Healing Hearts (Easton Series #2) by Anna Murray Read Free Book Online Page B

like he’d walked fifty miles between dusk and dawn. Clouds
of melancholy floated in his coffee cup, and his despair brewed. Another man
would have disappeared into the darkness, but he reckoned he’d be rid of this
woman soon enough.
       Not
a word passed between them until Hannah settled the stack of pancakes on the
table. “More coffee?”
       “I’m
fine, thanks.”
       He
glanced up and swallowed. A purple bruise spread across her ivory cheekbone.
Her eyes were red and swollen, as if she’d been crying.
       “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “Now you understand why I needed a male
partner?” He thrust a hand through his dark hair. He wanted her to leave him to
his personal hell, as he had no right to claim the affection and companionship of
a woman. Not Hannah, not anyone. The last thing he needed was a female to
arouse his lust and rekindle dreams long since set aside. God hadn’t made a
woman strong enough to bond with a broken soldier. Yet here she was, pretty and
intelligent and useful, and she worked without complaint. Making matters worse,
he’d just received a letter from his mother, in which she described Mariah’s
recent marriage. Pain had slashed through him upon reading the news. Somewhere
back east, Mariah was lying in the arms of another man. Damnation.
       Hannah’s
mouth tightened into a hard line as she scurried to take her place in the chair
across from him.
        “Sir, you needn’t worry about my discretion. And, as a doctor I judge
none for the infirmities of war or nature.”
       “Of course, of course. You took an
oath.”
       “As did you, sir.”
       She slid butter across the cakes
she’d forked onto her plate. “And I’m not prone to pity, as I never wanted it
for myself.”
       He arched one dark eyebrow. “Why
would you invoke pity in anyone?”
       “Um, well, being a woman doctor
isn’t easy, for one thing.” She pushed a stray wisp of her soft, thick hair
behind an ear.
       “Have you gotten anything but
respect here?”
       She shrugged one shoulder and
dodged his question. “Have you ever had a sweetheart?”
       He was taken aback. “That’s no
concern of yours.”
       “If you had a special someone or
something, and then lost her, well, you’d understand me.” She bit off the end
of a sausage. “I think you loved someone once.” Her gray eyes misted and rolled
over his face like satin as she chewed.
       His neck felt hot. He didn’t know
what possessed him, but he reached across the table and touched her hand. “I’m
sorry. You lost your man in the war?”
       Her eyes fell down to her food.
She set down her knife and fork and wiped her eyes.
       “No.” She paused. “I lost my beau
to my younger sister. My parents said she was better suited for marriage. They
were right, of course, but --”
       “What?” Jed’s jaw dropped, and he
wondered, what kind of parents dismissed a sweet daughter’s dreams like so much
chaff blown into the wind?   He
clenched his hands and fumed.
        She stared over his shoulder.
“I still have the chance to share a dream. Don’t you see?   I can’t be a wife, but this life is about
doing good work. It’s about clobbering disease and suffering. We have our
flaws, but we save lives. We bring life. We give people dignity in death.”
       Jed was finding it difficult to
speak past the lump forming in his throat. “You can do this work elsewhere.”
       “True enough, and I expect I will
after Nelda Rose has her baby.” She frowned and pushed the edge of her fork
through the cakes. “I like the people here. Very much.” She stabbed her food.
“But my father wants me to go back home. He has a position for me there.”
       “Good. It will all work out.”
       “No, it won’t. I can’t go back. My
sister lives there . . . with him.”
       “Ah.” So she still had feelings for
her lost sweetheart. It shouldn’t matter, but somehow it didn’t sit well.