Banner O'Brien by Linda Lael Miller Read Free Book Online

practice, for experience. The same way you probably visited hospitals when you were still a student.”
    Banner’s hands trembled a little as she handed the dime novel back to its very young author. “Why don’t you write a—a real book?”
    Melissa smiled and touched the cover of her work with a tender hand. “I will, when I know enough. Would you read this for me, Banner, and tell me what you think? What you honestly think?”
    Banner had been meaning to buy a copy at the first opportunity, but she took the volume Melissa offered eagerly. “I’d love to read it,” she said in all sincerity.
    “Good,” replied Melissa in a delighted whisper. “But be sure you don’t tell. Adam stopped spanking me years ago, but if he found out about this, he’d probably take it up again!”
    Banner laughed all the way down the stairs, but Melissa’s novel was tucked safely into her cloak pocket, and she would have died before betraying the secret.
    She and Adam shared a rather stiff luncheon, alone in the big, brick-floored kitchen, and then left the house again.
    They were settled in the buggy, this time with a heavy bearskin lap rug to cover their legs, before Adam spoke of what was on his mind.
    “Will you join my practice, Banner?”
    She smiled at his use of her first name, welcoming it. “Yes,” she said. “But I’d best go on living in Dr. Henderson’s house—just until I find a place of my own.”
    For a moment Adam looked as though he might protest this last, but in the end, he didn’t. “Thank you,” he said. “Did the skates fit?”
    Banner smiled. “Yes.”
    He frowned, keeping his eyes carefully on the road, which the horse seemed to know well enough for both of them. “You’re coming to the party, then?”
    The prospect of a Christmas spent alone paled beside one passed with such fun-loving sorts as Melissa and the charming and handsome Jeff. “Of course,” she answered. “Don’t you want me to?”
    A muscle flexed in his angular jaw, then relaxed again. “O’Brien, as long as you take care of my patients, I don’t care what you do with your free time.”
    Banner sank back against the cold leather seat, feeling as though she’d been slapped. “I see.”
    “Good.”
    “Are you going skating, Dr. C—Adam?”
    He flung one unpleasant, wondering look in her direction. “I never do stupid things, O’Brien. My brother—no doubt, both of my brothers—will look after you, so don’t give me another thought.”
    Banner again felt the need to strike this man, tostrike him and strike him until he stopped hiding behind that wall of hostility.
    Instead, she watched the tugs and cutters and clipper ships interweaving on the stormy water.
    She wondered about the accident that had claimed Adam’s father’s life and the affect it had had on the one who had survived. She suspected that there was more to the incident than anyone had guessed—much more. For as brief a time as she had been acquainted with Dr. Adam Corbin, she knew that such a thing, however terrible, could not do such lasting damage to him on its own.
    He disappeared, Melissa had said, especially around holidays. And he was always in a nasty temper when he rejoined his family.
    Banner sat bolt upright as a most disturbing possibility struck her. Suppose Adam had another family hidden away somewhere, perhaps an Indian woman and several children? Many men did this, she knew. Some of them were even married to a white woman in the bargain.
    A feeling of desolation swept over her, and she closed her eyes, only to see visions of Adam making love with a beautiful, coppery-skinned woman. She even heard the cries that had seemed so ugly coming from Sean—the hoarse, beautiful cries that Adam would utter when his joy became too great to bear.
    One tear trickled down Banner’s cold cheek to shimmer in the folds of her cloak.
    “What the hell is the matter now, O’Brien?”
    She opened her eyes, looked into Adam’s arrogant, insolent face, and