The Doctor's Proposal Read Online Free PDF Page B

at last she managed to smile. He liked it when she smiled, he decided. She had a great smile.
    A killer smile.
    â€˜Australian doctors are trained in weightlifting?’
    â€˜Part of the training—just after learning where lungs are. But if you want to see strong… I have it on good authority that the man you’re about to meet was an all-time champion cabertosser in his youth. Small but tough is our Lord Angus.’
    â€˜What’s a caber?’ Susie asked, bemused, and he grinned.
    â€˜Who knows? That’s a Scottish secret. I’m not privy to such things. But just between you and me, I suspect it’s some sort of medieval instrument. Probably made out of boar’s testicles, meant for stirring porridge.’
    And to the sound of Susie’s chuckling—and Kirsty’s gasp of amazement—he led one woman and carried another up the steps of Loganaich Castle.
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    He’d made her sister smile.
    Kirsty helped Susie wash and undress, tucked her between sheets in the most sumptuous bed she’d ever seen and then stood back while Jake examined her. He examined her thoroughly, as if he had all the time in the world. The man who’d been in such a hurry a few minutes ago was acting now as if time was not important.
    He made Susie laugh.
    But as he did, he checked everything about her. Her heart rate, the baby’s heart rate, the baby’s position, her back. He examined the scarring. He checked sensation all over. He even found a set of bathroom scales and made Susie weigh herself. Normally an examination like this would have Susie climbing walls, but Susie tolerated it with equanimity and she even laughed some more.
    She never laughed these days.
    He told the best jokes, Kirsty thought as she stood well out of the way and watched the skilled way he drew Susie out. He made gentle cracks that you weren’t sure were jokes—or not until you looked into his eyes and saw the lurking twinkle. He was just what Susie needed.
    No, he was just what she needed, she thought gratefully as she watched him take over. For the first time in months the heavy responsibility for her sister’s health had been shifted to someone else.
    Maybe they could stay here for a while.
    She hadn’t even met Uncle Angus yet, she reminded herself. Their host. The earl.
    â€˜When did you last eat?’ Jake was asking Susie, and Kirsty had to haul herself together to listen to what he was saying. He hadSusie tucked back into bed after the weighing. She was smiling up at him, and the sight of her smiling sister made Kirsty smile.
    â€˜When did you last eat?’ Jake asked again, as she failed to answer, and Kirsty blinked and responded for her.
    â€˜Um… Lunchtime. Four or five hours ago.’
    â€˜What did you eat then, Susie?’ he asked her sister, and Kirsty blinked again. He’d gone straight to the heart of the matter. He was some doctor!
    â€˜I had a sandwich,’ Susie said, and Kirsty opened her mouth to say something but Jake glanced at her again. This man could speak with his eyes.
    She shut up—as silently ordered.
    â€˜How much of the sandwich did you eat, Susie?’
    â€˜I…’
    â€˜I want the truth.’ He was smiling but there was something about the way he said it that told Kirsty he already knew the truth.
    â€˜Half a sandwich,’ Susie whispered, and then as Jake’s eyes held hers—and held some more—she faltered. ‘A quarter, maybe.’
    â€˜Is there a reason you’re not eating?’
    â€˜Eating makes me feel sick.’
    Kirsty was holding her breath. The world was holding its breath.
    â€˜Has that been happening ever since your husband was killed?’
    They’d been tiptoeing round the edges for so long that this direct approach was almost shocking. Silence. Then… ‘Yes.’
    â€˜Have you talked to a professional about your problems with eating?’
    â€˜Why should I