Midnight Kiss Read Online Free PDF Page B

interest blazing there. She was really interested in him; she wasn’t just making polite conversation. “I met a man named Franklin Turner.” Autumn leaned closer and offered a smile of encouragement. “We were roommates three years ago at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Franklin’s body was eighty-eight years old, but his mind was that of a man of fifty.” Thane’s gaze turned inward at some special memory. “The stories he could tell. I would keep him up hours into the night begging for more. Who needs history books when men like Franklin could tell you what it was like to live through the Jazz Age and the Depression. Franklin possessed dignity, honesty, and love for mankind. If only I had understood more about the aging process, I might have been able to prolong his life.”
    Tears of compassion filled Autumn’s eyes. “Thank you.”
    Thane felt a faint flush climb up his neck. He hadn’t meant to tell her everything. “What are you thanking me for?”
    “For being Paddy’s doctor.”
    What could he say to that? “It’s my job.”
    An angelic smile curved Autumn’s mouth. Not only was he compassionate and sexy, but he was modest too. “If you say so.”
    Thane scowled at the smiling couple next to them. Great, now the entire world thought he was a humanitarian when he wasn’t. What he was was a man who had his lifelong dream snatched away from him. An orthopedic surgeon couldn’t perform surgery with only one good hand. Throughout countless reconstruction operations, months of physical therapy, and time stretching endlessly in front of him, one vision stayed with him-- Franklin’s smile. One day Thane had picked up the latest New England Medical Journal and found an article on the problems of the elderly. The more he had read, the more interested he had become. Geriatrics might have been his second choice, but by hell, he wouldn’t be a second-rate doctor in it.
     
    #
     
    Autumn fidgeted with the clasp on her purse as Thane walked her up onto the dimly lit porch. Should she invite him in or not? The entire trip back to her house had been traveled in complete silence. What happened to the easy conversation they had shared over dinner? She’d felt then she had gained a friend in Thane.
    Frustrated, Thane ran a hand through his short hair. Why had he spilled his guts over dinner? He had never told anyone about Franklin before, not even his parents, so why Autumn? To top that, he had spouted stories about bandaging table legs and his dog. Why didn’t he mention graduating at the top of his class or being on the advisory board for the Congressional Committee on Aging?
    Autumn glanced up from digging the house keys out of her purse. “Would you like to come in for a cup of coffee?”
    He gazed at her upturned face and resisted the temptation. “I’d better not, it’s getting late.”
    She unlocked the door and flicked on the living room light switch. “Thank you for dinner, Thane. It was lovely.”
    He stared at the shimmering moisture on her lower lip. “Figure out the calmest Halloween party possible and then run it by me. I’m sure I’ll be able to quiet it down some more.”
    Autumn’s generous mouth formed a pout. “You’re depressing me, Thane.”
    It’s better than kissing you. Halfway through dinner he’d glanced up and suddenly wondered what her lips would taste like under his. Throughout his life many people had said he’d received more than his fair share of brains. He had never doubted that statement—until now. Standing in the shadows of the porch, he wanted to take Autumn into his arms to see if she’d put the same enthusiasm into a single kiss as she did life.
    His finger reached out and gently caressed the graceful line of her jaw. Desire swept through him as her lips softly parted. He knew that kissing her would be the worst move he could make. He finally had Autumn where he wanted her, and the VCRP award for the number-one nursing home in the state was within his grasp.