With no warning, her head swiveled in his direction and she nearly pinned his ears back with her sharply focused and suspicious gaze. “What did he tell you about me?”

  Ben figured he knew what she was getting at, but he decided she’d have to do some better fishing for it. “Same as he told all of us, I reckon. Mainly that you had all the qualifications and that he was leaving us in good hands. Reminded us that he was a young’un once, and came here with considerably less experience and knowledge than you’re bringing.” He noted that his answer did not exactly calm the waters. Her dark eyes were no longer narrowed, but one of her eyebrows remained arched fractionally higher than the other. He asked, “That’s all true, isn’t it? You said you were a doctor and I took you at your word. There’re folks who will want to see a paper that says you are.” Ben jerked his thumb over his shoulder to indicate the wagon bed. “I have to believe you got proof of that back there.”

  “My diploma. Yes. I have it.”

  “Framed?”

  “No.”

  He looked off in the distance and spoke more to himself than to her. “Damn. Thought it’d be framed.” When he looked at her again, he saw that suspiciousness had been replaced by curiosity. “Doc Dunlop had his diploma framed. He was that proud of it. Had it hanging in his office. There are plenty of folks in these parts claiming to be doctors that never studied for it. Sometimes they do all right. Sometimes they get run out of one town and move on to another.”

  “I’ll have it framed.”

  He was careful not to smile. “Probably for the best.”

  “It used to be in a frame. I took it out to make room for other things.”

  “Sure. Makes sense on account of you wanting to bring all your books.” He watched her purse her lips in disapproval, but she didn’t take the bait.

  “What else did he say?”

  Ben pretended to give it some thought. “He mentioned that he and your father were at the college together and that they stayed friends all these years.”

  “They corresponded regularly,” she said. “I don’t imagine he mentioned that he was my godfather.”

  Ben did not have to act surprised; he simply was. “That never came up. Mary Cherry might have known. She was his housekeeper and occasional assistant.”

  “I know who she is. I am hoping she will agree to work for me.”

  “I couldn’t speak to that. It never came up.”

  “Hmm.”

  Ben waited. The question was there, right on the tip of her tongue, but she was obviously loath to give it sound. “Give me a moment,” he said. “I’ll come around and help you down.” He started to rise, but this time he stopped because Dr. Woodhouse had a tight grip on the sleeve of his jacket. He expected that she would release him as soon as he sat, and when she didn’t, he was the one who raised an eyebrow. “Yes?”

  “You are being deliberately obtuse.”

  “You’re giving me too much credit. There’s folks who will tell you I can be obtuse without even trying.” He thought she might have growled at the back of her throat, and because he was imagining her fingers as talons, he was grateful when she released his sleeve.

  The question she had not wanted to ask directly finally came out in a single burst of sound. “Did he tell you that I was a woman?”

  Ben took a moment to study her. It was hard not to linger on her mouth, especially since she was worrying the inside of her lower lip, harder still not to think about nibbling on it himself. He blinked, met her eyes through the glass shield of her spectacles, and pushed all carnal thought to that mysterious part of his brain where he stored information about square roots and conjugating Latin verbs. “No,” he said finally. “Doc didn’t mention it. He probably figured I would be able to work that out on my own.”

  Jo Goodman is a USA Today bestselling author of numerous romance novels, including A Touch of Flame, A Touch of Frost, The Devil You Know, This Gun for Hire, In Want of a Wife, and True to the Law; and she is also a fan of the happily ever after. When not writing, she is a licensed professional counselor working with children and families in West Virginia’s northern panhandle.

  CONNECT ONLINE

  jogoodman.com

  facebook.com/jogoodmanromance

  What’s next on

  your reading list?

  Discover your next

  great read!

  Get personalized book picks and up-to-date news about this author.

  Sign up now.

 

 

  Jo Goodman, A Touch of Forever

 

 

  Thank you for reading books on GrayCity.Net
Share this book with friends