LITMIR.BIZ

      CHAPTER ONE

      IT WAS June and the hot summer sun above made the confines of the car feel restricting as Leo Fenchurch drove along the road at the top of the cliffs in Bluebell Cove, a coastal village in the Devonshire countryside.

      It had been a long morning. The first surgery of the day had been followed by home visits to the patients of the Tides Practice, where he was employed as one of the two doctors there, and now every time he glanced down at the sea, blue and dazzling as it danced onto the sandy beach, his collar felt tighter, his smart suit more a burden than an asset, and the yearning to pull into a deserted lay-by and change into the swimming trunks he always carried in the car was strong.

      But needless to say he couldn’t give in to the temptation. After a hasty lunch there would be the second surgery of the day to cope with and by the time that was over it would be half past six, so any sun-worshipping and bathing would have to wait until a summer evening unfolded.

      The practice was on the road he was driving along, past the headland overlooking the sea, and situated in the centre of the village. As he drove onto the forecourt the red car belonging to Harry Balfour, the senior partner, pulled up alongside.

      As the two men walked towards the main entrance to the surgery Harry said, ‘There is something I need to discuss with you, Leo, before we grab a bite of lunch, so let’s go to my room, shall we?’

      ‘Yes, sure.’ The fair-haired six-footer, who was top of the list of Bluebell Cove’s most eligible men, had no problems with that.

      The two of them worked well together, especially since Harry had recently married Phoebe and now seemed in a permanent state of bliss. He was a changed man from the brusque widower who’d returned from Australia to take over the practice. And the change in him was all due to meeting the love of his life after a marriage that had not been the most satisfying of relationships.

      Phoebe Morgan had been the district nurse attached to the practice but was now no longer employed there because she was expecting their first baby, a brother or sister for Marcus, her son from her own disastrous previous marriage and a child that Harry loved as if he was his own.

      A carefree playboy himself when he wasn’t at the surgery, Leo had thought a few times when observing his partner’s contentment that maybe he was missing out by never committing himself to any of the opposite sex who were ever ready to be in his company given the chance.

      But the woman had yet to appear who could make the most attractive man in Bluebell Cove want to settle down. Once long ago he’d thought he’d found her, but a force stronger than either of them had decreed that it was not to be.

      ‘I had a phone call from Ethan while I was out on my rounds,’ Harry explained once they were seated in his office.

      Leo observed him questioningly. It had only been a few weeks since Ethan Lomax, who had been in charge of the practice before Harry had come and now lived in France, had brought his family over for the wedding of the man sitting opposite, so what was it now?

      He was soon to find out. ‘As you know, Ethan is working in a French hospital,’ Harry explained, ‘and has been

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