Quite the Catch Read Online Free PDF Page A

danger
lurked. And if he didn’t know what he was facing, either one
of them could get hurt or killed.
    He
liked the pretty nurse who’d plucked him out of the river and brought him home.
She possessed the kind of stubborn will and steely nerve most women lacked,
tempered with kindness. Even though he knew nothing about his past but a vague
inkling that he was a law enforcement officer, she attracted him. An invisible
pull between them tugged at his heart, stronger than an ocean tide or river
current. He’d like to get to know her better and see if they might build their
shared attraction into something more, but he didn’t know if he had the luxury
or the right.
    I could be married or engaged or
in a relationship. I might even be a dad. Somewhere, surely there’s someone
waiting for me, even if it’s my parents or a brother or sister or grandma.
    Joshua
held up his left hand. He didn’t wear a ring but then some guys didn’t. But on
close scrutiny, he saw no marks to indicate he’d ever worn one so maybe he
didn’t have a wife or family. He hoped not, partly because he’d rather not be
worrying someone and also because Tina appealed to him.
    As
he lathered up and scrubbed his body, wincing when he touched the worst spots,
he tried to remember. The harder he tried, though, the less he remembered, so
he gave up and finished the shower. He dried off and tried not to get blood on
the towels. He put on the underwear and sweatpants but left the shirt for later
so that Tina could treat his wound. Joshua peered into the fogged mirror to try
to see it and gauge how bad it might be but he couldn’t see very well. Twisting
around to get a better view was painful. He gave up the effort and brushed his
teeth. When he ran his hand over his chin, he decided he didn’t need a shave so
he opened the door and emerged.
    After
the hot shower and warm bathroom, the house seemed chilly. His feet were cold
and he made a mental note to ask Tina if there might be a pair of socks he
could wear. She wasn’t in the bedroom so he checked the kitchen but found her
in the living room. When she glanced up from reading, her expression shifted
and he thought he saw admiration in her face for his bare torso.
    “Hey,”
she said. “You survived the shower, I see.”
    “Yeah,
so far, so good,” he told her. “I left my shirt off so you could do whatever
you need to do.”
    “Let’s
go to the kitchen. I put the med basket on the table and there’s better light.”
    After
straddling a ladder-backed chair, Joshua cringed when she probed the wound with
her fingers. “It’s not deep,” she said. “I’m going to put some antiseptic cream
on it, then spray it with more and put a gauze bandage over it. It may sting
and although so far it seems clean, the antibiotics will help just in case
there’s any infection too.”
    Sting
turned out to be a major understatement. Whatever she applied burned with a vengeance,
but he pressed his lips together and didn’t make any noise. The last thing he’d
want would be to come across as a wimp to this woman. To avoid dwelling on the
pain, he tried to think of songs, then let them play
in his head. Without realizing it, he began to hum and he might not have
noticed if Tina hadn’t started singing.
    “Joshua fought the battle of
Jericho, Jericho, Jericho,” she sang.
    “And the walls came tumbling down.”
    The
words hit a chord within Joshua and he suspected it went deeper than his name.
“Sing it again,” he told her.
    She
started at the beginning and ran through each verse, adding the refrain, but she
never stopped working. Tina sang as she bandaged his side and nodded. “There!
Go ahead and put your shirt on while I get the antibiotics. So what’s the deal
with the song? I mean I get that you like it but it’s not exactly a lullaby.”
    Something
about it niggled in his brain but he couldn’t quite nail it. “It means
something, but I don’t know what.”
    “Well,
your name’s Joshua and