The Lady Who Lived Again Read Online Free Page A

lieu of payment for stitching Les’s finger. Had Jace known Les always had an ample supply of fresh venison on hand, he’d have asked for it earlier instead of wasting an entire day in the woods in pursuit of an animal that had vanished into thin air. But then he wouldn’t have met the young woman he couldn’t get out of his mind.
    There was something so haunting about her. Those soulful brown eyes and flush cheeks. Those lips. Her delicate visage opposed the stiff pride in her shoulders, the brusque lift of her chin. Jace couldn’t recall ever being so intrigued by a woman. Fearlessness was a rare quality in a woman, but one Miss Sutter seemed to possess in spades.
    From her angry reaction, he’d obviously struck a nerve by questioning her sanity. But what the devil had she expected after her reckless behavior with a wild and wounded animal? Their strange encounter, while memorable, hadn’t gone well. Stranger still was that Jace had been in Misty Lake for a month before crossing her path. Literally.
    While the town would soon fill with summer guests from the city, Madeline Sutter was a local. Even the residents on the far outskirts of town had managed to sate their curiosity about the new doctor by stopping by his office or “accidentally” bumping into him somewhere.
    Jace glanced around the kitchen of Mrs. Tremont’s remote cottage in the woods, wondering if Madeline Sutter called such a place home. His curiosity became too much to contain.
    “I met your neighbor this morning,” he said. “Madeline Sutter.”
    Mrs. Tremont stopped chewing, then swallowed hard. “Oh, that one.”
    Not exactly the response he’d expected. “She asked me to send her regards.”
    With an unpleasant twist of her lips, she speared a piece of meat with her fork, then popped it into her mouth.
    Jace waited as she chewed, but she offered nothing further on the subject. Her silence intrigued him.
    “She lives with her grandfather?” he pressed.
    She frowned, her eyes sinking into a sea of deep wrinkles. “Adam Sutter should have sent her away after the accident. Would have been better for everyone, the girl included.”
    “Accident?”
    “Wagon accident, three years ago. Worst misfortune ever to strike this town.” Her voice dipped low with the weight of her sorrow. “Madeline Sutter was one of four girls inside the wagon when it crashed into a tree.” Mrs. Tremont set down her fork. “All four were killed.”
    Jace tilted his head, wondering for a moment if he’d heard her correctly. “But you said she was one of four—”
    “She died, too.”
    Jace blinked.
    “Mrs. Tremont, that doesn’t make sense,” he challenged, shaking his head.
    “Sense or no sense, the girl was as dead as a doornail and laid out with the others until the next day.”
    He leaned forward. “What happened the next day?”
    “She opened her eyes.”
    Christ Almighty . Jace sat back in his seat. He’d read of such extraordinary cases, where comatose patients awoke after days, sometimes weeks. Of course those patients weren’t pronounced dead. Thinking on it, Jace supposed he could understand how it might happen, given the circumstances and Misty Lake’s remote location.
    Accidents involving multiple victims were always chaotic. The distraction of hysterical relatives and bystanders often hindered treatment. Especially in a small community like this one, where the physician knew the victims and their families personally. In all the confusion, Doctor Filmore had obviously missed Madeline’s pulse. Jace blew out a breath as he imagined the scene. “That must have been quite a shock.”
    “It was terrifying,” the old woman agreed. Closing her troubled eyes, she shuddered for effect. “To see her awake from the dead like she did…”
    The words stopped him short. Mrs. Tremont didn’t strike him as one prone to theatrics, but surely she couldn’t be serious.
    “Ma’am, you do realize that the doctor made a mistake.” Jace paused.