Healing His Heart Read Online Free

put on that morning. But she'd eat nails before showing concern for her clothing in front of Caleb.
    They worked together on the floor frame, Julia gingerly placing the planks in position while Caleb nailed. He had the economical style of a man who had spent a significant amount of time with a hammer in his hand. A small tap and a driving slam and the nail was in.
    "You're letting me help. Aren't you afraid I might mess something up?" she said, a taunting note in her voice.
    ''I'm right here to make sure you don't," he shot back.
    Waiting for her to put the plank down, Caleb rubbed his neck for the third time. Julia opened her mouth to speak and then shut it again. Intuition told her that Caleb wasn't the kind of guy that liked people commenting on his personal business, and his neck was definitely his personal business.
    That wise resolution stayed with her for maybe two minutes. When he tilted his head to the side and stretched it, trying to get some relief, she laid down the plank she was holding. Even know-it-all men deserved relief when it was so easily at hand.
    A hand as cool as silk touched Caleb's bare shoulder.
    He went still.
    "Mmmm. It's really tight right there, isn't it?" Julia's fingers pressed lightly along the rigidly corded muscle to his neck. A hundred other muscles tensed up in sympathy. She stood behind him on the other side of the floor beam, close enough to surround him with her scent. He'd spent weeks trying to ignore that seductive fragrance.
    "What are you doing, Julia?" Caleb asked tightly.
    "Come here." She climbed up onto the subflooring gracefully despite her skirt, and walked over to the edge of the foundation.
    "What?"
    "I said, come here," she repeated patiently as she dropped lightly to the ground.
    Frowning, Caleb stepped up and walked over to her.
    "What's the problem?"
    Julia pointed to the planked floor. "Sit."
    "Sit?"
    She smiled confidently up at him. "Yes, sit. I'm going to fix your neck."
    "You're going to fix my what?"
    "Your neck." Julia took his hand and pulled him down.
    He crouched warily, looking at her through narrowed eyes. The woman irritated him. The soft translucence of her skin irritated him, the inviting curve of her fanny irritated him and the confidence in her smile really irritated him. One of the most delectable of all God's creations and she had to be a doctor. Damn. What the hell was she up to?
    "Turn around." She indicated the motion with her hand.
    Reluctantly, he obeyed and felt himself stiffen when her hands moved over his bare shoulders, gently examining the tense muscles. His skin heated beneath her hands. He balanced there on the balls of his feet, unmoving while she touched him, his conscious mind willing the sensations away. His instincts were shrieking the pleasures of meaningless sex, but his brain screamed something altogether different. Julia was big trouble.
    "How long has your neck been hurting?" Her fingers brushed ag ainst the hair beneath his cap.
    "A couple of days. I strained it." Hell, the damned kink in his neck was the least of his problems lately.
    Julia patted his back. "Lie down."
    Caleb glanced back over his shoulder suspiciously.
    "Julia, just what do you think you're doing?"
    ''I'm a doctor, remember?" She smiled.
    "It's not something I'm likely to forget," he said tightly. "I'd still like to know what you're doing."
    "Of course," she responded soothingly. "You've pulled a muscle at the cervical level and we can ease the spasm if we do a little treatment. It's one of the things that makes us Doctors of Osteopathy so popular with our patients. Feels wonderful, scout's honor," Julia pledged, holding up one hand in salute.
    "You're a D.O.? Not a 'real' doctor?" Caleb taunted, unable to control the urge.
    Annoyance flared in her eyes and for a brief moment he thought he had her. But this was obviously her sore point.
    She smiled at him again, her voice staying level. "Believe it or not, D.O.s are the only other medical professionals that have