Doctor's Guide To Dating In The Jungle. Tina Beckett
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He gave a slow smile. “I don’t always follow the rules.”
“You don’t?”
His gaze dropped again to her lips. “Not all of them.”
The touch of his fingers sliding across her cheek and burrowing into her hair made her knees turn to water. “Are you about to break one right now?” she whispered.
“Oh, yeah.” His head lowered until he was just a heartbeat away. “Can you guess which one?”
Rules. Who needed rules?
The second he touched his mouth to Stevie’s he was lost. He’d fantasized about this kiss from the moment he saw her sitting on that suitcase looking so forlorn at the airport. Oh, he’d denied it, acting like some macho hulk who could take anything life dished out, but he couldn’t pretend. Not anymore.
He was proving that. Right here. Right now.
Dear Reader
The inspiration for Matt and Stevie’s story came as I read about a dengue fever outbreak in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, about six hours from where I live. As I kind of shrugged and went about my daily business, I realised how different my life had become since moving to this beautiful country. I’m fortunate to live in a large city where healthcare is excellent, but I wondered how nonchalant I would be if I lived in a more remote region—such as portions of the Amazon River. DOCTOR’S GUIDE TO DATING IN THE JUNGLE is the result of those thoughts.
Thank you for joining Matt and Stevie as they experience the joy and heartbreak of working under very difficult conditions. Their dedication to their patients helps them rise to meet each new challenge. Best of all, this special couple finds love along the way. I hope you enjoy reading about their journey as much as I enjoyed writing about it!
Sincerely
Tina Beckett
About the Author
Born to a family that was always on the move, TINA BECKETT learned to pack a suitcase almost before she knew how to tie her shoes. Fortunately she met a man who also loved to travel, and she snapped him right up. Married for over twenty years, Tina has three wonderful children, and has lived in gorgeous places such as Portugal and Brazil.
Living where English reading material is difficult to find has its drawbacks, however. Tina had to come up with creative ways to satisfy her love for romance novels, so she picked up her pen and tried writing one. After her tenth book she realised she was hooked. She was officially a writer.
A three-time Golden Heart finalist, and fluent in Portuguese, Tina now divides her time between the United States and Brazil. She loves to use exotic locales as the backdrop for many of her stories. When she’s not writing, you can find her either on horseback or soldering stained glass panels for her home.
Tina loves to hear from readers. You can contact her through her website, or ‘friend’ her on Facebook.
This is Tina’s debut title for Mills & Boon® Medical™ Romance
Doctor’s Guide
to Dating
in the Jungle
Tina Beckett
To my amazing husband, who believed I could succeed at anything I put my hand to.
With special thanks to my fabulous critique partners at Write Romance. I owe you ladies so much!
And to the amazing bunch of writers who hang out in Subcare over at Harlequin.com. The hand-holding and support found there is beyond compare.
CHAPTER ONE
‘ALL we’re doing is pasting a bandage over a gaping wound.’
Dr. Matt Palermo, in the middle of resectioning a femoral artery, ignored the exasperated mutter from the doctor beside him, knowing his colleague wasn’t speaking literally. The neighboring gurney housed an injury just as frightening as the one Matt was working on. Except the patient’s foot was long gone, lost somewhere in the depths of the rainforest.
The quick shrug of his shoulders had nothing to do with indifference and everything to do with dabbing a stray bead of perspiration that threatened to contaminate his surgical site. That was, if the sticky heat and buzzing flies hadn’t already coated all the equipment with noxious bacteria.
He fought the frustration that rose in his throat. He knew exactly what the doctor to his left was going through. Hadn’t he experienced the same overwhelming sense of hopelessness when he’d first come to this part of the Amazon? He still felt it at times. But that had had nothing to do with Brazil and everything to do with burying a large chunk of his heart in Tennessee. Even his bout with break-bone fever a couple of years ago couldn’t compare to the agonizing phrase that had changed his life for ever: I’m sorry; we did everything we could.
He shook off the memory and eyed the newly closed artery, checking it manually for leaks. Satisfied with the job, he prepared to close.
‘You need any help?’ he asked, risking a quick glance at the other doctor, who now sat slumped in a chair while his patient slept on, unaware that life as he knew it was over.
Just like Matt’s had been.
‘I’m done.’ Averted eyes and fingers scraping through hair that was stiff with a mixture of sweat and hair gel told Matt those two words would prove prophetic. After the city guy’s two-week stint down the Amazon on the medical boat was over, he’d catch the first flight home to Chicago. He’d go back to his urban medical practice. Back to his pristine surgical suite and soft piped-in music. He wouldn’t be coming back to Brazil.
Ever.
And Matt would again be left to fight the losing battle of man against nature.
Alone.
The blast of heat punched hard and fast as Stevie Wilson stepped from the cocooning shelter of the plane. She had to lock her knees and force herself to remain upright, or she’d end up melting onto the shiny black tarmac that danced and shimmered around her.
Wow. Coari was even hotter than she’d expected.
A quick tap of her hand sent her sunglasses toppling from their perch on her head to the bridge of her nose, where they cut the glare of the sun by half. She gave a sigh of relief and headed toward the worker who was busy tossing suitcases and foot lockers from the underbelly of the ancient aircraft.
‘Oi, Senhor! Cuidado com a mala vermelha, por favor.’
The man smiled and gave her a thumbs-up signal, and then, despite her request to the contrary, dropped her medical bag with a thunk onto the growing mound of luggage.
She winced. ‘Things can only get better from here, right, Stevie?’
Moving a few yards toward the vacant exterior of the airport terminal, she prayed someone was inside to meet her. She’d only dealt with the director of Projeto Vida, and though the woman had been cordial, she’d given a noncommittal ‘Have the applicant e-mail his full résumé, including qualifications and a copy of his medical license. We’ll get back to him.’ She’d rung off before Stevie had a chance to admit the ‘friend’ she’d been calling for was actually herself.
Much to her shock, after sending in the requested information, she’d received an affirmative response, along with a list