Within My Heart by Tamera Alexander Read Free Book Online Page B

glanced at Lyda again, but this time his eyes took on a mischievous sparkle. Lyda looked away, an embarrassed grin lifting the corners of her mouth.
    “You might say I was exerting effort , Dr. Brookston.”
    “Ben!” Lyda gave him a scolding glance and her face flushed crimson.
    Ben only chuckled and nudged Rand in the arm. “I was kissin’ on my wife, Doc. Just making sure she knows how much I still—”
    “I think the doctor understands,” Lyda said, her gaze averted.
    Rand couldn’t help but smile, and noticed a ghost of the same in Rachel’s flushed expression. “I see. Yes, I believe that would classify as exerting effort .”
    Ben brought Lyda’s hand to his lips. “But I daresay, when it is my time to go, I can’t think of a better . . .” He raised his brows, his gaze only for his wife this time. And as if knowing—for the good of his tenuous health—he ought not finish that statement, he winked and closed his mouth.
    Touched by the exchange, Rand had a thought. While he knew every biological detail about the physical intimacy God had designed to be shared between a man and a woman, he was the only one among the four present who hadn’t personally experienced the pleasure of that relationship. Uninvited, Patricia’s earlier question at the brothel returned— “Don’t you ever long for the pleasure of a woman?” —and despite his effort to block it, Rand felt an unaccustomed blush work its way up his neck and into his face.
    He stole a glance at Rachel Boyd. At her dark hair piled atop her head except for a few long curls escaping down her back, at the way the blue cotton dress she wore hugged her figure, which he’d admired more times than was proper—in church, no less— and that he recalled with greater detail than a single man ought to. Her physical beauty contributed to his attraction to her, most certainly, but her intelligence, her knowledge of medicine, her ability to converse with him on topics that other women found unsuitable or unpalatable, those were attributes that drew him. Even though she’d never done anything to encourage his attraction.
    He sighed inwardly. Her complete lack of coaxing had been deafening. Still, his gaze took her in, and his mouth went dry at the bold thoughts filling his head—then turned completely to cotton when he realized Rachel was watching him.

5
    A t the slow arch of Rachel Boyd’s dark brow, Rand dropped his gaze, hoping she hadn’t read his thoughts as easily as he read her disapproval of his too-close attention. He returned his focus to his patient, chiding himself for behaving like an overeager schoolboy. He could still feel her discerning blue eyes boring into him, and the already-tight quarters of the storeroom shrank by half.
    Whatever this lady had against him was “dug in deep and hard, and showed no signs of budging,” as an old friend used to say. Remembering that friend now made Rand feel ages beyond his thirty-four years. Like he’d already lived a hundred lifetimes in the space of one.
    Clearing his throat, he gathered his frayed thoughts and vowed to clear his mind, once and for all, of any interest pertaining to Mrs. Rachel Boyd.
    “Mr. Mullins, if you’ll allow me to examine you once more . . .”
    Ben lifted a hand. “Only if you’ll start calling me Ben. Seems you’ve earned that familiarity, Doc, at the very least.”
    In medical school, Rand had been taught to keep a certain distance and formality between himself and his patients. But as with much of what he’d learned in those early days, he’d discovered not all of it worked in every circumstance, and certainly not out west. “Thank you . . . Ben .” Positioning the stethoscope, he closed his eyes.
    The sporadic rhythm of Ben’s heart had gradually subsided, and a steadier pattern had taken its place. “Good,” Rand whispered, knowing Ben’s health would still be classified as tenuous, which portended more serious consequences than he thought either Ben or