her ear, and Romy sighed withrelief.
As they moved through rounds, she was impressed by Allende’s in-depth knowledge of his cases and the way he coaxed the residents to find answers to his questions, rather than merely lecturing. Even when they got a fact wrong, he didn’t sneer or bark at them. Furthermore, he treated patients like friends, addressing them with as much candor as compassion, taking his time rather than rushing rightalong.
More than slightly blown away by the whole picture, Romy watched him carefully and was confused when she spotted him in an unguarded moment when the group was discussing a situation and he apparently thought no one was paying attention to him. Also not typical. Grandstanding surgeons believed the spotlight was always on them. In that brief second though, she saw something in his eyes that she recognized all toowell.
