Love Songs Read Free Page B

underestimate the opposition. Your name is Alanna Evans … soon to be Knight.”
    For the first time Alanna felt threatened. If he had seemed less sure of himself, less arrogant, she might have taken it all as a joke. But this man was no crank if his reputation, or his family’s, was worth anything. She was usually able to keep on top of things, yet the fact of hearing her name from Alex Knight’s tongue was upsetting. Or, she wondered fleetingly, was it in the warm inflection that his tongue gave to it…?
    “How did you know that?” she asked, fighting for composure.
    “Sylvia Frazier is a friend. And there aren’t too many blond-haired beauties with owl-eyes who drop by the clinic at this hour.” He paused, savoring the brief unsureness in her expression before directing his attention to her face. “Do you always hide behind them?”
    Alanna frowned in puzzlement. “Behind what?”
    “Those glasses. They’re very large and, there at the top, the part through which you’re glaring at me now, very dark. They must be convenient for hiding your emotions from the world. Are you frightened of what the world might see?”
    To her chagrin, dark lenses notwithstanding, Alanna realized that she was glaring. Quickly she forced a smile. It was part of the game, she mused, meeting the challenge with a steady hand that reached up, slowly, toward the tortoiseshell frames. Smiling now in gentle defiance, she removed the glasses to reveal large eyes of a deep, soft brown.
    “I wear these glasses for one basic reason,” she explained carefully, playing on his sense of expectance. Her pause was deliberate and drama-filled.
    “And what might that be?”
    “I’m nearsighted.” The words flowed forth in a provocative drawl. Alanna grinned, then rose to the challenge as the man across from her presented several straightened fingers for her to count. “Three,” she proclaimed proudly. “I’m not that bad, though I hope I’m not disappointing you. I do manage to live quite well with the weakness.”
    A mocking eyebrow rose. “I never doubted it for a minute. I’m just surprised you haven’t tried contact lenses. Most women prefer—”
    “I’m not most women. My glasses and I get along just fine.” The object under discussion lay, temporarily forgotten, on the table.
    “You have lovely eyes.” His teasing tone was gone and Alanna’s mouth felt suddenly dry. Though she sipped the last of her now-cooled coffee, she refused to let his relentless gaze intimidate her. Then, with the twinkle of an eye, his humor made a comeback. “It’s actually gratifying to know that, while the world sees only your specs, I’ll get to see the gems beneath.”
    “You presume quite a bit.”
    “Not without good reason.”
    He could match her, word for word, argument for argument. Though there was an undercurrent of teasing now, there was something else—something that gave Alanna pause.
    “You are serious, aren’t you?” she asked, puzzled, blunt.
    Her bluntness was matched by his response. “Dead serious. I intend to marry you.” Everything in his expression—from the deep set of those charcoal eyes to the matter-of-fact angle of his head to the firm slant of his lips, which monopolized her gaze for a hypnotic moment—reinforced his earnestness.
    Exasperated, she shook her head. “Please, Mr. Knight—”
    “Alex!”
    “Alex … you may be serious, but please believe that I am, too. I have no intention of marrying you or anyone else. My life is just fine the way it is.”
    “Is it?” He sat forward, challenging her afresh. “Is that why you’re here? Is that why you can’t sleep at night?”
    Alanna stiffened. “I thought dealings with doctors were supposed to be confidential. Whoever is feeding you your information is out of line.” The indignance in her tone was unmistakable. “And if you have any power at all in this hospital you should see that the breach is sealed.”
    “Perhaps,” he drawled deeply,