Banner O'Brien Read Online Free PDF

house.”
    “That must be most inconvenient.”
    “Not really. Maggie—that’s our housekeeper—takes care of them and comes to me if there’s a problem.”
    They left the ward to enter a cluttered office. Here, the walls were lined with hundreds of books, except for one, where a startling array of diplomas hung, framed. According to these august parchments, Adam Corbin had attended the prestigious University of Scotland, in Glasgow, and taken special courses in such places as Vienna, Berlin, and Stockholm.
    Banner, thinking of her four years at the New York Infirmary, her courses squeezed in between the menial hospital tasks that paid her way, felt intimidated. No wonder Adam had been so suspicious of her education.
    “You are well trained,” she admitted, with a slight lift of her chin.
    “Thank you,” he said, pulling her past a very messy desk and into a larger outer office, where there were chairs and benches to accommodate patients waiting for treatment.
    At a neat desk beside the outmost door sat a girl about Melissa’s age, her long fingers poised over the keys of a typewriting machine. Her hair glistened around her face in hundreds of appealing little taffy-colored curls, and her dark brown eyes assessed Banner with tart dispatch. “Hello,” she said.
    Adam was all gentlemanly grace. “Francelle, this is Dr. O’Brien. O’Brien, Miss Francelle Mayhugh.”
    “Francelle,” Banner nodded cordially.
    But Miss Mayhugh was done with pleasantries; she harumphed and went back to her work with frightening energy.
    “There are two examining rooms,” Adam said, pulling Banner unceremoniously into one of them and closing the door.
    Banner’s heart was doing crazy things again, and she braced herself against one examining table and cast an uneasy glance toward the closed door. “I don’t think Francelle likes me,” she said, though that was the last thing she was really concerned about.
    Adam laughed and came nearer. So near that Banner could feel the warmth of his breath on the bridge of her slightly upturned Irish nose. The hard, lean length of his body sent primitive signals to the softness of hers as he imprisoned her by bracing himself against the table, one hand on each side of her. “Who cares?” he said.
    Banner trembled. Her knees were weak and the pit of her stomach was spinning and there was a strange melting sensation somewhere in the depths of her pelvis. She had never felt this way before, with Sean. What was happening?
    Adam’s lips came down to taste hers, tantalizingly. “Shamrock,” he breathed.
    Banner ordered her hands to come up to his impervious chest and push him away, but they were bloodless, without muscle or bone. She wanted Adam Corbin to kiss her.
    He caught her lower lip between his lips and a jolt went through her. His thighs were hard against hers as he drew her nearer still and claimed her mouth fully.
    All five of Banner O’Brien’s senses sang in wanton harmony as he compelled her to surrender, and confusion whirled in her mind. How was it that he could make her feel such things, when her own husband’s kisses had engendered only fear? What was the medical basis for this?
    She was gasping when Adam drew back, swept her face once with those impudent indigo eyes, and kissed her again.
    Banner’s riotous response was quelled by the brisk opening of the examining room door.
    “Well,” said Francelle coldly. “Is this a consultation? I’m sorry I interrupted.”
    Adam swore and turned to face the girl squarely, though Banner could not have done so for anything. She lowered her head, embarrassed.
    “What do you want?” Adam snapped.
    “I was going to ask about the Christmas party,” Francelle answered, with a dignity calculated to sting for days. “Will you be there, or do you plan to disappear again and come back in a black rage, as usual?”
    “Couldn’t this have waited?” Adam drawled, and through the thick fringe of her lashes Banner watched as his