by Leann Harris
“Don’t worry about your memory. I don’t know much about amnesia, but I’m sure yours will come around soon. The bump on your head might be the cause of your problem.”
She tried to stand, but he swept her up into his arms. The darn robe parted again, giving him a generous view of her legs. His gaze clashed with hers and she saw—there in his eyes—his awareness of her as a woman. With heart pounding, she grabbed the edges and, held them closed.
“Would you like for me to get you one of my T-shirts to wear under the robe?” he asked.
“Yes.”
He gently set her back on the toilet seat and disappeared from the bathroom, returning moments later with a T-shirt and some running shorts. Handing them to her, he stepped out into the hall. “Call me when you’re ready.”
She nodded and quickly slipped off the robe and put on the shirt and the shorts. But a chill swept over her, and she reached for the robe again.
“I’m ready,” she called out.
Instantly, Rafe was back in the room. His brow arched in surprise.
“I was cold.”
He scooped her up in his arms and started out of the room.
“You don’t have to carry me,” she protested. Of course, she wondered why she had even spoken. The surety of Rafe’s arms around her made her feel better.
“Until we know about your ankle, why don’t you let me carry you?”
He stated it so reasonably that all she could do was nod her permission.
Rafe walked down the hall through the living room and into the kitchen. He stopped by the back door. “You want to grab my keys?” He nodded toward the nail by the door. She noticed that he avoided looking directly at her.
Reaching out, she grabbed the keys and wrapped her fingers around the cold metal. Rafe made his way out into the garage, and placed her in the passenger seat of his truck. She handed him the keys and his skin brushed hers, sending a shiver up her arm.
“I’ll need to get my hat. I’ll be back in a minute.” He reemerged moments later wearing his off-white Stetson, looking like an official Texas Ranger. It was a comforting sight.
He stopped and leaned in the driver’s side of the truck. “Give me five minutes to unsaddle my horse.”
She nodded, and watched him untie his horse from the fence and lead him into the barn.
What was wrong with her to feel this attraction to a stranger? The fact was, she was a stranger to herself. She looked at her ring finger. There was nothing there, and no tan line to indicate she might have worn a ring. But for all she knew, she might be married with a dozen kids waiting at home for her, so she definitely had no business reacting to him this way.
Rafael appeared several minutes later and hopped into the truck. He didn’t say anything on the trip into town, but she could see the frown that creased his brow. His mind must be filled with as many questions as hers, she thought.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“The nearest medical help is in Saddle. The doc there is a trained E.R. doctor who moved out here after she married one of the deputies.”
“What county are we in?”
“Brewster. 6,193 square miles. Bigger than Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey and Delaware.”
“Big Bend.” The words were out of her mouth before she was conscious she’d said them.
His eyebrow arched. “Yeah. Big Bend National Park is in the southern part of the county. Do you remember anything else?”
She shook her head. “I don’t even know how I knew that.”
“Could be you’re a Texan. Most people in the state know of Big Bend and what county it’s in.”
“How do you figure that?”
“You sound like a Texan.”
It wasn’t much, but at least it was a thin thread to hold on to.
He glanced at her. “Does this scenery do anything for your memory?” he asked.
She stared at the rugged peaks in the distance, but nothing came to mind. Not so much as a glimmer. “No.” There was a wealth of defeat in her answer.
“Well, my educated guess is that you either live in Alpine, or you were visiting someone around Saddle.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Because I know everyone in Saddle. Also, I found you on one of the county roads, not near the interstate, so that would mean you were probably not just driving through. I’ll call around later and see if anyone was expecting you.”
“Sounds reasonable to me.” It also sounded reassuring. It appeared that Rafe didn’t plan on deserting her. She fiddled with the edges of the bathrobe, unwilling to let him see her reaction.
They fell silent for the rest of the ten-minute trip into Saddle. It was a small community made up of three streets. Two streets were residential, and the other was business: a gas station, restaurant, post office, sheriff’s office and feed store. Rafe pulled up to the first brick building and parked. A small sign by the door read “Clinic.” He came around, opened her door and swept her up in his arms. He carried her inside and nodded to the man and woman sitting in the waiting room.
“Hi, Marv, Sarah. How’s your son doing at college?”
“He loves the big city,” Marv answered.
Rafe stopped and looked at the older man. Lubbock—a big city? Well, he guessed, compared to Saddle, it was. Rafe grinned. “Well, tell George not to speed. The highway patrol out around there are always looking for college kids.”
The couple looked expectantly at Rafe to introduce them to the woman in his arms. But he smiled politely, then walked down the short hall. As they passed the closed door of the examining room, it opened and two people emerged: a woman in a lab coat and a young man probably about sixteen.
“Rafe, what are you doing here?” the woman in the lab coat asked.
A grin curved Rafe’s generous mouth. “I brought you a patient.”
“What a nice thing for a brother to do.” The doctor stepped away from the door and motioned them inside. “Why don’t you wait in there while I talk to Ben’s parents?”
Rafe nodded and entered the room, setting his patient on the examining table.
“That’s your sister?” she asked, amazement in her voice.
“Yup.” The greatest surprise of Rafe’s life was when his mom passed away eighteen months ago and he found, among her things, the name of his father. Finally, after several months of cursing the man and being angry at his callous behavior, curiosity had gotten the best of Rafe. He had confronted George Anderson at his Midland office. News that he’d fathered a son came first as a shock to the intrepid oilman, then as a delight.
Coincidentally, one of Rafe’s sisters had just moved to Saddle and married the deputy stationed there. For Rafe, who’d been raised as the only child of a single woman, having a family came as a mixed blessing.
His charge leaned forward, expecting more of an explanation. “And?”
He rested his hip on the cabinet opposite the examining table. “And what?”
Before she had the opportunity to answer, the doctor came back into the room. She paused just inside the door, studying first her patient, then Rafe. “Okay, Rafe, what can I do for you two?”
“This lady needs to be examined,” he answered, knowing that Dr. Alexandra Grey would want a more detailed answer.
Alex didn’t move from the door. She folded her arms across her chest and waited.
“After the flash floods we had this morning, I went looking for any stray cattle that might have been caught in the flood. I spotted Jane Doe here by the road.”
“Jane Doe?” Alex asked, surprise in her voice.
He nodded. “The lady doesn’t remember anything before she woke up and saw me crouching over her.”
Alex shook her head. “What a shock to have you as her first memory.” Her mouth turned up in a grin. She moved toward the examining table. “Any other injuries I should know about?”
Rafe pointed toward her head. “Aside from that bad-looking bump on her head, she has a swol
len ankle. I think it’s just a sprain, not broken.”
“Okay. Why don’t you wait in my office while I examine our Jane Doe.” Alex waited until her brother was out of the room, then turned back to her patient. She held out her hand. “I’m Dr. Alexandra Grey, Rafe’s sister.”
The woman on the table shook the doctor’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Dr. Grey. I wish I could tell you my name, but...I don’t know what it is.” She shrugged her shoulders.
“Well, let’s take care of that. Rafe called you Jane Doe, but you don’t look like a Jane Doe.” She rubbed her chin and pursed her lips. “Let’s see, Sheila? Bridget? No, Madeline.” She paused to see if she got any reaction from her patient. “That’s not it, either.” Alexandra stroked her chin, her gaze falling on the calendar hanging on the wall. “April.” She looked at her patient. “April—it fits you.”
The woman nodded. “I like that.”
“Well, April, let’s check out your head and ankle. Do you think that you’re injured anywhere else?”
April shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
“All right. Let’s have a look.”
Rafe paced around Alex’s office. He stopped by the door and looked across the hall at the examining room door. Before he could turn away, the door opened and Alex emerged.
“I need to x-ray April’s ankle. I have a wheelchair in the storeroom.”
“Her name is April?” Rafe asked, looking over Alex’s shoulder to the woman he’d found. “She remembered what she was doing on my land?”
Alex’s expression could only be termed long-suffering. “No, she hasn’t regained her memory.”
“Then why did you call her April?” Rafe’s gaze moved from his sister to his charge.
“Because neither she nor I thought she looked like a Jane Doe.”
His eyes widened.
“Don’t give me that look,” his sister replied.
“April,” he murmured. His gaze shifted from his sister to the beautiful, blond woman wearing his robe.
“Rafe, sometimes you have the soul of a heathen,” Alex commented.
“I might be a heathen,” he told his sister, “but that doesn’t change the fact that I’m a damned good cop.”
Alex grinned. “I didn’t doubt it.”
Twenty minutes later they were seated in Alex’s office. “Okay, April here has a mild concussion and a badly sprained ankle. But other than that, there aren’t any other physical problems that I can see.”
“Aside from not knowing who she is and not knowing anything about her past.”
Alex gave her brother a dirty look. “Thank you for pointing that out, brother of mine.”
“Well, do you have any idea when her memory will return?”
Folding her hands on her desk, Alex smiled at April. “No. It could return as soon as tomorrow or it could never return.”
“Terrific,” Rafe grumbled.
A trace of panic appeared in April’s eyes. Alex smiled, trying to reassure her patient. “Most people regain their lost memory. Very few people remain cut off from their past.” She looked at Rafe. “She’ll need to stay off that ankle for a while, keep it elevated. Tomorrow, heat on the ankle will speed up the healing. I have some crutches that I can lend April to help her get around.” She rose and disappeared into the storage room, reemerging a few moments later with a set of crutches.
“Thanks,” Rafe replied.
Alex leaned against her desk. “Since April doesn’t know who she is or where she was going, we’d better consider where she’s going to recuperate.”
“Could she stay with you?” Rafe asked his sister.
“The baby has just come down with chicken pox. It wouldn’t be a good idea to expose April to that now. Maybe she could stay with the Greggs out at their ranch.”
A look of panic crossed April’s face. “I thought I might...” Her words trailed off as both Alex and Rafe looked at her. “Uh, I mean...I thought I could stay with you.” She nodded toward Rafe.
There was such hope in her eyes that he couldn’t turn her down, even though his body was acting up. He was old enough to control himself. “If April would feel comfortable at my ranch, that’s fine with me.”
A smile appeared on April’s face, the first that Alex had seen since she’d met the woman. It was as if some unknown tension had left April’s body and she had relaxed. Well, the two of them certainly seemed comfortable together, Alex thought. As a matter of fact, Alex had never seen her normally taciturn brother more animated than he had been in the last hour.
Alex met her brother’s gaze and her eyebrow arched. “Then we have that problem solved.” Alex turned to April. “Do you need something to wear?”
“My things were wet, and I left them at Rafe’s house,” April answered, gazing at her hands folded in her lap.
“Well, if you need anything—nightgown, robe, girl things—just call,” Alex told her. “I think we’re probably the same size. Rafe, you’re going to need to keep an eye on April for the next few hours. If she gets sleepy or drowsy, call. She needs to stay awake to make sure everything is okay.”
Rafe stood and handed the crutches to April. When she placed them under her arms, the robe—his robe—gapped open to the waist, allowing him a generous view of her legs.
“Maybe April would like to borrow the bottoms of some scrubs so she can use the crutches,” Alex commented. “She might feel more comfortable.”
Rafe nodded and April gave her a smile of gratitude.
“All right, I’ll get them and take them into the examining room where you can change.”
Five minutes later, April emerged from the examining room dressed in the blue bottoms, but she still had on Rafe’s T-shirt. It was obvious she didn’t have anything on underneath.
Alex glanced at Rafe. “Maybe I should get April a scrub top, too.”
He felt like he’d been punched in the gut.
“I’d appreciate that,” April said, blushing.
Alex retrieved the top and handed it to April. While April changed, the doctor studied her brother. “You certainly have your work cut out for you,” she commented.
Rafe shrugged. “I’ve had harder tasks.”
Before she could respond, April emerged from the exam room dressed in the scrubs, Rafe’s clothes in her hands.
“You look very professional,” Alex declared. “Could be you are in the health field. What do you think, Rafe?”
“I think you make a better doctor than a detective,” he answered, stepping around her and grabbing his hat.
“Sometimes Rafael, you remind me so much of Dad, it’s scary.”
He grimaced—he was still touchy about his relationship to George Anderson—then looked at April. “Ready to go?”
“Yes.”
“Is your husband in his office?” Rafe asked Alex as he followed April out of the building.
“I think so, but I haven’t talked to him since this morning.”
“We’ll stop by and see him.” Rafe opened the truck door for April and lifted her onto the seat.
“Who is her husband?” April asked.
“Derek’s the deputy sheriff assigned to Saddle.”
April went deathly pale.
Chapter 2
April’s reaction peaked Rafe’s curiosity. The drive from the clinic to the sheriff’s office took less than a minute, and they were the only vehicle moving on the street. After parking the truck, Rafe walked around it, then opened her door.
“If you’ll hand me the crutches, I’ll help you with them.”
She hesitated, then slowly handed them to him.
Rafe felt a need to explain, to try to ease the strain he saw in her eyes. “Since we’re here, I thought we’d talk to the deputy to see if there is a report on a missing woman fitting your description. Although I have the same information at my ranch, it’s always better to have more than one set of eyes looking for clues.”
Her reluctance showed as clearly on her face as did
the sun rising over the Davis Mountains each morning. She glanced down at her lap. Past experience had taught him that the main reason most people were wary of the police was because they’d run afoul of the law.
“Is there some reason why we shouldn’t check with Derek?” he asked.
Her head jerked up. “Is this necessary?” she asked, which only added to his suspicions.
That sixth sense that cops develop began to yell at him that there was trouble here that had nothing to do with the woman’s memory loss.
Or maybe it did.
She looked down at the blue scrubs and bare feet. “I’m not exactly dressed to go visiting.” She looked pleased that she had come up with a reason.
The corners of his mouth turned up in a grin. “Don’t worry about it. Derek’s only concern will be about what happened. Besides, Derek’s one fine cop, the best at what he does. With him on the job, our chances of finding out who you are are much better.”
He held out his hand, waiting to help her down to the ground. With a minimum of fuss, she slipped out the door and allowed him to place a crutch under each arm.
The deputy was seated at the desk, talking on the phone. The instant they entered the office, he smiled and said into the receiver, “They’re here. I’ll talk to you later at home, sweetheart.” He hung up and stood.
“I take it that was Alex on the other end,” Rafe said to the deputy as he closed the door behind him.
“Yup.” He smiled and held out his hand to April. “I’m Derek Grey, deputy sheriff assigned to Saddle. And you must be April. My wife just told me about you.”
Despite Derek’s grin and friendly demeanor, April hesitated to take his hand. She gave him a painful smile and stepped backward toward Rafe.
Derek looked at Rafe, questions in his eyes.
Shrugging, Rafe helped April into one of the chairs in front of the desk. He sat in the other one and took off his Stetson.
“I take it that Alex told you about April’s memory loss. We came here to see if there was a report of a missing woman who fits April’s description. I know it’s kinda early, but there’s no reason not to check.”
Derek turned and pulled a file from the bookcase behind the desk. “Yesterday, the Department of Public Safety put out the new list of missing persons.” He opened the folder and sat down. “Let’s see—” His thumb ran down the list. “Do you know what kind of car she was driving?”
