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by Betty Neels, بيتي نيلز

Just for once allow your heart to rule your prudent common sense...

Tempting advice - dared Eugenie take it? A country unbringing had taught her to be practical...not to cherish romantic dreams about tall, handsome strangers! But a chance encounter one misty day in spring changed all that. Eminent surgeon Aderik Rijnma ter Salis was a very special man - he made Eugenie's life seem brighter, full of exciting possibilities! But with the gorgeous Saphira at his side, could Aderik's feelings for Eugenie ever be more than strictly professional?

Genres: Romance, Harlequin, Fiction, Hqn, Harlequin Romance, Contemporary Romance

192 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Evelyn Jessy "Betty" Neels was born on September 15, 1910 in Devon to a family with firm roots in the civil service. She said she had a blissfully happy childhood and teenage years.(This stood her in good stead later for the tribulations to come with the Second World War). She was sent away to boarding school, and then went on to train as a nurse, gaining her SRN and SCM, that is, State Registered Nurse and State Certificate of Midwifery.

In 1939 she was called up to the Territorial Army Nursing Service, which later became the Queen Alexandra Reserves, and was sent to France with the Casualty Clearing Station. This comprised eight nursing sisters, including Betty, to 100 men! In other circumstances, she thought that might have been quite thrilling! When France was invaded in 1940, all the nursing sisters managed to escape in the charge of an army major, undertaking a lengthy and terrifying journey to Boulogne in an ambulance. They were incredibly fortunate to be put on the last hospital ship to be leaving the port of Boulogne. But Betty's war didn't end there, for she was posted to Scotland, and then on to Northern Ireland, where she met her Dutch husband. He was a seaman aboard a minesweeper, which was bombed. He survived and was sent to the south of Holland to guard the sluices. However, when they had to abandon their post, they were told to escape if they could, and along with a small number of other men, he marched into Belgium. They stole a ship and managed to get it across the Channel to Dover before being transferred to the Atlantic run on the convoys. Sadly he became ill, and that was when he was transferred to hospital in Northern Ireland, where he met Betty. They eventually married, and were blessed with a daughter. They were posted to London, but were bombed out. As with most of the population, they made the best of things.

When the war finally ended, she and her husband were repatriated to Holland. As his family had believed he had died when his ship went down, this was a very emotional homecoming. The small family lived in Holland for 13 years, and Betty resumed her nursing career there. When they decided to return to England, Betty continued her nursing and when she eventually retired she had reached the position of night superintendent.

Betty Neels began writing almost by accident. She had retired from nursing, but her inquiring mind had no intention of vegetating, and her new career was born when she heard a lady in her local library bemoaning the lack of good romance novels. There was little in Betty's background to suggest that she might eventually become a much-loved novelist.

Her first book, Sister Peters in Amsterdam, was published in 1969, and by dint of often writing four books a year, she eventually completed 134 books. She was always quite firm upon the point that the Dutch doctors who frequently appeared in her stories were *not* based upon her husband, but rather upon an amalgam of several of the doctors she met while nursing in Holland.

To her millions of fans around the world, Betty Neels epitomized romance. She was always amazed and touched that her books were so widely appreciated. She never sought plaudits and remained a very private person, but it made her very happy to know that she brought such pleasure to so many readers, while herself gaining a quiet joy from spinning her stories. It is perhaps a reflection of her upbringing in an earlier time that the men and women who peopled her stories have a kindliness and good manners, coupled to honesty and integrity, that is not always present in our modern world. Her myriad of fans found a warmth and a reassurance of a better world in her stories, along with characters who touched the heart, which is all and more than one could ask of a romance writer. She received a great deal of fan mail, and there was always a comment upon the fascinating places she visited in her stories. Quite often those of her fans fortunate enough to visit Ho

Reviews

[Grrrrace · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I had any doubts about Betty’s abilities in her later years, A Secret Infatuation has set them to rest. Written in 1994 (when Betty was 84!), ASI rocketed up my Betty charts to become an instant favorite. The MCs are terrifically matched. Heroine Eugenie is one of the feistiest and most confident heroines BN ever wrote. She pretty much goes toe to toe with our hero when he’s at his most “silky” and arrogant. And our heroine is a honeypot—a brunette KNOCKOUT who is fully aware of her own looks and appeal but still manages to be down-to-earth, unselfconscious, and really likable.

Hero Aderik Rijnma ter Salis is no slouch either—he’s huge, good looking, and very exciting for a BN hero: a cutting-edge heart surgeon who also works as a kind of Doctor without Borders, flying into war-torn areas to operate in the midst of battle. Pretty hot stuff, our Aderik! Mr Rijnma ter Salis has the usual Neelsian hero’s liking for his own way and the wherewithal to manipulate events, space, and time until he achieves it. Full spoilage ahead.

The beautiful Eugenie is on leave from her nursing career in the wilds of Dartmoor, helping to take care of her father, who is recovering from a heart attack. Eugenie rescues hero Aderik when a mist comes down over the moors and he wisely pulls over. She takes him home to her delightful, scene-stealing mother and rector father, and he spends the night, appreciative to have been rescued by an “angel from heaven” (which he, to the heroine’s annoyance, modifies to “a sensible angel” after spending some time with her).

Eugenie, for all her glorious looks, IS sensible though, although she is entirely convinced that she has met the man she is meant to marry. She’s not the first BN heroine to have this lightning strike of recognition and love-at-first-sight, and this is a real and profound happening that should not be questioned. Fate sits up and takes notice.

The hero leaves the next day, but Eugenie’s mother reassures her that if it’s meant to be, it will happen. Eugenie briskly tells herself it’s better to have loved and lost. In the meantime, she has the weedy, detestable substitute Reverend Mr. Watts to deter from his unwanted pursuit and, as her father recovers, a job to find. She returns to her London hospital for a temporary post. The future looks blindingly bright when she walks into surgery and sees our RDD, a hotshot visiting consultant. Eugenie’s beautiful face glowed with delight…” I knew we would—meet again, you know. Didn’t you?” He had shown no surprise at the sight of her, and now he said, “Yes, I knew.”

She is his surgery nurse, and he’s cool and professional. He’s also a typically managing Neels hero, arranging to drive her home on her free days without asking her. She forthrightly questions him on the drive home, because she wants very much to know if he’s married (no) or engaged (yes). She’s unhappy that he’s taken, and resolves, not for the last time, to forget him.

Eugenie is an excellent nurse, and Aderik soon offers her a temporary position as his surgery nurse in Holland. Eugenie decides to go: “It was a gift from heaven, a good omen, although she wasn’t sure what good it would do her… but it would stop her daydreaming….”

She prepares for her move to Holland (mostly by shopping). Aderik waits for her at the hospital one night, and they’re both cranky, and instead of taking her out to dinner to go over her travel arrangements, he says he’ll just leave her written instructions. Before she can protest, he runs away--just the first of several advance/retreat moves in Aderik’s reluctant pursuit of Eugenie (he literally can’t help himself, I truly believe).

He meets her at the airport in Holland—but he brings his fiancée. It’s insta-dislike between blond, skinny Saphira and our glorious Eugenie. Eugenie doesn’t even merit a meal after her trip—Aderik just brings her to the hospital/Nurses Home. She settles into her new responsibilities quickly. There are a lot of surgery scenes, and I have always loved BN’s hospital snippets and it makes the book—and the MCs’ relationship—just that much richer.

On her second day, Eugenie sets out to explore Groningen, and Aderik waylays her and marches her off to have tea. She protests weakly but is glad—until he says that Saphira suggested it. Eugenie almost chokes on her cake but decides that Saphira is pretty clever in simultaneously reinforcing her claim, getting a dig in, and making herself look good by being “nice.”

She coolly brings teatime to an end, thanking him nicely (The Rules, No. 11: Always End the Date First). She fibs about her plans for the evening and takes off to see a little of Groningen. A kindly stranger walks her back through the likely sketchy neighborhood to the hospital. Aderik drives by and corrals her the next day and nastily expresses surprise that she would “find an escort” so quickly and allow herself “to be picked up so easily.”

Eugenie chokes with rage—she’s no easy pickup! He backpedals badly, but calls her a beautiful woman—but then claims he’s just looking out for her because she’s so country-innocent. Eugenie blasts him: ”What utter rubbish,” she said tartly. "I’m twenty-five years old and even if I’m a rustic born and bred I’ve lived for years in London’s East End. I can take care of myself.”

He infuriates her even more by saying that Saphira felt that he should warn her—and Eugenie’s return volley not only incinerates him, it manages to sear the absent Saphira as well, and it’s great, and I won’t spoil it for you. He waylays her again after she goes off duty, and she’s sure she’s fired, but instead he ABJECTLY APOLOGIZES. Eugenie offers to mutually forgive and forget. He takes her out for coffee (second outing within the first 3 days).

Eugenie is no fan of Saphira the Subtly Spiteful. So when she sees her in a teashop, she gets a nice little dig in by responding to Saphira’s wave with a slightly puzzled smile, as if she’s not quite sure who Saphira is. Haha! And it works too—Saphira complains about it to Aderik and makes some hilariously bitchy comments about Eugenie, especially when she learns “that girl” will be accompanying Aderik to Madeira for a surgery. Aderik gets icy about it and Saphira hangs up on him, and he goes off into an erotic (for Betty) reverie about Eugenie for a few moments.

We’re off to Madeira, where our hotshot RDD will operate on the Dutch consul. Aderik springs this news on Eugenie with a day’s notice. “I have always fancied a visit to Madeira,” thinks our intrepid heroine wryly, “even at a moment’s notice.”

Madeira is a lot of hard work and night shifts. Eugenie’s magic begins to work on all of the eligible men in the area, and she accepts a couple of invitations. Aderik also makes plans, high-handedly telling her that he’ll take her around the island. She agrees but is silently indignant about “people who took things for granted without bothering to discover other people’s wishes,” but she’s also secretly delighted. They have the BEST DAY EVER—and Aderik kisses her “unhurriedly” and tells her she’s beautiful. Tsk, Aderik! Eugenie’s been kissed before but never like that!

But Aderik is back to coolly friendly the next day and after their return to Holland. Eugenie thinks his behavior was just moonlight madness and resolves again to not dwell on him. She heads out to explore on her day off, but our RDD is apparently stalking her and pulls up in his Bentley and carries her off for coffee at his home.

Ah, but unexpectedly, Saphira is at the RDD’s fabulous Dutch home, rising like a Dementor from a wingback chair to suck the joy out of them both. She and Eugenie halfheartedly spar, and Eugenie soon leaves to catch a bus to Heiligerlee (so fun to say aloud!). Before she goes, Aderik brings her into the kitchen to meet Butch the dog and the FFRs. It’s certain that snooty Saphira has never been to the kitchen.

When Eugenie returns to the nurses’ home, our RDD pops up beside her like a large, handsome Dutch-Viking jack-in-the-box and wants to take her home for dinner. He and Eugenie have a lovely dinner, discovering that they like the same things (i.e., are perfect for each other). But a day or so later, our RDD is in full retreat once again, remote and cold-eyed. He tells her abruptly that they’ll be leaving for Bosnia the next morning.

In Bosnia: Battle dress, and Aderik looks younger and hot, and he catches her staring and stares back, smiling. They work together in the field hospital side by side. He tells her to call him Aderik (but Betty keeps typing Mr Rijnma ter Salis at least half the time). He calls her “my love” in a ruined garden. Whew! Eugenie is more confused than ever.

They return to Holland, and Eugenie does her best to settle back into routine. Saphira, meantime, is fed up and tells Aderik that she wonders if marrying him is really what she wants, because he is NOT FUN. Unfun Aderik sees her off without replying and goes to find Eugenie, popping up beside her at the museum where she is contemplating Dutch masters. He asks her to join him and Butch-the-dog for a country romp. She says she’s happy where she is. ”Don’t talk rubbish.” He swept her to her feet and marched her along to the entrance….” (Whew, those alpha RDDs…In battle dress or sober suits or even open necked sweaters. Swoon.) She brings up “his Saphira”—as she does EVERY TIME because she is trying hard not to be a poacher and also because WTH Aderik? He asks Eugenie to please trust him.

After a lovely day, he brings her home for tea again, disregarding her protests. Saphira is there again unexpectedly, and she lays into Aderik in Dutch, and Eugenie decides it’s a good time to leave.

Her replacement is due to start work in a few days, so she fills her time working and sightseeing.
She runs into Saphira (who apparently is stalking her too), who invites her to get a cup of tea. Saphira tells her that she and Aderik have set their wedding date—and that he used Eugenie to make her jealous and force the issue. Eugenie resists the urge to smack her, expresses doubt that Aderik would be less than honest, and sweetly says she has to get going, shaking Saphira’s hand with a Crushing Grip of Dislike.

Aderik finally mentions to Eugenie that her job is done and asks if she wants to stay a few days longer. Eugenie lays into him about “using” her and says she never wants to see him again. Too bad she has a couple of days of his cold politeness to deal with after that. And he doesn’t even say goodbye.

Eugenie goes home to England and spends her days not mentioning Mr. RtS. An opportunity pops up through a family friend—working for a private consultant in Torquay. Unbeknownst to her, the new job has been set up by Aderik, who has no intention of losing track of Eugenie.

She doesn’t love tacky Torquay or the job but she gets on with things, in that “stiff upper lip” BN-heroine fashion. There’s a letter from Holland, but it is NOT from Aderik, and she’s sad. “She’s in love,” thinks Mother Spencer, “and it’ll be Aderik. So why isn’t he in love with her?” NOTHING and NO ONE is too good for her daughter!

Aderik shows up in Torquay soon after and is exempted from her landlady’s “no followers!” rule and admitted to Eugenie’s room. She gets mad at him for various reasons and kicks him out. He goes but warns her “I am not the Reverend Mr. Watts to be rolled up and dismissed with ladylike venom.” Hee.

She goes out for fish and chips, and our marauding Viking of an RDD is lying in wait. He marches her off to dinner at a nearby café but she’s sad when he leaves, thinking it’s just a casual visit. “There’s to be no more of this nonsense” she tells herself, indulging in a good cry in the bath.

Eugenie begins looking for job opportunities in far-flung places, and Aderik returns home to get Saphira to break their engagement by reiterating what a workaholic he is, and how her life as a doctor’s wife and mother to a “healthy brood” is going to be very UNFUN. Before long, she is shouting at him that he is selfish (fair enough) and always wants his own way (also true). She’s got Piet van Twist, who is rich and FUN, waiting in the wings, and before long, Saphira finally admits they not suited and breaks off their UNFUN engagement. Mission accomplished! He begs her to keep the solitaire-diamond-of-not-true-love and heads back to England.

Meanwhile, Eugenie is back home, fending off the spindly Reverend Mr. Watts, while Aderik carefully lays his plans for his final and absolute waylay of Eugenie’s splendid person. “Let’s hope she doesn’t send you to the rightabout,” says Eugenie’s boss. “She won’t have the chance,” says our Viking.

“You!” said Eugenie, delight washing over her even while she was trying to think of something coldly scathing to say. He shovels her gently into the Bentley to drive her home, and tells her that he and Saphira are no longer engaged. He was originally “perhaps a little in love with her but that is quite different from loving, you know.”

He stays for lunch with her parents but leaves afterward (telling her mom he’ll be back), and Eugenie has a weepy night, because he’s said nothing about seeing her again. So she isn’t at her absolute best when she discovers him sitting on a bucket, waiting for her, at dawn. He marches her off onto the moor, where they first met, and tells her that dreams do come true, and that he wants to marry her and love and cherish her for the rest of their days. Awwwww. Ruthless Viking kisses and HEA--so satisfying!

So! There’s really no reason for my recap (given the excellent reviews by the Betties at Uncrushable Jersey Dress and my fellow GRers). But I loved (<3) this one and wanted to spend more time with it and re-read all the good bits (and there are many). ASI is a definite keeper for me.

So far, this is my favorite “hero engaged to another woman” story that Betty wrote. I know that some readers have a problem with that scenario—it kind of makes our heroine the OW. But BN’s heroines, however much they are hoping that Fate and proximity will work their magic, are the most reluctant and innocuous OW ever—they’re never the ones in active pursuit. The RDDs are mostly to blame—but even they always manage to maintain integrity (despite a few stolen kisses) by engineering events so that it’s the fiancée who breaks things off. And a good thing that they do, too—BN’s hard-partying OW would never be happy married to these bossy, workaholic, baby-making RDDs/RBDs. So I don’t really ever feel sorry for them because they haven’t lost much other than a deep pocket, which they always replace. Also, they’re pretty awful people.

And it’s not like our heroes and heroines have a choice. Fate has the bit between her teeth and will not be deterred! And nor will our BN heroes, whatever attempts the heroines make to get away and get on with things without them. And thank goodness for that.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wavering between three and four stars on this one. I did enjoy it, though there are more nursing details than I like (but they're easy to skip!). I like Eugenie a lot and there are a lot of adventures in this because Eugenie is the RDD's own nurse so she travels with him to Madeira and Bosnia (a war zone at the time!). Eugenie is very plucky! There is more of a love triangle in this with the OW. It wasn't too bad, but certainly still a bit annoying at times. I'll be interested to re-read this to cement my opinion.

[Cheesecake · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well pretty middle of the road for BN.
I loved the h, Eugenie who was pretty confident and comfortable with herself. She's actually quite pretty (unlike a lot of heroines by this author) and used to men asking her out all the time. But she's not swell-headed from it. She's very practical and follows her own drum,
But from the moment serendipity introduces her to Aderik she is in love. But being a practical girl, she knows nothing will come of it once she finds out he is engaged.
And this is the crux of the story.
They meet and it's Kismet, but he's already engaged to a grasping tw*t who lured him in.
How to get rid of Saphire, the selfish, lazy, good for nothing waste of space?
No idea about Dutch mores but in England there's the whole honourable commitment crap which he seems to subscribe to. She lied to lure him in and he asked her to marry him. So now he feels trapped because he knows it's not love and he knows he loves Eugenie. But, Saphira doesn't want to let her plump fish off the hook.

Honest to God. This was annoying.

He's straddling the fence trying to be 'true' and 'honourable' to both women but manipulating things so that Saphire (the horrible conceited c*nt) will dump him.
In modern times, he would just tell her he doesn't love her and ask her to take a long hike off a short pier.
But dammit, this is supposedly 1995 but really it's 1965... the author just never got with the times.
So he to manipulates the manipulator to break up with him and then he can go after Eugenie.
In the mean time, he's been dangling Eugenie on a string and is in no way sorry for it.
In the mean time, Eugenie is getting more and more pissed off with his mind games.

So by the end, I was heartily tired of Aderik's fence sitting to save face. He makes Eugenie feel small because he seems to be playing with her feelings.
In the end Saphire leaves him and feels just wonderful because she finds another fool.
Meanwhile Eugenie feels like SH*T.

And not long after that, the story gets wrapped up ...with no grovel from Aderik.
Eugenie who is a pretty even keel kinda girl, manages to overcome her hurt and just say yes with alacrity to his proposal.

I gotta say I was pretty pissed that Aderik gets his cake and eats it too after cowardly straddling the fence for the whole book!

But it's old school...

Safety is muddled as usual for this author... and not necessarily a bad thing.
virgins? No idea. Did the good old doctor schtuup the horrible gold digger? I'm thinking probably because Saphire's in her early 30's and he's probably later 30s or even early 40s. But nothing is ever said. I like to think that they were getting it on, but the good doctor found reasons to not go there after he met Eugenie.
The good doctor kisses Eugenie about 2/3 in and doesn't explain shit about why. Eugenie knowing he has a fiancée, assumes he was thinking of his fiancée at the time. Grrrr!!!!!

[Caro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me encantan las historias de Betty Neels, en este caso la heroína no es tan poco agraciada como normalmente son sus protagonistas femeninas. Eugenie es una enfermera que se enamora de Aderik Rinjma ter Salis la primera vez que lo vé, y su amor es muy maduro aunque tiene un par de estallidos de carácter que me encantaron.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very passionate. There was a lot of tension between the hero and the heroine and you could practically feel it coming off the pages. She loved him immediately, but we are not sure of his feelings yet. He is entangled with a fiancee and so our poor heroine must try and forget him. But he offers her a job because she is good at what she does. Then he stops acting like he has a fiancee - the kiss! Poor Eugenie is confused, but so in love she can't resist. To be fair, he doesn't give her much of a chance to. I guess he was a bit of a cad...Naturally, in true Betty Neels style, it all works out happily for everyone in the end.

[Anuradha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing new to write about, its exactly in the Betty Neels template.

Dutch doctor, English miss, works for him in London first. Then he whisks her off to work in Holland. And finally drops all pretence of a work relationship and professes undying love !!

Exactly same, except for one dampener - the OW who is his fiance almost throughout the book. So any lovely moments between the lead pair are always shadowed by the "morally questionable" angle.

Our girl Eugenie (I quite liked her, and her name too !) is the conscientious one. She avoids unnecessary closeness with the fellow. Points out rather waspishly once or twice that he forgetting his fiance !

And the hero Aderik, dont ask me to spell in surname please !! It was tiresome reading that marathon like surname in every page !!

He quite meticulously plots against his own engagement. Does all the things his hoity toity fiance wouldn't like. Works hard, avoids socializing, skips lunch and dinner parties, you know the Betty Neels drill ... And in the end he is rewarded with the OW breaking off the engagement herself !! Phew, what hardwork, breaking an engagement ;)))

And then he goes looking for our English miss. And floors her within moments with a charming HEA speech. What's more, she is crazy about him from the moment she set eyes on him on Page 1. The readers know this, but he doesn't. So she tells him. He is pleased, and goes about kissing her in the right ernest.

Good old stuff, always tastes good. Much like comfort food !

[Leona · Rating 3 out of 5]

hmmmmm....now this was a bit different.

Oh, we have the requisite RDD. We have the English nurse who falls instantly in love with the hero. We have the temporary work assignment in Holland and finally, we have the mean and vicious OW. However, this time she happens to be his betrothed so in my books the real OW was our heroine.

I just couldn't get past the fact that he was engaged to another woman and was stepping out with the heroine. I also couldn't work past the fact that she accepted the assignment in Holland for the sole purpose of luring him away from his fiancee. After all, she was pretty and had her fair share of proposals "decent and indecent". Why not take a shot at the good doctor. How could she possibly fail?

If there were a moral barometer, both would fail miserably. Consequently, I found it hard to really stay invested into their story. I don't care how many patients they saved or how many war torn countries they entered, I just didn't see either one worthy of a HEA. I predict a not to happy future when the next pretty nurse lures him away.

I give this about 2.5 stars, but am rounding to 3 because after all, this is Betty.

[Fiona Marsden · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pretty standard Betty Neels but enjoyable all the same. Eugenia is a beautiful strapping nurse and Aderik is a Professor of Surgery. Dutch of course. They meet when he is lost in the mist on Dartmoor near her parents home. She falls for him immediately, thus we have a secret infatuation.

Next time they meet he is a guest heart surgeon at her hospital and she is temporary theatre sister. He gives her a lift home on her days off and she finds out he is engaged. It's a blow for sure.

But she still takes a job he offers requiring her to go to Holland and also travel with him to Madeira and War Torn Bosnia. Yes this is written in the 90's.

It's pretty obvious he's a gonner. He even admits it but of course it can't be as simple as that when he has a selfish fiancée and is enigmatic 97% of the time. A good quick read.

[Barb in Maryland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well done Neels. Our beautiful British Nurse Eugenie, falls hard for our Rich Dutch Doctor Aderik Rijnma ter Salis--but Oh Noes! he's engaged. But just how serious is he about his engagement?--he keeps inventing jobs so that Eugenie can work with him. Eugenie knows she could 'stir him up', but she's too nice to chase him--but she doesn't turn down the jobs either!
Lots of travel in this one--Madeira, Bosnia(!), Holland (of course).
A Delightful way to spend a hour or so.

[Bookworman · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

[Pamela Shropshire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eugenie Spencer has lived all her life in Dartmoor and knows the moors intimately, even through a thick mist. Out during a particularly thick one on an errand of mercy, this rector's daughter rescues a tall, handsome man in a Bentley who has lost his way. He is Aderik Rijnma ter Salis, our RDD. Eugenie loses her heart immediately and when he offers her a temporary job as his theatre nurse, she jumps at the position.

She arrives in Holland and Mr. Rijnma ter Salis meets her at the airport - a delightful surprise. Not so delightfully, his fiancée, Saphira, is waiting in the car. She is condescending and Eugenie dislikes her. So at the end of her first day when Mr. RtS takes her for tea and says it was Saphira's idea, Eugenie feels patronised and takes it as a challenge.

Eugenie goes off on her own to explore and have supper. A concerned gentleman escorts her back to the hospital and Mr. RtS accuses her of picking up a man. She loses her temper, says some nasty things about Saphira, then seeing the rage in his face, says, "Hadn't you better go before you hit me?" She expects to get the sack.

But later they go for a walk and mutually apologize, then eat Uitsmijters and coffee. The next day, Mr. RtS tells Eugenie they will be flying to Madeira to operate on the Dutch consul.

And Eugenie isn't the only one being rude. When Mr. RtS tells Saphira he and Eugenie are going to Madeira, Saphira says, "All that hair. . . She's going to be far in another year or two." He tells her she is being childish and she slams down the phone. (Note: cell phones have no such satisfying feature.)

Mr. RtS then muses upon Eugenie's curvy figure and wonders just how long her hair is. NOT the reaction Saphira would have been hoping for!

They have a little time for sightseeing in Madeira and at the end of their day, Aderik kisses her, lingeringly.

No sooner than they return to Groningen but they are off to Bosnia to operate on children with shrapnel near the heart. While getting a breath of fresh air after the surgeries, Aderik says, "Thank you, Eugenie, my love." Earlier when Eugenie remarked about the nightmare situation of the war and injuries, he said, "A nightmare could never be a nightmare if you are in it, Eugenie."

Meanwhile, Saphira is getting fed up with Aderik constantly being unavailable due to his work and questions whether she wants to marry him (this is what he has been waiting for!). Being a Veronica, however, she must make mischief, so she tells Eugenie she and Aderik have set the date for their marriage and other nasty nonsense.

Eugenie being Eugenie, she takes Aderik to task, but he coldly replies he doesn't know what she is talking about.

Eugenie returns to England and almost immediately finds out about a job in Torquay. She doesn't know Aderik has arranged it with his old friend, Mr. (Dr.) Sawyer. He comes to see her and she figures out that he got her the job. She tells him she doesn't want to go out with him - or ever see him again. But she does eat supper with him after which she has a good cry because she won't ever see him again.

Aderik and Saphira continue to quarrel about his work. He intends to marry Eugenie, but "knew that Saphira. . . would never marry him. . ." and he is content to let things play out. He goes on a couple of trips and then Saphira comes to see him and calls off the engagement. Aderik is satisfied that the pieces are falling into place.

As soon as he can, Aderik drives to Torquay, surprises Eugenie and drives her home, telling her that he and Saphira are no longer engaged and getting Eugenie to admit she didn't really mean it when she said she never wanted to see him again.

Next morning he meets her when she is taking her early-morning walk. Lovely Declaration and Proposal!

I always remember this as the "Bosnia book." There's no Big Misunderstanding, and the presence of Saphira adds just enough angst. Solid comfort read.

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars ~ Taking a leave of absence from a London hospital, Eugenie helps her mother care for her father following his heart attack. He's almost fit again, and Eugenie is nearly ready to return to London, unfortunately, the hospital has only a few weeks work for her as her position as a ward nurse has been filled. When a very dense fog sets in around their village, she rescues a stranded motorist and guides him back to her family home. The next day when Aderik continues on his way, Eugenie confesses to her mother that she "should like to marry him". Back in London to complete the final weeks of her contract, her experience in surgery brings her off the wards and onto the surgical schedule where she's pleasantly surprised to meet Aderik. He is a highly sought after cardiac surgeon who travels where ever the patients most in need of his speciality are. Discovering Eugenie is a very skilled surgical nurse, Aderik offers her a temporary position in Holland while his personal nurse completes her maternity leave. She jumps at the offer. When they arrive in Holland, she's sad to learn that Aderik is engaged but she is content to spend as much time with him while she can. Saphira is a beautiful rather self centered woman and Eugenie takes an instant dislike to her which she learns is mutual. Aderik is drawn to Eugenie and finds himself as tour guide around the countryside on her days off. But Saphira soon takes away Eugenie's happiness when she confides that Aderik only spent time with her to make Saphira jealous.

I love how Ms. Neels romances seem to have their own gentle way of unfolding. There is a bit of drama in this one when Aderik and Eugenie have to travel to war torn Bosnia, but for the most part the story has a leisurely pace. Eugenie impresses Aderik with how calm she is under pressure and he comments on how much in common they have. The more time they spend together the more he realizes that he doesn't really love Saphira. He has a few uncomfortable moments when Eugenie seems to want nothing further to do with him. Another very enjoyable love story.

[Aarathi Burki · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is same as any other Betty Neels novel. I guess I need to stop reading them as there is no difference in her books. The only different aspect here was the heroine was beautiful and tall and well built unlike other BN novels where heroine is not worthy of another glance.

Eugenia a nurse( nothing surprising in it) it's on a leave as her father suffered a heart attack. She meets America's, an eminent Dutch surgeon ( no surprise) who has lost his way and spends the night in eugenia's house. For Eugenia it's love at first sight but with no duties as he is a complete stranger.
Eugenia is back in London serving her notice period when she meets Aderik and he offers her a temporary job in Holland which Eugenia result accepts.

Aderik is already engaged to Saphira( rich party loving,selfish girl again very common in Betty land)
Aderik realizes he loves Eugenia but is committed to saphira.
Meanwhile h and H start working on the usual surgeries saving orople,H taking h on weekends to see holland
Eugenia becomes more and more jealous of Saphira and returns to England as her job comes to an end.
H arranged a job for hey and keeps meeting her. He finally comes out of his engagement and proposed to Eugenia and confesses his love.

I found the scenes, sorry quite repetitive and ordinary just like other Betty novels

[Helen Manning · Rating 5 out of 5]

TGB excels with this one. Eugene is one of her big, beautiful PBN. She meets Alderik most romantically in a Dartmoor fog and falls totally and captivatingly in love with him. As chance would have it he is engaged to the ghastly Saphira; one of TGB's more obnoxious Veronicas. Eugene works with Alderik first at her London hospital and then upon his request in Holland and goes off with him to such far-flung vistas as Madiera and Bosnia. Eugene is confused by his on-off interest and tries valiantly to forget him as he is engaged and she is a kind girl who would never intentionally hurt anyone. Loved Eugenie and Alderik.

[Mirella Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome!! The girl, Eugenie, has fallen in love the first time she met Aderik... and the same thing happened to Aderik. However, since Aderik was engaged with the sophisticated Saphira, he couldn't just broke their engagement.

Instead he asked Eugenie to be his theater sister. They even when to Serbia or Bosnia for operating 2 kids in the middle of war!

[MaryD · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really, really annoying h! Either I've read this before or BN has written several books with this similar plot. Eugenie (I hate that name!) has "fallen in love" with Mr. Rijnma ter Salis, a visiting surgeon from the Netherlands upon first sight. She is determined to marry him, even when she learns he is engaged.

There is the usual back & forth, hot & cold, temper tantrums.

[Hannah Victoria Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

A typical Neels novel. A very sweet and clean romance

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

An unusually modern plot. I'm kind of fond of this one -- especially the Reverend Watts. Its extremely soothing and the handsome Dutch doctor wears elegant waistcoats.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the better Betty Neels books. Snappy dialogue, and a mercy visit to help casualties in Bosnia make this a standout.

[Carmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book fit for a pleasnat pastime. Typical romance.

[Megzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very nice.

[Barty · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.4 stars. featuring one of Betty's tall beautiful fmcs and an RDD, this book was full of adventure with the doc and our nurse heroine travelling the world together in his doctors without borders type job as a sometimes field surgeon. really it was his excuse to keep her near him...

our h and H meet out on Dartmoor where she lives with her parents. she takes him home after he gets stuck in a bad mist. she falls for him during that first fleeting meeting but thinks she will never see him again.

when they met, she was on a leave of absence from her job as a hospital nurse to help care for her dad after he had a heart attack. when she returns to her hospital, she meets H there again and is his theatre nurse during his surgeries. but she was away too long and the hospital is letting her go. so he asks her to come work for him in Holland. the problem is that but this point she knows he is engaged to another woman, but she needs a job so she goes, and she meets his hoity toity snooty fiancee immediately when she arrives.

in Holland the doc is cool and distant. SPOILERS AHEAD. but as they fly from here to there with her at his side, he is always making excuses to spend time with her and getting jealous when he sees other men wanting to spend time with her. we get some of his pov and we see that's he's in love with her but he feels tied to the promise he made to his fiancee. so he comes up with a plan to make his fiancee dump him. our h doesn't know any of this and she is busy trying to put distance between them...

so anyway, this one had medium low angst, but was a fairly good read. I liked our h snd H, and liked how the h was so brisk and tried to be sensible about being in a situation where she was in love with an engaged man. and I enjoyed seeing him being frustrated and getting mad when she, nice beauty that she is, kept drawing the eyes of other men. aha. the H was a v masterful take charge type, quite domineering at times, and very certain of what he wanted, and that was very appealing too.

[Barty · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.4 stars. featuring one of Betty's tall beautiful fmcs and an RDD, this book was full of adventure with the doc and our nurse heroine travelling the world together in his doctors without borders type job as a sometimes field surgeon. really it was his excuse to keep her near him...

our h and H meet out on Dartmoor where she lives with her parents. she takes him home after he gets stuck in a bad mist. she falls for him during that first fleeting meeting but thinks she will never see him again.

when they met, she was on a leave of absence from her job as a hospital nurse to help care for her dad after he had a heart attack. when she returns to her hospital, she meets H there again and is his theatre nurse during his surgeries. but she was away too long and the hospital is letting her go. so he asks her to come work for him in Holland. the problem is that but this point she knows he is engaged to another woman, but she needs a job so she goes, and she meets his hoity toity snooty fiancee immediately when she arrives.

in Holland the doc is cool and distant. SPOILERS AHEAD. but as they fly from here to there with her at his side, he is always making excuses to spend time with her and getting jealous when he sees other men wanting to spend time with her. we get some of his pov and we see that's he's in love with her but he feels tied to the promise he made to his fiancee. so he comes up with a plan to make his fiancee dump him. our h doesn't know any of this and she is busy trying to put distance between them...

so anyway, this one had medium low angst, but was a fairly good read. I liked our h snd H, and liked how the h was so brisk and tried to be sensible about being in a situation where she was in love with an engaged man. and I enjoyed seeing him being frustrated and getting mad when she, nice beauty that she is, kept drawing the eyes of other men. aha. the H was a v masterful take charge type, quite domineering at times, and very certain of what he wanted, and that was very appealing too

[Carrie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This time, a handsome Dutch doctor and a beautiful English nurse fall in love with each other. However, the doctor is engaged to another woman, but he takes his sweet time in breaking up with her. In the meantime, he seems to find plenty of opportunities to spend time with the nurse, even though he's still engaged. If you think about it, he's kind of being unfaithful to his fiancée. He seems to not want to be the one to initiate the break up, even though he realizes that the relationship isn't going to work. And the nurse...well, she can't seem to stay away from the doctor, even though she knows that he's taken. She seems to keep torturing herself by fishing for information about the doctor's relationship with his fiancée, and the doctor isn't gentle in his responses to her when this happens.

There are quite a few Betty Neels' novels in which the hero already has a girlfriend or fiancée before he meets the heroine, but usually by the midpoint of the story, he will have made a decisive move in ending that relationship before moving onto the heroine (at least, this is my impression from the other Betty Neels' novels that I've read to date). In "A Secret Infatuation," the doctor remains in the engagement practically right up to the last chapter, despite calling the heroine, "his love," and kissing her a few chapters earlier. It's just sort of strange to point out the unfaithfulness in a Betty Neels' book, and generally, I hate stories in which the heroine is the "other woman." It seems that because the fiancée is an unpleasant and unsympathetic character, and because she wasn't the right woman for the hero anyways, the protagonists' unfaithfulness is glossed over and minimized.

Just something to think about.

[Kitcatscratch · Rating 3 out of 5]

All of Neels' books are readable. However, this is one of my least favorite. I couldn't figure out why at first and then I realized it's because technically, the h is the OW. She meets the H and decides she's the better option over his fiancee. She doesn't ACTIVELY actively pursue him but she does occasionally do or say things so that he'd see her in a different light. The thing is, he didn't seem that unhappy with his fiancee. True, the h is a better fit but then I wonder, do you dump someone because you found someone better? If course, the rational is that he didn't actually love his fiancee though he admits he loved her a little, at least in the beginning.

HOWEVER, what I did love is that the H is a cardiac surgeon and is called to perform operations in war torn countries. At one point, they travel to Bosnia to operate on some children who were hit by shrapnel. The H and h have to wear protective gear while there and some land mines to go off while they are there despite a cease fire (which of course land mines still explode even during a cease fire). It was also juxtaposed with him flying to perform surgery on wealthy entitled clients as well. So that part I found vastly interesting and a slight departure from Neels' typical stories.

Hmm. I almost feel like it should be a 4 star read now just from that alone. Because romance aside, the story itself was rather engrossing.

[Bethany Swafford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Practical Eugenie has a chance encounter with an eminent surgeon and she knows from the start she would like to marry him. The problem is he is already engaged. However, Eugenie's work as sa nurse brings her into the Dutch man's path. She knows better than to hope, but will she be able to control her feelings? Is it possible the surgeon feels the same way she does?

I had to laugh while reading this one. In the first chapter, after just meeting the man, Eugenie declares she would like to marry him. From then on, she thinks about him constantly. Some of their conversations are amusing just because of how awkward yet straightforward she is with him.

This is definitely an old-fashioned story in tone and writing. I still enjoyed it, though. There is just something comforting about an old story, even with the moments that were a little bit beyond belief.

Fans of the author will enjoy this one.

[Neka · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always enjoy Betty Neels, even though her books are extremely formulaic.

But they're light and entertaining, and always a pleasant break from the stresses of reality.

This one was a little more opaque than usual - the male lead was engaged and wouldn't just tell her that he wanted to break the engagement. (Betty, in 1995, when this was published, guys didn't have to wait for their fiancees to break engagements.)

Anyway, the Dutch Doctor was weirdly old-fashioned, the leading lady was amusingly blatant about her romantic interest in him (though she thought she wasn't), the backup cast was nicely cheerful... all in all, a good book to read over lunch.

[Deane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eugenie took the chance to work with surgeon Aderik Fijnma ...she loves him but she knows that he is engaged to Saphira so she has to be happy working with him.

Since she is his 'right hand' nurse in the operating room, she keeps on working hard for him and herself.

Finally Saphira realizes that Aderik is more interested in his work than in her....he is not a social type which she is and he won't change so she breaks the engagement, leaving him free to love Eugenie as he wants to.

[Super*BETA*Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my top 5 Betty Neels books. I LOVED how feisty Eugenie was. She was never afraid to speak her mind. Like most BN heroines, she was very capable, but unlike most, she was also extremely beautiful. I'm not usually a fan of her stories with OW drama where the dashing Dutch doctor is engaged to another woman, but this one was an exception. Definitely one of my favorites to re-read.