Mail Order Bride: A Bride for the Doctor (Bozeman Brides Book 4) by Emily Woods Read Free Book Online Page A

dinner?”
    She recalled how she’d missed dining with him on the first day she’d arrived.
    “But that was when you thought I was your fiancée,” she protested quietly. “I can’t be anything like that to you. Why would you want to have dinner with me now?” In truth, she was desperate for the company. It had been lonely to eat in the boarding house and then retire to her dull room. There were no other women her age, and she felt reluctant to talk to the men there despite their obvious interest in her.
    “I would like to have you as a friend,” he replied, his voice gentle. “Can you at least give me that?” His voice was almost hypnotic, and she found herself nodding without even being aware of it. “Good, then outside of this office, please call me Geoff and may I call you Katherine?”
    “Kate,” she whispered. His eyes widened and he grinned widely.
    “Wonderful. I will collect you tomorrow night at six o’clock for dinner. Will that be acceptable to you, Kate?”
    Her reverie broke at his words. Had she really just accepted a date? Of course, it was just as friends, but she’d never been out with a man before. The shock of it somehow brought her back to her senses.
    “It is,” she replied crisply. “But, Dr. Wilson, our agreement for informality will only extend to outside this office, agreed? Good night, Dr. Wilson.”
    She turned and left, clutching the Bible to her chest. She knew that her parting remark was rather cheeky, playful even, but she didn’t regret it. In fact, she did something she hadn’t done in a long time, if ever.
    She grinned.
----
    G eoff watched in amazement as she left. Her quick wit combined with her vulnerability drew him more and more. He didn’t know how long he would be able to abide by his offer to just be her friend. As she’d told him her story, her mouth had trembled and he’d wanted to pull her in close to comfort her. The thought of holding her had stirred up other feelings, but he pushed them aside and focused on her pain. And then, not ten minutes later she was taking him to task for using her given name while still technically inside the office.
    With a chuckle, he locked the door to the surgery and whistled to himself as he strode down the street to his house. He was looking forward to tomorrow night immensely.

Chapter 7
    “ Y ou are most welcome ,” Margie Jefferson enthused as she welcomed Kate into her home. “We are very glad to meet you. Geoff has been singing your praises since you’ve arrived.”
    Kate felt a blush threatening to rise, but was nonetheless pleased to be welcomed in such an effusive manner.
    “Now, now, my dear,” Theodore Jefferson mildly rebuked his wife. “Let them come all the way in before overwhelming the poor girl. It’s nice to meet you, Miss Buchanan. I’m Theodore Jefferson and this is my wife Margaret.”
    Kate murmured some pleasantry, thankful she was rendered entirely mute by this warm couple. She noticed that his introduction indicated that she should be less formal, so she decided to reciprocate.
    “Please call me Kate,” she invited, eager to make a good impression, and was rewarded with broad smiles.
    “And you must call us Theo and Margie,” her hostess responded. “I hope you don’t mind too much, but we rather have a full house. Come let me introduce you.”
    Before Kate could utter another word, she was whisked into the front room where two other couples chatted lightly.
    “Everyone, this is Katherine Buchanan, the savior of Geoff’s surgery,” Margie announced with no small amount of enthusiasm.
    “I think that might be putting it a little generously,” Kate protested, but without much force. She felt buoyed up by the lavish praise. “I merely help out a bit.”
    Smiles and chuckles rounded the room.
    “That’s not how I hear it,” one attractive man replied. “Geoff here says that you have made all the difference with the people in this town. I’m Jackson, by the way, Margie’s