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The Lone Wolf's Craving
Tina Beckett
After a tour of duty in Afghanistan, ex-soldier Dr Luke Blackman hides his lingering physical and emotional scars. He keeps everyone at a distance – until emotions explode in his ER and he loses himself with the beguiling Kate Bradley in the dark of a hospital supply closet!Kate is soon an addiction this lone wolf just can’t break…
Dear Reader
Changes in life. We all go through them. Some of those changes make us stronger … and some of them have the power to bring us to our knees. The hero and heroine in THE LONE WOLF’S CRAVING, part two of the Men of Honour duet, are both going through such a change. They each struggle with the realisation that their lives will be forever altered as a result. They must make a choice: accept what the future holds and move forward, or rail against fate and remain trapped in a vicious cycle of anger and bitterness.
Thank you for joining Luke and Kate as they face the heartbreak that comes with change and search for the courage to overcome. Best of all—they find love along the way. I hope you enjoy reading about their journey as much as I enjoyed writing about it!
Much love
Tina Beckett
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.
The Lone Wolf’s Craving
Tina Beckett
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Dedication:
To those who have faced life-altering events. May you always find the strength to face the future.
Contents
CHAPTER ONE (#u6bfa1bb5-a75f-53b0-9904-2b5afbc0ff07)
CHAPTER TWO (#u1a60bc02-10ad-5235-82af-a8dda115cd57)
CHAPTER THREE (#u88efd143-0a29-516c-b8d3-ebcb402dea12)
CHAPTER FOUR (#ucda5521d-fbc1-59a9-a36d-a1e41014b501)
CHAPTER FIVE (#u9274224c-9753-5b9c-a022-559f69b2c507)
CHAPTER SIX (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ELEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWELVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER THIRTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FOURTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FIFTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SIXTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER NINETEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWENTY (#litres_trial_promo)
EPILOGUE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ONE
HAD SHE FIGURED out who he was before or after she’d had sex with him?
Because Dr. Lucas Blackman sure as hell hadn’t known the petite blonde American wandering around his emergency room was his wartime hero’s long-lost daughter. Not when he’d pressed her against the wall in the supply closet and buried himself inside her. Not after it was over. In fact, she’d disappeared as quickly as she’d come.
He groaned at the unintended pun. And then again as memories of his actions yesterday washed over him: the snick of the lock; the fumbling with clothing; along with every second of pounding urgency that had happened afterward. Damn it if he wouldn’t do it all over again, even knowing what he did now. That she’d probably used him to get what she’d wanted.
Not that he’d been the slightest bit hesitant at the time.
And that memory made his already sucky day even suckier. Walking to the physical therapy center to see how his friend was doing, and seeing the woman he’d had the best sex with—well, in a long damn time—standing beside him sent shock waves rolling through him that rooted him to the spot. Nick introducing her to one of the therapists as his daughter just made it that much worse.
He decided to back away while he still could.
Then her eyes met his and flitted away, making a painless getaway impossible. He could swear he saw a trace of guilt in the deep blue depths. At what? Their naughty rendezvous? At having coffee with him for the last two mornings, all the while being coy and secretive about her reasons for visiting the hospital?
Nick spied him, calling him over just as the therapist disappeared back into the rehabilitation center. His friend winced slightly as he rotated his upper body, his surgery site evidently still tender. “Come and meet Kate—er, Katherine.” His friend glanced at her in question. “My daughter.”
“Kate,” she answered in the same low Southern drawl that had drawn him like a moth to a flame. First in the hospital cafeteria. Then in the tiny supply closet. He could still her soft moans as he’d taken her. Who knew a drawl during sex could be so damned hot. She’d reminded him of warm lazy summers by the lake, of county fairs and high school football games.
All things American.
He’d been homesick yesterday and devastated after losing a patient in the E.R., and there she’d been. As if sent just to ease his pain. And she had. She’d sent him right over the edge.
And she was his hero’s daughter. The man who’d once saved his life. His daughter!
Hell, today had officially taken a nosedive.
He moved closer and held out his hand, forcing her to do the polite thing and take it. When she tried for a quick grip and release, he curled his fingers around hers and held on, his thumb gliding over her soft skin.
Where do you think you’re going, Miss Kate? No running away for you. Not this time.
She’d taken off out of that supply closet like a bat out of hell. Before he’d even finished catching his breath. Just like Cinderella. Only she hadn’t left a shoe behind. Just a pair of lacy panties, which he’d shoved into the pocket of his slacks before heading out the door. By then she had been long gone.
“Yes, Kate and I have already been...” he let his deliberate pause and raised brows get his message across, before completing the phrase “...thoroughly introduced.”
Her soft gasp said his inference had hit its mark.
Nick glanced from one to the other. “You have? When?”
“Yesterday,” she said, stretching the truth. Luke released her hand, watching as she took one step back, and then another. “I was looking for your room and he...helped me.”
Helped her.
Oh, he’d helped her all right. Right up onto the scrub sink in the corner of the tiny closet. After he’d hiked her skirt up around her waist. He swallowed. What had happened after that was a blur.
One he’d never forget for as long as he lived.
A muscle in his jaw clenched as he stared at her and said, “I didn’t know who you were at the time.”
“I—I know. And I’m sorry. I should have said something.”
So she had known he was Nick’s doctor, and probably that they were friends, as well. A wave of disappointment washed over him. He should be used to it by now. The “being used” part, that was. His mother hadn’t thought twice about using him to collect her monthly welfare checks, all the while earning a small fortune on the side by sleeping with other men. His father hadn’t hesitated before sending him into a store to pick up a thing or two—without paying for it, of course.
And now Kate.
As cynical as Luke thought he was, he hadn’t managed to see past those baby blues to the person beneath her melt-in-your-mouth sweetness.
And, damn, had she ever melted. The second his lips had met hers.
He hardened everything that wasn’t already hard. “Yes. You should have.”
She hadn’t been in the cafeteria this morning, like she had the past couple of mornings, so he’d assumed he’d never see her again. Yet here she was. All twitchy and apologetic. And the only thing he wanted to do was yank her out of the room and find that closet all over again.
Not going to happen.
Nick stretched his back. “Well, I should probably head in to my physical therapy session.”
That was his cue to leave. “And I have some patients to see so, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll head back.”
“Wait! I want to...”
When he turned his head to look at her, Kate’s teeth were digging into that delectable lower lip, as if trying to keep the rest of her sentence from coming out in a rush.
She glanced at Nick. “I’ll come back when you’re finished with therapy, if that’s okay.”
“Of course.” The other man touched her arm. “It was good to finally meet you in person.”
Well, Luke wasn’t the only sucker, it would appear. She’d had his savior fooled, as well.
By the time he realized she meant to follow him down the hallway, it was too late to stop her. So as soon as they were a safe distance away, he turned to face her, propping one shoulder against the long narrow wall in the hallway to take some of the pressure off his now aching leg.
Pale silky hair, with just the slightest hint of a wave, fell over her shoulders, caressing her collarbone with every turn of her head. He remembered licking along that very spot.
He forced his gaze back to her eyes. “Yes?”
“I...I wanted explain.” Her words tumbled over themselves. “I don’t normally... I don’t ever...” The flourish of a hand finished her thought.
She didn’t normally sneak off and “do” her father’s doctors?
“And you think I should know this because...?”
“I don’t want you to think badly of me.” Her hands caught each other, fingers twisting together.
She was nervous. Embarrassed by what they’d done. He stood upright before the realization could affect him. “I don’t really even know you, so why does it matter?”
She flinched. “I guess it doesn’t. But you’re Ni—my father’s doctor. I’d rather you didn’t say anything to him about yesterday.”
“I’m not.”
“You’re not going to tell him?”
“I’m not Nick’s doctor. Not anymore.”
Her breath hissed out. “So you are going to tell him...about us?”
And risk being shipped home to the States on the first available flight out of London? Not likely. He’d fought too hard to get this position. “No, I’m not going to tell him.”
“Thank you.” Her whole body went slack with relief. “I appreciate it. How’s he doing, by the way? Was the surgery a success?”
That same feeling of unease washed over him. Surely she didn’t think their time together had been a game-changer? “I’m afraid I can’t give out that kind of information.”
“But I’m his daughter.”
“You’re not listed as his next of kin.”
“Because I’ve only just met the man.”
And Luke had just barely met her. That hadn’t stopped her from wrapping her legs around his waist. And it certainly wasn’t keeping him from wanting to relive that moment...a whole lot slower this time. Definitely not something he wanted her to know.
“That’s not my problem.”
“Okay, I get it. You can’t give me any details. But his life isn’t in danger anymore, right?”
