Leo tried to recall a moment that was more perfect than watching the woman he loved explode in pleasure around him. His dreams, his fantasy hadn’t come close to the reality of making love with her, and that was saying something considering the potency of those imaginings had sent him to more than his share of cold showers.
He rolled to his side, pulling her with him, but instead of settling into his side, she ended up half on top of him, her leg thrown over his as she sank into him.
“So two months of foreplay worked pretty well.” She pressed her lips against his shoulder, licked the sweat from his skin before shimmying up his body. “Imagine all the time we’ve wasted.”
“We can make up for it.” Right now, all he wanted was to extend this moment, memorize the feel of her in his arms, the way her hair spilled over the two of them, tangled tresses of liquid fire as her hands became restless and began to search his body. “I need to tell you something.”
“Okay,” Jane purred as his fingers trailed up and down her spine. Then she kissed him, so deeply, so completely, he suspected she stoked the fire in his soul. “What is it?”
He waited until she inched back, just enough for him to see her complete face, the deep brown eyes he longed to wake up to. The full, swollen-lipped smile he knew was only for him. “I love you, Skye Colton.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“Jane,” he added with a smile. “Sorry, but it’s important to address the facts. This bubble we’re in won’t last forever. You are, to everyone else in the world, Skye Colton. You’re going to have to accept that.” He stroked a finger down the side of her face, silently pleading with her to understand. “But you’ll always be my Jane.”
Her smile returned, as did the twinkle in her eyes. “And to think I thought that a horrible name when you gave it to me.”
Another kiss. Another touch. Another exploration had him groaning into her mouth. But as he tried to roll her under him, she pushed against his shoulders, pinned him to the mattress and straddled him. The groan in the back of his throat sounded more like a growl as she arched her back, jutting her breasts as she ran her hands through the length of her hair, letting it fall all around her.
“Jane...”
“This time’s my turn.” She rotated her hips, lifted herself up and shifted slightly even as he was reaching for the box beside the bed. “Ah!” Leaning forward, she tapped a finger against his hand and removed one of the foil packets. “Good thing you got a whole box.” She moaned as she settled back into her spot, then arched her neck, biting her lip in a way that told him this time wasn’t going to last as long as she might like. “By the way...”
She was killing him, with each movement, each rotation of her body, she was draining the life out of him. And nothing had ever felt better.
“By the way what?” He gripped her hips in his hands, stilled her motions until she looked at him, her eyes glazed, dazed, and smiling.
“Oh.” She gasped then moaned. “I love you, too, cowboy.” She dropped the packet on his chest. “Now, are you going to do this or am I?”
Jane managed to stifle the scream before it ripped out of her throat. She shot up in bed, the terror of the dream following her into the darkness of Leo’s bedroom, but in an instant, the fear began to fade as Leo’s arms came around her and pulled her into his chest.
“It’s okay. I’ve got you.” He stroked her hair as her breathing eased. The wheezing in her chest faded as she squeezed her eyes shut. She focused on him, the strength of him, the warmth of him. The knowledge that he was, perhaps had always been, the only person she could rely on. “Tell me,” he murmured into her hair before he pressed his lips against her temple. He settled back against the headboard, drew her close. “Tell me what you saw this time.”
She swiped at her cheeks, but found them dry. No tears this time, and the fact she hadn’t sobbed herself free felt like a badge of courage. “Same thing. But...different. I could see something.”
“His face?”
“No.” She sat up straighter, but didn’t move out of the circle of his arms. “No, not his face. But his name. Letters. Initials.” She squinted into the darkness, trying to pull the dream from her memory. “GG. Sounds like some psychopathic grandmother. Gigi.” She might have giggled if she hadn’t been trying to concentrate so hard. “The uniform he was wearing, it wasn’t black. It was blue. Navy blue.”
Leo’s hand stilled at the base of her spine. “The Roaring Springs Police Department sometimes wears navy-colored uniforms.”
“Do they? No wonder I freak out every time I see one of their officers.”
“Was there anything else new? Where were you?”
“I’m not sure. The road was empty. Then the spinning lights in my rearview mirror blinded me. I couldn’t see. That’s when he hit me.”
“With his car?”
“Mmm.” She nodded. “From behind. I think I hit something, got knocked out. I could hear the sound of his boots crunching in the glass. That’s what brought me to consciousness. I couldn’t get out, couldn’t get the seat belt off.” She was trembling now, the adrenaline coursing through her system draining the more she thought about it. “He broke the window to get to me. I tried to get free, claw my way to the passenger door, but he grabbed...”
“Your ankle.” Leo sat up and scooped her into his lap so he could replace the now invisible bruises with his own hand.
“He dragged me out by my foot. That’s when I wake up. Every time.” She sank into him with a sigh. “Every time I wake up in the same place.”
“Maybe because that’s all you remember.”
“But do I? Remember?” she asked. “Is it a dream or a memory?” She winced as the throbbing in her head began again. Jane pinched her lips tight, forcing herself not to complain. He’d been concerned enough about her headaches before they’d made love; she could only imagine the demands he’d make now.
“I think it might be both. We should have you write down everything you said.”
Whatever warmth she’d been feeling vanished. “You mean so we can go to the police with it.”
“Yes.”
“Even though in my dreams, it’s the police who attacked me.”
A second of hesitation, then, “Yes.”
“Brilliant idea.” She scrambled off his lap and clicked on the bedside table lamp. “Let’s just have me turn myself in to whoever tried to kill me.”
“Jane—”
“No! I do not want to go to the police. I don’t trust them. Any of them.” His expression barely shifted from one of calm placation. “And don’t look at me that way. You don’t get to humor me. This is my decision, Leo. Mine. It’s my life. What happened, happened to me and you don’t get to decide how I move forward.” She searched the floor for her underwear and dragged it on.
“Except you aren’t.” He folded his hands in his lap, on top of the beige sheet, and crossed his ankles. “You’re still hiding.”
“I’m doing a bit more than hiding now, aren’t I? What happened today doesn’t change my mind about the police, Leo. What happened today doesn’t give you any say over my life.”
“Does loving you?”
“What?” When she realized she couldn’t wear his discarded buttonless shirt, she yanked open a dresser drawer and grabbed one of his T-shirts.
“Does loving you give me any say over anything?”
“I...don’t know.” She kept her back to him. He had a point. “I don’t know about a lot of things. Why do we have to spoil this? Why can’t we just—Oh!” He’d moved silently, out of bed and to her side without her hearing him. “Might have to put a bell around you or something,” she grumbled.
His hands settled on her shoulders, gently squeezing until she relaxed beneath his touch. He bent his head, pressed a kiss against the back of one shoulder. “I don’t want to spoil this, either. But we can’t hover here for very long. The real world is going to come calling, Jane. Your family, this GG person, the police. You can’t stop it from happening just because you want to. You’ve got to face it.”
“I will.” But not now. Please not now. “Can’t I just be happy, here, with you, for a little while longer?” She faced him, turned pleading eyes to his.
“I didn’t fall in love with a coward, Jane.” He shook his head. “If you want any kind of future with me, if we’re going to try to make this work, that’s my price.” He pressed his mouth to hers. “The decision is yours.”
“Will this do?” Jane dropped a legal notepad with pages of scribbled details onto the kitchen table in front of him. “I wrote it up this morning when you were tending the herd.”
Leo set his lunch plate aside and, abandoning the material he’d been reading, scanned what she’d written. “Should.” He didn’t want to reread the details of Jane’s nightmares, of the images she had spinning through her head. Because if he did, the rage toward whomever had attacked her, hurt her, tried to kill her, would reignite and, truth be told, he wasn’t entirely sure what to do with it.
“Can we forget about it now? It’s written down. That’s enough, right?”
Leo sighed. “Will you let me phone the sheriff?”
“You can do anything you want,” Jane snapped. “Call the sheriff. Don’t call the sheriff. What I want doesn’t seem to matter.”
“Of course it matters. But that doesn’t mean you’re right.”
“You promised me, Leo. You promised me you wouldn’t call the police. It’s the only thing I’ve asked of you.”
“No,” he said after a moment. “It’s not.”
“What are you—?”
“The headaches are back, aren’t they?”
“I—What—How—?”
He narrowed his eyes at her, a muscle ticking in his jaw. “I’ve lived with you for a while now. I know when you’re in pain. I also saw you down three painkillers when I got back, so unless you want to break your promise and lie to me now...”
“Fine. Yes. They started again this morning. After the nightmare.”
“Thought so.” He picked up his plate and carried it to the sink. “Seems to me we had an agreement, didn’t we? That if they came back or got worse, you’d go to the doctor.”
He heard the kitchen chair scoot as she sat down. She mumbled something under her breath.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“Oh, for crying out... Fine! Yes, we had an agreement.” He could see her reflection in the kitchen window. She was rubbing a finger hard into her temple, as if trying to relieve pressure in her head.
“I can take you to the clinic this afternoon, Jane. A quick stop in town.”
“Can’t the doctor come here? Don’t some of them make house calls?”
“Funny enough, this is not Little House on the Prairie. And I’d prefer not to make extra work for Maxine if I don’t have to.”
“Maxine? Your doctor’s name is Maxine?”
“She was one of Gran’s...”
“Friends, right. Boy, your grandmother was one serious social butterfly. I’ll go get my shoes.” You’d have thought he was going to be taking her to a firing squad.
“Jane.” While he didn’t like the distance between them, he wasn’t going to give up on doing what was right for her. Even if she wasn’t happy about it.
“What?”
“Brattiness does not become you.” He set his dish to dry, wiped his hands and walked over to her.
“I’m not a brat!” But she caught her lip in her teeth, cringed. “Oh, jeez. Oh, man, I am a brat, aren’t I?” She covered her face in her hands. “What is wrong with me?”
“You’re in pain.” He caught her wrists and pulled her arms to her sides. “Your attitude was clue number one. But I did want to thank you for the files you left for me containing the plans my grandfather was looking into for the ranch before he died.”
“He was going to take your advice,” Jane murmured. “He was going to shift to stud servicing and divest in the herd to buy bulls. Did you see—”
“The other ranches and businesses he’d already been in touch with? Yes.” And because she’d unearthed those notes and typed them up for him, it wouldn’t take long to get the ball rolling again. “You’ve done a wonderful job with his office, Jane.” He kissed her. “Thank you.” He kissed her again.
His body charged when she took the kiss deeper and cupped her hand around the back of his neck. “I know a better way you can thank me,” she murmured against his lips.
“I bet you do. Later.” He drew back and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Right now, you have a headache.”
This was just stupid. Jane bit the inside of her cheek to stop from saying the words aloud. Lord help her, but she did sound like a spoiled brat. So much so she was irritated with herself. She could only imagine how Leo felt, but then as she’d learned since living with him, he had the patience of a saint. Her hair tied back in a braid, her gray hat tipped low over her face, she sat in the hardback chair in Dr. Maxine Monroe’s waiting room in Juniper Grove, which also happened to be her living room as the medical clinic was run out of her house.
Must be a slow day, she thought, as she caught the eye of a sullen-looking teen glaring into the screen of the phone in her hands. Her mother, looking particularly strained, sat beside her and gave Jane a tight smile in greeting before turning her attention to her daughter. “Your eyes are going to be burnt sockets if you keep staring at that thing, Delaney.”
“Mom.” The eye-rolling commenced.
“Yeah, yeah, I know. Whatever. Teenagers.” The mother sighed. “Kaitlin Sommars.”
“Leo Slattery,” Leo volunteered. “This is Jane.”
“Nice to meet you both,” Kaitlin said before sighing at her daughter again. “We missed our appointment this morning, so we’re waiting to be fit in.”
“Whatever,” Delaney muttered.
Jane sat up straighter, the idea she may as well be looking in a mirror sliding through her. She glanced over at Leo, who was grinning at her. “Oh, shut up,” she laughed, and felt as if a bubble popped inside her. “Don’t you ever get tired of being right?”
“Not about some things.” He reached over and knocked a finger against her hat, pushing it up. “That alone makes it worth the drive.”
“Jane?” The nurse-receptionist stepped into the waiting room. “Dr. Monroe is ready for you.”
Jane stood up so fast her hat fell back. She ducked to pick it up, and saw something akin to shock cross the teenager’s face as she straightened. The next instant, she was typing away on her keyboard, eyes wide. “Darn thing won’t stay put,” Jane joked around the odd sensation of descending dread. And the pounding behind her eyes. “Leo, you coming?”
“You want me to?” Now he looked surprised.
“You’re the reason I’m here, aren’t you? Can he?” she asked the nurse, who shrugged.
“Yeah, sure. Husbands are always welcome.”
“Oh, well, he’s—” Her face went hot.
“Come on, darlin’.” Leo slung an arm around her shoulders and they headed down the hall. “Don’t want to keep the good doctor waiting.”
Dr. Maxine Monroe ducked her chin, tipped down her glasses until they barely stayed on her nose, and turned laser-beam bright eyes on Jane, who felt like a kindergartner caught eating glue. A slight angular woman, Dr. Monroe reminded Jane of one of those featherless birds who got kicked out of its nest. She’d certainly been thorough in her examination. They’d already been in here for over an hour, and other than the occasional tsking and mouth twists of disapproval, she hadn’t said much. “You’ve had these symptoms for how long?”
Jane kicked her socked feet back and forth against the exam table. “Since late July.”
Dr. Monroe arched a brow. “I see.” Her gaze flickered to Leo.
“Don’t blame him,” Jane said quickly. “He’ll be the first to tell you he’s been bugging me to come in for weeks.”
“Yes, well.” Some of the disapproval vanished from her face. Some. Not all. “I’d have thought the complete loss of memory would have been an indication you should have sought medical treatment.”
“And yet, oddly enough, it wasn’t.”
“Jane,” Leo warned.
“Right. Sorry.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. This was a compromise, right? A trip to the doctor for him not pushing her on going to the police. “He wanted me to come in. I didn’t. End of story. Are the headaches and amnesia connected? I only know who I am because we found out. Not because I remembered.”
“The mind protects us the only way it knows how.” The doctor set her file aside. “Whether you’re Skye or Jane, doesn’t make a difference to me from an examination standpoint. Your blood pressure and heart rate are both normal. The bruises and cuts have healed, obviously. I didn’t see any issues with your eyes or your ears. No ringing or dizzy spells?”
“Ah, one. A while ago.” Jane avoided Leo’s gaze when he straightened in his chair. “Sorry. I was in the barn when it happened. Just thought I’d moved a saddle too quick. The day we went, ah, exploring.”
“Looking for answers,” Leo explained as Dr. Monroe stood up to check Jane’s neck and spine again, along with the almost healed wound on her head. “She got the shakes real bad when we got close.”
“I’ll bet you did.” Dr. Monroe clicked her tongue. “Well, I’m willing to bet you had a minor concussion, but I can’t be sure without an MRI. I’ll have Colleen call and get you an appointment for later today. And no.” She cut Jane off before she could argue. “You can’t get one for a later date. You’ll go today.”
“Thank you, Doctor,” Leo said.
“The results will take few days. Colleen will let you know when I want to see you again. If we find what I expect, there’s nothing to do beyond what you’re already doing. Just take it easy, get plenty of rest, and the over-the-counter painkillers should work just fine. If you’d come in a few weeks ago, I’d have said stay off any horses, but as that ship has sailed...”
Jane couldn’t imagine having gotten through any of this without being able to saddle Ginger and ride out onto the spread.
“Continue to try to stir some memories, but don’t push it. It’ll come back when it’s meant to. And I’ll be expecting you back here, at least once a week until it does.” She left them for Jane to get dressed.
“Told you there was nothing to worry about.” Jane shot him an overly bright smile.
“That’s not exactly what she said.” Leo opened the door for her and led the way out to the receptionist’s desk. Raised voices had them slowing. “What’s going on?”
“Where is she?” a young man only a few years older than Delaney demanded as he held up a cell phone as if recording the exchange. “Skye Colton. She’s here, isn’t she? The—”
“Leo.” Jane’s voice shook ever so lightly as she walked over to him. Her stomach rolled. Leo spun her around, but the one word from her had been enough to catch the man’s attention.
“Is that her?” the man demanded and moved in. Dr. Monroe put herself between them and the interloper. “Come on, Skye. Everyone thought you were dead! Your fans miss you. Where have you been? Why are you hiding? Is this your new boyfriend? Do you have any comment about—”
“How did he get in here?” Dr. Monroe demanded of Colleen, who looked both shaken and furious.
“He came in to make an appointment.”
“Given my specialty, you’re not properly equipped,” Dr. Monroe snapped at him. “Leave. Or I’ll call the police.”
“No police.” Jane gripped Leo’s arms, her entire body shaking. But not from fear. From bone-snapping anger. “Get out.” She ducked around Leo and advanced on the man before Leo could stop her. “Get out of here, now.” She swung out a hand and knocked his phone free. It clattered to the floor. “Before I sue you for invasion of privacy.”
“But...my phone! You’re Skye Colton! You’ve lived your entire life online. You owe us an explanation!”
“I don’t owe you a thing.” She took another swing at him as Colleen backed up and pulled open the door. Jane stomped her foot as if she was going to dive at him and sent him scampering back outside. She swooped down and picked up the phone, tapped a few icons to delete the recording. “How did he find me?”
“Not he. They.” Leo peeked out the drapes in the reception room. “At least a dozen of them are gathering. And right now they’re getting an earful from whoever that was.”
Unease prickled the back of Jane’s neck.
“Reporters?” Colleen joined him. “Bloggers, too, I bet. Lots of them. And there’s a news van pulling in across the street. There. I haven’t seen this many people in town since last year’s homecoming.”
“Jane’s question stands. How did they know where...” He trailed off, looking to where Delaney was tapping on her phone. “Excuse me, young lady.”
“I didn’t do anything!” The teen jumped back and turned wild green eyes on her mother. “It’s just...no one’s seen her in forever!” She gestured to Jane, who took a step back as her entire body went cold. “Everyone’s been saying she’s dead or missing or something, and I saw her sitting right there! I mean, it’s Skye Colton! Do you know how famous I’m going to be?”
“What did you do?” Kaitlin asked in a tone that Leo remembered never liking being on the receiving end of. “Give me your phone.”
“What? No! Mom!” Delaney all but shrieked as her mother snatched the smartphone out of her hands.
“We need to get out of here.” Jane didn’t have the time to be angry at the girl. Not with the way her stomach was rolling and her head pounded.
“I don’t believe this,” Kaitlin gasped. “You posted her picture on your page? You tagged her and this office?” The woman looked horrified as she glanced up from her daughter’s phone. “Oh, I’m so sorry! Delaney, this is a doctor’s office. There are privacy laws. You had no right.”
Delaney shrugged, but Leo could see a hint of remorse in the young girl’s eyes.
“It won’t matter that I deleted the video.” Jane’s eyes went wide as she looked up at him. “Leo, whoever’s looking for me... GG. He’s going to know—”
“It’s up to you, Jane.” Leo did what he always did when she was worried or upset. He set his hands gently on her shoulders and squeezed. “We can end this now, get you home to your family. All we have to do is walk out that door and it’ll all be over.”
It would all be over. But she didn’t want it to be over. At least not any part of it that involved Leo. The second she gave in, the second she agreed to walk into the truth, there would be no going back. Not to Leo’s ranch, not to the horses and the sunsets. And not to Leo. She searched his face, his clear, focused eyes for an answer, for guidance, but she found no hint of help. Because he was doing what he always had: he was letting her decide for herself.
“Jane?” Leo gave her a little shake.
She wasn’t ready. Not yet. She wanted more time. Time to remember. Time with the horses. Time with him. “I want to go back to the ranch.”
“Okay.” He pulled her in and tucked her head under his chin, but she caught the flash of relief on his face. And the thought of that made her smile a little. “Okay. You’ve got it. Is there a back way out of here?” he asked Dr. Monroe.
“Give me your keys.” She held out her hand to him. “There’s a gate behind the garden shed. It’ll take you into an alley behind the house. Head east, then another two blocks. Colleen will be waiting at the corner with your truck.”
Jane blinked. That seemed awfully...prepared.
“I will?” Colleen blinked doll-size amber eyes at her boss.
“You will. Get to it. Act casual when you drive away. You.” Dr. Monroe pointed a stern finger at Delaney. “Exam room two. March. You and I are going to have a discussion about privacy and social media addiction. Unless you object?” She turned those birdlike eyes on Kaitlin.
“I most certainly do not. Have at her.” She sat back in her chair, popped open the back of her daughter’s phone and removed the battery. “I’m so sorry for whatever trouble this causes you,” she said to Jane.
Jane could only nod. In a matter of seconds, all the security and peace she’d found with Leo began to slip through her fingers. It wouldn’t be long before everyone knew where she was...knew she was... Wait. Jane frowned. Why would everyone have thought she was dead?
“This way,” Dr. Monroe instructed them as Colleen headed out the front door. Shouts and screams ensued, and the clicking and flash of cameras flew through the door.
An odd light exploded in front of Jane’s eyes. She gasped, lifted her arm to shield her face as she turned away. The pain that had settled in her head the moment she opened her eyes in that shed popped and trickled away. She would have gasped in relief, but there wasn’t time.
Leo grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the back door. She knew to move, knew how to move, but she felt as if her feet were trapped in cement, slogging and slow. Those empty spaces in her head began to fill, as if a faucet had been turned to full blast. So much, too much, so fast. Too fast.
“Jane? You with me?” Leo tugged her arm.
“Y-yes. With you.”
“You call me in a few days,” Dr. Monroe ordered. “If the headaches haven’t subsided and you can’t get her into town, I’ll come to you.”
Jane smirked and aimed an I told you so look at Leo.
The shouts coming from the front of Dr. Monroe’s clinic faded as they hurried out the back gate and down the alley. They slowed down as they reached the street, hands clinging to one another as they followed the doctor’s directions. Sure enough, Colleen was waiting for them at the corner.
Jane’s ears buzzed as she climbed into the truck. She closed her eyes and leaned against the headrest as the pieces of her life fell back into place. Each one a stepping-stone on the path home. A home without Leo.
It wasn’t until they were well out of town that Leo sagged back in his seat and let out a small laugh. “Now, that was unexpected. What’s wrong? Jane?”
“I remember.” She turned her head and looked at him, waited for him to process what she said. “I remember everything.”