Her Playboy's Secret. Tina Beckett

comes here,” he said in a low voice.

      The anger flooding her system disappeared in a whoosh as she stared back at him.

      Margie’s panicked voice broke between them. “What’s wrong?”

      “I’m not sure yet. But I don’t think you’re in labor.”

      “Then what?”

      “I think you may have been bitten by a redback,” Lucas said.

      “A what?” Margie asked.

      “It’s one of our most famous residents,” he said. “It’s a spider. A nasty one at that.”

      A redback! Darcie had heard of them but had never encountered one, and since she wasn’t from Australia, it had never dawned on her that Margie could have been envenomed by something. Her patient was also from England. She’d probably never thought of that possibility either.

      She glanced at Lucas. “Are they that common?”

      “Quite.” He patted Margie’s hand. “If that’s the case we have antivenin we can give you, which should help.”

      “If it is a bite, will it hurt the baby?” She gritted her teeth and pulled in another deep breath.

      “I think we’ve caught it at an early stage.” His gaze went back to the monitor, which Darcie noted still held steady. “I want to have your husband check the towel and your bathroom.”

      The patient’s eyes widened. “I used the walk-in shower in the guest bathroom this morning. I almost never use that one because it’s quite a long way from the bedroom. But my mother is due to fly in to help with the house and baby in a few weeks, and I thought I could tidy things and scrub the shower stall down as I was bathing.”

      “I’m just going to pull Dr. Green into the hallway for a moment. I’ll send the nurse in to sit with you.”

      Once they were outside the room, and Lucas had rung the husband, asking him to shake out the towel and examine the bathroom, she spun toward him. “A redback. Are you sure?”

      “Pretty sure. Most Australians know what to look for, but no one else would. I’ve seen this once before. A redback bite that comes in looking like preterm labor.”

      She sagged against the wall. “God. I would have never checked for that. I didn’t see a bite. Didn’t even think to ask.”

      “You wouldn’t have. And as for the bite mark…” He shrugged. “Small fangs, but they pack quite a wallop.”

      He gave a smile that looked as tired as she suddenly felt.

      “Can we give antivenin to her during pregnancy?”

      “We’ve given it before. I can’t recall anyone having a bad reaction, unless the patient is allergic to the equine immunoglobulin in the serum.” He sighed. “There’ve been some conflicting reports recently about whether or not the antivenin actually works, but I’ve seen enough evidence to tell me it’s worth a shot. Especially since she’s miscarried once already.”

      Lucas’s mobile phone buzzed, and he glanced at the screen. “It’s him. Let’s hope this is the answer we’re looking for.”

      He punched a button asking a few questions before assuring the man that she should do well with the antivenin and telling him they’d be awaiting his arrival.

      “He found the redback. It was still in the towel. A big one, from the sound of it.” He dragged his fingers through his hair. “I’ll need you to sign off on the medication. We’ll go the intravenous route rather than administering the antivenin intramuscularly, since that’s more favored at the moment.”

      “Of course.” She closed her eyes with a relieved laugh. “God, I could kiss you right now. I never in a million years would have got that diagnosis right.”

      A few seconds of silence met her comment.

      Hell. Had she really just said that? About kissing him?

      Evidently, because when she dared to look at him again a thread of confused amusement seemed to play across his face. “I don’t think now would be appropriate, do you, Dr. Green? But later…” He let his voice trail off in a way that gave her no question that he was definitely open to whatever later meant.

      What? Hadn’t he just come to work this morning all rumpled and sexed up?

      Sexed up? Was that even a real expression?

      Whether it was or not wasn’t the point. It was unbelievable that he would roll out of one woman’s bed and be ready and willing to kiss a second one. A perfect stranger, actually, since they barely knew each other.

      Not likely, you jerk.

      She gave the haughtiest toss of her chin she could manage and fixed him with a cold glare. “It’s a figure of speech, Lucas, in case you haven’t heard. I was just happy to know that Margie’s symptoms have an explanation and a treatment. But get this straight. As grateful as I am for your help, I had no intention of really kissing you. Now…or ever. I have no interest in being part of a love triangle. Been there. Done that.”

      Before she could scurry away in horror over that last blooper, he murmured, “I stand corrected on the kissing, although you totally had me for a moment or two. But I’m intrigued by this supposed love triangle you envision us in. Care to enlighten me as to who the third party might be, or do I have no say in the matter?”

      Was he serious?

      She wanted to hurl Cora’s name at him. Instead, by some superhuman force of will, she clamped her jaws shut before they had a chance to issue any other crazy statements. Then, without another word, she swung back into their patient’s room to give her the news about the redback.

      At least he hadn’t asked her about the been-there-done-that part of her rant, because no one needed to hear her sad tale about the wedding that almost had been. Or the woman who’d stolen her fiancé’s heart when he was supposed to be madly in love with her.

      Since when had she become so reckless with her words?

      Just like the ruby stripe on the infamous redback that warned of dire consequences to those who came in contact with it, the answer to her last question was inscribed with words that were just as lethal: Lucas Elliot.

      He made her forget about everything but his presence.

      The thing was, she had no idea how to go about scrubbing him—or the image of their lips locking in a frenzy of need—from her mind and finishing out the rest of her time in Australia in relative peace.

      But she’d better figure out an antivenin that would work against his charm and inject herself with it. As soon as she possibly could.