Daring to Date Her Boss

by Joanna Neil

  She wants him to be so much more…

  For E.R. doctor Saskia Reynolds, a move to the Isles of Scilly is just what she needs to escape a relationship gone wrong. Yet her new job means working with the delectable and utterly desirable Dr. Tyler Beckett—a man completely off-limits. Because not only is Tyler her new boss, he’s also her landlord! Saskia has learned the hard way that work and love don’t mix, but with such an intense attraction, she’s finding it hard to follow her own advice!

  She wanted him—loved being in his arms.

  She longed to have him tell her the things she wanted to hear, but how could that ever come about? He didn’t love her, did he? He’d never said those words she desperately needed him to say. And through it all he was still her boss—the man who held power over her future. Hadn’t she told herself she would never get into this situation ever again? What was wrong with her that she couldn’t find the willpower to keep him at arm’s length?

  Dear Reader,

  Islands hold a special place in most people’s hearts, I would imagine. The idea of love blossoming on a palm-fringed paradise is wonderfully romantic and conjures up all kinds of possibilities.

  But things may not always be what they seem. Living and working on an island comes with its own set of problems—as my heroine soon begins to find out.

  I had a great time seeing how Saskia managed to contend with all her difficulties—Tyler being first and foremost among them. Falling for the boss was never going to be a good idea as far as she was concerned, and the fact that they were total opposites added a whole other dimension to her troubles.

  I hope you, too, enjoy the journey as Tyler and Saskia work together to find a solution to their problems.

  Love,

  Joanna

  DARING TO DATE HER BOSS

  Joanna Neil

  Recent titles by Joanna Neil:

  A DOCTOR TO REMEMBER

  SHELTERED BY HER TOP-NOTCH BOSS

  RETURN OF THE REBEL DOCTOR

  HIS BRIDE IN PARADISE

  TAMED BY HER BROODING BOSS

  DR. RIGHT ALL ALONG

  DR. LANGLEY: PROTECTOR OR PLAYBOY?

  A COTSWOLD CHRISTMAS BRIDE

  THE TAMING OF DR. ALEX DRAYCOTT

  BECOMING DR. BELLINI’S BRIDE

  These books are also available in ebook format

  from www.Harlequin.com.

  Contents

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER ONE

  ‘DROP IT, BOOMER. Right now. Drop it and give it back.’

  Saskia turned over in bed and pulled the duvet more closely around her. What was going on? Why was there so much noise? Dimly, her sleep-befuddled brain made out eight-year-old Becky’s voice, growing shrill with urgency. Saskia blinked, and drowsily stretched her limbs before opening her eyes a fraction. She peered groggily around the unfamiliar room.

  Soft sunlight filtered through the chenille curtains, highlighting the glazed, Georgian-style wardrobe doors and the wide dressing table with its plush upholstered stool. It was a lovely room, but for a moment or two Saskia stared at it, perplexed. What was she was doing here? And what on earth was all the shouting about? She was used to peaceful mornings, to gradually waking to the low sound of the radio on her bedside table. There was no such luck today.

  A loud wail shocked her into sitting upright. Groaning softly, she swung her legs out from under the cosy duvet and rested her bare feet on the carpeted floor. What time was it?

  She reached for the short silk robe that was draped over a nearby chair. Pulling it on over her thigh-length nightshirt, it was all starting to come back to her. Her circumstances had changed pretty dramatically over the past few days. She was here to look after the children. A small wave of panic engulfed her. In that case, what was she doing in bed while they were up and about?

  ‘You’re a bad dog, Boomer. I don’t like you any more. Go away.’

  There was a sharp tap on the bedroom door and Saskia must have muttered acknowledgement because two seconds later the door was flung open and an irate Becky stood in front of her, angry tears staining her flushed cheeks.

  ‘Boomer’s chewed Milly’s bottle and now it’s ruined—look.’ The child thrust the offending object towards her, and Saskia gazed blearily at what had once been a doll’s feeding bottle. Becky was right. It was ruined, that was for sure.

  Saskia put a comforting arm around her niece’s shoulders and laid her head against the child’s golden curls. ‘I’m sure we’ll manage to get another one for you next time we go to the shops. You have to keep these things out of Boomer’s way, you know. He might be two years old, but he still acts like a pup a lot of the time.’

  ‘Well, he’s a bad dog.’

  ‘Yes.’ Straightening, she glanced at the watch on her bedside table. It was ten o’clock already? Another quiver of alarm washed through her until she remembered that she didn’t have a job to go to and, anyway, it was Saturday. So...no worries there, were there? Hah. As if.

  The doorbell rang a couple of minutes later as she wandered into the living room to check that all was well with Becky’s brother and sister. Boomer, the family’s exuberant springer spaniel, set up a frantic barking in response to the door chimes, and Saskia frowned. Her head was beginning to ache.

  Who could that be? She really wasn’t in the mood for visitors. Besides, the place was a mess, with packing crates everywhere and half-opened boxes taking up every available surface.

  Six-year-old Charlie was trailing his cars over the play mat in a corner of the room and acknowledged her with an absent ‘Hiya’ as she greeted him with a smile.

  Seeing her, Boomer stopped barking and raced up to her, wagging his tail and almost knocking her over in his excitement. She patted his silky, chocolate-coloured fur as she glanced around. Caitlin was nowhere to be seen. Most likely she was still tucked up in bed, like teenagers everywhere. The thought filled her with envy.

  ‘Perhaps you should come in,’ she heard Becky saying cautiously. ‘My mummy isn’t here, but you can talk to my auntie if you like.’

  Saskia immediately tensed and hurried out of the room and into the hallway, ready to avert disaster. She wasn’t dressed properly—how could she possibly meet up with anyone while she was in this state?

  But she was already too late...a man carrying a large package, a box of some sort, was following Becky down the hallway towards the living room.

  For a second or two, as she studied him, Saskia’s breath caught in her throat. He was in his mid-thirties, she guessed, and he was absolutely stunning...long, lean and incredibly fit looking, dressed in smart casuals, a dark, open-neck shirt and cream-coloured trousers. She closed her eyes briefly to savour the moment. Wow! So this was what the Isles of Scilly had to offer.

  His jet-black hair was cut in a short, crisp style that perfectly suited his angular features. As to his eyes—well, his stunning blue gaze was mesmerising, except that right now it was directed at her, bringing warm colour flooding to her cheeks as she realised she’d been caught staring at him.

  But he, too, seemed to have been knocked off balance by their unexpected meeting. She heard the sharp intake of his breath and saw his eyes widen as his glance moved over her in turn, taking in every softly feminine curve. He was suddenly rooted to the spot, his g
aze sweeping like a lick of flame over the smooth expanse of legs that were lightly bronzed from a summer of sunshine.

  A sudden arc of electric tension sparked between them, an intense, sensual intimacy that brought with it a wave of heat that raced through her body. She couldn’t move, didn’t know how to go on.

  Then the stranger made a rough-edged, broken kind of sound, as though he meant to say something but instead the words seemed to choke in his throat.

  Coming to her senses, Saskia tugged awkwardly at the hem of her robe, trying to cover a bit more thigh, an action that only resulted in drawing the edges of the garment further apart. Taking a deep breath, she wrapped the silk more firmly around herself and tied the belt in what she hoped was a secure knot.

  ‘I—uh...’ He hesitated, drawing his gaze back to her face. Like her, he seemed to be struggling to get himself back together. ‘I um...I gather you’re not Mrs Reynolds...’

  ‘Er, no, I’m her sister-in-law...Saskia.’

  ‘Ah, I see.’ He nodded acknowledgment, then pulled in a deep breath and straightened his shoulders. ‘I’m Tyler, Tyler Beckett. I have a parcel for Mrs Reynolds.’ He indicated the large box he was carrying, marked ‘Glass, Handle with Care’. ‘I’ve been hanging on to it for a couple of days, ever since the courier dropped it off next door.’

  ‘Oh...thanks.’ Her breathing had settled down at last to a heavy thud and now her brow furrowed. ‘My brother said something about Megan ordering a new light fitting...I guess this must be it. He said she’d checked with the landlord to make sure it would be okay to change things.’

  ‘Yes, I told her I’m okay with it, as long as she runs things by me first.’

  He was the landlord? That came as a bit of a surprise. She went to take the box from him but he hesitated, saying, ‘Actually, this is quite heavy. Maybe it would be better if I put it down for you, somewhere safe?’

  ‘Oh...yes, of course.’ She studied him surreptitiously. This could be difficult. If he owned the place, how was he going to react to seeing what had happened to his once pristine property now that three children and a dog had cut a swathe through it? There was already a scuff mark on the wall where Charlie had run amok.

  He was watching her expectantly and she galvanised herself into action. Fighting back a nervous quiver of apprehension, she showed him into the L-shaped living room, padding barefoot across the smooth oak floorboards to the dining area. ‘You could put it down here, if you like.’

  To her shame, there were four dirty soup bowls on the table, the remnants of last night’s hastily prepared supper. She’d been too tired to clear away after the meal and, besides, she’d figured it was more important to try to sort out the childcare arrangements, or at least find out what her options were. She still had to see if there was anyone around who would be prepared to walk the dog—if she managed to find a job it would be unfair to leave Boomer cooped up at home all day.

  She quickly moved the crockery out of the way, along with a jumble of household ornaments, and waved a hand towards the clear space on the large, solid wood table.

  Her brother had rented the house partly furnished and she was impressed—from what she’d seen so far, his new landlord certainly had an eye for quality.

  At the moment, though, he was looking around, a bewildered expression on his face as he took in the chaos. Charlie had spread his toys generously around the room—his was the first box that had been opened as he’d been desperate to be reunited with his belongings, and Saskia had been anxious to keep him occupied. Next in line had been Boomer’s collection of chew toys—a couple of facsimile bones, a rubber ring, a pull toy made of knotted strings and his favourite, a plastic, squashy ball. They, too, were strewn across the floor.

  Tyler frowned, absorbing everything in that one glance, and Saskia winced. She wondered if he was familiar with the mayhem of family life. The slight bracing of his shoulders seemed a dead giveaway.

  Still, he didn’t comment. ‘I was busy at work the last couple of days,’ he said, as he set down the parcel, ‘and I could see you were dealing with the removal van until late in the evening yesterday, so I didn’t like to disturb you.’

  ‘That was thoughtful of you,’ she murmured, leaning forward to help with the positioning of the parcel and faltering a little when she realised he was running his gaze over her once more. Heat flickered in his smoke-dark eyes as he took in the cloud of coppery curls that framed her oval face and brushed against the creamy slope of her shoulders.

  Belatedly, she realised that her shoulder was indeed bare, and she quickly tugged her robe back in place. The wide neckline of her nightshirt had somehow managed to slide partway down over her arms.

  ‘I...um...I should apologise for being dressed like this...only you caught me unawares. I overslept. It’s not something I do regularly,’ she added hastily, ‘it’s just that...uh...’ It was just that she’d been up half the night, using her laptop to sort out the route to school and trying to find suitable day care for the children after school and a whole host of other things he didn’t need to know about. Doing it when the children were tucked up in bed had seemed like the best opportunity. ‘We did a lot of travelling on Thursday to get here. Then there were two and a half hours on the ferry and the journey from where we docked to here. And we don’t seem to have stopped since. I haven’t caught up with myself yet.’

  ‘It’s all right. You don’t have to explain yourself.’ His expression was wry, and she could guess what he was thinking. She’d already burned her boats on that one.

  She started to move away from the table and his glance slid down to her bare feet, lingering there as though he’d only just noticed her toenails were painted a shimmering, luscious pink. He seemed intrigued, curious even, and he certainly didn’t seem to be in any hurry to leave, leading her to wonder uncomfortably if she ought to offer him coffee. It would be the neighbourly thing to do, wouldn’t it?

  ‘Um...can I offer you—?’ She broke off as Boomer, abandoning his knotted pull toy, bounded up to her once more and joyfully nudged her hip, tipping her off balance.

  Reacting swiftly, Tyler put out his arms to steady her. ‘You were saying...?’

  ‘Oh, yes...um...’ It was totally distracting, having him stand so close to her, and for some reason it took a real effort to unscramble her brain. His hands lightly circled her arms, sending small eddies of warmth throughout her body. While he was holding her like this she simply couldn’t think straight.

  ‘Coffee,’ she said at last. ‘I was going to offer you coffee.’

  ‘Thanks, I’d like that.’ He released her and she let out a long, silent breath of relief. ‘You can perhaps fill me in on one or two things,’ he added, ‘like what’s happening with your brother and his wife.’

  She nodded, but a quiver of anguish rippled through her. That wasn’t going to be easy to recount, was it, with Sam and Megan both in hospital and neither of them likely to recover very soon? As their landlord, she supposed he had a right to know, but it was hard for her to talk about it. Coming out of the blue on a busy road, the accident had shocked all of them.

  Boomer followed them into the kitchen, still nudging her gently, as though anxious that she should head in the right direction, and it dawned on her that he must be eager for his breakfast. ‘Okay, Boomer,’ she told him. ‘I’ll feed you. Just give me a minute.’

  Caitlin had finally put in an appearance and was sitting at the round table in one corner of the room, her mid-brown hair falling across her cheek like a curtain as she hunched over her mobile phone. ‘He’s used to being fed at eight o’clock,’ the teenager remarked, a faint note of censure in her voice as Saskia emptied kibble into Boomer’s food bowl. The girl tossed her hair out of the way with a shake of her head. ‘You were late with his meals yesterday as well, and the day before that.’

  ‘Well, we’ve had a lot going on
over the last few days,’ Saskia defended herself, uneasily conscious of Tyler showing an interest in the conversation. ‘I’ll be much more organised once I get the hang of things.’

  ‘Yeah, right. It’ll probably be better if I take over feeding him.’ Caitlin sighed and pushed a half-eaten bowl of dry cereal towards Saskia. ‘I can’t eat that. Mum always buys the proper branded version.’ She pressed her lips into a flat, disgruntled line. ‘And Charlie’s finished off all the milk again.’

  ‘Oh, dear.’ Saskia frowned. As well as being upset about what had happened to her parents, Caitlin, at fourteen, was going through a definite grumpy phase.

  Tyler intervened. ‘Don’t worry about coffee. It doesn’t matter.’

  She shook her head. ‘I have some sachets somewhere. We even have a choice—latte or cappuccino. I think you’ll like them.’ Her gaze travelled around the room, searching for the box where they were packed, and after a moment or two she realised that he was looking with her.

  ‘There are quite a few boxes to choose from, aren’t there?’ His gaze settled on a collection of crockery and cookery books that were spread out over the worktop and slowly his eyes half closed as he though he was trying to shut out this alien world he’d stumbled into.

  ‘No, it’s okay, they’re in the cupboard,’ Saskia said in triumph. ‘I remember I put them where they would be near to the kettle. Yay!’ She hurried forward to retrieve them at the same time that Boomer came and dropped his ball in front of her and then gazed at her in panting anticipation.

  ‘Ow, ow, ow...’ She yelped in pain as she stepped on one of his plastic chew toys and began to hop around the tiled floor, clutching her foot.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Caitlin asked, getting up from her seat to come and look. Then, ‘Oh...that’s blood,’ she said in an anxious voice. ‘You’re bleeding, Sass.’ She inspected the hard nylon, bone-shaped toy. ‘It’s really rough around the edges where he’s been having a go at it. Are you going to be all right?’