The Surgeon and the Princess Karin Baine (websites to read books for free .TXT) 📖

He must’ve sensed her tension because he stepped back, putting space between them, not being intrusive. ‘I do hope very much she’s going to be all right. Maybe Dean’s left a message to update me.’ He pulled out his phone and shook his head. ‘Nothing, but he’s probably on his way south and, to be fair, there’s no reason why I should be at the top of his list of people to tell.’

She was grateful for his small gesture of understanding and for not overdoing it. It made her feel she wasn’t dealing with this completely alone, which was silly as she could talk to Maisie any time. ‘I didn’t know about you coming to stay, though Kayla did try to tell me something before the medical staff whisked her inside the hospital. She wasn’t talking coherently and I’m only guessing it might’ve been about you.’ Now what? Did she offer a complete stranger a room for the night? It wasn’t in her to kick him out when he was new to town, though he could probably still go along the road to the other house.

‘It was a last-minute arrangement after the accommodation I’d organised was withdrawn due to someone else now not leaving.’ Doubt was filtering through the exhaustion coming off the man in waves. ‘Maybe I should go into town and find a hotel for the night. I don’t want to cause any more worries for Kayla or Dean.’ Again, he locked his gaze on her. ‘Or you. I am very sorry for this.’ His apology sounded genuine.

‘Don’t worry about it.’ She was shattered, her brain whirring all over the place. What were the choices? ‘It’s not up to me to say, but it sounds like there’d be no problem if you want to go to the house.’ The guy was dropping on his feet, and obviously hungry by the way he kept glancing at the cooling pizza. Just as well she’d ordered an extra-large one. There went tomorrow’s lunch. Shifting the box to the table, she collected plates and paper napkins, and nodded. ‘Let’s eat. Maybe you should try to get hold of Dean afterwards.’

‘I will.’ Hope was filling his eyes and lifting his drooping shoulders.

Mallory yawned, no longer able to hold herself upright, her whole body starting to sag with her own share of exhaustion. The need for a hot shower was becoming urgent, which was a normal response after a tricky rescue flight, especially when it involved someone she knew, something that happened quite often as she’d grown up here. Today’s trip, flying Kayla to the hospital, had been particularly gruelling. Her friend was barely getting her life back together and then this. Now Mallory just wanted to unwind, but there was a foreigner in her house who needed help. And a lock on the bathroom door in case he wasn’t as genuine as she’d begun to think.

Shade was happily chomping her way through her food, the tinny clicks against the bowl as she tongued up dried biscuits loud in the sudden silence. If she wasn’t perturbed by their visitor, Mallory believed she was safe. After closing the curtains in the lounge and kitchen-dining area, she flicked on the heat pump that she’d forgotten to pre-set that morning, and said, ‘Let’s eat before we do anything else.’

Josue pulled out a chair for her. ‘You are being so kind. As I said, I’m Josue, from Nice. I’m working at the hospital for two months before going home. I’m also joining the search and rescue outfit. Can I ask your name?’ He held out his hand.

She hadn’t told him? Of course she hadn’t. She’d been too busy asserting herself. Slipping her hand into his to give a friendly shake, she ignored the heat that spilled into her and said, ‘Mallory Baine.’ She studied his face more deeply and nearly gasped. Talk about being blind before, or perhaps she had been too focused on him as an intruder and not a man, because now she saw good looking didn’t begin to describe him.

A strong jawline, a hint of stubble darkening his chin and lower cheeks, generous lips and those big eyes that seemed to miss nothing. Wow. Then what he’d said dropped into her bemused head, and she tugged free of that warm grasp. ‘I volunteer for S and R. That’s why I was flying tonight.’ So this man would be on her patch over the coming weeks. Seemed they had been destined to meet, which shouldn’t be an issue, except for the sudden tapping going on under her ribs that wasn’t about finding a stranger in her house, and more about how he was waking up her stalled libido. It had been a while since her last fling, and she didn’t want another. These days she was more inclined to want the whole package. And Josue wasn’t going to be that. Apparently, he was here short term, while she was looking for someone to share the bed and mow the lawns. Someone to have a family with.

‘We’ll be seeing a bit of each other then,’ he replied, unknowingly agreeing with her earlier thoughts.

The accompanying smile went straight to her chest, spreading tendrils of warmth throughout the chill brought on by tiredness and the shock of finding a stranger in her house. Though she was getting used to him already. Tap, tap, went her pulse. Shut up.

‘I guess we will. S and R can be busy.’ This was getting out of hand. She’d met Josue less than fifteen minutes ago in the oddest situation and already he had her thinking about him in ways she didn’t usually consider men. Two particular horrors having hurt her in the past had, until recently, kept her only wanting the occasional fling. Lately, though, she’d started wanting to find that one person to live with and love and share everything, even when there wasn’t much time in her hectic life for a relationship, which was a deliberate