Luke by Jill Shalvis Read Free Book Online Page B

coat, but she doubted there was a woman alive who wouldn't have done the exact same thing in her position.
    "Emma Connelly," he said, studying the first chart.
    "Oh, she's mine." Faith reached for the paperwork. "We have you starting with the walk-ins this morning. Room six first, there's a man waiting for you. He's suffering from allergies and—"
    "It says here Emma Connelly is terminal. Ovarian cancer."
    "Yes." Faith hugged the chart to her chest at the ache his words invoked. She'd known Emma for four years, watched her battle through the vicious cancer with everything she had. There was little left, and Healing Waters was dedicated to making her last days as comfortable as possible. "The aromatherapy is the only thing that eases her headaches these days. She gave up her meds, they made her so ill she couldn't function. Guy gives her therapeutic massages that keeps her muscles relaxed. The pain is so severe that—"
    "There are drugs that could help. Fast acting, new drugs that—" He stopped at the look on her face and let out a disparaging breath. "Right. Shut up, Luke."
    "She's tried everything. She's at the end," she said softly, her throat tight from hearing it out loud. "All she wants now is comfort. That's what we're giving her, it's all we have to give."
    "Fine."
    She thought that was the end of it, so when she turned away and entered the patient room, she was shocked to realize he'd followed. She introduced him to Emma, and the two of them started chatting, easily, readily.
    Faith watched as Luke charmed Emma into talking about her medical history, giving him all the information he seemed to want to know, all in a genuinely relaxed conversation.
    And Emma was smiling … nothing beat the sight of that. Smiling even as she shook her head over the drug methods of pain reduction that Luke tried talking to her about.
    She wanted to stick with what worked for her, what soothed her, in what surely were her last days. And Faith had to give Luke credit, he never expressed disappointment or anger or any emotion at all over his advice not being taken, he simply took it in stride, then headed out to see other patients while Faith continued with Emma.
    Later, Faith's shoulder brushed his as they passed each other in the hallway. "So why did you do it?" she asked, unable to let it go.
    Against the wall was one of the many mini water fountains in the clinic. Luke moved closer to it, watching the water hit the pretty rocks. "Do what?"
    "With Emma. Try to bring conventional medicine into this, after I told you she wasn't interested."
    He looked at her for a long moment, clearly trying to weigh his words. She wondered if he was struggling to be politically correct, so that his "punishment" wouldn't be increased.
    "Knowledge is power," he finally said simply. "And I had to make sure she understood all the possible techniques, scientific or otherwise."
    When she opened her mouth to remind him she'd already gone over all possible treatments with Emma, that Emma's choice had been made long before she'd even stepped foot inside the clinic, Luke put a finger over her lips.
    Instantly, she went still, bombarded with sensations that had nothing to do with temper.
    Heat from the rough pad of his finger.
    Tingling from within her belly.
    Quivering from between her thighs.
    "We're going to have to agree to disagree on this," he said softly. "In fact, we're going to have to agree to disagree on just about everything." He let out a low, rough laugh. "You do know that, don't you, Faith?"
    What she knew was that he'd just used her name in a silky voice, and hearing it on his lips gave the moment such a sense of intimacy, it was a drug more potent than his voice, than even his smile.
    Then his finger left her mouth and she was blinking at his broad, strong shoulders as he walked away from her, heading toward the wing where he'd do most of his work that day, with her walk-in patients.
    She let him go, a little overwhelmed by the odd and unsettling