The Doctor's Christmas Bride Read Online Free PDF

exams?’
    Tom gave a faint smile. ‘He’ll get there in the end.’
    ‘Unless Bry meets someone else.’
    ‘Bryony has been in love with Jack for twenty-two years,’ Tom said calmly, glancing at the barman and waggling his glass. ‘She’s never going to fall in love with anyone else.’
    ‘So what happens now?’
    Tom reached for his wallet. ‘I think we’re in for a very interesting few weeks. Happy birthday, bro. This one’s on me.’
     
    Damn.
    Jack strode out to the car park, cursing himself for being so tactless. He couldn’t believe he’d argued with Bryony. He never argued with Bryony. Or, at least, not seriously. Bryony was the nearest he had to family and their relationship was all banter and teasing and a great deal of confiding. Well, on his part at least. He told her everything about his relationships and she was always giving him little suggestions. And that was one of the things he loved about their friendship. Unlike the women he dated, Bryony never tried to change him or lecture him. She just accepted him as he was. He was more comfortable in her kitchen than any other place in the world. And now he’d upset her.
    What the hell had come over him?
    He looked round the car park, part of him hoping that she was still there, but of course she was long gone. He just hoped she wasn’t driving too quickly. The air was freezing and the roads would be icy.
    He gritted his teeth and swore under his breath. She’d been really upset by his comments and there was a very strong chance that he’d made her cry. Despite the fact that she rarely let him see it, he knew she was soft-hearted. He’d known her since she was five, for goodness’ sake, and he knew her better than anyone.
    Realising that he had a big apology to make, he ran a hand over his face and strolled to his car, pressing the remote control on his keyring.
    He could drive over to her cottage now, of course, but she’d still be mad with him and anyway her mother would be there so they wouldn’t be able to talk properly.
    No. The apology was best left until they could be alone.
    If he’d been dating her he would have sent her flowers, but he’d never sent Bryony flowers in his life, and if he did she’d think he’d gone mad.
    He slid into his sports car and dropped his head back against the seat.
    No doubt, now that word was out that she was going to start dating, flowers would be arriving for her thick and fast.
    He growled low in his throat, tension rising in him as he contemplated the impact that her announcement had made.
    Why had she chosen to tell the whole pub? Didn’t she know that all the guys lusted after her? That with her long silken blonde hair and her fabulous curvy body, she couldn’t walk across a room without stopping conversations? And he felt every bit as protective towards her as he knew her brothers did.
    And now some sleazy guy would come along and take advantage of her, and she was so trusting and inexperienced with men she wouldn’t even notice until it was too late.
    Jack reversed the car out of its space, crunching the gears viciously. Well, not while he was available to prevent it happening.
    She’d become pregnant in her second year at medical school and neither he nor her brothers had been around to sort the guy out. Damn it, she hadn’t even told them who he was. Just mumbled something about the whole thing being a mistake and refused to even discuss it even though Tom and Oliver had pumped her for hours.
    Well, there wasn’t going to be another mistake, Jack thought grimly, his strong hands tightening on the wheel. Because now there was Lizzie’s happiness to think of, too. No one was going to hurt either one of his girls.
    From now on, if any guy so much as looked atBryony the wrong way, if there was even a scent of someone messing her around, he’d step in and floor them.
    Satisfied that he was back in control of the situation, he stopped trying to pulverise his precious car and slowed his