Free Marry Me by Jo Goodman Page B

regarded him narrowly. “I don’t smell anything. What do you have there?”
    “Broth and bread.” He watched her curl her lip in disapproval. “It’s what I believe you can tolerate.”
    “My stomach knows better.”
    Cole decided that conversation was an invitation and carried the tray in. He set it carefully on one corner of the washstand and then looked over his patient. The curl in her lip had disappeared, but her mouth was tight, suggesting she was in considerable pain. “I can give you some laudanum after you eat something.”
    “I don’t want laudanum ladled down my throat. It muddies my mind.”
    Cole didn’t ask about the circumstances that gave her familiarity with the opiate. Instead he said, “I’d like to examine you.”
    “I’ll eat.” Rhyne held out her hands for the tray.
    “I wasn’t trying to trick you into eating. I’ll still want to examine you.”
    She said nothing and kept her arms extended.
    Cole passed the tray and made sure she could balance it on her lap before he sat down. He propped his heels on the bed rail and folded his arms comfortably across his chest.
    “You’re going to watch me eat?” she asked.
    “I thought I would, yes.”
    “If I had my rifle …”
    “It’s under the bed on your right. Would you like me to hold the tray while you get it?”
    “You’d do that?”
    “If it would make you feel better.”
    Rhyne wondered if she could believe him. His expression was grave, too grave perhaps to be strictly credited, and it occurred to her that he was secretly amused. It followed that she amused him, and while that didn’t agree with her, it was better than being the object of pity.
    She tore off a corner of bread and pushed it into her mouth, aware that his eyes followed her movement. Wrapping two hands around the cup, she sipped the beef broth. The crust of day old bread softened in her mouth and she swallowed.
    “I don’t remember your name,” she said.
    “Cole Monroe.”
    Rhyne tore off another piece of bread. This time she dipped it in the broth before she put it in her mouth. “What’s the point of watching me? Doc Diggins never did.”
    “It’s already well established in town that I’m no Doc Diggins, but it’s possible that’s not always unflattering. I observe all my patients.”
    “It’s peculiar,” she said flatly.
    “You’re right-handed. You have no fixed contractures of your arms and legs, allowing you full extension of both. No curvature of your spine, and also no evidence of rachitis.” He responded to her raised eyebrow. “Rickets.”
    “You might have said so at the outset.”
    “Indeed, I might have.”
    He was practically daring her to shoot him, she decided.
    “That’s all?” she asked.
    “Well, there’s no spasticity in your movements, no gross deformities of your hips or feet. Except for the fact that your nose has been broken, there are no apparent physical deviations of your face. Your respiration is normal, your fever appears to have passed, and you’re able to make good eye contact.”
    “Maybe I’m just observing you.”
    He gave her a faint, knowing smile. “You’ve just proven that your gross hearing is within normal limits, as is your gross vision. Your color is improved this morning. There is no blue tinge to your lips or fingertips that would suggest a lack of oxygen to your tissues. As evidenced by the look you’re giving me now, I would say that you have coherent expression of thought and feeling.”
    “Are the hairs at the back of your neck standing up?”
    “They are.”
    “Huh. I guess I do have coherent expression.” She raised the cup of broth to her lips, watching him over the rim, and took another sip. When she set it down, she said, “So you’re done examining me.”
    “Hardly.”
    She nodded slowly, having expected that answer. “I don’t suppose I can talk you out of it.”
    “No. And it would be better all the way around if you didn’t fight me, either.”
    Rhyne couldn’t