Enticed

By Kianna Alexander

In pre-Civil War America, the small town of Graham, in Adams County, Pennsylvania, lies just north of the Mason Dixon line. There are many secrets surrounding the town’s founding, but its mission is clear: to be a haven for citizens of all races.
These erotic tales explore the blossoming love of three couples, during a time of upheaval and uncertainty. Meet the men who will risk everything to protect the women they love: The Passionate Protectors.

Enticed
With no other physicians nearby, Dr. Jonathan Doyle is often overwhelmed by his workload. When the runaway Naomi Weathers faints at his doorstep, he treats her malady and sees a solution to his own. Can this beautiful woman, with the blood of Zulu healers flowing in her veins, escape her past to become his nurse and more?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bryant Street Publishing
• Release date: May 31, 2022
• ISBN: 9781094440101

Kianna Alexander

Like any good Southern belle, Kianna Alexander wears many hats: loving wife, doting mama, advice-dispensing sister, and gabbing girlfriend. She's a voracious reader, an amateur seamstress and occasional painter in oils. Chocolate, American history, sweet tea, and Idris Elba are a few of her favorite things.  A native of the TarHeel state, Kianna still lives there with her husband, two kids, and a collection of well-loved vintage 80's Barbie dolls.

Book preview

ENTICED

Kianna Alexander

BRYANT STREET PUBLISHING

Dedication

In honor of the doctors, nurses, and staff at the University of North Carolina Children’s Hospital and Pediatric Oncology Department, who gave me the gift of saving my son’s life and have worked tirelessly to do the same for countless other families. My gratitude and admiration know no bounds. Thank you.

Chapter One

Shenandoah County, Virginia

July 1849

Naomi Weathers awoke from an exhausted slumber. Sheltered beneath the worn roof of an abandoned barn, she looked up. Through a large hole in the roof, she could see the night sky above. Fat, gray clouds obscured the stars, and heralded a coming storm.

Sitting up, she realized her entire upper body was damp with sweat. She felt hot, and her head pounded like a drum. Opening the top few buttons of her shirt, she fanned herself with a hand, but that didn’t seem to help the heat enveloping her. She cursed.

It’s a fever.

It didn’t matter; she had to go on. Resolved, she sipped from her water gourd to soothe her parched, scratchy throat. She needed to get moving so she could cover as much distance as possible before sunrise. The cloud-shrouded night would provide her with the shadowy darkness she needed to cover a great distance undetected. Righting her shirt, she rose. The barn’s interior swam around her, and she stood still, willing her foggy mind to correct itself. Once the room stopped reeling, she picked up her carpetbag from the hay bale it rested on and left the barn on wobbly legs.

As the moon rose higher behind the clouds, she journeyed on. Pain assaulted her joints, making each step a chore. She had no idea what was ailing her, but she couldn’t stop.

If she was going to die, she would do it in the free state.

The sky opened, and fat raindrops began to pelt her. They cooled her feverish body and allowed her to walk on. Dragging her boot covered feet through the thick mud surrounding them, she trudged on, wet, tired, but grateful to be alive and headed toward freedom.

As the sun painted the sky at dawn, she spotted a simple, hand-painted wooden sign, erected by a lonely dirt road. It read: Adams County, Pennsylvania. Too weak to shout for joy, she smiled instead, and followed the road.

Her mind was settled on finding a doctor. She’d no coin to pay, but she needed something for this cussed fever. Mustering what little strength she had remaining, she trudged on.

DR. JONATHAN DOYLE sat in his office, reading over the records of one of his patients. At times like this, he dearly wished there was another doctor to serve the people of Graham. He rubbed his hand over his weary eyes. In his tiny corner of Adams County, almost a day’s ride from Philadelphia, medical professionals were in short supply.

When he’d graduated from National Medical College in Washington, he’d chosen Graham because he knew he could live his life as a free man while remaining close to his aging mother. His mixed ancestry allowed him to pass for white, and he’d done that when the situation called for it. Still, the workload was heavy here, and he often found himself working late into the evening. In addition to his long days, he fielded late night requests from the townsfolk to attend at births and care for the gravely ill.

It was a wonder he ever slept. Because he was without a wife, nearly every unattached woman in the county was looking to yoke her wagon to his. As a doctor, he had the money and status that many of them craved. Still, he wasn’t keen on marrying some empty-headed young girl just because she made herself available. He wanted a woman of substance, intelligent as well as beautiful. Until that woman presented herself, he was content to let medicine be his only mistress.

As he slid the papers into his desk drawer, he felt an odd sensation. There was a presence in the room, one that made the air vibrate with intensity. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end, and he looked up from his work to see who, or what, had just altered the atmosphere of his office.

In the doorway stood a petite, mud-caked woman gripping a worn carpetbag. For a moment, their eyes met as she leaned against the door’s wooden frame for support. The sorrow and exhaustion in the brown orbs touched his very soul.

My, even beneath all that grime, she’s a beauty.

For a long moment, their eyes held, and he felt his heart turn over in his chest. Despite her obvious tiredness and the dirt-streaked clothes, she appeared to his eyes like a sun-burnished goddess, an Aphrodite in rags.

While he admired her, she swayed precariously and as he rushed to her aid, she crumpled to the floor like a dropped sack of apples.

Kneeling beside her, he opened his medical bag. Carefully, he cradled her upper body in the crook of his left arm. Bringing out his smelling salts, he waved the vial beneath the nose of his patient.

She sneezed with such force her petite frame shook. Her eyes popped open and searched frantically as if to ascertain where she was. Who are you? she croaked. And, where am I?

You’re in Graham, and I’m Jonathan Doyle. I’m the doctor here.

Graham, she repeated. Pennsylvania?

Yes, ma’am. He saw the joy light her chestnut eyes and the sight touched him. A runaway, I presume.

Her face fell; her entire body tensed. Sir, I...

Jonathan smiled knowingly. He knew his café au lait tone and dark, wavy locks had likely made her assume him white, as most people did when they first met him. Don’t be alarmed, Cheri. I’m a man of color. Noting her shocked expression, he continued. My mother is mulatto, and my father was a white Frenchman.

Relaxing, she noticed, seemingly for the first time, that he was holding her. Her eyes widened, and her cheeks reddened. I’m Naomi. Thank you for your kindness, Dr. Doyle.

He fought the rising temptation to trace his finger along her mud-streaked cheek. You’re most welcome, Miss Naomi. He laid the back of his hand onto her feverish, damp forehead. You’re ill, my dear.

I’m fine, she insisted, trying to sit up. She grimaced in pain, then returned to her prone position. Oh...

Her symptoms and the pallor hanging over her bronze skin pointed to serious illness. Fever, body aches... He shook his head grimly. Looks like you’ve fallen victim to the ague. I need to treat you.

She raised a hand to her forehead, a frown creasing her brow. I can’t stay here. I’ve got to get to Canada.

It’s not a request, Naomi. He let his seriousness be known. You must be treated. People have died from the ague. When you’re recovered, you’ll be free to go on your way. As the words slipped from his mouth, something inside him protested the idea. They had just met, and he already knew he would be bereft if she exited his life.

She slumped a bit, sighed. I’m too weak to argue. But how will I pay you? I don’t have any coin. Her eyes swung low, as if she were ashamed.

He shifted his gaze upward for a moment, thinking. A solution revealed itself, one that would ease her mind as well as his workload. I am in dire need of a nurse to help me around here. You can work off your debt that way. Is that agreeable?

She looked thoughtful for a moment, then nodded.

Her agreement pleased him much more than he’d expected. He could feel the smile spreading across his face. Good. Then I’ll show you to the washroom, where you can freshen up.

He extended his hand to help her up. She accepted his assistance, struggling a bit before she got to her feet. She gathered her carpetbag and followed him down a short hallway.

When she stepped out into the front of the doctor’s office again, wearing an old, but clean shirt and dark skirt, Naomi felt renewed. The clothes she had traveled in were a soiled bundle inside her carpetbag. Since she only had two sets of clothing, she’d need to avail herself of a washboard once she was settled.

Was it fortune or fate that had brought her to the doorstep of this painfully handsome doctor? Whatever it was, she thanked the ancestors for him and his kind nature. She still hobbled a bit from the body aches gripping her muscles, but at least she would have his care to keep her in the land of the living. After she recovered from her sickness, she vowed to be as helpful to him as she could.

As she passed the doctor’s