Return to Lone Oak (Harlequin Heartwarming) by Amy Knupp Read Free Book Online Page A

ached, as if she hadn’t slept at all the night before, when, in fact, she’d been asleep a bit after midnight. Early for her.
    She reclined on the table, unable to resist any longer the temptation to lie down. Knowing Dr. Fletcher, senior, would be the one to walk through that door helped relax her enough to close her eyes and drift off.
    When she opened them again, the first thing she saw was the back of a doctor washing his hands at the sink near her head. And if she wasn’t mistaken, that was not the back of an older man. Katie raised herself up to a sitting position, rubbing her eyes and wanting nothing more than to go back to sleep.
    Noah turned toward her, drying his hands on a paper towel.
    “You’re supposed to be your dad.” She didn’t look straight at him, keeping the puffy side of her face away from him.
    “My dad is busy, and I didn’t think it was right to make him busier just because you and I don’t see eye-to-eye on a few things unrelated to your medical care.”
    She turned her head toward him with the idea of arguing more, but then his gaze slipped to her chin and she suddenly felt ugly and unsure of herself.
    “Ouch,” he said, moving closer to inspect it. “It looks like you didn’t have such a good night.”
    She squeezed her eyes shut as he moved his hand toward her chin, anticipating jabbing pain from his touch. But his fingers rested beyond the wound, where her neck met her jaw. This was a gentle caress, somehow caring yet still professional. She was thrown by his apparent concern.
    “I swear I’ve done everything you told me to.”
    He nodded, still inspecting the wound. “I did say you could jog, didn’t I?”
    “Go ahead. Get the lecture over with.”
    “It doesn’t sound as if I need to. You know what I’m going to say.”
    “I’m bad. I ran too far, too hard. Of course, that was partly to keep up with you. I do too many wild things, don’t take care of myself...”
    “Nice start,” Noah said, dryly. “You do need to take it easy so your wrist and chin can heal. However, I don’t think your questionable tendency to chase after adrenaline rushes had anything to do with this wound becoming infected.”
    The admission pained him, she could just tell. But the reprieve was much appreciated.
    He touched her forehead next, just for a second, then frowned. “You have a slight fever.” Noah glanced at her chart. “One hundred point four, according to the nurse.”
    “Am I dying?” She was starting to feel like it.
    Noah looked into her eyes, his own lacking the annoyance of the previous night. It almost seemed as if he really did care. If anything, it had to be in a professional capacity. “I think you’ll live. We’ll get some antibiotics started right away. That should clear it up, but you have to promise me you’ll rest all day today.”
    “Would it surprise you if I said there’s nothing I want to do right now more than sleep?”
    “Probably not as much as it surprises you.” He actually looked a little smug at that. “I want you to go home and sleep.”
    “Not a problem.”
    “Here’s the catch. When you wake up and think you feel a lot better, I still want you to keep resting.”
    She sighed.
    “Katie, this isn’t serious yet, but it could quickly escalate. The infection has gotten into your body and we need to get it out.”
    “Okay. I’ll keep resting. Yay.”
    “I love an enthusiastic patient.”
    What he loved was issuing orders, obviously. He thrived on it, she could tell. Probably was still getting a kick out of taking over the appointment she’d made with his dad.
    “I found a picture of you on the Medical Missions site,” she said, perhaps in an attempt to get back at him, throw him off kilter.
    He was writing a prescription, but the moment she said it his pen stopped. His jaw tensed, but he quickly resumed writing. “Why were you snooping around there?”
    “Curiosity. Because you wouldn’t tell me what happened. They don’t provide a