Family Skeletons Read Online Free PDF Page B

away from her eyes as he
examined her forehead where it felt burned. “I think you got grazed by a
bullet.” His head jerked up and he scanned the beach.
    The stinging sensation was graduating into a dull
throb. “Bullet?” That didn’t make sense. She tried to move. “Uh, Jonathan.”
    “What?” Quickly his attention returned to her.
    “You’re crushing me.”
    “Oh.” Once he became aware of their positions, he
clearly couldn’t get off of her fast enough. Then as he knelt at her side his
gaze again explored the inside of the horseshoe, the sandy floor to the cliff
above, the beach on both sides.
    After working herself into a sitting position, she
also looked around but saw nothing. She reached to touch her sore forehead.
    “No,” he said sharply, and pushed her hand away.
“Yours fingers are dirty. You may infect it.”
    He got to his feet and then gave her his hand to
pull her up. Her knees felt so shaky, she was grateful for his help.
    “We need to get you back to the house so we can
clean that up,” he said.
    They walked to the base of the cliff. As his gaze
traveled the length of the trail to the top, a worried expression came over his
face, but evidently not for himself. He turned to her. “Can you manage that?”
    “I’m fine, Jonathan.”
    “Are you dizzy at all?”
    “No.” She was more concerned with the shaky knees,
but the unsteady feeling had eased once she’d started walking.
    “Lightheaded?”
    “I’m fine, I said.” To prove it, she got a good grip
on the root, found her first foothold, and made what might be her best time yet
on her way to the top.
    She entered the house from the front porch. He’d
detoured to his SUV in the back, and he was carrying a first aid kit in a black
bag when he stepped through the doorway from the back porch to meet her in the
kitchen. She gave him and the kit a look that probably carried doubt. He washed
his hands and pulled on a pair of gloves.
    “Sit down.” He motioned toward a chair without
looking at her. She didn’t move. He soaked a cotton ball in something with a
harsh odor that made her eyes water. When he looked up and found her still
standing, he gave her a slow smile. “It’s okay. I’m a doctor.”
    “Yeah?”
    “Yes. An ophthalmologist, actually. I admit that
gunshot wounds aren’t my specialty, but I think I can handle this.”
    She wet her lips, still staring at him, then pulled
the chair out and sat down. She’d give him one try here. One try.
    “This is going to sting.” He applied the cotton. She
yelped and jerked away.
    He put his hand on her shoulder. “As you can see,
I’m an honest doctor. It really did sting. And I have to do it one more time.”
    “No way.” She made a move to rise.
    “One more time, Sunny. Trust me. It’s got to be
clean.”
    She looked up, knowing he was right but not liking
it. Taking a big breath, she nodded. She sat back, stared straight ahead, set
her mouth in a tight line and clenched her fists in her lap.
    He laughed and turned away.
    Her head snapped back around and she glared at him.
“You want to trade places here?”
    “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Excuse me.” This time, he
positioned his left hand under her chin to hold her head in place. She frowned,
but it didn’t give her a trapped feeling, and the second application wasn’t as
bad as the first.
    “Done,” he told her. “You can start breathing
again.”
    “Thanks. I think.”
    “You’re welcome. You may have a reminding scar, but
the way you wear your hair the bangs will cover it. And in time it will fade.
You were lucky. I don’t want to think about how lucky.”
    He discarded the cotton and threw the gloves away
after it. “Your hair is so blond it’s almost white. At first I thought it had
to come out of a bottle, but now I’m thinking it’s natural.”
    “It is.”
    Exhibiting no self-consciousness, he gave her
another appraising once-over. “A perfect blue-eyed blonde, complete with pixie
face and