else was napping, you decided to take a walk across the lawn and collapsed midway.”
Asher ground his teeth together, mashing the dirt in his mouth. You’re lying, Tabitha.
“I remember heading across the grass.” He massaged his temple with two fingers. “I don’t remember much after that.”
As he struggled to sit up, Nurse Tabitha sprang into action and perched on the edge of the bed. “Let me.”
She curled a strong arm around his shoulders, hooked the other around his chest and helped him sit up. “There.”
“How’d I get back here?” He straightened up farther, hoping to dislodge her hand resting on his chest.
She curled her fingers, briefly digging her nails into his pec before releasing him. “Granger and Lewis went out to move the lawn furniture and saw you sprawled on the grass. They got you back to your room.”
Asher ran his tongue along his dry teeth and recognized the cotton mouth associated with the meds they gave him—the meds he’d chucked this morning. His gaze wandered to the window, the curtains open to the dark night.
“Did I pass out? Have a seizure? It was daytime when I took that walk, or at least late afternoon.”
Tabitha’s translucent eyelashes fluttered. “Just a little overexertion, and because of your...brain injury, the doctors thought it best to medicate you.”
Of course they did.
Asher scratched the scruff on his jaw. “Thank God for Lewis and...”
“Granger.”
“Right.”
Tabitha hunched forward, her pink tongue darting out of her mouth. “I could shave you if you’d like.”
He’d rather grow a beard down to his knees. “I’m...”
“How’s the patient feeling, Tabitha?”
The nurse leaned forward and pressed a warm, clammy hand against his forehead. “He’s awake and feeling fine, certainly looking fine, and I’m sure he’s ready to eat. Are you hungry, Lieutenant?”
Asher threw back the covers, realizing for the first time he was naked beneath a hospital gown that gaped open in the front. Who’d done the honors of taking off his clothes? He sure hoped it wasn’t Nurse Touchy-Feely.
His gaze darted around the room, looking for his missing clothes. “I am ready to eat. Too late to grab something in the mess hall?”
“Not so fast there, Lieutenant Knight.” Dr. Evans stood by the bed, hovering over him. “I’d like to run a few tests and then bring Dr. Goshen in to see you.”
“The shrink?” He swung his legs over the side of the bed, almost taking out Tabitha. “I’m fine. I passed out. I didn’t have a hallucination.”
Did he? Was Paige, his fiancée, all an illusion? Nobody had said anything yet about finding a woman in the woods. If she hadn’t been a dream, he hoped she got away, because he had a feeling she wouldn’t be welcome here.
“Your passing out could’ve been psychological. We don’t want to take any chances.” The doctor jerked his thumb at Tabitha. “While we’re poking and prodding your body and mind, Tabitha can go down to the kitchen and put in an order for your dinner.” The doctor adjusted his glasses. “You can have dinner in bed and we’ll give you something to ensure you have a good night’s sleep.”
Asher’s blood boiled and his hand clenched into a fist. Then he closed his eyes, dragging in a deep breath. If he kicked up a ruckus now, they’d never let him out of their sights again.
“You know, that sounds good about now.”
“Of course it does. Tabitha, help the lieutenant back into bed. I’ll do my thing and go round up Dr. Goshen.”
Tabitha reached across him, her right breast brushing his arm, and fluffed up his pillows. “We had some delicious pork chops and mashed potatoes tonight. I’ll have the cook fix you up a special plate and have him add an extra dessert.”
“That’ll work.” He eased back onto the bed, his gown hitching up to his thighs.
Tabitha tugged on the edge of the material, her fingers dangerously close to his crotch, and then twitched the covers back over his legs. She tucked the covers around his waist, and her hands lingered next to his hips.
“Anything else I can get you before ordering your dinner?”
“I’m fine, Tabitha. Thanks.” He even managed to crack a smile in her direction.
Wrong move.
The nurse turned pink up to her strawberry blond hair. “We’re going to make sure you stay that way...Asher.”
When Dr. Evans returned with the psychiatrist, Dr. Goshen, Tabitha squeezed Asher’s thigh and gave him an encouraging nod.
He endured their invasion of his body and mind with a smile on his face and an agreeable tone in his voice. When Tabitha returned with a tray groaning with steaming food, Dr. Goshen shook out two blue pills next to the plate.
“Take these when you get some food in your stomach, and you’ll be back on track.”
Back on track to crazy town? The only track he wanted to be on was the one back to the forest...and Paige.
* * *
PAIGE RAN HER fingers through her damp hair and collapsed on the hotel bed. He really didn’t know her. His dark green eyes had been vacant when he looked at her. Maybe he suffered from more than memory loss.
She’d worked with enough people suffering from PTSD to know it could take many forms. Maybe he was a danger to himself and others and that was why the army had him stashed away here—captive. Maybe he’d been trying to go AWOL, like Major Denver. Maybe they were just holding him here until he got better before they court-martialed him.
She rolled over onto her stomach and pounded the pillow with her fist. No way. She had a hard time believing Major Denver turned, but apparently Asher himself had confirmed it. He’d been the lone survivor of the disastrous mission that had resulted in the death of an army ranger, the defection of Denver and Asher’s fall and subsequent amnesia.
If Asher were in trouble with the army, wouldn’t they just tell her? That would be enough to keep her away. Her inside army source, Dad’s friend and now Mom’s confidant Terrence Elder, hadn’t mentioned anything about an arrest or court-martial. Terrence had pulled in a few favors to find out where Asher had been sent after Germany. That was how Paige had tracked Asher down to the convalescent facility, Hidden Hills, here in Vermont.
Asher’s own teammates had been no help at all. If they’d returned her calls, and only a few did, they denied any knowledge of Asher’s whereabouts and weren’t too concerned about finding him. They’d viewed his accusations against Major Denver as the supreme betrayal of the man and the team.
But Asher would always do the right thing. With his father in federal prison for
