His Christmas Eve Proposal: Book Three in the Medicine Women of Alaska

By Denise Gwen

Doctor Drew Rutherford is annoyed.
There’s a new doctor in town, she’s taken up the space that the last doctor who retired left vacant, and the minute she arrives, she’s poaching his patients, and he, for one, will not put up with it.
His brother and fellow doctor, Paul Rutherford, chides him and warns him away from the hot new doctor Naomi Schuster. She’s a cold fish, he warns his brother.
When Drew goes over there to confront her, she thinks he’s an intruder and takes him to the ground, and that’s how the two future lovers meet.
Drew feels threatened. He took over his dad’s medical practice when Dad got sick, and then when Dad passed, Drew felt stuck. It’s all very well for Paul, who’s chosen the great outdoors, but Drew feels he’s carrying on the family name.
Naomi Schuster has fled to Gnometown, Alaska, to get away from the controversy following the high-society wedding she bolted from at the last minute, when she realized that her dreams did not gel with her former lover, Ricardo Velasquez. His family is a bastion of Los Angelese society, and she wants to hide her talent, and herself, behind a bushel.
Trouble is, every time she finds herself in Doctor Drew Rutherford’s company, she’s forced to reveal her tremendous talent as a cardio thoracic surgeon.
She’s also escaping from a surgery that went horribly wrong. During a routine surgery, she froze and the patient died. She’d gotten so consumed and focused in her life with Ricardo, that she let the fame and the society go to her head and she lost her laser sharp focus.
She’s going to lie low and fix herself in quiet Gnometown.
The problem is, her amazing skill and talent as a surgeon keeps shining through and Drew is suspicious as to why she’s hiding out in this sleepy burg when she could be performing surgeries at top-notch hospitals.
They are drawn to one another.
As they begin to trust one another, they tentatively seek intimacy, and during one terrible snowstorm, while trapped in a remote cabin, they begin to explore their desire.
The only problem is this. How will their love grow when they're thrown back into the real world?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Denise Gwen
• Release date: Jul 7, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005347468

Denise Gwen

Denise Gwen writes!!!

Book preview

Chapter One

Gnometown, Alaska

What in the world is that girl doing? Drew fumed.

Nurse Phyllis sidled up beside him. Why Doctor Rutherford, I do believe she’s planting flowers in a flower box. Shocking, I know.

You’re a smart ass, aintcha?

Takes one to know one. Then, in a serious tone she added, That’s the new doctor who’s taken over the bakery that closed down.

Drew turned to look at her. That girl?

"She’s not just any girl, Doctor Rutherford. She’s a board-certified, medically trained physician."

Thanks for that.

Don’t mention it. Nurse Phyllis smirked and returned to her desk.

Drew turned to gaze at his father’s nurse. This lady, who’d worked at this practice during his father’s tenure, was really his nurse now. And this was his medical practice.

He looked out the window again and massaged his temples. I hate all the changes I’m seeing around here.

There’s been a massive amount of construction. It shouldn’t surprise any of us that a new doctor wants to set out her shingle. Nurse Phyllis shuffled some papers then answered a phone call.

Drew shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jeans and rolled back on his heels. Good for this pretty young lady who’d decided to set up her shingle, but the prospect of a new doctor in town bothered him, a lot more than he cared to let on.

Your brother Paul’s a doctor too, you know.

Drew scoffed with derision. True, his older brother was a licensed physician, but he didn’t care to be trapped—his words, not Drew’s—in the practice day in and day out. He preferred to be out on the mountains, tracking bears or saving hapless tourists. He had zero interest in preserving the legacy of the Rutherford name; a family name that may very well come to an end if this new doctor set up her shingle in his town.

He opened the door and stood on the front stoop with his arms crossed over his chest. He’d once been the only doctor in the small fishing village. When he first joined his father’s practice, his dad had promised that he only needed Drew part-time, but then Dad got sick, and Drew ended up running the practice alone.

Then, to everyone’s surprise, a big-wig developer from Los Angeles arrived and announced his intention to build a ski resort and medical spa on the tallest mountain just outside of town. It’d disturb the grizzly population, but the developer didn’t care. He wanted his ski resort and spa.

Activity across the street cut Drew’s musings short.

The pretty young doctor appeared to have the plants arranged to her satisfaction. She dusted off her hands and straightened up. She put her hands on her bottom and leaned back with a feline grace.

Drew watched, mesmerized, as she lifted her slender arms high over her head and stretched. He drank her in. Every ounce of her. Her strawberry-blonde hair, which she’d pulled back into a low ponytail, glowed in the lovely bright morning.

How in the world did he fail to notice her arrival?

At that moment, his older brother Paul strode across the street, heading directly to him. Paul loped along, kitted out for a trek up a mountain. He wore heavy leather boots, a thick jacket, and wool gloves. A pick-axe dangled from one of the empty jeans loops. He looked filthy.

He smiled up at Drew and tapped him on the shoulder as he sidled past.

Drew chuckled. You’d better wrap up that rope before you set foot inside Phyllis’s nice clean waiting room, or she’ll chop you up into pieces.

Hah, Paul said, but he hoisted the rope off his right shoulder, coiled it up, and stuffed it into his haversack.

Drew spared the pretty lady doctor one last, lingering look then went inside.

Paul stood in the snug waiting room, grinning at him. Caught you staring at that pretty lady doctor.

The heck you did, Drew returned evenly.

You want me to introduce you? Paul asked.

Drew started with surprise. "How do you know her?"

Phyllis burst into the waiting room and marched up to Paul, wagging her finger. "Paul, did you even pretend to scrape the dirt off that pick-axe of yours before you stomped into my pristine waiting room?"

Howdy, Phyllis, Paul drawled.

She fisted her hands on her hips. You’re leaving bits and pieces of dirt all over the floor. You’d better grab the vacuum, young man, and get to work.

Sure thing, Philly, Paul said, referring to the austere nurse by his favorite nickname, and again, Drew was struck by his brother’s familiarity with her. Drew had been working at his dad’s clinic for going on five years now, and he’d yet to achieve the kind of easy jocularity that his brother enjoyed with her.

Get that pick-axe out of my waiting room this instant, Doctor Paul, or I’ll slice off your head and serve it up on a platter.

Won’t that get kind of messy, Philly?

Doctor Paul—

Yes, ma’am. I’ll take the pick-axe outside and chip off the dirt before I come back in.

Something that you ought to have done before you even walked in. A wry smile pulled at the corners of her mouth.

Paul winked at Drew and jerked his head for him to follow him back outside. As he chipped the dirt off his pick-axe, he jutted his chin toward the new doctor’s office. That’s Doctor Naomi Schuster.

Okay.

How in the world did his itinerant mountain-man of a brother make the new doctor’s acquaintance, when he was not one-hundred yards away from her and hadn’t yet met her?

Paul continued his narrative. I met her last night, introduced myself. I wouldn’t give her a second thought, though. She’s a cold fish, man, let me tell you.

I’ll bet she took offense at your easy manner, Drew said dryly.

Paul’s romantic exploits were legendary. He’d dated every available woman in Gnometown and the surrounding two-hundred-mile radius, leaving a trail of broken hearts in his wake. He’d obviously attempted his wiles on the new doctor, only to be soundly rebuffed. It reassured Drew to know that at least one woman had resisted his older brother’s charms.

Then again, Paul hadn’t cracked the brittle veneer of Drew’s former wife, Danielle Rutherford, either.

That should be clean enough, even for Nurse Phyllis’s standards, Paul said, and the brothers retreated to Drew’s office at the back of the building.

Drew settled down behind his desk. So, where are you off to with this pick-axe?

Taking some surveyors out into the woods. Thought I’d drop in for some medical supplies.

After they get their dumb butts mauled by a grizzly, are you going to save their lives?

You’re such a cynic, little brother.

I’ve come by it honestly.

Now, about this pretty new doctor— Paul began.

I’m not concerned with her looks, Drew said. I don’t want her presence to threaten the family practice.

Paul shrugged and Drew fought back a flare of anger.

Paul’s apathy toward the family practice singed Drew’s heart. Their grandfather and their father had worked hard to build up the medical practice, and Drew was the only one who cared.

Only, are you sure you really care, Drew?

Drew pulled off his bifocals and pinched the bridge of his nose. Aren’t you opposed to that ski resort?

I am, but there’s not a whole lot either of us can do about it, is there?

You didn’t show up for any of the planning committee meetings.

Paul snorted with anger and Drew said nothing further.

Paul doesn’t care about a lot of things, and it’s kind of troubling.

Paul changed the subject. Anyway, just thought I’d drop into town, check in on my brother, and see if he’s scoping out the new competition.

I’ll worry about her later, Drew said.

I wouldn’t be surprised if you start losing some of your patients to the cute new doctor.

Drew bristled What makes you say that?

The local kids are scared of you. From what I hear, the Darjeeling twins think you’re evil incarnate.

Those girls spooked my horse with their nutty behavior.

You’re terrible with children.

I am not.

Paul smirked. Don’t be surprised if Mrs. Darjeeling comes in and asks for the girls’ medical records.

Must be nice for you, Drew said bitterly. You get to take off for the mountains without a care in the world.

He knew the instant he’d spoken those words, he’d crossed a line.

Paul answered him with a stony silence. You know my reasons, Drew.

Drew envied his older brother’s freedom. Paul had his own secret sorrows, but he appeared to lead an easy, uncompromising life. He did what he wanted, when he wanted, while Drew became the son who could be depended on.

Dependable, reliable, safe.

He wished . . .

Well, Paul said at last, I better get going.

All right.

Hey, are you okay? Paul asked.

I’m fine, I’m fine. Drew waved his hand. Run along, then.

See ya, Bro.

Paul disappeared, leaving Drew to his thoughts.

Your talents are wasted here, Drew. You made a mistake when you turned down the internship at the Mayo Clinic. Why did you abandon a prestigious surgical residency, to live in this humdrum little town and be a general practitioner?

Danielle Rutherford’s dunning words rang in his head. For the longest time he’d blocked out the sea of negative words, but he’d slowly started to drown in regrets. Did he make a mistake by setting down stakes here?

And now a new ski lodge with an attached hospital was arriving, not to mention the new doctor in the neighborhood. He hated to admit it, but he felt threatened in a way he’d never experienced before.

Was Danielle right? Was he wasting his life? Should he have said no when his dad asked him to take over the practice?

Oh, it was so hard to make that kind of a decision. A tap at the door brought him back to the present.

Yes? he called out.

The door opened and Nurse Phyllis peeked in.

Hey, Drew said pleasantly. What’s going on?

She fetched a heavy sigh. I’m so sorry, Doctor Rutherford, but Mrs. Darjeeling’s in the waiting room.

What’s the problem?

She gazed at him with agonized eyes. Mrs. Darjeeling isn’t here for an appointment, Doctor Rutherford. She’s asking to transfer the twins’ charts to the new medical practice.

Chapter Two

Naomi Schuster’s arms, legs and back ached from her time bent over the flower planter, but it was a good ache, and she walked back inside her office with a light step, heading to the breakroom. She disrobed quickly and jumped into the portable shower she’d installed where once a broom closet was located.

She ran her fingers through her hair as she stepped out of the shower, darted into her small office and slipped on a fresh set of scrubs.

There. She felt better already.

She sat down at her desk and turned to her files when a sudden pounding at her front door made her jump. She stood up and hurried to open it. Yes?

A gorgeous man who reminded her very much of Ricardo, her former fiancé, stood on the front stoop, glowering at her.

I thought I did everything in my power to get away from Ricardo.

A host of painful memories assailed her, reminding her why she’d escaped Los Angeles in the first place. To travel three-thousand miles and find herself right back where she started from—and gazing at a man who looked exactly like her former lover—it shook her to her core.

Um, hi, she said, a bit uncertainly. I’m not open right now—

I know that, he said coldly. That’s not why I’m here.

You’re not a reporter, are you? she asked, taking a step back.

What?

I beg your pardon, she said.

We need to talk.

Not with that unpleasant attitude, we don’t. She moved to close the door, but he blocked it with his shoulder.

Look, she said, I’m not afraid to call the police—

He reared his head back, shocked. Is that how you treat your patients?

Somehow, she said tartly, I get the impression you’re not a patient.

Without bothering to introduce himself, he said, You’re Doctor Schuster.

It sounded like a challenge.

Yes, I am. And you are?

Do you have a staff already in place?

She was liking this guy less and less with every passing minute.

I’m not sure that’s any of your business—

He pressed on, with heat.

Well, I just wanted to let you know that I don’t like you stealing my patients. You’d better not pull the same stunt on my staff. My nurse, Phyllis Reynolds, she’s devoted to me and will never leave me, even if all my patients leave me in droves.

Hold on a second. She shook her head. Who are you?

"I’m Doctor Rutherford, and up until about five minutes ago, Doctor Schuster, I was the primary physician for Mrs. Darjeeling and her twins."

Wait a minute. I thought Doctor Rutherford was in his eighties and had just retired?

This caused him a moment’s discomfort. Oh, no. My father passed away a few years ago.

Well, I can’t be blamed if my intel is wrong, she said. Now, considering how you didn’t even have the good manners to properly introduce yourself to me, and as I’m not comfortable with an angry man standing on my doorstep bellowing at me—

I’m hardly bellowing—

"And especially as you’ve blocked me from closing this door, I’m going to tell you one more time, Doctor Rutherford, which I presume is your name, that if you wish to speak with me in a civil manner, you can make an appointment with my nurse."

"You’ve got a nurse?"

She tamped down her anger. What in the world was the matter with this guy?

I’m interviewing candidates.

"Just don’t poach my nurse."

All right, that’s enough.

She stepped forward and pressed her left front finger into his solar plexus. I want you to understand something.

Yes?

I’ll do whatever the heck I want.

Including stealing my patients.

And you can take yourself and your crummy, crappy attitude, and shove it where the sun doesn’t shine.

Okay.

"And this is the last time I’m telling you to get off my front step, got it?"

And then she did something really mean.

She pushed, hard, and he stumbled off the stoop and she had to wonder a bit at her behavior, for in the second that he lost his balance, she regretted her bad temper and worried that she’d hurt him. But no, thankfully, he hopped off the step and stood on the street, gazing up at her with a look of frank surprise.

And we are done.

She slammed the door shut in his face and locked it.

So there.

She stood in her waiting room with her ear pressed up against the door.

Not one sound. Not one peep.

Crickets.

She wandered over to the window and peeked between the blinds and there he stood in the street, his hands fisted in his pockets, gazing up at her front