The Christmas Doctor: A Sweet Second Chance Romance (The Evergreen Inn Christmas Collection #5)

He's running from guilt that won't let him rest. She's hiding from a past that won't let her go. This Christmas, a snowstorm will trap them together and force them both to stop running long enough to heal.

Dr. Benjamin Cooper moved to Pine Haven six months ago hoping a small town could cure the grief that's slowly killing him. It hasn't. His wife Rachel died of cancer two years ago while he was at a medical conference, and he's been punishing himself ever since. Eighty-hour weeks. No friends. No life. Just work and guilt and the crushing weight of believing he killed her by not being there.

Then Natalie Brooks walks into his overwhelmed clinic during a medical emergency and saves two lives with the kind of competence that comes from training. She claims she's just the concierge at the Evergreen Inn. But Ben recognizes medical knowledge when he sees it. He also recognizes someone running from something.

He offers her a job. She should refuse. Visibility means danger. But Natalie hasn't used her pre-med training in a decade, not since her ex-husband Marcus destroyed her dreams along with her bones. She's been hiding for two years under a false name, always watching for the man who nearly killed her. Working at the clinic means being seen. Being seen means being found.

But Ben is drowning. And Natalie can't watch someone drown without helping.

They work well together. Two broken people who understand self-punishment, hypervigilance, and the exhaustion of just surviving. Ben doesn't ask why Natalie flinches at sudden movements or why she wears long sleeves year-round. Natalie doesn't ask why Ben works himself to death or keeps his dead wife's photo in a drawer instead of displayed.

They have an unspoken don't dig, don't fix, just exist in shared brokenness.

Then a private investigator walks into the clinic looking for a woman matching Natalie's description. Her abusive ex-husband has hired professionals to find her. Marcus is coming. And when he arrives with lawyers, money, and the kind of obsessive control that almost killed her once, Natalie has to run again or stand her ground with a community that barely knows her.

Ben can't let her face this alone. Not when she's the first person since Rachel who's made him want to actually live instead of just exist. Not when he's finally found someone who understands that guilt and grief aren't things you get over, just things you learn to carry.

But Marcus is dangerous. And on Christmas Eve, when he shows up at the town celebration with a gun and ultimatums, Natalie will have to decide if she's brave enough to stop running. If Ben is brave enough to risk his heart again. If a small town's protection is enough against a man who believes he owns her.

The Christmas Doctor is an emotionally powerful romance about healing from abuse and grief, learning that surviving isn't the same as living, and discovering that home isn't a place but the people brave enough to stand with you in the darkness.

Widower hero working through grief and guilt, heroine escaping domestic violence, forced proximity during snowstorm, both in therapy, working together at medical clinic, grumpy/grumpy (both closed off), small town protection, villain confrontation on Christmas Eve, restraining order violations, found family, realistic trauma portrayal, slow burn emotional connection, and guaranteed HEA proving that broken people can heal together.

Sensitive Contains references to past domestic violence (not shown on page), PTSD, grief, and a confrontation involving a weapon. Trauma is handled with care and realism. All abuse occurs off-page in character's past.