Daredevil and Dr Kate. Leah Martyn

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      CHAPTER ONE

      KATE looked critically at her reflection in the full-length mirror. It was her first day flying solo in her new job at the Mt Pryde surgery and she wanted to look good. More than that, she wanted to feel good.

      Stepping back from the mirror, she completed her inspection. Her dark pants and fitted pin-striped shirt looked just right. Professional. Her hair was neat, her make-up minimal but perfect.

      And why was she preening like a teenager? Impatiently, Kate turned away from the mirror. She was a sole supporting parent with two dependent kids. If that didn’t keep her feet on the ground, nothing would. Pushing a wad of tissues into her shoulder bag, she zipped it closed.

      ‘Come on, kids,’ Kate called, as she left her bedroom. ‘Get your backpacks. We need to go.’

      Within a couple of minutes, having done it a thousand times, she’d settled her children into the back seat of her silver-grey Lexus. As she started the engine her stomach began rolling and hitching like a hot-air balloon coming in for a landing. Don’t you cave on me, she warned the offending stomach silently as she reversed out of the driveway and drove towards the children’s primary school.

      ‘Mummy, are you a real doctor?’ six-year-old Mia asked as they drove.

      Kate bit down on a smile. Her little daughter was so cute, her questions always out of left field. ‘Yes, darling. I’m a real doctor. Why do you ask?’

      ‘‘Cos I found a story book at Grammy’s an’ the doctor wore a long white coat. You don’t wear a long white coat.’

      ‘That’s probably a very old story book,’ Kate said. ‘Doctors don’t bother with white coats these days.’

      ‘Mum?’ Eight-year-old Luke’s voice rang with childish impatience. ‘Where can I practise my soccer?’

      Kate racked her brains. ‘Honey, I don’t have an answer to that. Maybe we can find a park nearby, when we’ve time to look.’

      ‘There’s no room in the garden at home,’ Luke grumbled. ‘I wish we were still out at the farm with Grammy and Pa.’

      Don’t we all. Kate suppressed a longing. It would have been so easy to move in with her parents and offload some of her responsibilities. But there were no choices here, no shorts cuts. She and the children had to live in town, her job and their schooling demanded it.

      And, talking of schools, here they were. Kate pulled neatly into the kerb.

      ‘What if we don’t like the school?’ Luke asked anxiously as he trundled out of the car.

      ‘You will,’ Kate reassured him, helping Mia out of her safety seat. ‘Just do your best and you’ll be fine.’

      With Luke and Mia having been welcomed by their teachers and shown their desks, Kate felt free to leave. It was only a short distance across town to the Mt Pryde Medical Centre. She began to reconnect with her own day. She’d been so fortunate to get this job with hours arranged more or less to fit in with the needs of her children. And with her parents being only twenty kilometres away, her decision to move to south east Queensland seemed a sound one.

      Subconsciously, she braced herself as she turned her car into the designated parking space at the rear of the surgery. Oh, rats! I shouldn’t be feeling this nervous, she berated herself, trying for nonchalance as she crossed to the rear entrance of the building. Like she’d told Luke, she’d do her best and no one could ask for more than that.

      Tapping out the security code that would admit her to the building, she made her way inside to what was now her consulting room, feeling a little sliver of pride to see her name, Dr Kate Preston, on the door.

      Kate was taking the place of Jo McNeal who had just begun maternity leave. Kate had spent the last week working with her as she’d handed over her patient list. Jo’s husband Brady also worked at the practice, along with Angelo Kouras and Aiden O’Connor.

      The medical team seemed like a good mix of personalities, Kate thought, arranging her own bits and pieces on the desk. Angelo rather serious, although Kate suspected he had a droll sense of humour bubbling away not too far from the surface. His wife, Penny, was the anaesthetist at the local hospital, and he’d been the longest in the practice.

      Then there was Brady. Kate had felt at ease with him at once. ‘If you come up against an emergency with the kids at any time and need cover, just yell,’ he’d said kindly. ‘I know what it’s like to be a sole parent and trying to hold down a responsible job.’

      He’d gone on then to tell Kate he’d had the care and custody of his infant son before he’d met and married Jo. Now little Andrew was almost three and he and Jo were expecting their own baby in a few weeks.

      Then there was Aiden.

      Suddenly Kate’s throat felt as dry as dust. Meeting Aiden O’Connor had made her feel flustered for want of a better word. And an odd awareness that something was missing from her life had begun niggling and wouldn’t be ignored.

      Damn.