Read Online Almost Twilight by Teresa McCarthy - Free Book Online

resident got
the order right, no more fatherly talks about getting married. Yes sir, this
was going to be one leisurely vacation with no one disturbing his peace of
mind.
    “Excuse
me.” 
    The
tap on his shoulder woke him from a deep sleep. A beautiful blond flight
attendant leaned toward him. Her perfume wove about his face like a trance.
    He
gave her his best Clearbrook smile. “Well, hello.” 
    She
smiled back. Perhaps he wouldn’t be alone in The Bahamas after all.
    “I’m
sorry to wake you. But one of my associates heard that you were a doctor. You
were, uh, talking to the pilot when you got on the plane, and well…you are a
doctor, aren’t you?”
    Wonderful,
some kid with airplane sickness again. “Yes, I am.”
    It seemed
someone had overhead Rafe’s quick conversation with the pilot, who had
recognized him from his stay at Clearbrook Valley Hospital last year.
    “A
medical doctor?” the attendant asked.
    Rafe
arched a black brow. “Is someone in need of my services?”
    The
flight attendant blushed. “Lady in 30A seems a bit uncomfortable, but she
assures me it’s nothing. I’ve already given her three drinks, and the man next
to her, whom I don’t think is her husband, says he’ll take care of her, but
something doesn’t seem right. She’s a bit green, and she’s clutching her chest
as if she might go any minute. I mean, the guy beside her ordered for her. I
assumed she knew him because she went along with the order, but well, I think
it could be a heart attack.”
    “A
heart attack?” Rafe replied, sitting up straighter. Probably another drunk, not
able to hold her liquor.
    Rafe
unfolded his tall frame from his comfortable seat and turned to the blond. “Okay,
show me the way.” 

Chapter
Four
     
    Rafe
followed the flight attendant. He glanced at the numbers below the storage
compartments and stopped at 30A.
    When
the flight attendant moved aside, Rafe got a glimpse of a pair of broad
shoulders blocking his view.
    The
aisle seat was open, and Rafe wondered if the lady in question had been suffocated
by the brute.
    “Would
you mind moving over a seat?” Rafe asked in a cool, doctor-like command.
    The
Viking turned his head. “Who are you?”
    “I’m
a doctor. I heard the lady’s sick.” 
    Rafe
still couldn’t get a good look at the woman, but he could see she had a nice
pair of legs that the man kept staring at. Her head was turned toward the
window, and Rafe noticed her white knuckles as her hands gripped the armrest. There
was no ring on her wedding finger either. He was getting a bad feeling here
too.
    “Is
she your wife?” he asked the man.
    “No.”
    “Fiancée?
Girlfriend?”
    “No,
just met her.”
    A
surge of protectiveness shot through Rafe. Whatever this man was doing, he
certainly wasn’t helping the lady. “Well, then, I suggest you move, so I can see
what’s wrong.”
    The man
sent Rafe an annoyed look, but moved aside. Rafe squeezed past him to sit
beside the dark-haired woman whose face was now pressed against the window.
    She had
twisted her body away from him and looked rather uncomfortable. A blanket was
thrown over her petite form, and her sweet perfume danced past Rafe’s nostrils.
He dragged his mind, trying to think where he had smelled that fragrance
before.
    Suddenly,
the lady’s forehead lifted, then fell with a thud against the window. Chestnut
curls bounced along her neck.  
    “Miss,
it’s all right. I’m a doctor. My name’s Dr. Clearbrook.” He touched her hands
and thought he heard a groan of distress. She wouldn’t face him.
    He turned
to the flight attendant who was anxiously waiting by his side. “I don’t think
it’s a heart attack,” he said. “But if it’s all right, I’ll take her up to
first class and have a look at her there.”
    The
attendant nodded, while the Viking grumbled and eased out of the aisle seat as
Rafe gently pulled the woman toward him.
    She
slouched toward the window again, as if she were in some kind