We Love Those Sexy Doctors!

By Vanessa Kelly

Pop Culture has always been in love with doctors, who figure prominently as heroes in movies like M.A.S.H, TV shows like House and Grey’s Anatomy, and in books like Eloisa James’s latest, When Beauty Tamed The Beast.

And no wonder. In many ways they are the ultimate alpha males, since they hold the power of life and death in their manly hands. They’re also educated, smart, and exercise their skills with a calm precision that instills confidence in the rest of us lowly mortals. By those characteristics alone, what’s not to love in a guy like that?

But unlike other alpha males—who often channel a wee bit too much aggression and usually need to be tamed by the heroine—doctors have a nurturing side that displays itself in the very nature of the profession. They are warriors of another kind. They don’t come on all strong and warlike by hacking their way through a line of marauding invaders, nor do they rush into a hail of bullets to save a hapless victim from a psychotic criminal. No. Doctors fight a quieter, more intense battle by caring for others when they are at their most vulnerable, and doing it in an intimate, personal way. That kind of intimacy is very appealing and can also be very sexy.

No wonder pop culture loves the doctor hero, and it sure doesn’t hurt if that doctor is also as good-looking as Patrick Dempsey.

I love the doctor hero, too. In fact, in my next historical romance, My Favorite Countess, the hero is a Regency physician.

I love dukes, earls, and viscounts as much as the next gal, but I wanted to bring something a little different to the table in this book, and a crusading slum doctor—one who devotes much of his time to saving impoverished women and children—seemed like just the ticket. I’ve paired him with a sharp-tongued, cynical countess who will fall for him like a ton of bricks (naturally!). She’ll fight it, of course, but it’s too damn hard to resist a man who’s smart, compassionate, and powerful in a way that really counts. And it also doesn’t hurt that my hero’s skills pull the heroine back from the brink of death!

Are you like me? Do you love doctor heroes? Who’s your favorite?