Excerpt of Love A Stranger by Heide Katros

"Did you have a chance to have a look at the pictures from our trip to Disney?"

Christina involuntarily stiffened, but she managed to keep a straight face. "Yes, some of them were very good and you could see how much Justin enjoyed the visit."

"Yeah, and what about Dr. McDreamy? I wonder how good that man looks without a shiner, if he already looks so delish with one." Nanny Benson laughed gleefully.

"Okay, so Dr. Trattou looks rather good, but he is no dreamboat."

Nanny Benson shot Christina a sidelong glance and made a face. "He sure rubbed you the wrong way, didn’t he?"

"He didn’t rub me, as you so crudely put it, one way or the other. I just don’t care for the man. He comes across arrogant."

"Well, you have a right to feel as you do, but I think he is great. I sent him a few snapshots, since he asked for them for his pin-up board."

Christina’s heart skipped a couple of beats. She bit her lip not to blurt out that she wished Brenda had not done that. The less she made of it, the better it would be. Besides, men were notorious not to see the obvious…as if there was anything to see.

That night, she googled Dr. Trattou and what she found out did not sit well with her. Dr. Trent Trattou had served a stint in the military as a medic. She checked the dates. That was a little over three years ago. He completed his internship at Emory Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, again the date coincided with the secret she had so carefully stored away, and his middle name was Jackson.

"My friends call me T.J. but you may call me Trent." The laughing eyes with their thick fringe of dark lashes came back into focus. She had never been able to discern their exact color, but she had known that they were light. His hair had been short, just growing back from the military style cut he had worn during his service. Could a haircut change the looks of a man so drastically?

She sat back and stared at the screen with its damning facts. Could you so completely deny something that you would not recognize someone, yet feel an animosity toward that person, because your guilt gnawed at your insides?