From Duty to Daddy by Sue MacKay Page A

Working there would be dull and monotonous for a man like Marshall.
    Would he ever consider quitting the army and going into medicine full time? Doubtful. Even if he did return to civvie street it wouldn’t be in New Zealand, and definitely not in a quiet town like Taupo. He was used to the excitement of war zones and the urgency of battlefield injuries, the variety of location and people. Taupo would never suit him.
    Her stomach lurched. It had been pie-in-the-sky stuff to think they had a future together. She didn’t even know if he liked her enough, let alone loved her. The fact he was her daughter’s father wasn’t grounds for marriage. Two weeks of hot sex and laughter in the sun weren’t either.
    How had she gone from talking about the medical centre to thinking about marriage? Because she loved him. Had always suspected that she’d fallen for him but with finding herself pregnant and then learning post-partum that she had cervical cancer her feelings for Marshall had been shoved into the too-hard basket. She hadn’t wanted to deal with the heartbreak of knowing she loved a man who almost didn’t exist.
    But less than twenty-four hours since he’d crashed back into her world she knew from the bottom of her heart that this was the man she loved, would always love. And the worst of it was that she didn’t know what to do about it. Tell him and he’d most likely leave town without giving her any contact details at all. That must not happen. The day might come when Aimee would need him, when he might have to step up as the sole parent.
    Toot, toot.
    ‘You going my way, lady?’ Marshall pulled up beside her in an SUV, grinning like a loon.
    ‘Depends what you’ve got to offer.’
    ‘You’ve got a short memory.’ He winked at her.
    Her stomach tightened. Heat crept up her cheeks as she recalled fingers and a tongue on her skin and a hard body covering hers.
    ‘Or maybe not, if that smoky look in your eyes is anything to go by.’ Chuckling, he climbed out and undid the straps keeping Aimee in her stroller. ‘Come on, girls, hop in. I’m taking you to a café for coffee and juice.’ His brows almost met in the middle of his forehead. ‘How do we strap Aimee safely into the seat? She’s far too tiny.’
    ‘The stroller very cleverly becomes a car seat and we thread the SUV’s seat belt through those clips.’ Within moments she had it all sorted and Aimee safe. Turning to Marshall, she suggested, ‘We could drive out to Huka Falls. You may as well see something of Taupo before you leave, and there’s a café there.’
    His finger tilted her head up and those suck-her-in eyes locked with hers. ‘I will be back, Charlie. I don’t know when. It would be rash to make that sort of promise knowing the army as I do, but I will return.’ He meant it. He really, really did. The truth, his honesty stared out at her.
    It wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough. She needed concrete dates for visits, not some vague idea that he’d return when it suited him or his superiors. But looking into his eyes, like peering into his soul, her breath stuck somewhere between her lungs and her lips, and she couldn’t find the words to tell him what she needed.
    Then her cellphone rang, shocking her back to the here and now of the rental company. Flipping the phone open, she saw it was Molly from the medical centre.
    ‘Sorry, got to take this,’ Charlie said to Marshall. ‘Hey, what’s up?’ she asked the centre’s receptionist.
    ‘Emergency at the airport. A small plane with tandem skydivers on board crashed on take-off. The police are asking for any available doctors to proceed to the airport immediately. Can you go?’
    ‘Yes. Hold on. I might have another doctor for you.’ She looked at Marshall. ‘There’s been an accident and doctors are needed. Can you help? Under my guidance, of course, as you’re not New Zealand registered.’
    ‘What are we waiting for?’ Marshall headed back round to the driver’s door