Marion Lennox - Waves of Temptation

MARION LENNOXis a country girl, born on an Australian dairy farm. She moved on—mostly because the cows just weren’t interested in her stories! Married to a ‘very special doctor', Marion writes Mills & Boon ®Medical Romances™, as well as for Mills & Boon ®Cherish™. (She used a different name for each category for a while—if you’re looking for her past Romances search for author Trisha David as well.) WAVES OF TEMPTATION is Marion Lennox’s 100 thromance novel.

In her non-writing life Marion cares for kids, cats, dogs, chooks and goldfish. She travels, she fights her rampant garden (she’s losing) and her house dust (she’s lost). Having spun in circles for the first part of her life, she’s now stepped back from her ‘other’ career, which was teaching statistics at her local university. Finally she’s reprioritised her life, figured out what’s important and discovered the joys of deep baths, romance and chocolate. Preferably all at the same time!

CAROLINE ANDERSONhas the mind of a butterfly. She’s been a nurse, a secretary, a teacher, run her own soft furnishing business, and now she’s settled on writing. She says, ‘I was looking for that elusive something. I finally realised it was variety, and now I have it in abundance. Every book brings new horizons and new friends, and in between books I have learned to be a juggler. My teacher husband, John, and I have two beautiful and talented daughters, Sarah and Hannah, umpteen pets, and several acres of Suffolk that nature tries to reclaim every time we turn our backs!'

Dear Reader

Last year I attended a writing retreat on Australia’s famous Gold Coast. The world surfing championships were taking place five miles down the beach. Then the weather turned wild, so the championships were relocated—right into our sheltered bay, right under our hotel! You can imagine how our retreat ended. We hung out of the windows and watched gorgeous surfers from all over the world, ‘hanging ten’ just beneath us.

But I was there to write … Virtuously I took my laptop out onto the balcony and searched for inspiration. Strangely, it wasn’t very far away.

I had fun on the Gold Coast, and I had fun writing this book. WAVES OF TEMPTATION lets me share that glorious surfing world, the inevitable medical needs of such an event, and the drama and passion that must inevitably lie beneath.

This is also my 100th romance novel. Writing for Mills & Boon ®has been a wonderful journey. A huge thank you to all who’ve helped me along the way. And thank you to my writing friends and to my family.

Thank you, too, my readers, for sharing my passion.

Marion Lennox

‘Marion Lennox’s RESCUE AT CRADLE LAKE is simply magical, eliciting laughter and tears in equal measure. A keeper.’

—RT Book Reviews

‘Best of 2010: a very rewarding read. The characters are believable, the setting is real, and the writing is terrific.’

—Dear Author on CHRISTMAS WITH HER BOSS

www.millsandboon.co.uk

For Marion

Recent titles by Marion Lennox:

Mills & Boon ®Medical Romance™

GOLD COAST ANGELS: A DOCTOR’S REDEMPTION * * Gold Coast Angels ** Sydney Harbour Hospital † Earthquake! Mills & Boon ® Cherish ™ CHRISTMAS AT THE CASTLE SPARKS FLY WITH THE BILLIONAIRE A BRIDE FOR THE MAVERICK MILLIONAIRE * HER OUTBACK RESCUER * NIKKI AND THE LONE WOLF ** MARDIE AND THE CITY SURGEON ** * Journey through the Outback duet ** Banksia Bay miniseries These books are also available in eBook format from www.millsandboon.co.uk MIRACLE ON KAIMOTU ISLAND † * Gold Coast Angels ** Sydney Harbour Hospital † Earthquake! Mills & Boon ® Cherish ™ CHRISTMAS AT THE CASTLE SPARKS FLY WITH THE BILLIONAIRE A BRIDE FOR THE MAVERICK MILLIONAIRE * HER OUTBACK RESCUER * NIKKI AND THE LONE WOLF ** MARDIE AND THE CITY SURGEON ** * Journey through the Outback duet ** Banksia Bay miniseries These books are also available in eBook format from www.millsandboon.co.uk THE SURGEON’S DOORSTEP BABY SYDNEY HARBOUR HOSPITAL: LILY’S SCANDAL ** * Gold Coast Angels ** Sydney Harbour Hospital † Earthquake! Mills & Boon ® Cherish ™ CHRISTMAS AT THE CASTLE SPARKS FLY WITH THE BILLIONAIRE A BRIDE FOR THE MAVERICK MILLIONAIRE * HER OUTBACK RESCUER * NIKKI AND THE LONE WOLF ** MARDIE AND THE CITY SURGEON ** * Journey through the Outback duet ** Banksia Bay miniseries These books are also available in eBook format from www.millsandboon.co.uk DYNAMITE DOC OR CHRISTMAS DAD? THE DOCTOR AND THE RUNAWAY HEIRESS

* Gold Coast Angels ** Sydney Harbour Hospital † Earthquake!

Mills & Boon ®Cherish ™

CHRISTMAS AT THE CASTLE

SPARKS FLY WITH THE BILLIONAIRE

A BRIDE FOR THE MAVERICK MILLIONAIRE *HER OUTBACK RESCUER *NIKKI AND THE LONE WOLF **MARDIE AND THE CITY SURGEON **

* Journey through the Outback duet ** Banksia Bay miniseries

These books are also available in eBook format from www.millsandboon.co.uk

Contents

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

PROLOGUE

SHE WAS HUDDLED as far from the receptionist in the funeral parlour as she could get. Curled into one of the reception area’s plush chairs, she looked tiny, almost in a foetal position.

Her dirty, surf-blonded hair was matted and in desperate need of a cut. Her cut-off-at-the-thigh jeans were frayed, her too-big windcheater looked like something out of a charity bin and her bare feet were filthy. Her huge grey eyes were ringed with great dark shadows.

In ordinary circumstances, Matt Eveldene would have cast her a glance of sympathy. He might even have tossed her a few coins to get a decent meal.

Not now. Not this girl.

He knew as much about her as he’d ever want to know. Her name was Kelly Myers. No. Kelly Eveldene. She was seventeen years old and she was his brother’s widow.

She rose as she saw him. She must know what he’d been doing—identifying for himself that the body lying in the funeral home’s back room was indeed his brother’s.

‘I...I’m sorry,’ she faltered, but she didn’t approach him. Maybe his face stopped her. It was impossible to conceal his anger. The white-hot rage.

The waste...

He’d just seen Jessie. His beloved big brother. Jess, who’d laughed with him, teased him, protected him from the worst of their father’s bullying.

Jessie, who was now dead, aged all of twenty-four. Jessie, who for some crazy, unfathomable reason had married this girl two weeks before he’d died.

‘How can you be married to him?’ he snapped. It was a dumb thing to ask, maybe even cruel, but it was all he could think of. He knew so little of what Jessie had been doing for the last few years. No one did. ‘You’re only seventeen.’

‘He wanted to marry me,’ she said, almost as a ghost might talk. As if her voice was coming from a long way away. ‘He insisted. He even found my father and made him give permission. I guess...my father’s still my guardian, even if—’ She broke off and sat down again, hard, as if all the strength had gone out of her.