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

doing ten other things as some people did. He was always very much in the present.
    “I’m sorry,” she said, and he frowned, his expression letting her know he was confused. “I talked to my mom—to both my parents, actually. They never told me you called, Bruce. I don’t know why Mom chose to keep it from me. I thought you left me. I never got your message. I think my mom and dad both decided you were as good as gone when you left for medical school and you’d soon realize you could find someone better.”
    Now he appeared angry. She’d never really seen him angry. Annoyed, yes, but he was a man who controlled his emotions well, a man who thought things through. Even as a teen, he’d had fire and passion, but he was always levelheaded, like now. He was a man everyone respected. She thought the world of Bruce, but she didn’t know what he was thinking.
    “Well, that’s truly sad that they think I’m that shallow. Did you believe the same thing?”
    No, not what she was expecting. She opened her mouth to say no, absolutely not, but the truth was she had believed he’d done just that. How could she not when, as far as she was concerned, he’d up and left without a word, without trying to contact her? “Yes, I did. When you didn’t come home for the winter break, I felt left behind. What else was I to think?” How could he not understand? “Put yourself in my place. If it were me who left…”
    “But you did.” He brushed past her. “You married someone else, Kim, and that left no chance to straighten anything out.” He was behind his desk, putting distance between them, glancing down at some files and then shifting them to the corner of his desk as if he didn’t know what to do. “Kim, it’s water under the bridge now. I got over it a long time ago.”
    She didn’t want to hear that, afraid that next he would tell her he’d gotten over her. To hear that would truly be the end of any hope she was still holding on to. Maybe it was the heartbreak she couldn’t hide that made his expression soften.
    “Kim…”
    “Don’t say it,” she begged him, “because I never got over you. You’ve haunted my dreams every night, and you’re the reason I’m doomed to be alone, because I gave my heart away to you and never got it back. I can’t love anyone else.”
    He started to say something, then closed his mouth. She couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
    “I’m sorry, I should go,” she said. “You have patients waiting.”
    She was shaking when she started to the door and reached for the handle. Then she felt his hand on her shoulder, and she turned to face him. He placed both of his large hands on her shoulders holding her there in such a caring way, and she breathed him in. When you love someone so deeply, the smell of him is better than any drug out there. His was a scent she craved, and it drove her crazy when she was near him. Not willing to have just that one fix, she needed to be with him, but she didn’t have any idea how to make it happen without seeming crazy.
    Then he did the most unexpected thing: He leaned down, touching her forehead with his, nose to nose, sliding his hands up and over her face, into hair she had left loose and hanging down. Then he pulled away, stepped back, and said, “Have a great day.”
    Leaving her no choice but to leave.
    ***

Chapter Seven
    She stared up at the starry sky, fantasizing about a life that could have been, a life in which she could spend every day and night with the man she loved, to really know him, understand what he was thinking before he even said it. She thought she could’ve had that with Bruce, but as she wiped her face, which ached from the tears she’d cried all the way home from Columbia Falls, she realized she’d now played her last card. She’d opened her heart to the man, but after she hurt him so badly, he’d used his time and distance from her to heal. How could he? She had never healed, and it hurt to believe he was capable