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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-times 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. Her Playboy’s Secret Tina Beckett Have you ever met someone and formed an instant opinion—only to be forced to revise that opinion once you get to know them? That’s the case when obstetrician Darcie Green meets gorgeous Lucas Elliot for the first time. Sparks fly, and she soon labels him a playboy of the worst kind, only interested in one thing. Darcie has no intention of joining the throngs of female patients and co-workers who seem to hang on his every word. What she doesn’t realise, however, is that Lucas uses his flirtatious charm to conceal a painful family secret and his real reason for becoming a midwife. Thank you for joining Lucas and Darcie as they tiptoe around their attraction and try their best to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. And maybe, just maybe, this very special couple will discover what love and loyalty really mean. I hope you enjoy reading their story as much as I loved writing it! Love
Tina Beckett
To those who dare to chase their dreams
Table of Contents
One week ago
IT WAS A curse heard around the world. Or at least around the ward of the Melbourne Maternity Unit. Everyone on the ward went silent and several heads cranked around to see what the normally easygoing Lucas Elliot could possibly be upset about. Darcie Green already knew—had braced herself for this very moment, wondering what his reaction would be. Now she knew. Still facing the rotation roster hanging on the far wall, Lucas didn’t move for several seconds. Then, as if he couldn’t quite believe what his eyes were telling him, one finger went to the chart, dragging across it to follow the line that matched dates with names. She cringed as he muttered yet again, slightly lower this time. A few sympathetic glances came her way as people went back to their jobs. Isla Delamere, her former flatmate—now heavily pregnant—mouthed, “Sorry,” as she tiptoed out of firing range. A perfect beginning to a stellar day. She rolled her eyes. Nine months in Australia and Darcie was just beginning to feel a part of the team. Except for Lucas’s very vocal reaction at having the rota that matched hers, that was. He’d evidently not seen the list until just now. Did he even know she was standing not seven meters behind him at the nurses’ station? Probably not. Then again, it was doubtful he would even care. It wasn’t as if she felt any better about having to spend an entire rotation with the handsome senior midwife. She just hadn’t been quite as “loud” in expressing her displeasure. Yes, she’d given him an earful about his periods of tardiness a few months back. But that had been no reason to call her an uptight, snooty, English… Her eyes closed before the word formed, a flash of hurt working through her yet again. Was the thought of being paired with her so hideous that he had to make sure everyone on the ward knew what he thought of her? Evidently. And why not? Her fiancé hadn’t minded letting a whole chapel full of wedding guests know that he’d fallen in love with her best friend, who just so happened to be her maid of
