Memory Reload

by Rosemary Heim

“Now, we have a sandwich, some lemonade. Then, I think it’s time you took a little siesta.”

  She didn’t try to argue. Whether she liked it or not, whether he trusted her or not, he was all she had. It wasn’t much, but it was more than when she’d awakened on the beach.

  AJ ROLLED OVER AS SHE stretched, reveling in the soft comfort of the bed. She opened her eyes.

  Nothing looked familiar. She pushed herself up and looked around. Her breathing quickened as panic began to worm through her thoughts. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and realized she was wearing nothing but a short nightgown.

  She fought to remember something, anything.

  Footsteps in the hall stopped outside the bedroom door. A soft tap on the door was followed by a man’s voice. “AJ, you awake yet?”

  Ryan. Her breathing slowed as calm returned. Memories of yesterday flowed back, filling the void. The trip into Honolulu, shopping, meeting Jamie. After their late lunch, she’d lain down for a short nap. Rousing long enough to change out of her clothes and brush her teeth had been a struggle. Exhaustion and denial had pulled her back to the blessed oblivion of sleep.

  Now it was morning and Ryan was at her door. “I’ll be right out.”

  “No rush, sugar.” The door opened and he poked his head into the room. “I’m heading out for a run, shouldn’t…”

  His words stumbled to a halt and his gaze caressed her from the floor, up her legs, over the white satin nightgown she wore, before coming to rest on her mouth. Heat rose in her cheeks and warmed her middle. Her breathing quickened again, this time for an entirely different reason. She wrapped her arms around herself as awareness washed over her.

  She remembered this much. Everything else remained shrouded in a black cloth, but this flaring heat and sharp awareness of his presence were familiar.

  “Did you sleep okay?” Ryan’s voice sounded rough.

  All she could manage was a nod.

  “Well,” he cleared his throat. “I better get moving. I shouldn’t be gone more’n an hour.” He backed out of the room and closed the door.

  She leaned over, hugging herself. This was insanity. How could she feel such complete and overwhelming attraction for a man who didn’t even trust her? The conversation she’d overheard still haunted her. I’m better off keeping her close. If she is a setup, she might let something slip.

  Did he really think she was faking the amnesia, that she was some kind of plant? What could she possibly be involved in that she would do something like that?

  Maybe he was some modern James Bond type who got the girl for the moment then walked away.

  Why did that possibility hurt more than anything else?

  The questions chased through her mind in an unending circle. Her head began to throb. The idea of crawling back into bed and hiding under the pillows tugged at her. I just want everything to be normal. I want to know what normal is.

  She stood, gathered together some of her new clothes and headed to the shower. She’d felt better after a shower yesterday, maybe it would do the same trick today.

  RYAN PUSHED HIMSELF, running harder than he had all week. He needed to keep in top physical shape for his work. He shouldn’t slack off just because he was on two weeks of R and R.

  He was not trying to outrun thoughts of AJ’s long, long legs and short, short nightgown.

  The nightgown he’d picked out for her.

  The nightgown he’d fantasized stripping off her slender body.

  He ran harder.

  The estate’s main house came into view and he slowed. A small stand of palm trees hid the guest house. Both houses had the illusion of complete privacy, yet only a short walk separated them.

  As he neared the larger house, he spied Jamie on the patio and waved. Jamie waved back and motioned him over. Ryan hesitated, torn between wanting to get back to AJ and needing to talk with his friend. Need won out.

  Jamie met him at the edge of the patio with a towel and a glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice. Ryan dried the sweat streaming down his face, hung the towel around his neck and downed the juice.

  “Thanks.” He handed the glass back. He paced the edge of the patio to cool down.

  “Sleep well?” Jamie asked in what Ryan had dubbed the “professional soother” voice. The cultured tones could lull a body into all kinds of admissions if a body wasn’t careful.

  “Yep.”

  “Liar. Want to talk about it?”

  “Nope.” He met Jamie’s cool blue gaze without flinching.

  “Very well. How is your houseguest?”

  Ryan wiped his face again, using the action to avoid answering for a moment. He didn’t want to talk about AJ. Of course, refusing would be as good as admitting that thoughts of her sleeping across the hall from him had kept him up most of the night. He flopped into a chair. “How ’bout another glass of juice. Or coffee if you’ve got something decent.”

  Jamie filled a cup with a rich, fragrant brew, added two teaspoons of sugar and handed it across the glass-topped table. He relaxed into his own chair, leaning back and resting his elbows on the chair arms. His steepled fingers rested against his lips and he looked at Ryan with a steady gaze.

  This was Jamie’s tell-me-all-about-it-I’m-your-best-friend-in-the-world pose. Ryan sighed. It was no use trying to avoid the topic of AJ. Besides, he had a few questions of his own. “You canceled the doctor’s appointment, didn’t you?”

  Jamie nodded but didn’t add any explanation.

  Ryan leaned forward and set his coffee cup on the table. “Why? She doesn’t seem to take kindly to just sitting and waiting for something to happen. She was counting on getting some direction from someone who actually knows something about amnesia.”

  “Once I met her, I realized it would not be of any benefit for her to see the doctor.” Jamie’s gaze didn’t waver. “I created the excuse for the cancellation because I didn’t think you’d want to lie to her.”

  “I don’t need you making those kinds of decisions for me.” Ryan didn’t like Jamie’s presumption any more than AJ would like knowing how much the truth was already being bent.

  “She didn’t cope well?” Jamie didn’t react to the snap in Ryan’s voice.

  “What do you think? She slept all afternoon and through the night.”

  “Sleep can be very healing.”

  “It didn’t do a lick of good.” Ryan sank back into the cushioned patio chair. “I don’t think she woke up remembering much of anything, otherwise I’m pretty sure she woulda said something.”

  “How did you fill the time while she slept?”

  “I did a little more Net surfing. There’s a lot of information about amnesia out there and very little in the way of solid solutions. There’s no guarantee she’ll regain one-hundred percent of her memories and trying to hurry it along only gives her headaches.”

  “What does Jacquelyn think of the situation? You have spoken with her?”

  Ryan nodded as he fiddled with his coffee cup, turning it back and forth on its saucer. “She thinks I’m being set up.”

  “Interesting. Why would she think that?”

  “It goes with the job.” He shrugged. “She’s naturally suspicious.”

  “That’s the only reason?”

  “No.” A sip of his sweetened coffee burned a trail down his throat. “I found a book hidden under a false bottom in AJ’s camera bag. It’s a record of some sort, near as I can tell. But it’s written in some kind of code. The best I’ve been able to figure out so far is it documents payoffs and exchanges of some kind.”

  “Did AJ have an explanation for it?”

  Ryan shook his head. “I haven’t told her I found it.” He paused for another sip of coffee. “I hoped to figure out the code by myself, but I’m gonna have to turn it over to the encryption boys.”

  “Would you like me to take a look at it?”

  Ryan shrugged. “Sure, if you think you might pick up on something, it’s worth a try.”

  “Wha
t else?”

  “I’ll need to switch vehicles for a while. We tailed someone yesterday. Much as I like driving the ’Vette, it’s a bit too obvious if I have to do that again.”

  “Take the four-by-four. It blends in pretty well. What else?”

  He shook his head and met Jamie’s level gaze. “Nothing. Unless you’ve got any insights?”

  “That would depend on what kind of insight you want.”

  “I’m flying blind here.” Ryan cradled the delicate china cup in both hands. “At this point, I’ll take anything you can give me. Your second sight is more reliable than many an eyewitness report I’ve seen.”

  “There isn’t anything very concrete I can tell you.”

  “Then how about the nonconcrete. You don’t normally go out of your way to touch someone, but you sure held her hand for long enough yesterday.”

  Jamie raised an eyebrow.

  Ryan ignored the silent question. Jealousy was not a factor in his question. “You picked up on something, didn’t you? She kept thinking she knew you from somewhere.”

  “I’ve never met her. However, if she is who I think she is, I have heard of her. She may have heard of me through the same channel.”

  “And that would be…?”

  “A mutual acquaintance.”

  “Who?”

  “A member of the police force who consulted with me on several cases.”

  “AJ refuses to go anywhere near the police. How do you see her fitting into this little scenario?”

  “You did ask for nonconcrete.” Jamie straightened his silverware. A frown shadowed his normally placid expression. “This is where we get into very nonconcrete. The detective made mention of a childhood friend, someone who had been in trouble.”

  “Trouble? What kind?”

  Jamie puffed out a small sigh. “Justin didn’t go into details. All he would say was she’d trusted the wrong people. He and his brother helped her get back on track. They were very proud of her photographic talents.”

  Justin. That was one of the names Kimo had mentioned at the photo lab. Ryan gently returned his coffee cup to its saucer and pushed it away. The rich brew had lost its flavor. “When was this?”

  Jamie looked out across the beach, seeming to search the horizon for the answer. “The last time I consulted with him on a case…it was nearly two years ago.”

  “You haven’t worked with this Justin again?”

  Sadness darkened Jamie’s eyes. “He was killed not long after that.”

  It was different when Justin was still alive. Kimo’s words came back to Ryan. “What was the brother’s name?”

  “David.”

  “Justin and David.” AJ had nearly swooned when the lab owner mentioned those names yesterday. Ryan leaned forward, clasping his hands in a half-conscious prayer gesture. “What’s their last name?”

  “Angelini.”

  “And the woman?”

  Jamie shook his head. “I’m sorry. He referred to her only as Alex, never a last name.”

  Ryan shrugged. “Nothing you’ve said explains why she’s afraid of the police.”

  “That is a question only she can answer.”

  Ryan’s chair scraped across the patio bricks as he stood. “Provided she ever remembers.” He stepped off the patio and headed back to the guest house.

  “Ryan,” Jamie called.

  He turned and looked back.

  “Be careful. There’s more at risk here than you know.”

  Ryan backtracked to stand in front of his friend. “Maybe you should tell me what else you know.”

  Jamie shook his head. “I really don’t know anything. Just…be careful. Watch your back.”

  Chapter Seven

  Watch your back. Folks seemed mighty fond of giving Ryan that particular bit of advice. He was getting mighty tired of it.

  When he got back to the guest cottage, AJ was sitting in the kitchen, sipping on tea and nibbling a piece of toast. Her camera bag sat on the floor next to her.

  A deep hunger tugged at him. The sensation was becoming habit every time he looked at AJ. There was nothing he could do about that particular appetite, so he ignored it.

  The rumbling of his empty stomach left little doubt about another hunger, one that he could remedy. The OJ and coffee he’d had at Jamie’s was fixing to eat a hole in his belly if he didn’t get some real food soon.

  “I don’t know about you, sugar, but I’m hungry enough to start gnawing on that camera bag of yours. Why don’t I get cleaned up and we can stop for some breakfast before we hit the lab.”

  “Okay.” She didn’t look up at him, just sat there hunched over, tracing around a pattern in the Formica tabletop.

  Ryan stared at the top of her head, at a loss for how to break through her quiet. He wanted to take her into his arms and hold her, feel her pressed against him, smell the soft fragrance that clung to her skin. Every fiber of his upbringing demanded that he offer her some comfort. Every survival instinct warned him to tread carefully.

  The morning continued downhill as he rushed through his shower and shave, nicking himself in the process. By the time they picked up Jamie’s hunter-green Explorer and were headed for town, his nerves hummed right along with the tires on the road.

  He checked in the rearview mirror, but their six was clean. No one had been hanging around outside of the estate gates when they’d left. There hadn’t been another vehicle within sight for several miles. If they were being followed it would have to be by air, and, even at his most paranoid, Ryan doubted that could be the case. It was too early in the game for such extreme measures.

  Beside him, AJ sat silent, her head turned away, presumably looking out the side window. His investigative training wanted to drill her about Justin and David, the trouble she’d been in, where she’d been, why she’d needed saving, why he hadn’t been the one…no. Wrong track, boyo.

  He glanced at her. Her knuckles showed white against the black nylon camera bag she clutched in her lap. He was beginning to hate that bag and the way she clung to it like a shield.

  They rounded a corner in the road and the small breakfast joint they’d eaten at yesterday appeared. He pulled into the parking lot.

  AJ dragged her attention back to her surroundings. “Do you always eat breakfast here?”

  Ryan grinned. “If I did, I’d have to double my morning run. But it’s comfort food.”

  “And you thought I could use a little comfort?”

  His smile changed, softened. “Sugar, I figured we both could.” He hopped out of the Explorer and crossed around to open her door. Before she could stop him, he tugged her camera bag from her hands. A moment of vulnerability flashed in her eyes.

  His mama taught him to treat a woman with respect, to protect her. If she’d witnessed this little ploy, she’d’a given him what for. He was beginning to wonder if he needed to protect AJ from himself.

  Before he repented, she accepted his silent challenge. Instead of reaching for her camera bag, she placed her hand in his and slid off the leather seat.

  Never mind comfort food. The heat generated by the mere touch of her fingers held a whole other kind of comfort. He released her hand to lock the car door before settling his arm across her back.

  One day and already he was accustomed to the feel of her, liked how the gentle curve of her hip fit the cup of his hand. This connection to another person answered a need he’d long ago denied.

  Something small and painful lodged in his throat. He swallowed and ruthlessly beat the emotion back into its tidy little hole. Vulnerability he didn’t do.

  The restaurant door provided an excuse to break the physical contact. He pulled it open for AJ and breathed a silent thanks that he’d recognized the approaching danger before it was too late.

  AJ RELAXED AGAINST THE BACK of the restaurant booth. Like yesterday, Ryan seemed intent on entertaining her with stories of his life.

  The clatter and din of the diner faded to the background, the waitress’s
interruptions went unnoticed as she watched him, fascinated by the expressions and lightning-quick mood changes his face revealed. He only paused every now and then to push his sun-streaked hair out of his eyes. He seemed to need his hands to speak.

  On impulse, she caught his right hand in hers. He fell silent as she turned it palm up, angling it to catch the light streaming in through the large window beside their booth. She brushed her fingers over the roughened skin of his palm.

  He cleared his throat. “D’you see anything interesting?”

  “Uh-huh. You’ve done manual labor rather recently. The calluses are still prominent.”

  “My last assignment.” He pushed their empty plates out of the way. “I was on a ranch for six months.”

  “Ahh. A cowboy.”

  “It was just a role. And it doesn’t take much of a palm reader to figure that out.” A glint of humor filtered through some other emotion she couldn’t quite identify in his glance.

  She accepted his challenge with a smile and slipped into a role of her own. “Ahh. Come to Madame Alexandra. She sees all and tells some,” she said in a thick east European accent as she began tracing the various lines and ridges of his palm. “In your hand I see character, strength, loyalty. You have a very long life line. And a strong heart line. You tend to fall in love easily. But when you finally love, truly love, it will be forever.” She curled his hand into a fist and looked at the single line below his little finger. “You will marry, once only, and believe yourself to be lucky.”

  He tightened his hand, capturing the fingers of her left hand in his hold. Her breath caught in her throat. Where their skin touched heat sparked, sending a chain reaction chasing along her nerves.

  His thumb brushed over the triple gold bands on her ring finger. “Is that how it is for you, Alexandra?” he asked, voice low and husky. “Do you feel lucky to be married?”

  She stared at the ring on her finger. An ice-cold pain seeped through her heart and lodged in her throat. Breathing became a conscious effort. She leaned back, pulling her hand from Ryan’s loose hold and tucking it into her lap. Shadows, faint as the first light of dawn, beat at the curtain drawn over her memory. Two figures silhouetted beside her, holding her, laughing with her.