The Doctor's Engagement

‘Holly, no one is going to ask a question like that,’ he protested, slinging both suitcases into his bedroom. ‘Let’s store your stuff in my room and just use yours for sleeping.’

‘Fine. But, Mark, they will ask.’ Holly flicked open a bulging suitcase and started unpacking. ‘People are interested in that sort of thing. Especially women.’

He sighed. ‘Well, where would you want to be proposed to?’

Holly tipped her head to one side and thought carefully. She couldn’t imagine loving anyone enough to get to the proposal stage. But this was just make-believe, she reminded herself. So what was her dream? She closed her eyes.

‘On a beach,’ she breathed. ‘Just the two of us. Twilight.’

‘Sandy or pebbles?’

Her eyes flew open. ‘What?’

‘The beach,’ he prompted, his dark eyes twinkling. ‘Sandy or pebbles?’

‘Mark, for goodness’ sake!’

‘You wanted detail,’ he pointed out, ‘so sandy or pebbles? Can we make it sandy? I don’t want bruised knees if I’m proposing in traditional style.’

‘Wimp.’ She laughed, her green eyes dancing. ‘All right. Sandy.’

‘But where was this beach? We can’t say it was Cornwall or they’ll all be offended that they weren’t introduced to you before.’ He frowned thoughtfully. ‘So perhaps I took you somewhere incredibly romantic to propose. Somewhere close enough for us to have slipped away for a weekend without people getting suspicious. How do you fancy Corsica?’

‘Very much.’ Holly laughed. ‘Oh, my goodness!’ She clapped her hand over her mouth and Mark lifted an eyebrow.

‘Now what?’

‘A ring!’ She stared at him. ‘Caroline asked me about it and I made some feeble excuse. We hadn’t thought of a ring.’

‘I had.’ Mark strode across the bedroom and rummaged in a drawer, retrieving a small black box. ‘Here we are. I hope it fits.’

Holly opened the box and gasped at the stunning diamond that glinted at her. ‘Mark, I can’t wear this! It’s real!’

‘Of course it’s real.’ He gave her a taste of that grin that always had women drooling over him. ‘You don’t think I’d give my fiancée a fake, do you?’

She licked her lips. ‘But...’

His smile faded and he brushed her cheek with his finger.

‘It was my grandmother’s,’ he said quietly. ‘She gave it to me to give to the woman who finally made me give up bachelor status.’

Holly stared at the ring. ‘Mark, what if you meet someone you—you like and you’re pretending to be engaged to me—what will you do?’

‘Let’s just say that, after my experiences with Zoe, I’m

avoiding relationships for a while.’

Holly gave him a sympathetic smile. ‘I’m sorry that didn’t work out,’ she said gruffly, and Mark gave a careless shrug.

‘I’m not. She was gorgeous to look at but distinctly lacking in other qualities. She definitely had a short shelf life.’

Holly frowned disapprovingly. ‘Mark! That’s an awful thing to say.’

‘No, it isn’t,’ he disagreed calmly. ‘She was no more in love with me than I was in love with her. I never once misled her about my intentions.’

Which, knowing Mark, would have been purely physical. Holly felt her cheeks warm.

‘Glad to hear you’re still a virgin, too,’ she murmured dryly, and he gave her a broad grin that was totally male.