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HER HONORABLE PLAYBOYKATE HARDY CHAPTER ONE‘Just why,’ Alyssa asked the emergency department charge nurse, ‘would I want to win anight out with SebastianRadley ?’ ‘The real question is, why wouldn’t you? Hmm, I think there’s something wrong here.’Tracey took Alyssa’s hand and checked her pulse while looking at her watch. ‘Well, you’redefinitely alive, and your pulse is normal.’ She made a show of taking Alyssa’s temperature. ‘No,that’s normal, too—so it can’t be delirium.’ ‘Oh, stop it.’ But Alyssa couldn’t help laughing. ‘How about temporary insanity?’ Tracey suggested. More like Alyssa would be insane to want to go out withSeb . ‘No. But I’ll give you adonation for the fundraiser anyway.’ Alyssa turned the key in her locker, fished out her purse, andtook out some money. ‘Here. It’s for a good cause.’ Tracey raised an eyebrow. ‘That’s enough for three tickets.’ Alyssa shook her head. ‘I don’t want any, thanks.’ ‘But, Alyssa, why not? I mean, the whole reason we’re selling tickets is to give everyone anequal chance of winning. If we’d done it as an auction, only the super-rich would be able to keep upin the bidding.’ Alyssa understood that. But there was one big flaw in Tracey’s plan. ‘Maybe some womendon’t want to win a night out withSeb .’ Alyssa certainly didn’t. ‘Why? He’s charming, he’s witty, he’s TDH.’ Alyssa looked blankly at Tracey. Tracey rolled her eyes. ‘Tall, dark and handsome. Honestly. Don’t you read the LonelyHearts columns?’ ‘I’m not that desperate,’ Alyssa said dryly. 
 
Tracey winced. ‘I didn’tmeagn it like that. I mean, we all look through them and wonder and…Oh, forget it.’ She waved a hand dismissively. ‘I know I’m digging myself into a deeper holehere. Seriously, a night out withSeb is worth winning. He knows how to show a woman a goodtime.’ ‘Only because he’s had plenty of practice.’ Alyssa raised an eyebrow. ‘In the six monthshe’s been at the Docklands Memorial, he must have dated every single woman in the hospital under the age of thirty-five.’ ‘Maybe he’s just looking for the right one,’ Tracey suggested. ‘Maybe he’s the male equivalent of a right tart.’ And Alyssa definitely wasn’t interested insomeone like him. She’d already learned that lesson the hard way, with Scott Cooper. Tracey whistled. ‘You really don’t like him, do you?’ ‘As a doctor, he’s fine.’ Thorough, decisive, charming enough to reassure their patients yetat the same time managing to remain detached. Alyssa admired that. It was the way she worked,too. ‘But as a date…no, thanks. He’s not my type.’ ‘So what is your type, Alyssa?’ Tracey asked. ‘I can’t remember you ever going on a date inthe three years you’ve worked here.’ Alyssa damped down the stream of impulses—to tell Tracey to mind her own business, toclaim that she was gay, to say that she was looking for someone special and would know when shemet the right one…Ah, it wasn’t fair to take out her bad mood on the charge nurse. Tracey meantwell. But the truth was embarrassing, and Alyssa didn’t want any gossip about herself doing therounds. Nobody at theDocklandsMemorialHospitalknew about the mistake she’d made, and sheintended to keep it that way. And she didn’t repeat her mistakes. Ever. SebastianRadley might be charming, handsome and witty—and, yes, she’d admit that hewas the sexiest man she’d ever met, with those slate-blue eyes and a mouth that was just designedfor sin—but he was a walking disaster where relationships were concerned. Which made him a manto be avoided in her book. ‘Hey, I’m a busy medic. I don’t have time to date,’ Alyssa said lightly. She took a note fromher purse. ‘Here you go. More hush money. Is that enough to stop you nagging me?’ ‘Hmm,’ Tracey said, and smiled. ‘Thanks for supporting the fundraiser, anyway.’ 
 
And as Alyssa walked away, Tracey filled the registrar’s name neatly in on three ticketstubs. Alyssa Ward. Their registrar worked far too hard, in Tracey’s opinion, and needed to let her hair down. AndSeb was just the man to help her do that. Their consultant, on the other hand, needed to be a bit more serious, torealise that lifewasn’t just party after party. And Alyssa was just the woman to help him see that. In fact, Tracey thought, this fundraiser could fix a few problems. All she had to do now washave a little chat with VickyRadley ,Seb’s sister, who was joint co-ordinatorof the fundraiser. If Tracey could get Vicky on her side, then theDocklandsMemorialHospitalwas just about to become amuch more interesting—and much happier—place. ‘This was a really, really stupid idea,’Seb informed his sister. ‘Remind me again. Why did Iagree to do this?’ ‘Because you justlur-r-rve your picture being in the papers, and the papers love you evenmore when you’re wearing your tux,’ Vicky said with a grin. ‘The Hon. SebastianRadley raisesmoney for emergency department equipment: you’re guaranteed tons of column inches with thisone. Posh but caring. It’s a winner.’ ‘Oh, ha.’ He scowled at her. ‘Why couldn’t I just have made a large donation to hospitalfunds?’ ‘Because that’s not proper news—it wouldn’t have been enough to get the press off Charlie’s back. So he’d have ended up trying to sort things out with Sophie while the paparazzi wastrying to bang her door down, and she’d have run a mile, instead of agreeing to marry him.’ Vickyshrugged. ‘It was the best idea I could come up with at short notice. And, may I remind you, youcouldn’t come up with a better one. You went along with it.’ ‘Hmm, well. You owe me for this. So does our big brother,’Seb warned. ‘Relax,’ she soothed, making a last-minute adjustment to his bow-tie. ‘You look fantastic. If you weren’t my brother and the world’s biggest louse to women, I’d be tempted to buy a ticketmyself.’ ‘It was supposed to be a promise auction.’Seb’s blue eyes narrowed. ‘It is, for everything else. But a night with you…Seb, this is a hospital. The debs can afforda bidding war—or, rather, their fathers can—but we need to give everyone a fair chance. That’s whywe’re raffling you instead.’ ‘If you’d kept it as an auction, you could’ve bid for me.’ He sighed. ‘I would have fundedyou to do it.’
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07 / 02 / 2010<span class="translation_missing">en_US, this_document_made_it_onto_the</span>Rising List!
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