Mail Order Bride: A Bride for the Doctor (Bozeman Brides Book 4) by Emily Woods Page A

mother began spending money like crazy. That’s when the fighting began, and it has never ended. Even on the night before I came, they were screaming at each other.” She did stop talking now. It was too hard to go on.
    Geoff cradled her elbow in his hand, led her over to a boulder near the side of the road and helped her sit down. He said nothing but sat close to her, his body pressed up against her enough to feel his heat.
    Instead of shirking from the contact as she would have in the past, she leaned into it, seeking comfort from the contact. Without quite knowing how it happened, she nestled into his embrace and wept against his chest. His hands stroked her back in soothing circles, much like how one would comfort a child.
    There was nothing intimate in the gesture, but Kate felt herself melting against him. His touch was like a balm to her tattered soul. She soaked it up. When he ceased his actions, she turned her face up questioningly. In that moment, she suddenly realized how close they were, how their lips were only a few inches apart.
    Like two magnets, they were drawn to each other. Her head arched up a fraction, and his lowered the tiniest bit. When their lips touched, it was like a bolt of lightning. But she didn’t shy away. She wrapped her arms around his neck and deepened the embrace, completely unaware of what she was doing. It was an instinctive need to be close, to have contact with this warm, kind, wonderful man.
    Geoff didn’t protest. He cupped the side of her face with his free hand and pushed his fingers into her hair. The pins that held it so firmly in place slid out and her hair tumbled down.
    Within a minute, Kate suddenly gasped and put both her hands on his chest, pushing him hard. He drew back, his eyes bewildered.
    “I’m so sorry,” she whimpered. “I don’t know what I’m doing. I tell you I don’t want to get involved in any kind of personal relationship and then I practically throw myself into your arms! I’m so sorry!”
    He regarded her calmly. “I’m not sure if you noticed, but I didn’t mind catching you.” His eyes moved over her unbound hair. “I never realized how long it is,” he murmured softly. He reached out to touch it, but she moved away and attempted to replace the pins. Too many had fallen into the dirt, and she had to leave it.
    “I’d better go,” she said, a catch in her voice. “I can’t…I don’t…”
    Without another word, she jumped up and scurried away.
    “Kate,” he called, after her. “Don’t run away. Please.” Her short strides were no match for his long ones, and he soon caught up with her. But when he tried to talk, she shook her head and avoided eye contact.
    When they arrived in front of the boarding house, he reached out and caught her hand.
    “Don’t,” she protested. “I just want to be alone right now. I can’t imagine what you think of me.”
    “I think,” he started in a soft voice, not letting go of her hand, but instead pulling her toward him, “that you are the loveliest woman I ever met, and that you are in pain. I also think that God sent you here for a reason, and that reason might be to be with me. Would you please think about that?”
    He lifted her hand to his lips and pressed a light kiss on the inside of her wrist.
    When he released her hand, she slipped inside wordlessly and closed the door, wishing fervently that she could shut off her mind as easily.
    She raced up the stairs and managed to get inside her room without running into anyone else. Throwing herself on the bed, she wept violently for a long time. When her tears were spent, she lay there motionless for a while before sitting up. Wiping her eyes, she spotted the large black book that Geoff had given her yesterday.
    With a heavy sigh, she walked over to where it lay on the small desk.
    “Okay, God,” she murmured aloud. “I give up. I can’t do this my way anymore.”
    She picked up the big book and brought it to the window seat, opening it