Read Online The Surgeon's Favorite Nurse by Teresa Southwick - Free Book Online

didn’t cross. He’d been so sure she was single. Then her words sank in. “Was? That means you’re not married now?”
    “No. Now I’m a widow.” She stopped moving and looked up at him. “My husband died two years ago.”
    “I’m sorry.”
    That’s not what he’d expected to hear, but the words came automatically. Early in his training he’d memorized how to say the correct words to a grieving family. Although everything possible was done for your friend, brother, sister, wife, husband, or child, the damage was too severe and we were unable to save his/her life. I’m sorry for your loss .
    She was young and odds were that her husband hadn’t been very old. He couldn’t help wondering. Illness? Accident? “What happened?”
    An expression that looked a lot like guilt made the gold in her hazel eyes darker, more brown than green. “That’s not really the issue. I just needed you to know that I had a husband. He died. And you’re the first man I’ve slept with—”
    Information he wished he’d had a little while ago. He’d have been… What? More tender? Gentler? At least she wasn’t a virgin. But in a way she was. Her first experience after a trauma was a different kind of pressure. Had he known…would he have backed off? Maybe. But probably not. He’d wanted her too badly. Now he could be tender and gentle as he reassured her that it was okay for her to move on.
    “It’s all right, Hope.”
    “No, it’s not.” Her mouth tightened with anger. “I don’t blame you. I don’t blame anyone.”
    “Then what’s the problem?”
    “It—” Her cheeks flushed and her gaze dropped. “What we did, it just feels wrong.”
    “Not to me,” he said.
    Her gaze lifted to meet his. “How nice for you. I wish it were that easy for me, but it’s not. It feels like cheating.”
    Close, he thought. But not exactly. Not for her.
    “Life goes on,” he said as gently as possible. “You’re a single woman. You have needs and you’re allowed to—”
    “You asked what was wrong,” she interrupted. “I’m sorry I can’t explain it any better, but—”
    The phone in the kitchen rang and they both jumped. He didn’t move, just glanced at it, then looked back at her as it sounded again.
    “Aren’t you going to pick up?” she asked.
    He shook his head. “If it was an emergency they’d have called the pager or cell. Whoever that is can leave a message. Now, you were saying?”
    “Actually I was finished. Now I’m leaving. It would be best.”
    “Best for who?” He dragged his fingers through his hair. “Just seems to me like you’re running.”
    His voice on the machine came on and curtly ordered, “Leave a message.”
    A familiar female voice said, “Hi, baby, it’s Blair. Europe was fabulous. My aunt is in from New York and is dying to meet my boyfriend. That would be you, in case you were wondering. Mother and Daddy are looking forward to seeing you for dinner Sunday. Can’t wait to tell you all about my trip. Call me back.”
    Color drained from Hope’s cheeks. A series of emotions kaleidoscoped across her expressive face before she whispered, “You have a girlfriend?”

Chapter Five
    “I t’s not what you think,” Jake said.
    “It never is,” Hope countered.
    Sleeping with Jake made her a slimy cheater. Her husband was gone, but she didn’t feel single. Death hadn’t ended her feelings for him. Kevin was the first, last and only man she would ever let into her heart.
    Now that she knew Jake was seeing someone, that made him a slimy cheater, too, not even in the same league with the husband she’d lost. Rampant gossip said Jake was a playboy, and by definition that meant many women and that alone made her choice bad. Stupid, actually, although in all the talk about him, there hadn’t been a single hint of a girlfriend or even steadily dating anyone. But there was a woman out there who thought he was her boyfriend. He’d never said squat about that to Hope when there was a