When Dr. Ryan Wade proposed a marriage of convenience, Tara Mason thought she knew what she was getting herself in to--neither love nor passion were supposed to be part of the package deal.

Publisher: New Concepts Publishing
www.newconceptspublishing.com/wadeswoman.htm

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City nurse, Tara Mason is escaping from her controlling and dangerous step-brother Tony Martin. Tony had tried to force Tara into marry him to safeguard her mother’s inheritance. She accepts the role of practice nurse for newly divorced GP Ryan Wade but finds herself drawn into his personal nightmare as he fights his ex-wife to keep custody of his two small children.

Tara and Ryan are drawn together as she realises beneath his abrasive manner lies a compassionate and loving man desperate to keep his children with him. So much so that when Ryan suggests they should marry to provide a consolidated family unit to the courts, Tara accepts. Neither of them is prepared for how this will affect their feelings for each other.

Tara was about to go to her bedroom and start unpacking when the front door burst open. She jumped as it slammed against the wall with a loud crash. A gust of wind whirled around her legs as she lifted her head to stare at the imposing man framed in the doorway. He wore a long cloak protecting him against the chill autumn air and in one arm cradled a crying baby whilst the other was wrapped around a whimpering child clinging to his thigh. The noise was bedlam and the man glared at Tara causing her to draw back in alarm.

‘Who the hell are you and what are you doing in my house?’ The words were hurled at her with suspicion grimly etched across his stern, darkly handsome features. Tara hesitated as her eyes met his and she felt the full impact of him – magnetic - dangerous.

‘I’m Tara Mason.’ Tara felt her throat squeezing closed. This was ridiculous, she decided. She wasn’t going to be intimidated by this overpowering man. ‘Your new nurse,’ she added firmly.

A look of astonishment crossed his face and then just as quickly disappeared as he moved forward with the children, kicking the door shut behind him.

‘Take Ben, will you?’ he said, holding the screaming child out to her so that she automatically stepped forward taking him in her arms. ‘He’s hungry and tired, that’s all,’ he explained, as if to apologise for the baby’s yelling.

‘Shall I make up a bottle for him?’ Tara smiled at the little girl who instantly hid behind her father’s coat and then shyly peeked out.

‘There’s one ready in the fridge. I have to see to my daughter – she’s running a temperature.’ He lifted the little girl in his arms and Tara noticed for the first time how flushed she was, her eyes over-bright with fever as she clung to her father’s dark hair, pressing her small hot cheek against his.

Tara rocked Ben in her arms and his crying subsided as he chewed vigorously against his chubby fist. ‘It’s all right. I’ll see to Ben,’ she said, but Ryan was already walking along the passage to the bedroom area, the child still in his arms.

What an introduction! Hardly even an acknowledgment of her presence. Tara shrugged. She supposed she couldn’t blame him if he was trying to cope with two tiny children who both needed attention, she thought as she fed and calmed the baby.

A cold shiver shot along Tara’s spine as she felt his presence and looked up to see him studying her, an unreadable expression on his face.

‘I’m Ryan Wade,’ he said gruffly. ‘Sorry – I forgot you were coming today.’

Tara looked at his brooding eyes and the tightly clenched jaw and her stomach tensed with a knot of excitement and fear. No, don’t go there, she chastised herself. The last thing I need is to become involved with this man. She gave a convulsive little swallow and shifted the now sleepy baby into a more comfortable position. When she replied she kept her voice calm – unemotional. ‘That’s okay, Doctor Wade. How’s your daughter?’

‘I’ve put Emma to bed but she’s not well. I’m just going to get my medical bag from the car.’

Tara frowned. Ryan looked seriously worried, his eyes reflecting his concern, his face drawn. She gazed down at Ben now contentedly asleep and decided to settle him in the nursery, which she had noticed earlier at the end of the hall.

Ben barely stirred as she deftly changed his nappy and placed him in the cot wrapping him in warm blankets. She could hear Ryan talking to Emma in the adjoining room. Hesitating, she wondered if she should go in, thinking what a peculiar situation she was in, alone on a cold night in the High Country with a strange man and his children. Straightening her shoulders, she pushed open the door and entered the room. After all, she was trained as a paediatric nurse – she would offer her help.

Ryan was sitting on the edge of Emma’s bed listening intently to her chest with his stethoscope. Emma was grizzling as she clung to her father’s arm.

‘I feel sick, Daddy,’ she cried. Tara’s reaction was spontaneous as she ran to the kitchen and grabbed a basin from the sink. She managed to reach Ryan’s side in time to hold the basin for Emma who was immediately violently ill.

‘It’s all right, sweetheart – its okay.’ Ryan comforted the frightened child, wiping her face with a damp facecloth as she lay back on the pillow.

Tara rinsed the basin in the bathroom and returned it, setting it beside the bed in case Emma was sick again. As she watched Ryan continued examining the child, murmuring encouragement. Tara felt a tremor run through her at Ryan’s obvious loving concern.

‘Do you know what it is?’ she said at last as Ryan re-placed his stethoscope into his medical kit.

‘A viral infection, by the look of it – not too serious, thank God,’ he replied, winking at his daughter.

Tara nodded, knowing how extreme the symptoms could appear in small children.

Ryan stood up, looking directly at Tara as if seeing her for the first time since his dramatic entrance thirty minutes earlier. His eyes flicked over her and then rested on her mouth. Tara felt heat flood her cheeks as the atmosphere suddenly crackled with tension. ‘Stay with her,’ he said. ‘I’m going next door to the surgery to get some liquid paracetamol to settle her down.’

Once again Ryan didn’t wait for Tara’s reply but was gone, striding along the passage. She shivered with apprehension relieved to sit on the edge of the bed and be distracted by the child.

‘My daddy’s a doctor. He won’t let anything happen to me.’ Emma’s feverish eyes watched as Tara adjusted the bedclothes making sure she didn’t get overheated.

‘Well, I’m a nurse and I’ve come here to help your daddy. So I hope you’ll let me look after you too,’ Tara replied, giving her a warm smile.

Emma caught Tara’s hand, her expression suddenly anxious. ‘You won’t leave me like my mummy did, will you?’

Tara hesitated at the child’s plaintive question. How could she reply? She didn’t even know what was happening. Ryan’s deep voice in response saved her from having to answer.

‘Come on, chatterbox. Daddy has some medicine, which will make you feel better. Open wide.’ Ryan spooned some paracetamol into Emma’s mouth, which opened like a baby bird, her eyes resting trustingly on her father.

‘Now, sleep young lady and I’ll look in on you in the night’

‘Okay. I love you, Daddy,’ she whispered.

‘I love you too, sweetheart,’ he murmured in reply and Tara felt inexplicable tears well in her eyes as Ryan gently kissed Emma goodnight and she drifted easily into sleep.

Then Ryan turned and she felt the full impact of his eyes on her. ‘I assume that Ben is asleep too so, we should have a talk now.’

Tara nodded and followed Ryan into the kitchen. The sensation of familiarity between them was so powerful that she wondered if they had met before. She felt the piercing shaft of some unknown emotion as she stared at his dark, almost unkempt hair, suppressing the urge to smooth the wayward locks. What am I thinking? He’s a stranger. A man with commitments. A man worried about his children and here am I – perving on him! Shame on you, Tara!

‘Are you hungry? Molly, my housekeeper, normally leaves me a meal to heat up,’ he said, peering into the fridge.

‘She said she’d cooked a casserole for us,’ Tara replied, studying Ryan from beneath her lashes as he retrieved a casserole dish from the fridge and placed it in the microwave.

Dressed in a casual sweater and jeans, he appeared even taller than when she had first seen him. Her gaze travelled over his shaggy hair, which hung down on his collar shadowing the lean, tanned face with its high, chiselled cheek bones and firm, sensual mouth. His deep brown eyes matched the aura of brooding stillness he exuded and sadness was etched into the hard planes of his face. She tried to gauge his age guessing he must be in his mid to late thirties.

The microwave pinged and Ryan removed the delicious smelling meal placing it on the table along with large dinner plates and cutlery. ‘Help yourself,’ he said, pulling a chair up beside her.

They ate in silence, leaving Tara wondering when he was going to ‘have a talk,’ as he’d indicated. Her head drooped with tiredness and she abruptly pulled herself upright – it had been a long, exhausting day and her arrival not exactly welcoming.

‘Where have you driven from?’ Ryan question was polite enough but Tara puzzled that he didn’t know.

‘Melbourne. I arrived mid afternoon and your housekeeper let me in.’

‘Quite a change from the city to the High Country. Have you been here before?’

‘No.’

‘We’re going into the worse time of the year. It gets bloody cold up here – but awesomely beautiful.’

Tara carefully replaced her knife and fork on the plate and taking a deep breath, decided she would have to take the initiative to sort things out. ‘Doctor Wade, you were expecting a fully trained nurse to arrive from Melbourne, weren’t you?’

Ryan look startled at her blunt question. ‘Well, yes. But, as I said, I’d forgotten when she was coming.’

Tara smiled, trying to disguise her feelings of apprehension. ‘Not she – me,’ she replied. ‘Tara Mason. The Nursing Agency recommended me to you and your partner and practice manager interviewed me in Melbourne a month ago when you couldn’t get away. I was appointed on a twelve-month contract signed by you. I’m a highly qualified senior paediatric nurse and here to start work tomorrow.’

Tara stopped. Ryan was staring at her as if she was from another planet! She pressed a nervous hand to her stomach as the tension soared. My God! I’ve jumped from one fire into another, she thought controlling her rising panic.

Ryan rubbed a hand over his jaw and then through his thick hair. ‘I apologise that I wasn’t able to conduct your interview - but I’m afraid there’s been a mistake.’

He hesitated, and then dropped the bombshell. ‘Look, there’s no easy way to say this. You shouldn’t have been appointed.