Under the Mistletoe with John Doe by JUDY DUARTE Read Free Book Online

University, when he’d been a graduate student trying to earn an MBA and she’d been in medical school. She’d found him to be handsome and charming, the kind of man who could have had any woman on campus.
    Looking back—and knowing what she did about his cheating nature—she realized he could have slept with the entire female student body and she never would have guessed.
    She’d been naive back then, and if there were signs she should have picked up on, she’d missed seeing them. All she’d had to rely on were her feelings about him and her hormones. And boy, had they been wrong.
    So how could she trust her instincts about John now, when she had even less to go on about him?
    â€œA couple of police officers came by today,” hesaid, drawing her from her musing. “They asked about the robbery, but I couldn’t provide them with any information.”
    She wished she could promise him that everything would come back to him someday, but there was a strong possibility that he wouldn’t ever remember anything about the assault, just the things leading up to it and afterward.
    â€œWere the officers able to give you any clues to your identity?” she asked.
    â€œThey told me that I’d had a little run-in at the bar with two local thugs who were harassing a cocktail waitress. They might have resented my interference and waited for me in the parking lot.”
    So John had a heroic nature? Betsy hoped that was the case. She’d hate to think she was drawn to another loser.
    Time and again she’d promised herself she wouldn’t let Doug’s deceit completely shatter her ability to trust a man in the future. And each time her father showed a kindness to her ailing mother, each time he’d kissed her cheek or patted her frail knee, Betsy was reminded that good men did exist, that they honored their marriage vows. That they stuck by their women through sickness and health and through thick and thin.
    But was John Doe one of them?
    She couldn’t be sure. And she feared falling for the wrong man again. That’s why she’d focused on her medical practice after her divorce. And it’s why she’d poured her heart and soul into her patients and the hospital.
    After all, she had a skill and a responsibility to heal.And she wasn’t going to let anyone or anything interfere with her calling again.
    But now here she was, visiting a man she knew nothing about, thinking about him in a purely feminine way. And while she’d tried to convince herself that her interest in him was influenced by a desire to see him heal and get on with his life, she knew better than that.
    She was attracted to her patient.
    Or rather, to a patient. John Doe was no longer hers, so she could easily nullify the rule, at least in her mind. But her attraction to him was increasing by leaps and bounds, and that was unsettling.
    He reached over and tapped the top of her hand, which was resting on the bedrail. His fingertips lingered on her skin for only a second or two, but the heat of his touch sent her nerve endings helter-skelter, her blood racing.
    â€œWhat’s the matter?” he asked. “What’s bothering you?”
    â€œNothing.” She tried to smile, to shake it off. “Why do you ask?”
    â€œBecause you’re wearing a pensive expression, one that tells me you’re a thousand miles away.”
    â€œNo, I’m still here.” She forced her smile to deepen, her gaze to zero in on his.
    He’d obviously picked up on the fact that she was distracted—but it wasn’t because of another case or dilemma that worried her. It was clearly him causing her mind and thoughts to wander.
    And she couldn’t risk letting that happen. Whatever was going on between them had to be one-sided. And even if it wasn’t, she couldn’t stay at his bedside amoment longer. Not when her body was going whacky, just being around him.
    So she