Read Online Have Gown, Need Groom by Rita Herron - Free Book Online

sometimes helped Wiley with the books; was he paying her to be an accessory to a crime?
    Wiley squeezed Hannah’s arm and she nodded stiffly, jammed her hands in her lab-jacket pocket, then strode toward Jake’s room. He scrambled back to the bed, bumped into the lunch tray and nearly broke his toe. Biting back a cry of pain, he struggled to yank on the sweatpants, but fell against the bed, sending his backside into a painful spasm.
    A friendly, professional smile curved Hannah’s luscious lips when she walked in, and Jake clenched his jaw to hide his misery. He must look ridiculous with his pants around his ankles.
    “Are you all right?” she asked, indicating his state of undress. “Do you need help?”
    He grinned. “Doc, I’ve never had a woman offer to help me get dressed before.”
    She simply rolled her eyes. “I’ll go get a wheelchair.”
    When she slipped out the door, he chuckled at the blush that had stained her cheeks and kicked off the sweats. Digging in the bag, he found a pair of plain blue plaid cotton boxers from a discount store and pulled them on. They bagged a little on the sides, and he wondered if she’d bought them extra large because of the stitches. Had she bought underwear for her fiancé? Something silky or some of those bikini G-string things?
    Several minutes later, Hannah Hartwell appeared at the door with a wheelchair. “Ready to go?”
    Jake nodded and limped awkwardly across the room, grateful he could stand. He hated feeling weak and powerless beside her, hated that he had to lean on Hannah to situate himself in the chair. She smiled, handed him a paper bag with his personal items in it, and pushed him through the hallway. Two nurses watched from their station, a tall yuppie-looking doctor eyeing them with interest.
    “Since when are you escorting patients out the door, Hannah? Are we short on volunteers or nurses today?”
    Hannah’s smile seemed strained when she turned to look at him. “No, Seth, this is the man who got shot capturing that thief at my father’s car lot. Dad asked me to drive him home.”
    Jake glanced at the man’s name tag. Dr. Seth Broadhurst.
    “Can I talk to you for a minute?” Broadhurst asked.
    It seemed everyone wanted a word in private with Hannah today.
    “Sure.” Hannah set the brake on the wheelchair. “Mind if I leave you here for a second, Mr. Tippins?”
    Jake shrugged, feeling surly but not knowing the reason. “I’m not going anywhere.”
    Hannah smiled and took Broadhurst’s arm, ushering him into a corner. Jake strained to hear the conversation.
    “I’ve decided to take a little trip, go to that conference in Dallas for a few days, let some of the gossip around here die down.”
    “Oh, Seth, I don’t want you to go away. If anyone should leave, it should be me.”
    Two nurses bustled past, chatting, and a woman dragging a screaming toddler toward the doorway drowned out the rest of the conversation.
    Jake noticed Broadhurst squeeze Hannah’s hand, lean forward and kiss her on the cheek. A tight sensation gripped Jake’s stomach. The man was obviously still in love with Hannah—why else would he have to leave town to recover from their canceled wedding?
    Curiosity won over his rational thoughts. When Hannah returned to his side and pushed him into the elevator, he finally asked, “That one of the surgeons?”
    Hannah’s blue eyes darkened with anxiety. “No, he’s a psychiatrist.”
    “The man you left at the altar?”
    Her sharp look told him he’d spoken out of line.
    “I didn’t dump him, I…” She stared at the numbers on the elevator as if willing them to signal their arrival at the lobby. “I don’t have to explain my personal relationships to you, Mr. Tippins.”
    Jake fisted his hands on his lap. Obviously not. He didn’t have to think twice to see the differences between himself and her former fiancé—in her eyes he must look like a low-life salesman, a half-crippled one at that, while Broadhurst was