His Promise (Married in Montana Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

hesitated at the street corner, her legs feeling like lead weights as she crossed. Maybe he wasn’t even there. He could be at the hospital, or dealing with an emergency. She hesitated at the lobby door and almost chickened out when the door opened and two chatting women walked out. She grabbed the door and went inside, stopping at the elevator with another man who was waiting. When the elevator doors opened she stepped in, she jabbed her finger on the third-floor button. The man pressed four. The doors slid closed, and she stood beside him. He was close to her dad’s age, dressed in blue jeans and a dress shirt, she could feel his interest as he watched her.
    “Nice day, isn’t it?” he said.
    “It is,” she replied, praying the elevator would hurry up. She didn’t want to have a conversation with this man. “Oops, here’s my floor,” she said.
    The elevator dinged, and she stepped forward, her nose to the steel door, counting the seconds until it opened. She didn’t look back as she stepped out, and she let out a heavy breath and searched the listings of offices and names on the wall. She found Bruce’s office number and turned to the right, going to the end of the hall to the office door with the sign saying, “Bruce Siegel, Pediatrician.”
    She wanted to run her hands over the brass lettering and the last name she had practiced writing over and over as a teen, a name she had wanted to be hers. Mrs. Bruce Siegel, Kim Siegel—it was a fantasy that had ended in heartache and years of being alone, and what she had now was another man’s last name: Edwards. She was Kim Edwards. Somehow, it felt so wrong.
    The door to the office opened, and a young woman pushing a stroller with a toddler inside stepped out. Kim jumped out of the way and smiled in her direction, glancing down at the little girl staring up at her. Another ache in her heart for the time that had passed. She and Bruce could have had a houseful of children, a boy with a round face, square jaw, and eyes as deep as his, and maybe a daughter she could spend time with, brushing her hair, sharing things that only girls did.
    “Can I help you?” a voice called out to her as she was daydreaming, standing in the doorway amid the parents and children who filled the busy waiting area. Maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea. She was about to leave when the woman behind the desk glanced up again. “Ma’am?”
    So she stepped inside and closed the door, pulling the strap of her purse over her shoulder, squeezing the leather and feeling completely out of place. Make an excuse was the first thing that popped into her head. She stepped to the counter so everyone couldn’t overhear the pathetic excuse she was about to give for being there. She prayed that something intelligent would come to mind.
    “Kim?”
    Her face warmed and her throat thickened as she stared back at Bruce, who looked absolutely amazing as he strode down the hall toward the desk. He was wearing a dark blue shirt and the same black jeans he’d worn to her place the night before. He had a stethoscope around his neck, and he flicked a pen and tucked it into his shirt pocket. He said something to the woman behind the desk—maybe a nurse. Then he stepped over to Kim, his hand out toward her shoulder, blocking her from view of the other patients. She was grateful for that gesture, but then, Bruce had been nothing but a kind, good friend to her since he came back.
    “Come into my office,” he said, guiding her down the hall to a room at the end. She could see a desk with two chairs in front of it. He closed the door behind her. “What brings you here?”
    She stopped in the middle of the room and turned to face him. She couldn’t get her tongue to move. He was so much taller than her. Kim wasn’t short, but she had to look up at him. There was something so special about this man, who gave her all of his attention when he was talking to her. There was no being lost in his head or busy