Harlequin Medical Romance July 2015 - Box Set 2 of 2: Her Playboy's SecretTaming Her Navy DocHer Family for Keeps

by Tina Beckett

  When Duncan knew she was his, he dove upward and kissed her long and luxuriously, exploring with his tongue. He wanted to know every part of her.

  Opening her legs wider, he allowed the tip of his erection to ease into her. She was a delicate thing, and he didn’t want to hurt her in any way. But he was trembling inside, eager to be inside her, eager to feel her heat all around him.

  The demands of his body were growing impatient as he eased inside her slick sheath. Waiting for her body to accommodate to his was sexual torture. Sweat popped out all over him, straining with the effort to control himself.

  “Duncan.” She breathed his name, and that was all he needed. He kissed her and was lost. He didn’t know if he was falling in love with her, but he was definitely smitten when her arms went around him and she clutched his back, her legs raised to wrap around him.

  Easing in and out of her was a pleasure he’d never expected. Liquid fire encased his body and was about to take over his mind. Unable to control the sensations Duncan roused in her, Rebel gave up and let the feelings take her under. The sparks that had begun at his first kiss now raged through her and spiraled to an explosion within.

  Spasms of pleasure rocked her. As long as he touched her, moved within her, teased the reaction from her body, she responded. Each touch, each thrill bonded her more thoroughly to him and she pulled at his hips, dragging him into her body again and again.

  Unable to stop them, cries of pleasure escaped her throat. She buried her face in his neck, trying to quiet the noise.

  “Let me hear you, Rebel. Let it go.”

  She cried out and allowed the experience of Duncan to rock her.

  Unable to control his body any longer, Duncan clasped her hips and drove hard into her, taking his pleasure in hers, letting the glorious spasms of her sheath take him over the edge into his own bliss.

  He poured his passion into her as sweat broke out over his body and he savored every sensation, every moment with her. He sent light kisses over her face, her eyes, her nose and finally again on her mouth.

  Turning onto his side, he dragged her against him, not wanting to let go of her but not wanting to crush her small frame beneath the weight of him.

  “Are you okay?” He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. This was Nirvana.

  Snuggling against him, she nodded. “Better than I ever expected to be.”

  “Me, too.”

  A yawn caught her.

  “It’s been a long day.” He pulled the comforter over them and closed his eyes, allowing the fatigue of his body and the day to overtake him.

  Rebel lay for a few moments savoring the sensations of her body and her mind. None of her previous sexual encounters had prepared her for the full onslaught of what she’d experienced tonight. Duncan filled her, mind, body and soul.

  She splayed her fingers over his chest, savoring the feel of her skin against his, how her body had fit with his intimately and how they now curved around each other, limbs entwined to perfection. This was a night she’d never forget.

  Rain began to fall again on the metal roof, providing a soothing backdrop against Duncan’s regular breathing. Yes, this was a night, and a man, she’d never forget.

  * * *

  Early dawn roused Duncan as a car door slammed shut outside. He smiled. Probably his sister, Juanita, who’d gotten up at three a.m. to be the first to arrive. She really was a drama queen.

  Turning toward Rebel, he delved beneath the covers to find her glorious body and pulled her against him. Even in sleep, she aroused him.

  The first time they’d made love had been urgent with need. This time, soft sighs and softer kisses fell between them and their bodies joined with ease as limbs entwined and tangled together.

  Rebel startled at the slam of another car door. And the sounded was repeated with disturbing regularity.

  “What’s going on out there? Sounds like an army has arrived.”

  “There is.” He sighed. “You’re in for a shock if everyone shows up.”

  “How many people are in your family?” She could count hers on one hand.

  “I have no idea. People keep having babies.”

  A brisk knock at their door came seconds before it opened and Lupe entered. Rebel squealed and jerked the sheet over herself, but Lupe seemed nonplussed to see her and Duncan in bed together, and naked.

  “Here you go. Your clothes are nice and fresh. Get dressed and come down. Everyone’s here.” She turned and left as quickly as she had come.

  “She seriously didn’t stay up all night, doing our laundry, did she?”

  “No.”

  “That’s good.”

  “She probably started them last night and got up at five to finish them.”

  “What?”

  “That’s normal around here. She gets up before the chickens.” He patted her on the arm. “Let’s take a shower.” Striding across the room naked, Duncan appeared to have no issues with his body, the way women did. In seconds the spray of the shower drew her attention, and Duncan beckoning from the doorway enticed her from the bed.

  They dressed and composed themselves. Rebel prepared to meet his family and then they’d check on Rafael, see how he’d fared overnight.

  Duncan opened the door and Rebel almost ran back to the room when she saw how many people were down there. She’d never seen so many people in one home before. Or even a stadium!

  “This is your family?” She blinked, certain she wasn’t seeing this right. “Just your family?”

  Duncan paused for a look. “Most of them, I think.” He gave her a quick hug. “Don’t worry. They’ll love you.”

  When they entered the foyer, Rebel noted it had been set up with long tables and was laden with every sort of food she could imagine and some things she’d never seen before.

  “Where did all the food come from? Surely Lupe didn’t do all this.”

  “No. Rule is if you want to eat, you bring something to share.”

  “But we didn’t bring anything!”

  “You provided a very valuable service last night, so you’re off the hook.”

  Rebel gaped at him. Was he serious? Had he really just said that?

  Duncan let out a full-blown belly laugh at her response. “I meant about helping with my grandfather.”

  “Oh, my. I thought you meant—”

  “I know what you thought.” His chuckle was warm in her ear. “Get your mind out of the gutter, and let’s go see how he is. Then we can eat and enjoy.” With a squeeze to her shoulder, he released her.

  “I’m so embarrassed.” That awful flush she hated race from her chest up over her neck and cheeks.

  “Don’t worry about it. I’m not offended.”

  “Okay. So let’s go see him before I say anything else stupid.”

  “Tio Duncan!” a young male voice called out, seconds before a little body launched himself at Duncan. He caught the young man up in his arms with a laugh.

  “Pablo! ¿Como está?”

  Duncan spoke in a mixture of Spanish and English to the little boy, then turned to Rebel. “Pablo, this is my friend, Rebel. She’s a nurse and helped me to take care of Great-grandpa last night.”

  “Gracias, amiga.” He leaned over and pulled Rebel into a one-armed hug from his perch in Duncan’s arms. “Is Great-grandpa okay?”

  “We’re going to check on him right now. He’ll be just fine, you’ll see.”

  “Come here, monkey.” Another male voice approached them from behind, and Pablo released his stranglehold on Rebel’s neck. The little boy reached for the man Rebel assumed was his father, who placed him on the floor. “Go find your cousins.” Pablo raced off toward a small table set up for the young ones, heedless of the art and artifacts on nearby tables.

  A man about the same age as Duncan approached. Instinctively, Rebel drew back a little. The man was intense with eyes that seemed to look deep down inside her.

  “Rey, stop scaring her.” He gave a handshake, a fist bump a
nd a hug to the man, then turned to Rebel. “He’s a cop and likes to intimidate everyone.”

  “Well, it worked.” A hesitant smile covered Rebel’s face. “I’m Rebel Taylor.”

  Rey shook her hand and the cop eyes disappeared as he gave her the once-over in obvious appreciation. “Nice to meet you, Rebel.” Then he pulled her into a quick, unexpected hug. “Thank you for helping him last night. He’s a tough old bird, but I don’t know what we’d do without him.”

  “Hey man, back off. She’s taken, and you’re married.” Duncan tapped his cousin on the shoulder.

  “Okay, fine.” He reached for a plate, more focused on the food than Rebel.

  “We’re going to check on him. Don’t eat everything before we get back.” Duncan gave his cousin a warning.

  “No guarantees.” He took a plate from the large stack and got into the line behind his relatives.

  “Come on. I’m sure he’s been waiting on us since dawn.”

  “He’s an early riser, then?”

  Duncan snorted. “Late to bed, gets up early, I don’t know how he does it at his age.”

  After a quick knock on the bedroom door, Duncan pressed down on the handle and pushed the door wide.

  “About damned time you two came to see me. I could be dead a week before you’d know.” His booming voice thundered through the room.

  Duncan grinned. “I see you’ve survived your night and are back to your usual charming self.”

  Rebel hid a smile and bit her lips together. It was good to see the man’s coloring had improved, the oxygen was nowhere in sight, and he was dressed and ready for the day.

  “Charming?” He offered a crooked smile and a foxy gleam in his eyes. “I don’t think I’ve ever been called charming in my life.”

  “You can be sure of that!” Lupe said from the bathroom. “He’s never even pretended to be charming as long as I’ve known him. Maybe my English word is not right, but cantankerous sounds good.”

  At that, Duncan laughed out loud and met Rebel’s gaze. There was something in that moment, a shared intimacy that tugged at Rebel’s heart. Then it occurred to her. She was building memories with Duncan. Her heart thumped and her breath hitched. Looking into his eyes, with the laugh lines fanning outward, she knew she was falling for him much harder than she’d ever expected.

  Then, in seconds, the moment was gone as he turned to Rafael.

  “Let’s have a look at you.” Duncan opened the medical kit beside the bed and extracted the stethoscope, listened to his heart and lungs and gave a sharp nod. “All that fluid you had in your lungs is gone.”

  “It damned well better be. I spent half the night in the toilet.” He glared at Rebel, but she only raised her brows.

  “Yes?”

  “No thanks to you.” He held his hard stare at her.

  “I didn’t do anything.” The stare was returned with equal intensity. She could handle herself again this morning, and he wasn’t going to shake her up like he had yesterday.

  “You gave me that medicine.” He glared harder, but she was nonplussed.

  Rebel snorted and nodded at Duncan. “He told me to!”

  Rafael snorted right back. “And you do everything he tells you to?”

  “Not hardly. But it was the right thing to do at the time.” She raised her chin, holding his gaze, and her confidence strengthened.

  Rafael held a hand out to her, and she crossed the room to take it. “Thank you, my dear. I appreciate your help.” He leaned over and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “You’ve made an old man feel good again.” He gave a sigh. “And I do apologize for my behavior yesterday. It was uncalled for, and I hope you accept my deepest regrets. Maybe, if you come back, we can have a better time.”

  Her gaze sought Duncan, and he stood there, his mouth hanging slightly open. A piercing wail from the bathroom drew their immediate attention. Lupe stood, holding her apron over her face, sobbing into her hands.

  “Lupe, what’s wrong?” Rebel released Rafael’s hand to comfort the woman.

  “Why didn’t you tell me he’s going to die?” She covered her face again and sobbed her heart out.

  “No, he’s not. Why would you say that?” In desperation, Rebel looked at Duncan for help.

  CHAPTER TEN

  “HE’S NOT DYING.” Blandly, Duncan confirmed her statement.

  “But…he’s being…nice, he apologized, he never does that!”

  Rebel gave an eye-roll and then looked at Rafael. “You really should be nicer.”

  “Why? She’d cry more then.” He glared at Lupe, but softened it with a little smile and held out his hand to her. “Come here, woman. I’m fine.”

  “Oh, please, everyone. It’s just fine. He’s fine, and I’m starving.” Duncan took Rebel’s hand and led her to the door. “Come out so no one thinks you’re dying, okay?”

  Rafael just grinned. The old goat.

  “He’s such a pain sometimes.” Duncan shook his head but his touch on her was gentle as he took her to the table. They made their way along the line, filling their plates, and Duncan introduced her to entirely too many people. Their names would never stick in her brain, she was certain of it.

  After lingering over the meal and sharing coffee with the family out on the portál, Lupe approached Duncan and Rebel.

  “The clinic is set up.”

  “Clinic, what clinic?” Rebel had no idea what they were talking about.

  “When I come for a visit, I run a health clinic for a few hours. These folks are the poorest of the poor, most of them come from Old Mexico and have never had regular health or dental care. They have issues stemming from lifelong malnutrition and chronic illnesses. We hope we can help them out and the children that are born here will be better cared for right from the start.”

  “I didn’t know any of this.” She frowned. New Mexico was not a developing country, but what he was describing certainly sounded like it. “Most people I come into contact with in the ER have health insurance.”

  “These folks don’t.” He shrugged and looked away, but she could tell he cared deeply about these people who worked on his family ranch. “Some of these folks have worked here their entire lives. Poverty, lack of education, and cultural biases have kept them this way. Slowly, we’re helping change their outlook. The kids are blossoming.” He tried to hide it, but a burst of pride pulled his shoulders back. “We even have a daycare and an elementary school on the ranch.”

  “That’s amazing.” She leaned I closer to him. “I’m so proud of what you are doing here.” Truly she was. She’d never met a man like Duncan.

  “I wish we could do more, but there aren’t enough resources and it’s a seasonal business.”

  “Well, what can we do today?” Doing things for others had always helped keep her focus off her family tragedy and doing good works never went out of style.

  “Let’s go see what the troops have set up.” Duncan took her hand in his firm grip and led her out to the staging area.

  “During chili season we use this open-air shed to roast the chili and get it ready for locals. There’s nothing fresher than produce just picked and roasted within a few hours. Today I have a clinic in it.”

  “So, what kinds of health issues do you see with your workers?” Though she’d worked in the ER for years, farming accidents weren’t something she’d had a lot of experience with.

  “A lot of things are farming related, like cuts and other injuries sustained from using heavy machinery. Other things are minor, like tetanus shots, or colds and flu.” He shrugged. “The usual stuff.”

  “You do good work, here, Duncan.” Indeed. He was not just some pretty face playing around at being a doctor. He had a heart dedicated to service to others that was very appealing to her.

  “I’d like to do more of it, but at the moment there’s just not enough of me to go around.” That brought some pain to him. This was a group of people who could use his skills, not the people who held fund-raisers and had never set
foot in a barrio.

  They stepped around the large machine shed to a line of people that looked a mile long and her eyes widened. “Wow. That’s a lot of people.”

  “I know.” He grinned. “Not doing anything else the rest of the day, are you?” He patted her shoulder, then let his hand linger there for a second. She was so different from women he’d known. That little alarm inside him started to go off, reminding him again that she could leave him at any moment and he’d best not set himself up for getting hurt again. Then he shook it off, reminding himself there was work to do now.

  “Uh, no. No, I’m not.” She straightened her shoulders, ready for whatever would come up. She was an experienced ER nurse. She could handle whatever they had. Except… “I don’t speak Spanish. What do you want me to do?”

  “The boys will help with translation for you. You can start with vital signs and triage, get a little info, then send them over to me. You’re over there.” He pointed to a long table where hand sanitizer, index cards for writing down information, and a blood-pressure cuff lay.

  Duncan’s area even had a screen so people would have some semblance of privacy.

  Jake and Judd stood by, ready to help with translation. With a last look at Duncan as he walked away, she put on her best nurse smile and accepted the first patient into her triage station.

  They spent about four hours on mundane issues before a patient of concern surfaced. As Duncan had foretold, the majority of the issues were farm related or other minor complaints. Then a boy with a serious face was plunked down into the chair by his father.

  “Hi, there.” Her welcoming smile faded. Usually she liked working with pediatric patients because they always had some interesting take on their situation or made up a grand and glorious tale about their injuries.

  But not this.

  Something was seriously wrong about his situation. She didn’t know what, but, watching the boy interact with his father, she knew something was off.