house. He pulled into the garage next to his blue pickup truck. He should take it out for a run soon. He hadn’t started it in two days. But he wasn’t as concerned about his truck as he was about Emma. She’d stared into space on the drive home or out the window and he wished he could read the thoughts clicking through her head.
She climbed out of the SUV before he’d put the garage door down and started into the house. After he followed her, he found she’d thrown her coat over a stool at the counter and was washing her hands at the sink. “I’m going to make a meat loaf for supper and rice and green beans. I can whip up a batch of brownies for dessert if you’d like. It won’t take too long.”
Quickly she dried her hands, then moved to the refrigerator, taking out the ground beef. Her movements were almost frenetic, much too fast. She was hurrying and there was no reason to hurry.
“If you don’t feel like cooking,” he said, “I can go get some take-out. Do you like Chinese?”
“That won’t be necessary. I’ll have supper ready in an hour. Oh…maybe the meat loaf won’t be done by then. Would you like barbecued beef instead?”
As she talked and moved, Tucker knew he had to put a stop to it. Crossing the room, he blocked her path as she tried to make a return trip to the refrigerator. “Talk to me, Emma.”
“There’s nothing to talk about.”
“You’re upset.”
“Of course I’m upset, and that’s why I need to do something.”
She tried to go around him, but he caught her by the shoulders. “Stop.”
“Tucker, don’t,” she protested, her voice quivering. “I don’t want to think about what happened.”
“It could happen again. I might get another lead we have to chase down.”
Shaking her head, she tried to break free of his grasp. But he held her steady and, as he did, he saw tears come to her eyes.
“It’s okay, Emma. It’s okay to be disappointed and upset. I haven’t seen you cry since this whole thing happened. If anyone deserves to cry, you do.”
More tears welled in her eyes and spilled over, and he couldn’t help but fold his arms around her and hold her close.
She held on to him.
He let his cheek rest against her hair. Everything about her was so feminine…so tempting…so vulnerable. What had been a comforting embrace became more for Tucker. Her hair against his jaw was as arousing as her soft breasts pressed against his chest. The desire that rolled through him whenever he saw her, let alone whenever he touched her, became a rush of heat throughout his body, inflaming his hunger for her. But she needed him right now and no woman had needed him in just this way for a very long time.
“We’ll find out who you are. I’ve sent more inquiries to South Dakota and Wyoming, and I’ll do it across the country if I have to.” He rubbed his hand up and down her back. “And maybe you’ll have more flashbacks. You’re seeing the doctor tomorrow, aren’t you?”
She leaned away from him slightly and nodded. “It was just looking into Mr. Franz’s eyes that upset me. I wondered if anybody missed me that badly. But certainly they would have come looking for me if they had.”
“I’m sure someone misses you, Emma. A great deal.” Her upturned chin, her sparkling green eyes, the innocence he saw every time he looked at her, convinced him someone had to miss her tremendously.
“Thank you for being with me today, Tucker. Sometimes I feel as if I can handle anything—who I am, what I did, where I lived. I believe I’ll find out any hour, any day. But then others—It was good to have you there.”
“I don’t need your thanks. I was doing my job.” But as he said it, he knew that wasn’t entirely true. Emma had become more than his job, and that was the problem.
“Do you become this personally involved with all the people you help?” she asked.
His answer would be a catch-22. He’d be in trouble either way. “I do what I have to do.”
“But what do you want to do, Tucker?”
It was as if she knew everything in him was screaming at him to kiss her, to hold her in his arms more intimately, to give them both pleasure. But just because he’d given in to that impulse once, didn’t mean he was going to give in again. His father had taught him discipline, and he’d honed it on his own over the years. It was a necessary trait in law enforcement. It was a necessary trait when a man held a vulnerable woman in his arms.
“I want to find out who you are, and I want to return you to wherever you belong,” he answered her.
The startled look in her eyes became a hurt one. Pulling free of his arms, she straightened her shoulders. “I’m fine now. As you said, I have to get used to this type of thing happening…and I will. I’m not going to give up on finding out who I am anymore than you are. Maybe that’s the problem. I haven’t tried hard enough. I’ll talk to the doctor about it tomorrow. Maybe I should even go door to door throughout Storkville, asking anyone and everyone if they’ve ever seen me. I had to be here for some reason. Someone should know me.”
That’s exactly what Tucker thought. But Emma’s story had been in the Storkville paper and no one had come forward. Apparently no one was missing this beautiful young woman.
And Tucker wondered why.
The next morning Tucker was gone when Emma went down to the kitchen. She was relieved in a way, yet disappointed, too. Last night when he’d held her, she’d felt so secure, so safe. Being in his arms felt so right. But obviously he didn’t feel the same way. She’d thought he was going to kiss her again. Apparently he was just giving her comfort, just doing part of his job. Yet she couldn’t believe that the golden sparks in his dark brown eyes had been simply duty.
In the few days she’d been with him here in his house, she’d learned he was a complicated man. He’d worked in his den last night until supper. Then after supper, during which she hadn’t said much at all, he’d gone back to his office at the sheriff’s department. She’d gone to bed around ten and heard him come in shortly after. His room was next door to hers, and she could hear the clang of his belt as he undressed, his boots falling onto the floor. She could even hear the creak of his bed as he got in.
She didn’t know who she was, yet she was having these thoughts about a man she barely knew. She shook her head. Maybe the two went together. Maybe her thoughts were swirling around Tucker because he was the only stable person in her world right now.
After she nibbled on a piece of toast and drank a cup of tea, she walked the four blocks to the day-care center. When she’d first moved in, Tucker had wanted to drive her there in the mornings. But she liked walking in the crisp, cool air. She liked the quiet. She liked passing the people in the houses on the street. Every time she took the walk, she hoped something would trigger her memory.
As always, when Emma arrived at the day-care center, it bustled with activity as parents dropped off their children for the day. Emma helped them with their coats and then took them to play stations or the breakfast corner. Every chance she got, she played with Sammy and Steffie. Sometimes when she held them…she felt on the verge of remembering. But then afterwards she told
