Tempted By Dr Patera. Tina Beckett

his bedroom, for the very same reason that he didn’t want that calendar out there for the world to see.

      Lea would probably think he’d been on some kind of ego trip during that whole photo shoot. That was the furthest thing from the truth. He hadn’t wanted to do it, but their trust fund money from Mopaxeni Shipping had been running short for the year. So they had concocted the stupid scheme to get some local guys on a calendar, figuring some of the islanders might be keen to help fund the clinic.

      One of the subjects had had a gall stone attack the day of the photo shoot, so Deakin had been an emergency substitute to save the day—such as it was. He hadn’t even looked at the actual shot when it had been sent over—had just checked the “accept” box and sent the envelope back to the photographer.

      The thought of Lea seeing how far down his scars went made him queasy. He’d caught her studying his neck when she thought he wasn’t looking. Several times, in fact. He’d even almost balked about getting his hair cut this morning, because the longer it was, the more it covered. But that would have been admitting that Lea’s curious glances disturbed him on some level. So he’d gone to his aunt and asked her to do the deed. She had, and four inches of shaggy growth had ended up on her kitchen floor.