LITMIR.BIZ

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loneliness. Shadows cast the room into near darkness by the time her host returned.

      He carried a tray which he set on a wooden chest at the foot of the bed. She feared the sudden onslaught of bright light from the fixture overhead, but instead, he turned on a small antique table lamp with a cream silk shade. The diffused glow was bearable.

      He stood beside her. “You need to sit up and eat something.”

      Questions clogged her throat. The smell wafting from a handmade earthenware container made her stomach growl loudly. He didn’t comment, but helped her into a seated position. His manner was matter-of-fact. Everywhere his skin touched hers, she burned.

      His expression was hard to read. When she was ready, he placed the tray across her lap. She sucked in a breath as she moved her leg beneath the covers. She hadn’t even realized until that moment that she had injured more than her head.

      He answered her unspoken question. “Jacob put six or seven stitches in your shin. You hit some sharp gravel when you…” His voice trailed off, and she saw discomfiture on his face. He pulled up a straight-back chair and watched her eat. If she hadn’t been starving, his intense scrutiny would have made her nervous. But it must have been hours since she’d had any food, and she was hungry.

      He, or someone, had prepared chicken soup, which required far more effort than simply opening a can. Large chunks of white meat mingled with carrots and celery in a fragrant broth. She tore off a hunk of the still-warm wheat bread and consumed it with unladylike haste.

      Neither she nor her companion spoke a word until she had cleaned her plate, or in this case, her bowl.

      Removing the trappings of the decidedly fine dinner, Gareth—was that his name?—sat back down and folded his arms across his chest.

      He was dressed casually in old faded jeans and bare feet. But he had buttoned his top half into a rich burgundy poet’s shirt made of an unusual handwoven fabric. Some men might have appeared ridiculous in such garb. On him, the shirt looked perfectly natural, enhancing his air of confidence and male superiority.

      She struggled to conquer panic, postponing the moment of truth. “I need to go to the bathroom.” It galled her that she required his help to stand up. Her injured leg threatened to crumple beneath her, but after a moment, she was able to shuffle to the facilities.

      The bathroom was enormous, with a stone-lined, glass-enclosed shower. She caught a sudden mental picture of the mysterious male’s huge body—nude—glistening beneath the spray of water and soap.

      Her knees went weak. Despite her distress, she was stingingly aware of her host’s blatant sexuality. She took care of necessities, washed up, and then made the mistake of glancing into the mirror. The image confused her. Good Lord. She was so white her freckles stood out in relief, and her hair was a bird’s nest.

      She rummaged without guilt through his drawers until she found a comb. But when she tried to run it through the worst of the tangles, she scraped against her injured skull and cried out at the pain.

      He was beside her in an instant, not even making a pretense of knocking. “What is it?” he demanded, his gaze fierce. “Are you sick again?” In an instant he saw what she was trying to do. “Forget your hair,” he muttered, scooping her into his arms and carrying her back to bed.

      When she was settled, ice packs back in place, he handed her two pain pills and insisted she wash them down with milk. She felt like a child being soothed by a parent, but everything about her reaction to this strange man was entirely adult. He headed for the door. “Don’t go,” she blurted out, blushing as if he could see her inner turmoil. “I don’t want to be alone.”

      He returned to the chair, swinging it around to straddle the seat, and folded his arms across the back. His expression was guarded. “You’re perfectly safe,” he said, his low voice rumbling across her shattered nerves with a tactile stroke. “Jacob says you’ll recover rapidly.”

      Any bit of softness she sensed in him moments before had been replaced with almost palpable hostility and suspicion. What in the heck did he have to fear from her?

      She picked at the edge of the blanket. “Does your brother live with you?”

      He frowned. “Jacob has a house on the property. Why did you come here?”

      Her tiny surge of energy abated rapidly, leaving her weak and sick again. She slid down in the bed and turned her head away from him toward the open window. “I don’t know,” she said dully.

      “Look at me.”

      She did so reluctantly, feeling embarrassed and disoriented.

      He frowned. “You’re not making sense.”

      She bit her lower lip, feeling the hot sting of tears behind her eyes. “You seem angry. Is it because of me?”

      If she hadn’t been watching him so closely, she might have missed it. For the flicker of a second, alarm flashed in his eyes and his white-knuckled fingers gripped the back of the chair. But as quickly as it appeared, the expression went away.

      He shrugged. “Not at all. You’ll be on your way soon enough.”

      He was lying. She knew it with a certainty that filled her chest with indignation. Her presence in his house was a problem. A big one. She threw back the covers, panicked and agitated. “I’ll go.”

      His frown blackened as he straightened the bedding. “Don’t be ridiculous. You’re in no shape to go anywhere tonight. Stay in my bed. But tomorrow, you’re history.”

      The pain in her head bested her. That and a heart-pounding sense of foreboding. She clenched the edge of the sheet in her hands, fighting hysteria. “Please,” she whispered.

      “Please what?” Now his expression was confused.

      “Please tell me who I am.”

      Two

      Gareth narrowed his eyes, trying to disguise his shock. Here it was. The ploy. The act. Part one of whatever scam she was running. She couldn’t be for real… could she?

      He kept his expression bland. “Amnesia? Really? We’re going to do the daytime soap opera thing?” He shrugged. “Okay. I’ll play along. I’m Gareth. Your name is Gracie Darlington. You’re from Savannah. Jacob and I checked your driver’s license.”

      He watched her bottom lip quiver until she bit down on it… hard. She made an almost palpable effort to gather herself. A gifted actress could do as much. But the look of sheer terror in her painfully transparent gaze would be hard to manufacture. She sucked in a ragged breath. “How did I get here? Do I have a car outside?”

      He shook his head. “As near as I can tell, you hiked up the mountain. Which is no small feat, by the way. There are no cleared trails at the bottom. Your arms and legs are all scratched.”

      “Do I have a cell phone?”

      He cocked his head, studying her face. “I’ll check.” The only item she’d had with her when she arrived was the pink carryall Jacob had examined earlier. Gareth rummaged in it without remorse and, in a zippered pocket, found a Droid phone. He turned it on and handed it to her, tossing the tote on the bed beside Gracie. Fortunately the battery seemed to be fully charged. Gracie pulled up the contact screen.

      “Well, at least you remember how to do that.” His thick sarcasm made her wince, but she didn’t look at him. Instead she studied the list of names as if she were cramming for a test. Focused. Intent.

      When she finally looked up, her beautiful eyes were shiny with tears. “None of these names mean a thing to me,” she whispered. One drop spilled over. “I don’t understand. Why can’t I remember?”

      He took the phone from her, squashing a reluctant sympathy. Gareth Wolff was no pushover. Not anymore. “You whacked your head when you fell off my porch. Jacob’s a doctor. He says you’ll be fine.” But Jacob had left before

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