look at her. She was stunning, with her heart-shaped face and big blue eyes. Her complexion was smooth and her skin had looked soft and supple.
He’d been surprised by the tiny kick of pure male lust in the pit of his stomach. He was thirty-three years old and rarely felt that particular feeling. And he’d certainly never felt it for a pregnant woman suffering from amnesia.
He consciously willed himself not to get interested in any woman. He had his work and his sister and that’s all he’d ever really needed.
Getting up from the table, he stretched with his arms overhead. He needed a shower. By the time he was done his sister would be awake and he could check in on Loretta and her patient.
As he stood beneath a hot spray of water he thought about the mysterious Jane. He suspected she might be lying. Even though there had been genuine fear in those gorgeous eyes of hers, he wasn’t convinced that her amnesia was real.
What he thought was that she’d probably had a fight with her boyfriend or husband and had concocted the amnesia story to buy her a little time. As long as she didn’t go to the police or to the hospital, the man in question couldn’t find her or go to jail on domestic abuse issues.
Surely by this morning she would have “remembered” her name and found forgiveness in her heart for the guy who banged her up. It happened all the time. It was a story Lucas knew intimately.
He dressed in his customary jeans and pulled on a ribbed, long-sleeved navy shirt, then returned to the kitchen for another cup of coffee before heading to his sister’s apartment.
He needed to call one of his partners and let them know he wouldn’t be in to the office until later in the afternoon. He needed to figure out where to bring Jane and wasn’t sure exactly what to expect.
Lucas and two of his ex–navy SEAL buddies had started Recovery Inc. when they’d gotten out of the service. The company dealt in recovery of both items and people in sticky situations and had been successful beyond their wildest dreams.
Despite the financial rewards, Lucas lived a simple life. He used most of his money to help pay Loretta’s student loans and was determined to help her pay for medical school next spring. Her dream had always been to be a doctor, and Lucas wanted to make sure she achieved that dream.
He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and punched in the number for Micah Stone, one of his partners and his best friend.
Micah answered on the first ring. “Hey, partner, what’s up?”
“I just wanted to let you know that I won’t be in this morning. I’ve got some things to take care of, but I should be there sometime this afternoon.”
“That makes two of us. It looks like Troy will have to hold down the fort by himself,” Micah replied. “I’m being fitted for a tux this morning. Have you been fitted yet?”
Micah’s wedding was less than a month away and Lucas was serving as his best man. “Not yet. I’ll try to get in before the end of the week.”
“If you don’t, then you know Caylee will be chewing on your backside. And trust me when I tell you she has very sharp teeth.”
Lucas laughed. Caylee was Micah’s fiancée. She was definitely a spitfire, but Lucas had never seen his friend so happy.
“Then I guess I’ll see you sometime this afternoon,” Lucas replied, and the two men hung up. Lucas was glad Micah hadn’t asked him why he’d be late. He wasn’t sure why, but he wasn’t eager to share the night’s events and his mysterious Jane with anyone.
If she’d taken advantage of their kindness, as he suspected, then he sure didn’t want his partners to know he’d been taken for a fool.
He finished his coffee and checked the clock. Just after seven. Loretta would be up by now and he was eager to see what Jane had miraculously remembered this morning.
When he reached Loretta’s apartment door he rapped lightly and his sister answered almost immediately. She was dressed for the day in blue-flowered scrubs and held a cup of coffee in her hand.
“I’ve been expecting you,” she said, and motioned him to the kitchen. “My houseguest is still asleep.”
“Did you talk to her after I left last night?” Lucas leaned against the counter.
“A little, but not much. She was exhausted and I figured the best thing for her was a good night’s sleep. I take it you don’t believe her story.”
Lucas raised an eyebrow. “Do you?”
Loretta sat at the table. “I don’t know. I do think she had a trauma of some kind and she seemed genuinely afraid and confused. She looks to be around eight months pregnant. If some man whacked her upside the head, he should be hung by his manly parts for the rest of her life.”
Lucas grinned. “Ah, Loretta, tell me how you really feel.” Love for his sister surged up inside him. Loretta was six years younger than him. With both their parents dead and the history they shared, the two siblings were particularly close.
“What I feel is that you need to put your overactive cynicism aside when you talk to her. She may not have amnesia, but she’s obviously in trouble.” Loretta drained her coffee cup and got up from the table. “I’ve got to get to work.”
Lucas walked with her to the front door where she turned to look at him once again. “Feed her something, Lucas. And if she needs to stay here a couple more days, it’s fine with me.” She reached up and kissed Lucas on the cheek, then left.
Lucas returned to the kitchen, poured himself a cup of coffee and then sat at the table. He wasn’t surprised by his sister’s generous offer to a stranger. Loretta made a habit of helping people.
Sometimes it amazed him how his sister had survived the dysfunction of their past with such a goodness of spirit, such a pure, sweet soul. Too bad he couldn’t say the same about himself.
He had his cup halfway to his mouth when Jane appeared in the doorway. She was clad in a white nightgown that stretched taut across her breasts and her belly. Her blond, curly hair was tousled, and it was obvious by the widening of her eyes that she’d expected to find Loretta, not Lucas, in the kitchen.
“Oh!” She instantly hunched her shoulders and crossed one arm over her breasts. Her lower lip trembled and her eyes looked as if she’d been crying. Once again Lucas felt a strange surge of protectiveness. “I’ll just … I’ll be right back.” She darted out of the kitchen and back down the hallway.
It was only then that Lucas realized he’d been holding his breath. He took a sip of his coffee and tried to forget the vision of her, so soft and feminine, and so utterly vulnerable.
She returned moments later, this time clad in the jeans and the dirty, bloodstained white blouse she’d worn the night before.
“Doesn’t Loretta have something you can wear?” he asked.
“Your sister is tiny.” She placed a hand on her stomach. “And right now I’m not. She didn’t have anything big enough to fit my stomach.”
“Sit down and I’ll get you a cup of coffee,” he said.
He
