Love in Bloom by Karen Rose Smith Read Free Book Online Page B

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    He looked over her shoulder and stared at the pattern of the wallpaper on the wall behind her.  "I took him along to Reisterstown last weekend and he behaved like a gentleman.  Of course, he got plenty of attention from my mother and Trish."
    "Trish is your sister?"
    Clay nodded.  The soreness of the cuts was nothing compared to the pain of another kind of need Paige stirred up by touching him.
    "Don't you usually take him along?"
    "No.  I only go for short visits."
    Paige unclasped his hand and rummaged in her bag.  "You stayed all weekend?"
    Clay grunted.  "No.  An afternoon and evening.  Trish announced her engagement, so we discussed wedding plans."
    "How nice!"
    "She thinks so.  I do too.  Michael's a nice guy.  But they've been living together for two years.  I didn't know if they'd want to make it permanent."
    "Have you ever been married?"
    The tension in his body made Clay say more sharply than he intended,  "No."  He shifted his feet under the table.  "Have you?"
    Paige sat against the carved back of the chair, tube of antibiotic cream in hand.  "No."  She applied the cream on each wound, watching carefully what she was doing.
    He'd had about all he could take.  "Soon finished?"
    She capped the tube and took bandages from her bag.  "Soon."
    She picked up his hand again to examine it, but this time his fingers curled around hers.  "You have a healing touch."
    He could feel the same increase in the pulse at her wrist as he could feel at his temples.  He stroked her pulse point with his index finger.
    Her eyes were as dark blue as a deep sea.  She pulled her hand away and in a husky voice said, "I have to apply the bandages."  She did, her professional mode taking over.  "Keep these on until you go to bed.  Then apply more cream.  Apply it three times a day.  If the cuts bother you tomorrow, bandage them again.  If you see any redness around them or swelling, come into the office immediately."
    Clay respected the doctor in her.  Although he knew he was playing with fire, he wanted the woman back instead.  "Are you ready for that canoe ride?"
    She put away the supplies and clicked the bag shut, looking indecisive.  Finally, she answered, "I'd like that.  But what about the games?"
    Clay flipped the tablet toward him and skimmed down the list.  "It looks good to me.  We can worry about logistics and supplies closer to the time."
    Canoeing on the lake an hour later, Paige thought about Clay's words "closer to the time."  She'd probably be leaving a few weeks after the celebration.  The thought created a melancholy she didn't understand.  She also didn't understand all the feelings that had surged through her when she was caring for Clay's hand.  She touched her patients automatically to give comfort...because she didn't know the language or because often she couldn't find the words.  But with Clay...
    He'd become much more than a patient.  That's why she'd hesitated about the canoe ride.  If she was going to be leaving in July, she shouldn't get involved.  Should she?
    Clay tapped her shoulder with the tip of his oar.  "You're supposed to be relaxing, not thinking."
    A few sprinkles of water dribbled down her arm.  "I am."
    "Don't fib to me, Dr. Conrad.  You haven't pushed with that paddle in at least five minutes."
    She swung her legs around until she sat facing him.  He looked at home here.  Big and strong, his muscles rippling under his green knit shirt as he rowed.  His jeans stretched across his thighs as he braced his feet in the bottom of the canoe.  The sun cast blue highlights in his black hair and a few strands of gray glimmered.
    If they'd been sitting the opposite way with him leading, she could have watched him.
    "You did that like a pro," he commented.
    "I've been in canoes before.  And on rubber rafts.  That's how we traveled around some of the settlements."
    He grinned.  "And you're afraid to take a balloon ride?"
    She smiled back.  "Something about