Breaking Her No-Dates Rule Read online

  It’s their last summer of being single!

  Off duty, these three nurses and one midwife are single, free and fabulous—for the moment…

  Work hard and play hard could be the motto for flatmates

  Ruby, Ellie, Jess and Tilly. By day these three trainee

  nurses and one newly qualified midwife are lifesavers at

  Eastern Beaches hospital, but by night they’re seeking

  love in Sydney—and only sexy doctors need apply!

  Together they’ve made it through their first year in the

  hospital—surviving shatteringly emotional shifts and

  tough new bosses, and patching together broken hearts

  from inappropriate crushes over a glass of wine (or two!).

  Read on to meet the drop-dead gorgeous doc

  who sweeps Ellie out of her scrubs.

  You can also read Jess’s story this month.

  And if you missed Ruby’s and Tilly’s stories,

  Cort Mason—Dr. Delectable by Carol Marinelli and

  Survival Guide to Dating Your Boss by Fiona McArthur

  are available from www.Harlequin.com.

  Dear Reader,

  This is the first time I’ve been involved in writing a book that’s part of a series with other authors, and I loved every minute of it.

  We came from four corners of Australia to meet in Coogee Beach, Sydney, where the stories are set, and to chat about our characters and our plans for them. Coogee is a gorgeous spot—even in the middle of winter the sun was shining and the beach was bustling, and we could picture our characters walking on the beach, meeting in the Stat Bar, climbing the hill to the hospital and bringing their men home to Hill Street.

  Despite being scattered all over Australia, having the “house” in Coogee kept us together in spirit, and when I picture our heroines I see the four of us, as well—I imagine us in that house partying and commiserating with our characters!

  We had great fun bringing these girls together. I hope you enjoy reading Ellie’s story and catching up with Ruby, Tilly and Jess, too.

  Love,

  Emily

  BREAKING HER NO-DATES RULE

  Emily Forbes

  BREAKING HER NO-DATES RULE

  For Sophie Grace,

  one of my many gorgeous nieces,

  This book will be released as you celebrate two

  major milestones, your eighteenth birthday and

  the end of your school days. This is my gift to you

  as you enter the next stage of your life; I hope it is

  everything you’ve ever dreamed of.

  Wishing you every success and happiness,

  with all my love, Auntie K

  CONTENTS

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  PROLOGUE

  THE old gate at 71 Hill Street squeaked in protest as Ellie shoved it open. The noise went unnoticed by her as she was intent on getting inside, getting home. Tears blurred her vision and she struggled to fit her key into the front door. She was mortified. She wanted to climb into bed, pull the covers over her head and hide from the world.

  Finally the door opened and she stumbled through it. She felt physically sick and she got to the bathroom with seconds to spare before she vomited. She leant her head against the cool surface of the tiled wall as she waited to see if her stomach had emptied itself of her dinner. The rich meat she’d ordered didn’t combine well with the nausea that rumbled through her following Rob’s announcement. She’d been so nervous throughout dinner she’d barely tasted her meal and now she wondered why she’d bothered eating at all.

  Physically she felt better once her stomach was empty, although emotionally she felt battered and bruised. She rinsed her face and brushed her teeth but the minute the toothpaste hit her stomach she felt herself start to gag again. With one hand she quickly gathered her blonde hair into a ponytail and held it out of the way as she vomited a second time.

  Jess and Tilly left the hospital together after their late shifts and walked down Hill Street to number 71; home. Heading straight for the kitchen, Jess put the kettle on and searched through the bread bin for penicillin-free bread. Someone really needed to get to the shops she thought, they were living on takeaways and toast and if they didn’t shop soon ther wouldn’t even be any toast. She found a couple of slices of bread that looked edible and slid them into the toaster.

  From the bathroom the girls could hear the sound of running water followed by vomiting.

  ‘Is that Ruby?’ Tilly asked.

  Jess shrugged. ‘No idea.’ They’d arrived home together so she knew no more about what was going on in the house at the moment than Tilly did. And with four, and sometimes five, people sharing a house, there were plenty of things happening. Despite the colour-coded calendar in the kitchen no one could be expected to keep up to date with all the action.

  Tilly went into the passage and knocked on the bathroom door. ‘Ruby, is that you? Are you okay?’

  ‘What are you doing?’ Ruby’s voice came from behind them, startling them both.

  Tilly turned around. ‘We thought you were in the bathroom. We could hear vomiting,’ she explained.

  Ruby came down the stairs, shaking her head. ‘Not me,’ she said with a shrug. ‘But Adam’s back. I heard him come home and he had company.’

  ‘It could be Ellie,’ Jess said hopefully. She didn’t want to think of Adam’s company.

  ‘Ellie’s supposed to be having dinner with Rob,’ Ruby replied.

  The bathroom door opened and Ellie emerged, white faced and shivering with black smudges of mascara under her eyes. Tilly, Ruby and Jess stepped back, enlarging their semi-circle to make room for her.

  ‘What are you doing home?’

  ‘What happened to dinner with Rob?’

  ‘Are you sick?’

  Ellie looked from one friend to the next as they each asked a question. She opened her mouth but no sound came out.

  The girls could see Ellie’s lips moving but there was nothing to hear. ‘Something’s wrong,’ Ruby said to the others. She took Ellie’s hand and led her through to the lounge where she sat her down. Her hands were like ice. ‘Someone grab a blanket, I think she’s in shock.’ Had she been in an accident? Ruby searched Ellie’s body for clues but there was no sign of an injury—no scratches, no blood, no bruises. ‘Ellie, talk to us. What happened? Are you hurt?’

  Jess returned, carrying a box of tissues and the quilt from Ellie’s bed. She draped the quilt around her shoulders. ‘Was there an accident?’

  Ellie shook her head. Physically she was unharmed, but how did she explain the night she’d had? None of them knew that when she’d gone out to dinner with her boyfriend of three months she’d been expecting a proposal. None of them knew what she had been wishing for and none of them knew how her world had been totally turned on its head.

  The girls took up their positions on the couches surrounding her.

  ‘You look terrible,’ Tilly said in her usual no-nonsense fashion. ‘What’s going on?’

  In a house of four women, and one, often-absent, male, there weren’t many secrets. Ellie didn’t intend withholding the story but she didn’t know if she was capable of sharing it tonight. She gathered the corners of the quilt in her hands and pulled it tight around her, seeking comfort in its warmth. She looked at each of her friends in turn. Her voice wobbled when she spoke. ‘You’ll say you to
ld me so.’

  ‘Of course we won’t,’ Jess said.

  Ellie kept her focus on Jess. Tilly and Ruby had never really warmed to Rob and therefore Ellie thought Jess would be the most sympathetic. ‘Rob asked me to dinner tonight and I was sure he was going to propose, but he had a different surprise.’ She paused as she reached for a tissue and blew her nose. ‘It turns out he’s married.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘He’s married?’

  ‘That bastard,’ Tilly fumed. ‘I always had a bad feeling about him.’

  ‘That’s not helping,’ Jess said to Tilly, before turning back to Ellie. ‘Start at the beginning, tell us what happened.’

  Ellie sniffed and reached for another tissue. ‘Rob invited me to dinner and I was sure it was going to be a turning point in our relationship. You know how he doesn’t like to go out on dates, he prefers to stay home, always saying he wants to relax after his long days at work and doesn’t want his private life made public at the hospital.’ The girls were nodding, they all knew Rob. He was an orthopaedic surgeon at Eastern Beaches Hospital where they all worked as nurses.

  Ellie had accepted Rob’s reasons as legitimate but now she wondered how many of them had been for convenience and deceit. ‘I thought that because we were actually going out tonight it meant he was ready to go public with our relationship. I thought it was a good sign and I was all ready for a proposal or at least for him to ask me to move in with him. But he had an even bigger surprise. His wife and daughter arrive from the UK next week.’

  ‘He has a daughter too?’

  ‘And you had no idea?’

  ‘Of course not,’ Ellie protested. ‘Do you think I would willingly have a relationship with a married man?’

  ‘No,’ Ruby said as she shook her head, ‘but how do you keep something like that hidden?’

  ‘Easy,’ said Tilly, ‘you keep them in another country.’

  ‘But surely he’d have photos of them, take phone calls from them, stuff like that,’ Jess mused.

  ‘I guess with the time difference and his hours at the hospital it was easy to make sure he never spoke to them when I was around,’ Ellie said. ‘There was nothing to make me suspect he was anything other than what he said. There were no phone calls, he didn’t wear a wedding ring and there were no family photos, not one.’

  ‘Did he say why they’re coming now? He’s been here for months.’

  ‘They were waiting until the end of the school year.’

  ‘How old is his daughter?’

  ‘Dunno.’ Ellie shrugged. Getting all the details hadn’t been high on her list of priorities. ‘Old enough to go to school, I guess.’

  ‘So he’s just been killing time, fooling around with you, until his wife gets here?’ Ruby sounded horrified.

  ‘I always knew there was something suspicious about him.’ Tilly sounded as though she’d like a chance to tear Rob to pieces.

  ‘Well, you’ll love the next bit even more,’ Ellie told her, thinking it would give Tilly further reason to dislike Rob. ‘He seemed to think I’d like to keep the relationship going once his wife arrived.’

  ‘You’re kidding! I hope you set him straight.’

  ‘Of course. I actually created quite a scene. I didn’t think I had it in me. I think that’s why he orchestrated to have the conversation in a public place—I’m sure he thought there’d be safety in numbers.’ Thinking back to her reaction, Ellie was rather pleased she’d shown some fight. Even if the whole experience had left her feeling embarrassed and nauseous, at least she’d had the last word. And, as depressing as the evening had been, she did feel marginally better once she’d shared the saga with her girlfriends. ‘I can’t believe I’ve been such an idiot.’

  ‘It’s not your fault, Ellie. Rob lied to you,’ Ruby tried to console her.

  ‘God, his poor wife,’ said Tilly.

  ‘Who cares about his wife! What about Ellie?’ Jess was outraged.

  Tilly just shrugged. ‘Ellie is better off without him. His wife isn’t so lucky, she’s stuck with him.’

  ‘But you guys know how much I want to belong to someone,’ Ellie said as she reached for yet another tissue. ‘I had all my hopes pinned on Rob and he’s played me for a complete fool.’

  ‘Rob is the fool, Ellie,’ Ruby interjected. ‘Don’t waste your time crying over him. You’ll meet someone else, someone who deserves you.’

  Jess agreed. ‘Your soul mate is out there and he’s worth waiting for. Then everything will fall into place. You’ll have your happy ever after.’

  ‘I thought he might be “the one”.’

  ‘Trust me, Ellie, he’s not. You’ll know when you meet “the one”. You won’t be left wondering.’ Ruby had found her true love in Cort and she was convinced everyone else should, and would, experience the same happiness.

  ‘I feel like I’m running out of time.’

  ‘For goodness’ sake, you’re only twenty-three.’ Tilly spoke up with the wisdom her few extra years gave her.

  ‘I know, but I want children. You know I was an IVF baby—what if I have trouble getting pregnant, like my parents did? I want to know sooner rather than later.’

  ‘If you want my advice, I wouldn’t advertise that fact. It’s likely to scare most men away.’ Tilly was her usual pragmatic self.

  ‘If they don’t want children then they’re not the man for me, are they?’ Ellie responded.

  ‘But wanting children doesn’t automatically make them right for you and I don’t think you’ll find most men putting kids at the top of their to-do list, even the decent ones.’

  Ellie could feel tears welling up again. ‘Rob said he wanted kids.’

  ‘Now you know why. He’s already got one.’ Tilly in particular didn’t keep her opinions to herself. Ellie loved Tilly dearly but she was definitely a person who saw the world in two dimensions—right and wrong—and unless you agreed with her you were obviously wrong! This made her a very good person to have in your corner but you didn’t want to be on her bad side. She hadn’t liked Rob and it turned out she’d been right about him all along.

  ‘Tilly, a little sympathy wouldn’t go astray,’ Jess suggested.

  Tilly reached around the bulky quilt and hugged Ellie. ‘I’m sorry you’re upset now but things will work out. I know they will.’

  ‘How on earth am I going to work with him?’ Ellie asked as she blew her nose again.

  ‘You go to work with your head held high. You’ve done nothing wrong. He lied to you.’

  CHAPTER ONE

  ELLIE’S eyes were stinging and she could feel tears welling up, accompanied by an unexpected lump in her throat as the coffin slid soundlessly on the stainless-steel rollers and disappeared through the curtain. Behind the curtain, screened from the mourners in the chapel, her grandmother’s body would be taken away and all that would remain would be able to be contained in a small urn. That urn would end up behind a small brass plaque, next to the ashes of Ellie’s grandfather and parents.

  ‘You okay?’

  Jess was sitting to Ellie’s left. She was holding out a pack of tissues.

  Ellie took one and smiled. ‘Yes, I’m okay.’ Her grandmother had been eighty-eight years old and her death hadn’t been unexpected but it did mean that Ellie was now truly alone, the sole remaining member of her family. She was an only child and her parents had been killed when she was eleven. Her maternal grandparents had been her guardians and now they were both gone too. Her tears were selfish ones.

  Surrounding her, flanking her, protecting her, were her closest friends. Jessica and Ruby sat on her left, Tilly on her right. She and Jess had been friends for several years now since meeting at university where they’d studied nursing together. They’d gone through the highs and lows of good and bad results, good and bad relationships and good and bad times generally. Ruby and Tilly had become her friends more recently, since they’d all started sharing a house and working at Eastern Beaches Hospital. These three were like family
to her but they weren’t family.

  As she waited for the funeral music to stop playing Ellie thought back over the past two months. In the space of nine weeks she’d lost her boyfriend—well, not so much lost as found out he was actually someone else’s cheating husband—and now she’d lost her grandmother. True, she had her friends but they weren’t what she longed for. Her friends were fabulous but they weren’t enough. Ellie wanted to belong and she longed for a family to call her own. Stop being pathetic, she told herself. It was one thing to cry over the death of a loved one, that was allowed, expected even, but to sit here, at her grandmother’s funeral, feeling sorry for herself was being a little too self-indulgent. She was twenty-three years old, she had friends, she would be fine.

  But the empty spot in her heart refused to listen. Ever since her parents had died she’d been conscious of this space waiting to be filled. She knew it could only be filled by love but it was a spot for family and family alone. No matter how much she loved her friends that spot was still there, empty, waiting. What if she never found her soul mate, her one true love. What if she never had the family she dreamed of? What if that empty spot was never filled?

  Ellie shook her head. She couldn’t think like that. She had to be strong. She had to be positive. Somewhere her perfect partner waited for her, she had to believe that. Rob had been a mistake, it didn’t mean her quest for love was over. At least she hoped not.

  The curtain was closed, the music had stopped, the coffin was gone, and her grandmother too. There was nothing left to do here.

  She stood and her friends stood with her. They moved en masse to the lounge for the afternoon tea and shadowed her as she spoke to the funeral director and some of her grandmother’s friends, keeping a silent and protective eye on her until Ellie decided that she was able to leave without seeming rude.