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“He?” Alex gasped. “Yes,” said a deep male voice from behind her. “I’m Dr Alexander MacDonald. How can I help you?”

Alex spun around to see a tall dark haired man in his mid-thirties standing there, his eyes a piercing and somewhat steely grey-blue.

“But I’m Alex MacDonald,” she said, still frowning. “I’ve been appointed to this position for six months. I’ve traveled all the way from Melbourne to get here in time.”

“Then you’ve made some sort of mistake. You will have to turn around and go back,” he said curtly. “This town only needs one doctor and I am it.”

Alex pulled back her shoulders and locked gazes with him. “I’m not leaving,” she said. “I’ve been appointed to this post—I have a letter to confirm it. You’re the one who’s made a mistake. You will have to leave.”

His eyes hardened into chips of blue ice. “I have no intention of leaving,” he said. “It’s me who has a letter of appointment, and I can assure you I am who I say I am. And, I have already moved into the doctor’s cottage next door. There’s nowhere else to stay in town apart from the caravan park.”

“Ahem,” the receptionist diplomatically cleared her throat. “Can somebody please tell me what’s going on?”

Mack looked down at Shirley Griffiths sitting behind the desk. “Shirley, I can only assume there’s been some sort of clerical error,” he explained. “By some quirk of fate it appears Dr MacDonald and I have both applied for and been given the same job.”

Shirley rolled her eyes. “Now isn’t that just typical?” she mused. “We’ve had no doctor for nearly three months and now we’ve got two.” She tut-tutted and added, “I swear to God out here it never rains but it pours.”

Mack looked back at the young blonde woman who was standing with her arms folded across her chest, her chin hitched up and her bottomless dark brown eyes holding his in a combative challenge. “Look,” he said, running a hand through his hair. “You can’t possibly stay. I meant what I said. This town isn’t big enough for both of us.”

An insolent gleam came into her eyes as they warred with his. “So it’s to be pistols drawn at dawn is it?” she asked. “How incredibly quaint.”

Mack felt a lightning bolt jolt of attraction go through him at her pert tone and demeanor. Her mouth kept drawing him like a magnet, the fullness of her lips with their glossy sheen of lip-gloss reminding him of how long it had been since he had felt the soft press of a woman’s kiss.

He shoved his hands in his pockets and stared her down. “I’ll speak to the town clerk when the office opens on Monday and have you reimbursed for any travel expenses,” he said.

Her chin went up to a pugnacious level, her chocolate-brown eyes still locked on his. “I don’t think you heard me, Dr MacDonald. I didn’t travel all this way for nothing. I rented out my apartment for the next six months so even if I did turn around and go back I would have nowhere to live.”

“I’ve got an absolutely brilliant idea,” Shirley piped up, her dark bird-like eyes beginning to sparkle. “It’s only for six months and we’ve been without medical assistance for so long. Why don’t you both stay?”