The Long Road Home by Mary Alice Monroe Read Free Book Online Page A

hand. “Long time.” He nodded again and shifted his eyes.
    Stepping forward, Esther returned the thermometer to Nora’s mouth with authority. “What the blazes sent you tearing down the mountain that way?”
    “I believe I did,” came a reply from the corner.
    Startled, Nora followed the bass voice to the far corner of the room. A tall broad silhouette was outlined in the shadows. She slowly raised herself to her elbows, squinting in the poor light.
    “And who are you?” she mumbled with as much authority as she could muster with a thermometer in her mouth.
    He slowly straightened, and after a palpable pause, strode into the light. Her hand rose to her throat. It was the stranger from the deck.
    “You!” she whispered.
    He didn’t respond, but his mouth set in a grim line. He stood before the bed, watching her every reaction in tense silence, before quietly asking, “You don’t know me, Mrs. MacKenzie?”
    The question was more of a challenge. She narrowed her eyes and searched the tall man in tight jeans and a plaid shirt. With his dark blond hair and hard, chiseled features, he had the kind of masculine good looks that a woman would remember. Yet standing next to Junior and Frank, he did not emit the conceit or pride that she found so offensive in attractive men. In fact, he appeared distinctly uncomfortable with her study.
    “No,” she replied, firmly removing the dread thermometerand returning it to Esther. “I’m quite sure we’ve never met. Should we have?”
    He stepped back a pace, shaking his head no. But not before she detected a distinct smile of relief. A shiver of suspicion ran down her spine. Nora quickly straightened, but the room spun, forcing her back on her pillows with a groan.
    The man was suddenly at Nora’s side.
    “The lady needs to see a doctor. No offense, Es.”
    “None taken, C.W. But there’s no doc to call.”
    “Well, now,” interrupted Seth. “There’s that New York doctor what stays in Middleton Springs. Comes up every fall for the hunting season. Redman…Red somethin’ or other.”
    “Redden,” Nora responded softly behind closed lids. “I know him. His number should be by the phone.”
    “A New York doctor?” C.W. asked. “Isn’t there anyone local we can call?”
    “No,” Nora said cautiously, surprised by his antagonism. “He’s our physician of choice. He’ll come.” She didn’t add that he’d better come. Mike had given Dr. Redden full rein of their four hundred acres to hunt every fall for years, and it was time to call in a favor.
    At a nod from her father, Esther headed out of the room.
    “I’ll give him a call, C.W.”
    C.W. stood abruptly, his face clouded.
    “Do you have objections to calling a New York doctor?” Nora asked. His stance, the authority in his voice, the angle at which he held his head—all held an indefinable air of breeding. Strange in a farmhand, if that was what he was.
    “No, why should I?” he replied, his face suddenly impassive. “Call who you like—as long as you call.”
    “Better watch how you throw your weight around, Charley,” said Seth, laughing, “now that it’s hunting season. Big bucks are a prime target.”
    Nora witnessed the affection in C.W.’s glance at Seth. Who was this man, she wondered, who wore his sophistication as comfortably as his work clothes?
    “Just who are you and what is your name, anyway?” she asked. “C.W. or Charley?”
    His smile revealed deep dimples that stretched from the corners of his mouth to the curve of his chiseled chin. “Only Seth gets away with calling me Charley.”
    “Never could take to calling a man by letters,” Seth muttered.
    “Very well, C.W.,” she continued, her smile disappearing. “Would you mind telling me what your full name is and what you were doing showering in my house?”
    Rather than being put off by her tone, he seemed pleased by it. He smiled wryly and put his hands on his hips. “My name is Walker, Charles Walker. I work here