by Lisa Cooke
“I thought we determined the kitten was a girl.”
“Today she is, but I want a boy kitten, and I think if I name her Harvey, she might change her mind.”
There was a time he would’ve corrected her misconception, but he was finding it difficult to remember that time now, so instead he knelt to lift the tablecloth and look for Harvey.
Katie’s heart warmed at the sight of John on his knees beside Julia. There was a time he would never have crawled on the floor in front of his guests, but she was finding it difficult to remember that time, and it was all she could do not to join them in their search for whatever they were searching for.
“Will you save a dance for me, Katie?”
Randy’s question forced her to tear her eyes away from John. “Of course I will,” she answered absently. Caroline had joined John at the table, her tinkling laughter carrying across the room.
“Who’s the woman with Doc?” Grandma asked. Katie hadn’t even noticed she’d crossed the room.
“That’s his sister-in-law, Caroline.”
“They look right purty together. Like they belong.”
Katie knew what Grandma was doing, but it worked just the same. Caroline and John did look right together, like the perfect couple enjoying an evening with friends.
A warm hand on the small of her back dragged her attention away from the table once more. “I got you a birthday present,” Randy said, then leaned over to whisper in her ear, “Later, I’ll give it to you in private.” He ended his message with a kiss on her cheek. She heated in response.
Every muscle in John’s body tightened as he forced himself to stay where he was. Crossing the room and planting his fist in Randy’s face would ruin Katie’s party, but that little son of a bitch had just kissed her in front of everyone. Granted, it was on the cheek, but his hand was on her back and from John’s vantage point, it appeared to be rubbing circles.
“Look, Daddy,” Julia said, interrupting his homicidal thoughts as Randy stepped away from Katie to get some punch.
Julia beamed up at him as if it were Christmas morning. “We have friends.”
And damn if she wasn’t right.
Guest after guest greeted John and thanked him for inviting them, each smile genuine and open. Men teased about his blisters from the barn raising and women laughed about his fifty-dollar chicken, and for the first time in his life, he felt like he was part of a community. Imagine that.
“Is there any music around here, Doc?” Frank Davis asked.
“Absolutely,” John answered, crossing the room to the gramophone. Several people partnered up in the center of the room, waiting for the music to begin, but when the soft waltz tune filled the air, all heads turned toward him in confusion.
“It’s called a waltz,” he said, and all heads nodded in unison as they looked at him as if he were from another planet. So much for community.
“It’s really very simple.” He searched the room for the perfect partner. “Katie?” he said, reaching his hand toward her. “Would you help me show everyone the waltz?”
She blushed prettily. “I’m really not very good at it.”
“Nonsense. You’re perfect.” He hadn’t intended that to come out the way it did, but who could argue with the truth?
She stepped into his arms as the crowd cleared the center of the room. “Just follow my lead,” he whispered, stepping into the music and out of reality.
Around the room they twirled, her skirts weaving about their legs as the music carried them away. Her cheeks flushed from the heat and excitement, her tenuous glances to his eyes causing his heart to skip. The soft scent of vanilla drifted from her, and it took all his willpower not to bury his face into her hair and inhale her essence.
Her hand on his shoulder seared through his jacket, and he remembered the feel of her fingers as she’d held his head against her breasts. His body responded for the thousandth time that evening, forcing him to drag his brain back to the present and away from its imaginings.
Then she looked up at him.
Her lips parted as her breathing picked up from the dance or maybe from his nearness. He could only hope. But as his gaze slid down the column of her throat to the valley rising and falling between her breasts, his step faltered.
She looked away with embarrassment and quit dancing. It was only then that he realized the music had stopped. A lone clap marked the beginning of a weak round of applause and a murmured response or two about the dance, jolting him back to the realization there were others in the room. Many others, and they were as embarrassed as he was. Should he say something?
He stepped back and bowed to Katie, trying to think of a way to salvage the situation, when suddenly the front door burst open.
“Doc!” A man rushed into the parlor carrying an unconscious woman in his arms. Blood poured from wounds on her head, soaking her dress in crimson. “Please help my wife,” he pleaded. “She’s been hit by a carriage.”
Katie saw John’s shock as soon as it crossed his face. All color drained from his cheeks, and his eyes locked on to a vision from the past.
“Of course,” she said, stepping toward Ed Monroe. “Take Elsa across the hall to Dr. Keffer’s office and put her on the examination table.”
Ed left the room as the guests’ confusion and noise filled the parlor. Katie grabbed John’s arm and shook. “John,” she said, squeezing until he turned to look at her. “She needs you.”
“I can’t,” he whispered.
“Yes, you can and you will.”
He rubbed his hand across his jaw as he stood staring at the doorway.
“We don’t have time to think about this,” she said, taking his hand. “You’re not a new doctor, and that’s not Lois.”
Luckily, he followed as she led him out of the room. She wasn’t big enough to pull him against his will. With each step she felt his strength return and by the time they made it to his office, John was back.
“Get the bandages and sutures from the cabinet,” he said to Katie, pulling off his jacket and rolling up his shirtsleeves.
“Is she going to be all right, Doc?” Ed asked.
Katie glanced at John, catching his eyes for a second before he faced Ed again. “If I have anything to say about it, she will. But right now, I need you to leave the room. Miss Napier and I have work to do.”
Ed nodded and left, pulling the door closed behind him. Rushing to John’s side, Katie laid the supplies on a table beside Elsa.
He folded a bandage and placed it against the gash in her head. “Hold pressure on this while I check for other injuries.”
Katie did as he’d requested, then watched in amazement as he ran his hands down her arms and legs, pressing and probing as he searched for broken bones. Then he pushed against Elsa’s belly and sighed with relief.
“Anything broken?” Katie asked.
“I don’t think so and there doesn’t appear to be any internal bleeding. Hopefully, once we get this gash sewn on her head, it’ll just be a matter of her waking up.”
Lifting the bandage, Katie fought the urge to wince as the blood poured from the injury. But John’s steady hands pulled the wound closed and sutured the damage with skill and gentleness. An hour later, the bleeding had stopped, and a bandage was in place, but Elsa still hadn’t moved.
John pulled a chair beside Elsa and sat, his eyes glazed as he watched her.
“Do we let Ed come in?” Katie asked.
He continued to stare at Elsa and Katie knew what he was thinking.
“You’ve done all anyone could do,” she said. “If she’s going to die, there’s nothing now that can be done to stop it. Ed has the right to be with her if that happens.”
John looked at her, nodding silently in agreement. She crossed the room and opened the door. Ed rushed to Elsa’s side and picked up her hand.
He looked at John in anguish. “Is she going to make it?”
“There’s nothing more we can do,” John said, slowly standing
. “Now we just have to pray she wakes up.”
John slid his chair to Ed and patted him on the shoulder before walking into the hallway. His knees no longer felt like they were about to buckle, but the memories that had surged through him earlier left a bitter taste in his mouth. He crossed the parlor to the banquette table and dipped a crystal cup into a bowl of punch. He’d never really liked the taste of punch, but Caroline had insisted that no birthday party was complete without it.
Taking a long drink, he turned to examine the now empty room. All the guests had gone home during the emergency, leaving piles of food and bowls of punch untouched.
“Rebecca put Julia to bed,” Katie said, entering the room and crossing to the table. “I’ll put some of this food in the icebox so it won’t spoil.”
He wanted to say something to her, but the words escaped him. This evening was supposed to be her celebration, but instead they’d been thrown into a nightmare. His nightmare, and Katie had been dragged right along with him. She lifted a platter of pastries and turned toward the door. That was when he noticed the blood.
“Your gown is ruined,” he said.
“It’s nothing. I’ll get the stains out later.”
But he knew those stains wouldn’t come out without a torch. “I’ll buy you a new gown.”
“It’s not important—”
“Doc!” Ed’s shout interrupted her.
John’s heart fell as he ran out of the parlor and across the hall, praying in earnest for the first time in years. Taking a fortifying breath at the entrance to his office, he paused for a second before pushing open the door and stepping inside.
Ed’s smile knocked the wind out of him. “She’s awake, Doc.”
Elsa turned her head to look at him and gave him the weakest, most pathetic, most beautiful smile he’d seen in a long time. “I heard you’re the one what sewed me up.”
John smiled. “I had a little help.”
“Very little,” Katie said, moving to his side. “Dr. Keffer knew exactly what he was doing.”
Ed lifted Elsa’s hand to his lips, his eyes clouding with tears. “Thanks, Doc. I owe you one.”
Nodding, John chose not to attempt to speak. Ed wasn’t the only one choking on emotion at the moment.
“Can I take her home?”
Clearing his throat, John said, “I think she should probably sleep here tonight. You’re welcome to stay with her. I’ll be upstairs in case you need me.”
John followed Katie out of the office and into the now silent house. Caroline must have gone on to bed, and all the guests were long gone. Even Harvey was nowhere to be seen. The ticking of the grandfather clock made the only sound echoing in the hallway as they climbed the stairs.
He could see her new boots peeking from beneath her green skirts as she walked in front of him, and it seemed like a million years had passed since he’d given them to her.
Turning to face him at the top of the stairs, she whispered a soft, “Good night,” then headed toward her room.
She had pulled him through his biggest nightmare, but somehow it only made him feel guiltier than ever. How come he had been able to save Ed’s wife when he hadn’t been able to save Lois? Why had he frozen when she had needed him most?
He stood for another million years in the empty hallway, staring at the soft light glowing from beneath Katie’s door. He pushed away his dark thoughts by imagining her removing her gown and getting ready for bed. A knot built low in his gut, threatening to stop his heart. He needed to speak to her once more, to thank her for helping him before retiring for the night.
Closing the distance quickly, he stopped outside Katie’s door, hoping he’d come up with a better excuse for seeing her again than just offering thanks. Katie was no fool. He swallowed and knocked.
“Yes?”
“May I come in? I need to speak with you.”
She hesitated only briefly before saying, “Come in.”
It wasn’t too late to stop. If he just didn’t need her so much he could tell her he’d speak with her in the morning or stay in the hallway. But instead, he opened the door to her tiny room. She sat on her bed, removing her hairpins, a brush lying on her lap. Long brown waves flowing down her shoulders to her waist, a soft smile parting her lips.
He stepped into the room…and closed the door.
Chapter Twenty-four
Katie didn’t stand when John entered her room. She couldn’t. His gaze riveted her to the bed as he stood staring at her. Neither spoke for the longest time, until finally he broke the silence. “Would you like me to help you with your hair?”
She’d been doing her hair for twenty-five years, but she didn’t tell him that. Instead she nodded and scooted to make room for him on the edge of the bed. He sat beside her and began removing the rest of the pins from her bun. His fingers raked through the tresses, lightly touching the back of her neck as they combed.
“I wanted to thank you for helping me tonight,” he said, his mouth so close she could feel his breath against her cheek. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”
“You didn’t need me,” she said, trying to sound calm despite the tremble in her voice.
He pulled a curl down her shoulder, allowing his fingers to trace its length over her breast to her waist. “That’s where you’re wrong,” he whispered, closing his eyes.
John felt Katie’s hands cup his face and when he opened his eyes, he knew he was no longer lost. Somehow this mountain healer had found him. She’d closed his wounds and opened his heart and now she owned his soul.
“Katie?”
“Shhh,” she whispered, before she kissed him, her lips soft and timid as they pressed against his.
Pulling her into his arms, he claimed her kiss and made it his own, fighting down the passion that was building in him like a storm. “Tell me to leave, Katie,” he murmured against her mouth. “This is your last chance.”
But instead of taking her salvation, she untucked his shirt from his pants and ran her hands across the bare skin of his back. “I don’t want you to go,” she said between kisses, and he thanked God in heaven for that. He wasn’t sure he had the willpower to leave even if she’d asked him to.
Then she sat back from him and began unbuttoning her bodice. He watched as she stood, the gown falling to her feet in a green pool, leaving her only in her chemise and the white stockings he’d given her, tied at the thighs with lengths of ribbon. Her hair flowed around her shoulders in a silky mass and he knew now what a goddess must look like.
Damn, he wanted her.
Like an all-consuming fire, he wanted to throw her onto the bed and drive into her until the need in him abated. But she was a virgin, a beautiful, sensual, enticing virgin who was looking at him as if he were the only man in the world.
Damn, he wanted her.
But he had to go slowly.
“I don’t know what to do,” she said, dropping her eyes.
He stood and removed his shirt, surprised when his legs didn’t collapse. Stepping closer to her, he ran his hands down her chemise to her thighs, where the fabric stopped just above her garters. “May I look at you?”
She raised her gaze, nodding hesitantly, like she wasn’t sure if he’d be pleased. Slowly, he lifted the chemise up her body, uncovering inch by inch the beautiful, soft skin of a goddess. She raised her arms to allow him to pull the garment over her head, her hair falling down her back in a curtain of silk.
He knelt in front of her, because that was what a man should do in the presence of a goddess and because his legs weren’t as steady as they had been a few moments before. Wrapping his arms around her waist, he pulled her to him and buried his face into the smooth flesh of her belly.
Nibbling, he allowed his hands to stroke the rounded curves of her buttocks. Her fingers threaded through his hair as he kissed his way up her body to her mouth. Tongues dueling, hands exploring, they entwined with each other until falling onto the tiny bed. With a quick twist, he managed to land b
eneath her, her lithe body on his, her breasts perfect globes against his hard chest.
Katie looked down into the eyes of the man she loved, confused by her lack of fear. She should be terrified. She was about to give herself to a man who was not her husband, not even one of her fiancés, and yet there was no fear. No second thoughts, no doubts, just a longing and hunger like she’d never experienced before.
And there was the frustration. Deep, building, pulsating frustration that grew with every moment he toyed with her. Slowly he rolled with her on the bed until they faced each other, and his hands began caressing her once more. He fondled her breasts, pulling at the peaks while his tongue stroked hers. Then his mouth broke free and found the breasts his hands had awakened.
But the sensations tingling from her breasts were nothing compared to the shock waves that coursed through her body when his fingers glided between her legs. Gasping, she pinched her thighs together. What was he doing?
He lifted his head from her breasts and kissed her mouth before whispering, “Trust me, Katie.”
And she did. She always had, and she always would. Slipping her hands behind his head, she kissed him and allowed his hands to do their will, trusting he knew what he was doing. Caressing, rubbing, stroking until the frustration built past bearing, and just when she thought she could take no more, he slid a finger inside her body and proved he knew what he was doing after all. The world exploded.
Luckily, he caught her cry with his mouth or she would’ve awakened the entire town. She was vaguely aware of him fumbling with his trousers, just before he rolled on top of her and positioned himself between her legs.
“Katie?” John said, waiting for her to open her eyes and look at him. “Are you ready for me?”
She smiled and nodded.
“It’s going to hurt this first time, but I’ll do what I can to make it easier for you.”
She responded to his concern by placing her hand against his face and pulling him down for a kiss. Slowly he pressed into her until he felt the tight obstruction of her maidenhead.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured into her mouth as he drove through the barrier and froze to give her time to adjust to him.