‘RESISTING HER REBEL HERO is an absolute delight to read … the sexy writing and refreshing characters leave their mark on every page.’
—HarlequinJunkie
After trying out everything from acting in musicals, singing opera, travelling and writing for a business newspaper, LUCY RYDER finally settled down to have a family and teach at a local community college, where she currently teaches English and Communication. However, she insists that writing is her first love and time spent on it is more pleasure than work.
She currently lives in South Africa, with her crazy dogs and two beautiful teenage daughters. When she’s not driving her daughters around to their afternoon activities, cooking those endless meals or officiating at swim meets, she can be found tapping away at her keyboard, weaving her wild imagination into hot romantic scenes.
It’s often said that our families are responsible for the people we become. If that’s the case then I must be pretty awesome—because my family is the greatest. We may not always agree, but we never forget that blood far outweighs petty squabbles, and we’re there for each other. Always.
My hero, Luke, isn’t so lucky. He’s grown up with emotionally unavailable parents concerned only with their shallow lives rather than being there for their three sons. And, having spent a decade in the military, he’s more at ease with actions than emotions. Emotions are messy and they can’t be trusted. Give him a crisis any day. He’s barely survived his parents’ marriages and is determined never to inflict that brand of marital hell on anyone—especially vulnerable kids. In fact he’s against marriage and children altogether.
But he does inspire trust in others. He’s intelligent, a highly skilled soldier and medic, and he willingly puts himself on the line for others. If that’s not hero-worthy I don’t know what is.
Lilah has a few ‘daddy issues’ of her own, having experienced paternal rejection at a vulnerable age. She’s bound and determined not to make the same mistakes as her mother. Fiercely independent, she would rather suppress her natural inclinations and go it alone than depend on someone who’s not going to be there for the long haul.
Luckily for her, Luke is nothing like her father—or his. He’s his own man, capable of making his own mistakes, and it takes history repeating itself—for Lilah, at least—to teach him that love begins with trust. And that, to my mind, is the true gift of family.
Happy reading
Lucy
Tamed by Her
Army Doc’s Touch
Lucy Ryder
As always, I could not have done this without my amazing family, who are always there for me—especially my parents, Peter and Gillian Hucklesby. Mom and Dad, you’re the best!
To my nephew Jason, who took time out of his busy study schedule to answer my endless medical questions. Thanks, Jay, you’re going to make an awesome doctor.
And lastly to my daughters, Kate and Ash. Words cannot express how much I love you.
Table of Contents
Praise for Lucy Ryder
Dear Reader
Dedication
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
IF DR. LILAH MEREDITH had known she’d be going swimming when she’d dressed earlier that evening, she probably would have chosen to wear something that didn’t look like it came from some designer lingerie’s “wild” collection.
But then again, she’d recently returned from the jungles of South America and had splurged on expensive underwear to celebrate her return to civilization. And if she was in an emotional place where only she got to see the scraps of silks and stretchy lace, then that was okay—she was having a break from men anyway.
But that was before her evening, which had started out normally enough for a bachelorette party, had rapidly descended into disaster. One minute she’d been surrounded by the debris left over from the gift-opening frenzy, a tipsy bride-to-be and a dozen giggling colleagues chanting, “Take it off, take it off!”, the next she’d been scrambling through the open window between two ornamental shrubs onto the restaurant’s upper deck.
She’d turned away from the embarrassing sight of a buff young guy stripping off his clothes to the bump-and-grind music blaring from the private room’s speakers just in time to see a dozen people leap from the party boat into the lake.
Flashing back to her senior year in high school when a group of pot-smoking students had set fire to a boat, Lilah’s heart stopped for a couple of beats.
Praying it was just another excuse for youthful high-jinks, she held her breath and waited for them to return to the boat. But the longer she watched the more uneasy she became, especially when it became apparent that someone was clearly in trouble.
With her heart surging into her throat, Lilah lurched to her feet and scrambled over the table to the window, knocking over half a bottle of Chianti and a jug of margaritas. Cutlery, glasses and flowers from the centerpiece went flying. There was a lot of high-pitched shrieking and Lilah had a brief glimpse of shocked expressions and open-mouthed gapes as she dived out the window.
Luke Sullivan folded his arms across his chest, tipped his chair back against the wooden railing and smiled as whoops and whistles of encouragement competed with the stripper music pumping from the system. Greg Turner, the man about to take the walk of insanity down the aisle, grinned goofily as Lindi—or was it Mindi?—ripped off her sparkly skin-tight blouse. She shimmied her balloon-shaped rack in the groom’s