Midnight Kiss Read Online Free PDF

every table and chair in the house, and the dog refused to come when I called her.”
    Autumn burst out laughing, causing the couple at the next table to glare at her. “I’m having a hard time visualizing you as a child, let alone wrapping a dog in gauze.”
    “I’ll have you know I was an adorable child.” Thane turned his nose up at the glaring couple. He wasn’t used to attracting attention, but as far as he was concerned, it was well worth it just to hear her sweet laugh again. “I started on table legs when I was three. By the time I was five, I could get the dog into a back brace.”
    “So what does a practice dummy look like?”
    “It’s this inflatable person.”
    Autumn’s laughter earned another glare. “Your mother bought a five-year-old an inflatable doll?”
    “Shhh.” Thane realized how bad that had sounded and started again. “It wasn’t a female.” Ignoring her smirk, he continued. “It wasn’t a male, either, it was nonsexual. It was just arms, legs, a body, and a head.”
    “What did you name it?”
    “The dummy?”
    “Of course the dummy. What did you call it?”
    “I didn’t call it anything. I don’t go around naming inanimate objects.”
    Autumn chewed a mouthful of cheesecake and shook her head. Whoever heard of having a doll and not naming it? She named everything from Paddy’s beat-up pickup truck to the cantankerous washing machine that refused to fill with rinse water unless she pleaded. A picture of his sad, lonely childhood developed before her eyes. “Is your father a doctor too?”
    “No, my father is a member of the Diplomatic Corps in Washington, D.C.”
    “What does your mother do?”
    “She’s a dutiful wife. She acts as his hostess, part-time secretary, and confidante.”
    “Brothers or sisters?”
    “I’m an only child. I think I came as a surprise to them, considering their age.” He finished the cake and reached for his coffee.
    “Why geriatrics?”
    Thane blanched and slowly lowered the cup back onto the saucer. The million-dollar question and I don’t know how to answer. How do I tell the granddaughter of one of my patients that geriatrics wasn’t my first choice?
    Autumn watched as Thane’s right hand slid off the table and onto his lap. It was the third time she noticed its disappearing act. Whenever her gaze landed on the faintly scarred hand, he hid it from view. Did the imperfection bother him? Considering how he earned the scars, he should be very proud of them. She had heard the story about his heroic deed from one of the residents. He had pulled a five-year-old boy out of the way of a speeding car, only to have its fender shatter his hand. She wondered what his reaction would be if he knew he was having dinner with a coward.
    Feeling defensive, he asked, “Do you realize that with all the medical advances for prolonging life, geriatrics is the fastest growing practice in America?”
    One auburn eyebrow rose at his tone. “I didn’t say anything against geriatrics, Thane. I was just curious as to why you chose it.”
    He forced himself to keep his hand on his thigh instead of slipping it into his pants pocket. Autumn obviously didn’t know about his short, brilliant career as an orthopedic surgeon. “Maybe it chose me.”
    “Grandparents?” she guessed. “Don’t all doctors have someone in their past who pointed them toward their careers?”
    “By the time I came along, both sets of grandparents were gone.”
    “Lord, when you said your parents were up in age when you were born, you weren’t kidding.”
    Thane threw back his head and burst out laughing. His mother would have Autumn banished to Antarctica for suggesting she was that old. “I only meant my mother was reaching thirty and my father had put forty way behind him. Thirty-three years ago that was considered late in life to be starting a family.”
    “Oh. So why geriatrics?”
    Thane was ready to dodge the question again when he looked into her eyes and saw the