The Doctor's Bride. Patt Marr

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      MILLS & BOON

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      Dedication

      To my three “adopted” daughters,

       Pam Dokolas, Cathy Ebalo and Teresa Soliz,

       and to my daughter, J Marr,

       for the laughter and faith that we share.

      Contents

       Acknowledgments

       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

       Chapter Eighteen

       Chapter Nineteen

       Chapter Twenty

      Acknowledgments

      Love and appreciation go to my daughter, J Marr, for her endless encouragement and editing skills; to my cousin, Paul Lawrence, for his faithful critique; to my husband, Dave Marr, for learning to cook and to Dr. LeRoy Yates for creating the heroine’s medical history.

       Chapter One

       Beverly Hills, California

       C hloe Kilgannon pushed her red clown nose firmly in place and practiced walking in her oversize shoes. When had she last worn them? As a teenager, she’d performed often, but that was a long time ago, and she hadn’t clowned since the last time she’d been home.

      Home—that was a place not easily defined. If home was where the heart is, it would be wherever there were children who needed the assurance they weren’t alone. If she’d still had the job she’d done the last eight years, she could have been heading for a new home today. In India there’d been a horrific mudslide. In Australia, a tornado had touched down. In the aftermath of devastation, there were always newly homeless children separated from their families. Organizing their care and assuring them they were still loved had been her job, a job she’d thought she’d always have.

      “Hey, Chloe, are you about ready!”

      Nurse Sandy Beechum popped into the hospital’s first-floor restroom where Chloe had made her metamorphosis. The two had known each other since Chloe’s teenage clowning days.

      “Who do you think you are, and what happened to my friend Chloe Kilgannon?” Sandy said, looking her up and down.

      Chloe pointed to the painted flower on her cheek and did one of her trademark jiggle-wiggle moves that she’d borrowed from an excited puppy. The ringlets on her purple wig shimmied, and the bells on her collar jingled.

      “Well, if it isn’t Flower the Clown!” Sandy exclaimed, breaking into laughter. “You funny girl, you haven’t changed.”

      Chloe struck a pose that made her friend laugh, but she was glad that Flower had a painted-on happy face and wasn’t expected to talk. If she did, she might break down and tell Sandy how much she had changed. Her future would be far different than the one she’d dreamed of.

      “All the kids who were able to leave their beds are assembled upstairs in the Sun Room. Is it showtime?”

      Chloe made her eyes go wide with anticipation and clapped her gloved hands wildly. She was officially in character, and it was a relief to be somebody else, even for a little while. Flower the Clown could act on any outrageous impulse if it got a laugh.