Love on Call by Shirley Hailstock Read Free Book Online Page A

hadn’t heard him. She was still lost in the fantasy her mind had created.
    Brad looked at her. His eyes were softer than shewas used to seeing them. He must be tired, she told herself. His guard was down. He would never look at her like that if he hadn’t had such a bad night. She reached up and smoothed her hand along his cheek. She smiled. He needed a shave.
    As she went to pull it away, he caught it and held it. Neither of them spoke. Mallory’s throat went dry. For a long moment they stared at each other while the silence screamed.
    â€œGet some sleep,” she said, breaking the tension. Then she turned and headed for the chair where she’d left her coat.
    â€œYour turn,” Brad said.
    â€œMy turn for what?”
    â€œTell me your life story.” He stood across the room where she’d left him.
    â€œThat’s a tale for another night.” If she was lucky there wouldn’t be another night for her to share her life with him. She pointed at the coffee cup in his hand. “You should get some sleep.”
    â€œSure.” He hunched a shoulder. Mallory recognized the gesture. It was purely male, something guys learned from their fathers or from each other. When they weren’t all right they still said they were. Mallory assumed she and Brad had both revealed something of themselves to the other, and it was enough for one night.
    â€œI’ll be leaving then.”
    Something glimmered in his eyes, and Mallory felt that pull, that connection she’d experienced earlier in the night. She turned from it, looking about the livingroom. The curtains were drawn and the space was darker than the kitchen.
    Mallory was struck by the neatness of the place. It didn’t smell musty or closed in. There was a coziness about it, like a huge Christmas tree should grace the corner and a family should come down the stairs to mounds of presents. She detected little dust on the tables. There was a huge fireplace with remnants of ashes from a recent blaze. A portrait of several children hung over it and the mantel held several photos of the same people at various ages.
    â€œFamily?” she asked, continuing to look at the portrait.
    He came up behind her. Mallory felt the heat of him as he stopped.
    â€œMy brothers and sisters.”
    â€œI thought you only had a brother.”
    â€œWe were all adopted,” he explained.
    Mallory turned before she thought about how close he was. They had been together for several hours tonight, but suddenly everything was different. Before, he had needed her. He’d needed someone to talk to, someone to share in the pain of the evening’s circumstances. Now he was a male alone with a female. Mallory felt the danger of the situation. She didn’t want to start anything she couldn’t carry through.
    Brad stared at her. She watched his eyes run over her face and shoulders. His eyes strayed downward to her breasts, which tingled as if he’d touched them, before coming back to her face. “Do you have to go in to work?” he asked.
    â€œI’m off today.” She should have told him something else. She didn’t need to give him any details that said she was free and available. Why, she didn’t know. He represented danger, and Mallory was good at skirting danger, staying away from it, away from men who could upset her balanced life. She was grateful that she could return home and resume her night’s sleep. She had planned to run errands this morning. The errands could wait now.
    â€œSo am I,” he said.
    Mallory felt her mouth go dry.
    â€œI have to go in and check on a few things this afternoon.”
    â€œGood thing,” she said, more to herself than him. “You can get some sleep before you have to see any patients.”
    She picked up her coat. Brad immediately took it from her. She felt the warmth of his hands as he briefly touched her. He didn’t hold it for her to put it on, but