as they approached the front doors.
“Amnesia isn’t contagious!” James snapped. He’d silently endured the complaints of both women for the length of the ride, but he was anxious for word of Caroline.
He would admit, though not to Amelia and Chelsea, that Caroline was his favorite. Not that they didn’t fight. On the contrary, Caroline argued with him at every turn. She was too much like him not to.
Chelsea was like her mother.
“Chelsea!” someone called, and they all halted.
Chelsea’s husband, Roderick Grant III, hurried up to them.
“What are you doing here?” James demanded. He didn’t have anything against the boy, but Roddy wouldn’t be of much help in a crisis.
“Daddy! Roddy’s my husband!”
“I know that. I paid for that damned wedding, didn’t I?” He muttered an apology when Chelsea and Amelia stared at him in shock. “I’m worried about Caroline,” he added.
“Of course, you are, sir,” Adrian said, patting him on the shoulder.
“Why don’t we go right up,” Prescott added. “I’ll find out her room number.”
“I know it. It’s 482,” James snapped, and strode for the elevators, leaving his entourage to hurry after him.
When they reached the fourth floor, the nurse on duty ushered all of them into the waiting room. “The doctor is with her now. I’ll let you know when you can go in.”
“Damn it, woman, I’m James Adkins. You go tell that doctor I want to see my child at once!” As the nurse calmly walked away, he bellowed, “Why won’t any woman listen to me?
“CAROLINE ADKINS, where can I find her?” Max had no idea how he’d gotten from the road outside the site to the hospital information desk.
“Is she a patient, sir?” the grandmotherly lady in a pink pinafore asked, smiling benignly at him.
“She was in an accident. They said they’re holding her for observation.”
“How would you spell that last name?”
Quelling the urge to grab the little old lady by the daintily tied bow at her neck, he spelled Caroline’s name.
“She’s on the fourth floor. Room 482.”
Max was running for the elevator before the lady ever finished talking. After stepping into the first one available, he jammed the close door button after punching the number four.
He’d find Caroline—and this time she wasn’t going to get away. Not until he had an explanation.
As soon as he got out of the elevator, he halted a nurse pushing a trolly of trays.
“Which way to 482?” he demanded.
“Just down the hall, sir.”
With a hurried thank-you, he followed her direction and spotted the room up ahead of him. He pushed past a small group of people and reached the door.
“Just one minute!”
He looked over his shoulder to see a large man in both height and girth staring at him. “Yes?”
“Where are you going?”
“What business is it of yours?” he demanded.
“That’s my daughter’s room.”
Max checked to see if he had the right room number. He did. “The desk said this was Caroline Adkins’s room. I think you’ve made a mistake.” He was sure Caroline didn’t have anyone close by, much less a mob of people.
“I don’t make mistakes!”
Max shrugged his shoulders and pushed open the door.
The man grabbed his arm before he could take more than a step into the room. “Who are you and why are you visiting my daughter? Are you the one who hit her?”
“I’m not visiting your daughter. I’m visiting Caroline Adkins,” Max explained impatiently. “If this isn’t her room—”
“Why would we come here if it’s not Caroline’s room?” Amelia asked plaintively.
“Sir, I think you’re making a mistake,” a younger man in an elegant business suit said, and Max glared at him. The young lady in the group began complaining about feeling faint. A man quickly supported her, and Max turned back toward the room only to find himself confronted by a man in a white coat.
“What is going on here?” he asked with quiet authority.
“I’m here to visit Caroline Adkins,” Max explained.
Immediately behind him, several voices both protested his visit and demanded information about Caroline. What was wrong with these people? Max couldn’t figure out why they were there. As far as he knew, Caroline had just moved to the area and had no one nearby.
“Quiet,” the doctor commanded. The one word quelled even the older man who’d been protesting his presence, Max noted.
“You may all see Caroline, but she has a headache. Please keep quiet and don’t ask her any questions.”
Max frowned. He could wait for his questions to be answered, as long as he didn’t lose her again. He couldn’t lose her again.
THE SUDDEN NOISE at the door of her room had increased the pain in her head. The nurse touched her shoulder and smiled, silently encouraging her to relax.
Oh, sure. It was easy for the nurse. She hadn’t lost her memory. She knew her name. And if she forgot, it was right there on her name tag.
The doctor had told her her name was Caroline. But there was no sense of recognition, no satisfaction. Just confusion. And, as much as she fought it, panic.
All she knew was what she’d been told since she’d awakened in the hospital. There’d been a wreck, a hit and run, and she’d smacked her head on the windshield even though she’d worn her seat belt. Her purse had been beside her, giving the doctor her name. He said he’d called her family.
If her family was making all the noise, she wasn’t sure she wanted to see them. At least not yet.
Suddenly her bed was surrounded by people.
People.
But no one she knew.
She hadn’t realized how much she’d hoped she would recognize her family when they arrived until that moment. You’d think she could at least recall her parents. Even though she could identify the two likeliest suspects by their age, her mouth went dry at the blankness that filled her.
Her gaze shifted to the first one who’d entered, seeking a distraction. He was somehow different from the rest
