Doctor's Guide To Dating In The Jungle

‘Understood. Do you ever keep patients overnight?’

‘On occasion. If we’ve had to operate, for example. Or if …’ he forced air into his lungs ‘… one of the team becomes ill and we have to transport them to a major city.’

She paused, her eyes sliding across his face. Her pupils dilated, and compassion flared within their depths. ‘You’ve had to do that, haven’t you? Transport a team member.’

He couldn’t go down this road. Not today. Trying to head off any further questions, he checked his watch, relieved to find it was almost noon. ‘Let’s go see what Tiago has come up with for lunch.’

Lunch turned out to be a one-pot meal called carurú do Pará, featuring dried shrimp and okra. It was unlike anything she’d ever tasted, but delicious just the same.

‘Do you like it?’ Matt asked, forking a piece of shrimp into his mouth.

‘It’s wonderful. I’ve never had okra in anything but jambalaya.’

Tiago, who she’d found out was the team’s cook, nodded. ‘Good, yes?’

Reverting to Portuguese, she asked what other kinds of dishes were popular in the region. Smiling, he rattled off several names, but the words were unfamiliar. It was amazing how two languages could be the same and yet so very different.

Matt must have noticed her confusion as well. Keeping the conversation going in Portuguese, he asked, ‘Your accent is different. Where did you learn the language?’

‘I lived in Portugal for seven years as a child. My father worked at the American Embassy.’

‘That explains it.’

His furrowed brow made her sit a bit taller. ‘Is there something wrong with the way I speak?’

‘Not at all. But you’ll find sentence construction is a little different here.’

‘I’ve noticed.’

Tiago spoke up. ‘I think your accent is very nice, Miss Stefani.’

She smiled her thanks. ‘Stefani is my formal name, but all my friends call me Stevie. Won’t you do the same?’

‘Sh-tée-vee?’ He struggled to get the name out, and she noticed Nilson—busy manning the helm, his plate balanced on the control panel—mouthed the word as well.

‘Perfect,’ she said.

Matt just shook his head. ‘From Stefan, to Stefani, to Stevie. No wonder I was confused about your gender.’

‘And now? Are you still confused?’

‘Confused?’ His lips tilted in a sardonic smile. ‘More than ever.’

With that cryptic statement he stood and walked to the sink, carrying his plate. Since Tiago and Nilson followed his lead, she shoveled one last mouthful of the delicious meal into her mouth and stood as well. ‘Thank you so much for lunch. It was wonderful.’

‘I’m glad you liked it.’ After Matt ducked through the door, Tiago leaned in a bit closer and whispered, ‘I think you will be good for Mateus. He misses his wife very much.’

Wife? Matt was married? Oh, Lordy, and she’d practically insisted on playing share-sies with his bedroom. What was she thinking?

‘Where is she? His wife, I mean.’ The words were out before she could stop them. But she wanted to know. Because other arrangements definitely had to be made. No wonder he’d offered to sleep with the crew. Her face flamed. She’d told him not to worry about her throwing herself at him and yet she’d offered to sleep right above the man’s head. Surely he didn’t think—

‘His wife is … she’s …’ Tiago bowed his head and pointed skyward.

‘What? I don’t understand.’ Her eyes widened as she realized what he was trying to say. ‘Oh. I’m so sorry.’

He waved his hands in front of him. ‘Please don’t speak of it with him. He might not like that I told you.’

‘Of course not.’ She glanced at the empty doorway, hoping Matt wasn’t lurking outside. She wanted to ask some additional questions, like when and how his wife had died, but she didn’t want to get Tiago in trouble. She also didn’t feel right indulging in gossip behind Matt’s back. If he wanted her to know, he’d tell her.

Although why would he? He’d made it pretty obvious he didn’t want her here, and he certainly didn’t expect her to last very long.

She hurried to catch up with him and found him on deck staring out at the dark waters of the Rio Preto. ‘When do we reach our first stop?’

‘Some time tomorrow afternoon.’ He turned toward her, propping a hip against the rail and crossing his arms over his chest. ‘Do you mind if I ask you something?’

Thinking of the personal information she’d just learned about his wife, she hesitated, wondering if he was going to ask about her last job—or whether she was involved with someone. ‘I suppose not.’

‘Why did you choose Brazil?’

Relief washed over her. That was easy. ‘I knew the language.’ She crinkled her nose. ‘Well, kind of.’

His lips curved, and she caught a quick flash of teeth. ‘There is that. But that’s not exactly what I mean. As a vascular surgeon you could have gone to any hospital in the world. But this …’ his hand swept to the side, indicating the river ‘… is a little outside your specialty, don’t you think?’

She shrugged, forcing herself to smile back. ‘Maybe I wanted to expand my horizons.’

‘Surely there were other ways you could have done that.’

Her options had been rather limited when she’d called Tracy and inquired about the position, but she was loath to tell him that. At least at the moment. ‘Possibly. Why does it matter?’

His eyes slid over her face, pausing at her lips before coming back up to meet her gaze. ‘Just curious.’

‘What about you? Why did you come here?’ If he could pose the question, then it seemed only fair she should get a chance to do the same. Besides, it would move him away from this particular subject. And a part of her hoped he’d tell her about his wife, and get it out in the open.

‘It was something I’ve wanted to do ever since med school.’

She nodded. ‘Did you specialize?’

‘Nope. Although, looking back, maybe I should have.’

‘I imagine you’ve learned more here than some doctors learn in a lifetime.’

A muscle worked in his jaw. ‘Maybe more than I wanted to.’

Something about those words made her heart clench. Was he talking about his wife’s death? Now was probably not the time to ask.

‘So we reach our first stop tomorrow.’

‘Yep. We’ll need to figure out how to introduce you to the villagers, if there are any questions about your presence.’

‘What do you mean?’

He shrugged. ‘Let’s just say some of the tribes are more conservative than others.’

‘They don’t think women should be doctors?’

‘Some of the chiefs might have trouble with us traveling together.’ He studied her. ‘You don’t happen to have a husband stowed in your luggage, do you?’

A shaft of pain went through her, and it took her a second or two to respond. ‘Nope, sorry. You’ve never brought a woman with you?’

‘Not a female doctor, no.’ He uncrossed his arms and straightened. ‘But we can talk more about it later. You must be tired.’

‘A little, but I’m okay. Is there something you want me to do?’

‘Not at the moment. Tiago and Nilson are pretty proprietary about the day-to-day boat chores. If you try to pitch in, they’ll be offended. Let me think …’

He smiled suddenly, his eyes crinkling as he motioned toward one of her bare arms. ‘You could always lie on deck and work on your tan. Try to blend in a little more.’

She laughed, the tension between them defusing. ‘Nice try, Tarzan. With three guys roaming the place? Hardly. Besides, as you can tell by my vampire-like skin tones, the sun and I are sworn enemies. Even if I could tan, baking in this heat doesn’t really appeal to me.’

‘There’s a wall-mounted fan in our … in the bedroom. You can read, then, or relax. Unpack.’

‘What are you going to do?’

‘Go over the navigational charts with Nilson.’ He tugged at a chain around his neck and retrieved two keys from beneath his shirt. Unhooking one of them, he held it out. ‘This is to the exam room. You’ll need to put it somewhere safe. The door and medicine cabinets are keyed alike, so it works on both. The crew members can be trusted but, because of the drugs we keep on hand, it’s better not to put temptation in anyone’s way. So you and I will have the only copies.’

Her fingers brushed over his palm as she took the key from him, shivering as she noted the metal was still warm from resting against his skin. When he allowed his own key to slide back beneath his polo shirt, the image of steel pressed against a hard wall of flesh caused her to take a quick step back.

‘Do you have a chain to hang it from?’ Matt’s gaze slid to her chest, and then jerked back to her face.

Had he just pictured the key nestled between her breasts? That would actually be a relief considering her response a few seconds ago. How humiliating would it be for her to nearly swoon over the stupid heat of a key and not have him notice her at all?

She glanced at his face, looking for confirmation.

Nothing. There wasn’t a hint of interest behind those cool blue eyes.

The pendulum swung back toward humiliation. What kind of woman broke off her engagement and immediately started checking out every guy in town? Well, technically she was only checking out one guy in this particular area, but still.

She curled her fingers into her palms, allowing her nails to dig into her skin. ‘I have something in one of my bags. I’ll use that.’

‘I’ll leave you to it, then,’ he said.

At her nod, he turned and walked away, and she couldn’t help but notice the loose-limbed gait, which spoke of easy confidence, or the way his muscles flexed as he gripped the top of the door-jamb and ducked beneath as he headed down the hall.

As soon as the dark recesses of the boat swallowed him completely, she sagged against the railing and held the key to her chest.

What on earth was wrong with her?

Once they reached the first village, she’d be far too busy to think of anything but her patients. At least she hoped so.

Her mouth twisted. She’d forgotten to ask where Matt and the crew lived between trips down the Amazon. Surely they didn’t stay on the ship year round.

And if they did? Could she live aboard this boat … in the same room with Matt … for the next two years?

Oh, boy. She didn’t think so.

Because if she thought he was attractive now, when her instincts were on high alert, what would happen if she let her guard down even a little?

I don’t run.

The words she’d thrown at him swirled around her, calling her a liar. Because if she couldn’t get her silly libido under control, that’s exactly what she was going to do.

Run.

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