Seize The Day

Seize The Day
Sharon Kendrik

Mills & Boon are proud to present a thrilling digital collection of all Sharon Kendrick’s novels and novellas for us to celebrate the publication of her amazing 100th book! Many of these books are available as e books for the first time.The Doctor will see you now…With the biting rain beating down and the cold January blues ready to descend in full, Sister Jenny Hughes is almost thankful to be back at work. Until she discovers that her boss had passed away and the rock of her professional world, Nurse Judy Collins, has left.Enter Dr Leo Trentham; determined to make changes, and destroy Jenny’s peace of mind! Her childhood left Jenny cherishing stability, but Leo’s headlong enthusiasm promises to sweep her out of her safe, quiet life. Can Jenny find the courage to seize the day?

‘Hey,’ he murmured appreciatively, ‘you’re a nurse?’

‘Top marks for observation!’ Jenny snapped, making as if to push past him, but he stopped her.

‘Don’t run away,’ he protested. ‘I feel responsible for your fall, and you’ve ripped your stockings—the least you could let me do is buy you a new pair.’

‘They’re tights!’ she retorted, and then wished she hadn’t because he smiled a very slow smile indeed.

‘What a pity,’ he murmured, ‘Legs like that are wasted in tights.’

Dear Reader (#ud74d7234-cf63-58a0-85f6-ba8feb85fe00),

One hundred. Doesn’t matter how many times I say it, I still can’t believe that’s how many books I’ve written. It’s a fabulous feeling but more fabulous still is the news that Mills & Boon are issuing every single one of my backlist as digital titles. Wow. I can’t wait to share all my stories with you - which are as vivid to me now as when I wrote them.

There’s BOUGHT FOR HER HUSBAND, with its outrageously macho Greek hero and A SCANDAL, A SECRET AND A BABY featuring a very sexy Tuscan. THE SHEIKH’S HEIR proved so popular with readers that it spent two weeks on the USA Today charts and…well, I could go on, but I’ll leave you to discover them for yourselves.

I remember the first line of my very first book: “So you’ve come to Australia looking for a husband?” Actually, the heroine had gone to Australia to escape men, but guess what? She found a husband all the same! The man who inspired that book rang me up recently and when I told him I was beginning my 100th story and couldn’t decide what to write, he said, “Why don’t you go back to where it all started?”

So I did. And that’s how A ROYAL VOW OF CONVENIENCE was born. It opens in beautiful Queensland and moves to England and New York. It’s about a runaway princess and the enigmatic billionaire who is infuriated by her, yet who winds up rescuing her. But then, she goes and rescues him… Wouldn’t you know it?

I’ll end by saying how very grateful I am to have a career I love, and to thank each and every one of you who has supported me along the way. You really are very dear readers.

Love,

Sharon xxx

Mills & Boon are proud to present a thrilling digital collection of all Sharon Kendrick’s novels and novellas for us to celebrate the publication of her amazing and awesome 100th book! Sharon is known worldwide for her likeable, spirited heroines and her gorgeous, utterly masculine heroes.

SHARON KENDRICK once won a national writing competition, describing her ideal date: being flown to an exotic island by a gorgeous and powerful man. Little did she realise that she’d just wandered into her dream job! Today she writes for Mills & Boon, featuring her often stubborn but always to-die-for heroes and the women who bring them to their knees. She believes that the best books are those you never want to end. Just like life…

Seize the Day

Sharon Kendrick

writing as Sharon Wirdnam

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

In fondest memory of Betty Shore

Contents

Cover (#u35cd45c4-1af9-599b-afe7-95d516d40000)

Dear Reader (#u6f509947-b2b1-5473-b1d3-eb8653b11080)

About the Author (#u3f041bbc-b2d7-55ad-89da-b59b66626da2)

Title Page (#uc85639b4-553c-5d89-9819-35d537683d68)

Dedication (#u06948f9b-57d1-542d-984a-e1ffc5f7b2f3)

CHAPTER ONE (#ulink_97fd5eb1-b040-51dc-a21d-6074f666e927)

CHAPTER TWO (#ulink_6862c212-ce86-518f-8177-baae02ca77ed)

CHAPTER THREE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FOUR (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FIVE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER SIX (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER ELEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TWELVE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER ONE (#ulink_d48437b9-9f78-5150-8095-7faefc23c784)

‘I AM quite sure, Mr Fogg.’ There was a pause. ‘Quite sure!’ Another pause. ‘Well, if I do change my mind—you will be the first to know!’ Jenny replaced the telephone receiver noisily.

Men! Why did they treat women like imbeciles? They seemed to think that a woman living on her own couldn’t make a simple decision. Like whether or not to take out a new and very expensive insurance policy. Perhaps now Mr Fogg would finally get the message. Farewell, Mr Fogg, she thought as she pulled her uniform dress over her head, and giggled.

She peeped out from behind the curtain. It was an almost perfect morning. Well, as perfect as you could get for mid-January. The sky wasn’t quite blue, but it wasn’t quite grey either—more the colour of the sea just before the sun came out.

Perfect, and far too nice to be starting back to work on a late duty after two weeks away, she mused as she began to button the dress up.

That was the trouble with holidays, really. You loved them and needed them, and they put you off ever going back to work again! Still, it shouldn’t be difficult to get back into the swing of things—the ward was always busy, especially at this time of the year. Broken bones were very common in winter, when the roads became slippery with ice and snow!

She fastened the starched and frilly collar of her dress with the small white stud and stepped back from the mirror to survey the results. A great improvement on the pale-faced young woman of two weeks ago, she thought. Her face was lightly tanned from using the sun bed and it made her green eyes dazzle. Her thick dark hair was as neat as she could make it. It fell to her shoulders in a glossy mass. Really, the sensible thing would be to cut it, but she didn’t want to. She was sensible about most things, but not about her hair.

She fastened her belt with the intricate silver buckle which had once belonged to her mother. She had followed her mother’s footsteps into nursing and now held the very same post of orthopaedic sister on the ward her mother had run for years. She knew that some people thought it odd that she had never wanted to move to pastures new, to venture further afield, or even overseas, but she had always been perfectly contented with her quiet life and her satisfying job—and what was the point of moving away if you were happy where you were?