A Most Desirable M.D.. Anne Marie Winston

he knew how she felt. Someone he didn’t know had just stepped into his head and uttered words he hadn’t expected to come out of his own mouth.

      He cleared his throat. “Let’s go.”

      Allison floated through her shift on autopilot, doing all her usual tasks with her usual efficiency, but her mind was back in her bedroom.

      I want you to marry me.

      When she went into the supply closet for something, she actually pinched herself. This couldn’t be real.

      Yesterday, she’d been a plain single nurse with both her virginity and a hopeless crush on the hottest doctor in the whole hospital. Today…in whomever’s dream this was, she was marrying him. And she wasn’t a virgin anymore.

      For years, celibacy had been a conscious choice. She’d expected to marry and give her husband the gift of her body. But the years had drifted by and love had never found her. Until Kane. And though she hadn’t known he would marry her, when he’d begun to caress her she’d realized immediately that this man and this moment were what she’d wanted for so many years. Kane had made love to her. To her. He’d marked every inch of her with his stamp—she had brush burns from his beard in some pretty darned intimate places!—and he hadn’t just done it once, either. He’d lingered over her, made sure that she was as satisfied as he was. He’d done wonderful things to her that she’d remember for the rest of her life.

      The world was a very crazy place. And she was equally insane, to be standing here dreaming about a wedding and a life with a man like Kane Fortune. One of the Fortunes.

      Kane wasn’t really going to marry her, no matter how hard her heart beat at the thought. He’d gotten brusque and abrupt as they’d met in the parking lot after the brief drive and walked toward the hospital doors together. He was probably regretting his offer already.

      Well, she would be gracious. Treat it as if he’d been joking. That way she wouldn’t lose him as a friend. She didn’t think she could bear it if he avoided her, didn’t want her friendship and left her with nothing. Not after they’d been so close.

      She was in the lounge later, checking through the refrigerator to see if there was any creamer that didn’t have things growing in or on it, when Kane came through the door. He looked tired and harried, and the circles that had been beneath his eyes last night were even worse than before. He hadn’t gotten enough sleep, and it was her fault—