man.
Watching.
“Were you in my room earlier, Chance?” she asked, because she had to know. Couldn’t rest until she was sure.
“I’ve been waiting down in the emergency room while they got you settled. My mom was here with Emma, but Emma got fussy and they had to leave. I walked them out to the parking lot and came up. Why?”
“Someone was here, standing in the doorway, watching me.”
“The cleaning crew just made its rounds. You probably saw one of the team,” the nurse interjected.
A custodian?
Rayne didn’t think so.
But her head had been fuzzy, her thinking muddled, her vision blurred.
The nurse glanced at her watch. “I need to go do rounds. The doctor will be here soon. If you need anything before then, just buzz.”
She hurried out of the room.
“Are you okay?” Chance asked, and she shrugged, her shoulders aching, muscles she hadn’t even realized she had throbbing in protest.
A car accident.
Amnesia.
Of course she was seeing danger in the shadows … and the doorways.
“I will be.”
“Then why do you look so scared?” He studied her face, searched her eyes, saw more than she wanted anyone to.
Mothers were tough, right?
Strong.
Immovable.
They didn’t rely on other people, because they didn’t need anyone to take care of them. They took care of themselves.
So no more relying on other people for Rayne.
That was rule number one for heart-healthy living, and Rayne planned to remember it. No matter what else she forgot.
“I’m not scared. I just don’t think the guy I saw was a custodian.”
“Then who do you think he was?”
“I don’t know.”
“He could have been a nurse or a doctor.”
“Maybe.”
“Look, if you’re nervous about staying here alone tonight …”
“I’m not.” At least, not very.
“I can stay with you.”
“Really. I’ll be fine.”
But something nagged below the surface of her mind.
Bright lights. Terror.
There and gone so quickly she couldn’t hold on to them.
“I planned to hang out for a while anyway, so I’ll wait until the doctor comes in. Then I’ll talk to the maintenance staff. See if any of them were in your room. How does that sound?”
“It sounds like you’re placating me.”
“I don’t have the time or patience to placate anyone, Rayne.” Chance stretched his long, muscular frame, his gray-blue gaze never leaving her face.
Handsome.
Really handsome.
How could she not remember a face like his?
“You said we work for the same company.”
“That’s right. I’m a private detective with Information Unlimited. You’ve worked with several of my clients.”
A new job.
A new life.
A fresh start.
Working as a victim’s advocate for the P.I. firm that employed her sister-in-law had seemed like a perfect opportunity to put her mistakes behind her.
That she remembered.
She also remembered her mistakes.
Mistake.
One mistake.
But a big one. Thankfully, she’d called her engagement off before it could turn in to a catastrophe.
Something buzzed, the sound jerking her out of the half sleep she’d fallen into. She sat up straight, her heart pounding. Dizzy, disoriented.
“It’s just my phone,” Chance said quietly.
Still there.
Still handsome.
Still a stranger.
She watched as he answered his phone, studying his face, trying to remember the day they’d met, the place.
“Yes. She’s awake. Seems fairly lucid, but she has partial amnesia.” His words penetrated the thick fog in her brain, and she frowned.
“I’m completely lucid.”
“Did you hear that?” he asked, then nodded. “I think so. Let me check. Are you up to talking to your brother?”
“Jonas?”
Of course Jonas.
She only had one brother.
Maybe she wasn’t as lucid as she’d thought.
“Yes.”
“Sure.” She took the phone, pressed it to her ear, her hand shaking. “Jonas?”
“Hey, sis. Rough night, huh?” His familiar voice brought unwanted tears to her eyes, and she sniffed them away.
“I’ve had better.”
“You okay?”
“Aside from a headache, I’m fine.”
“Glad to hear it. We’ve been worried, but there aren’t any flights leaving until tomorrow afternoon. We should be there sometime tomorrow night.”
“We?”
“Skylar and me. Mom and Dad.”
“You can’t drop everything you’re doing to fly out here.”
“Sure we can.”
“Maybe I should rephrase
