The Maverick's Christmas To Remember
Christy Jeffries
All she wants for Christmas is a cowboy!Wedding planner Caroline Ruth took a tumble off a ladder, and when she came to, she believed cowboy Craig Clifton was her boyfriend. Trouble was, they’d never met before. Now, until Caroline’s memory returns, Craig is acting as reluctant faux fiancé..
All She Wants for Christmas is a Cowboy!
Rust Creek Ramblings
A few weeks ago, local wedding planner Caroline Ruth took a tumble off a ladder, and when she came to, she believed Thunder Canyon cowboy Craig Clifton was her boyfriend. Trouble was, they’d never met before. What was an upstanding rancher to do? Now, until Caroline’s memory returns, Craig is acting as reluctant faux fiancé. But with Christmas around the corner, dear readers, we’re hoping for a real-life happy ending for this unexpected couple!
CHRISTY JEFFRIES graduated from the University of California, Irvine, with a degree in criminology, and received her Juris Doctor from California Western School of Law. But drafting court documents and working in law enforcement was merely an apprenticeship for her current career in the dynamic field of mummyhood and romance writing. She lives in Southern California with her patient husband, two energetic sons and one sassy grandmother. Follow her online at christyjeffries.com (http://www.christyjeffries.com).
Also by Christy Jeffries (#u3a3c9798-b7cd-5d0e-aa89-f20c31f8b6d4)
A Proposal for the Officer
A Family Under the Stars
The Makeover Prescription
The Matchmaking Twins
From Dare to Due Date
Waking Up Wed
A Marine for His Mom
The Maverick’s Bridal Bargain
Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
The Maverick’s Christmas to Remember
Christy Jeffries
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ISBN: 978-1-474-07831-3
THE MAVERICK’S CHRISTMAS TO REMEMBER
© 2018 Harlequin Books S.A.
Published in Great Britain 2018
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.
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www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
To Kate Gove Campbell,
one of my favorite people on earth and a member
of my Golden Girls. You are always the first to order
my books, the first to respond to my texts and
posts and the first to laugh at my dumb jokes. Even
from across the country, your support is always
constant. Not only do you give the best and tightest
hugs, you have taught me how to be a better friend
and you make the world a warmer and happier
place. You are the Rose to my Dorothy, and
I can’t wait to share a lanai with you…
Contents
Cover (#u23497558-022b-5dc0-86d6-1013deff46c4)
Back Cover Text (#u163e9755-fe69-5b32-bd82-50b10c8f138d)
About the Author (#u9881601f-8625-5e32-9188-2081baa4394d)
Booklist (#ub206f179-0c75-5bfb-bad0-479ec9124cd7)
Title Page (#ue1afa2ee-345d-5f1f-b0a4-44cc07d8ea29)
Copyright (#ufc216901-bd6e-5ea3-8cdf-e2fe6e03935e)
Dedication (#u7eff10d5-ba40-585c-b0b4-ed536e1795b6)
Chapter One (#u4e20cbfe-f70e-5ff8-bb68-f21f18797e10)
Chapter Two (#ue8b5548e-c1c8-5a49-97b9-b2aa784cfe0b)
Chapter Three (#u98d1acf8-c047-5f85-8fde-f6935dcf43fe)
Chapter Four (#uee28a708-f41f-56d1-a5e9-d3811dfe8e81)
Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter One (#u3a3c9798-b7cd-5d0e-aa89-f20c31f8b6d4)
Caroline Ruth loved romance and happily-ever-after stories and all sorts of things that her academic-minded mother considered nonsense. That was how she knew with absolute conviction that this career as an assistant wedding planner in Rust Creek Falls, Montana, was tailor-made for her. And so did her boss, who was currently on her honeymoon and had left their newest client in Caroline’s more-than-capable hands.
Josselyn Weaver sat across the desk from her, poring over bridal gown catalogs as they both waited for the groom to arrive to the couple’s initial consultation. Picking a gown always seemed to hold the most excitement for the brides, but Caroline knew that booking a venue was the foundation of building a successful event. After all, the guest list and decorations and theme usually depended on the location.
Caroline’s stomach growled and she wished she had stopped for a breakfast croissant at Daisy’s Donuts on her way to work this morning. But she’d been so eager to get to the office and prepare for this meeting that she’d barely allowed herself time for a couple of bites of a disgusting protein bar she’d found smashed in the bottom of her giant tote bag.
“So when we met a couple of months ago, you were pretty adamant that you wouldn’t be getting married anytime soon,” she finally said when Josselyn looked up from a glossy magazine spread. Not that she wanted to rush the bride, but Caroline had too much energy for long periods of silence, no matter how comfortable they were. Besides, the more she could learn about the couple she was working with the better. “I’m glad to see you changed your mind.”
“I know. I remember you telling me that you’d be planning my wedding soon and I thought it was the craziest thing I’d ever heard.” Josselyn’s eyes were bright with humor, and Caroline smiled since she was well accustomed to people not really taking her instincts seriously. The bride continued, “I’d just moved to Rust Creek Falls to take the school librarian job and wasn’t even looking for a date, let alone a relationship. I know people say that love finds you when you’re not looking for it, but if someone had told me that I’d be engaged by Christmas, I never would have believed it.”
Caroline gulped as a shiver made its way down her back.
Engaged by Christmas.
The words brought back the memory of Winona Cobbs’s prediction that Caroline would be engaged before she turned twenty-four. That was a bit more than a month away, which meant that if the old psychic was correct, the right man would need to come along soon.
Shaking off the tingling vibration along her skin, Caroline glanced down at the wastebasket by her feet and wondered if she’d been a little too quick to throw out the half-eaten protein bar. She was suddenly feeling a bit light-headed and needed to keep this meeting moving along.
“So tell me about your fiancé,” she suggested. She was almost as new to the small town as Josselyn was, and despite the fact that she’d already assisted with a few weddings out at Sunshine Farm, Caroline hadn’t met the groom yet.
“Drew is an obstetrician at the Rust Creek Falls Clinic. His first wife died in a car accident several years ago, and since this is his second wedding, I want to make sure that I’m being respectful to her memory.”
“Of course.” Caroline nodded sympathetically. “And if I remember correctly, he also has an adorable son that introduced you two, right? I’m guessing you’d like him to be involved in the wedding somehow.”
“That would be wonderful,” Josselyn replied as her cell phone vibrated. She looked at her screen. “Drew just texted. Apparently, he ran into his brother at Daisy’s, but the good news is that he’s bringing donuts to apologize for running late.”
“No problem.” Caroline waved a hand in dismissal as her stomach clenched in anticipation of a sugary treat. Josselyn picked up another bridal gown magazine, and Caroline decided to steer her toward the more important decisions. “Have you guys talked about the size of the wedding or whether you want it to be indoors or outdoors?”
“Well, he’s originally from Thunder Canyon, so we were kind of thinking something in Kalispell might be a bit more accommodating for everyone traveling. I’m not really sure how many people we’re inviting, but his family is huge. And I was hoping we could set the date within the next couple of months, so we would probably need an indoor venue since Montana winters can be pretty unpredictable.”
“I know the perfect place!” Caroline jumped up so quickly she hit her knee on the corner of the desk drawer. “Hold on, I have more information on it in one of these binders.”
Their current office building used to be an old train depot at Sawmill Station, and when her boss, Vivienne, converted it for her wedding planning business, her husband had built her a wall of bookshelves. Cole had promised to install a rolling ladder when they returned from their honeymoon, but until then, Caroline had to drag a piece of furniture over and climb up on it every time she needed to reach something on the top shelf.
To take her mind off the fact that she was balancing on an antique wooden chair in a pair of high heels, Caroline kept talking, hoping her enthusiasm disguised her nervous energy. “There’s a historical brick building in Kalispell that is currently an art museum, but the back opens up into this huge open space. And get this. It used to be a Carnegie library before the city relocated the library to their current location. But the historical society rents it out for events and, well, if I wasn’t so short I could reach the brochure and just show you.”
“Can I help?” Josselyn asked, coming to stand nearby.
“Nope, I almost have it.” It wasn’t very ladylike—especially in an above-the-knee ruffled skirt—but Caroline put one foot onto a shelf to shimmy up just a little higher and stretched her arm as far as it would go until her fingers could grasp the bottom of the binder. As luck would have it, that was the exact moment when the front door opened.
“Drew...!” Josselyn said, her voice trailing off as she obviously walked away from the bookshelves and toward the entrance. Caroline would’ve stayed focused on what she was doing, but then the bride added, “I didn’t know you were bringing Ben and Craig with you.”
Caroline turned in surprise at the mention of unexpected people and brought her foot off the shelf a little too quickly. There were three men standing in the entryway. However, she only had eyes for the one carrying the pink bakery box. He was wearing a tan Stetson with a red plaid shirt, but that kind of standard cowboy attire was a dime a dozen around this town. What made her dizzy with excitement was the hook-shaped scar on the right side of his neck...just like the man Winona Cobbs had predicted.
Biting her lip, Caroline blinked in wonder at the new arrival. This was it. He was here. She just knew it.
Overwhelmed, underfed and perhaps a bit too eager, Caroline rocked the chair as she tried to climb down. Unfortunately, her high heel hooked onto one of the narrow armrests and she went down fast. The last thought to go through her mind was Engaged by Christmas.
* * *
Craig Clifton saw the woman fall as if it was happening in slow motion. Dropping the box of donuts, he sprinted toward her just as he heard the deafening thunk of her forehead bouncing off one of the wooden shelves. Still a couple of feet away, Craig dived at her in a last-ditch effort to brace her landing. But the odd angle and the impact of her deadweight knocked them both to the ground.
Luckily, he was able to pivot his torso at the last minute, and the back of the lady’s head, as well as her shoulders, landed on his abdomen instead of the hardwood floor. Craig had absorbed most of the impact, but they were now sprawled out in the shape of a T and his childhood friend was yelling at them to stay still.
“Don’t move her,” Drew ordered as he knelt by Craig’s hip. Catching his breath, which had been knocked out of him when they’d collided, Craig sucked in a gulp of air and saw the woman’s long brown hair rise and fall with his chest.
“I can barely move myself,” Craig replied, lifting a hand to the bump rising along the back of his scalp, not surprised to find his Stetson missing. His brothers referred to it as his “going to town hat” since he tended to wear it whenever he left the ranch. Craig wiggled his toes inside his boots and relaxed when he was confident that all his appendages were in working order.
“She’s unconscious,” Drew continued as he touched the lady’s neck, probably checking for a pulse or a broken bone or whatever else it was that doctors checked for. Then Drew looked over to his brother, who was also a physician and currently crouched down with his hands on his knees, staring at the unresponsive woman instead of asking how his best friend’s spine was. “Ben, I left my bag in my car back at Daisy’s. Do you have yours in the truck?”
“I’m on my way,” Ben replied.
“Should we call an ambulance for her?” Josselyn asked as she stood over all of them, concern etched on her forehead.
“It would probably take too long for one to drive here from Kalispell,” Drew replied. “Her heartbeat and breathing seem to be stable and I’m not feeling anything broken. But judging by how hard she hit that shelf on the way down, I wouldn’t be surprised if she has a concussion.”
“That was my first thought,” Ben said as he returned with his doctor bag. “We could take her to the clinic in town, but she’s going to need a CT scan and would have to go to the hospital in Kalispell for that anyway. If we’re going to drive her anywhere, it should be there.”
“Wouldn’t it be dangerous to move her?” Josselyn asked her fiancé, and Craig found himself thinking the same thing.
“Well, we can’t leave her on top of Craig forever, as much as he might enjoy that.” Ben smirked, then must’ve noticed the concern on his soon-to-be sister-in-law’s face. “I promise she’ll be fine.”
Craig had grown up with the Stricklands and knew that if Ben could make jokes during a time like this, the situation couldn’t be entirely dire. He forced his muscles to relax and wondered how he’d gotten roped into accompanying two of his best friends over here for a wedding planning appointment of all things.
One minute he’d been in line at Daisy’s Donuts with Ben, discussing leasing fees for bulls, and the next, Drew was taking them both over to the new ranch at Sawmill Station to get a look at the latest herd of longhorns the Daltons were selling. Apparently, it just so happened that the wedding planner’s office was located on the same property.
“I’m fine, by the way,” Craig said, since nobody seemed to be concerned about his health after he’d taken a dive like that. He looked across the floor to where the pink bakery box had opened and spilled out its contents all over the wooden planks. “But since I’m stuck down here, can someone hand me a donut?”
“If you’re healthy enough to complain, you’re healthy enough to wait your turn.” Drew’s eyes flickered briefly over Craig before he slipped a Velcro cuff onto the arm of the unconscious woman, whose head was still propped up just below Craig’s chest. “Besides, I’ve seen you take worse falls off a bucking horse back in the day. Now, hold still while I get her blood pressure.”
“But he’s not a young buck anymore,” Ben said, wiggling his eyebrows with humor and making Craig feel every one of his thirty-five years. The hard floor underneath him and the odd angle of his body weren’t helping the uncomfortable stiffness settling over him.
“I could still outride you,” Craig challenged. “Unless you’re getting in a lot of saddle time in between shifts at that fancy hospital of yours in Billings.”
“Possibly,” Ben said, passing him a glazed twist that had landed halfway on top of a piece of wax paper. “I haven’t seen you move that fast since Brown Fury slammed you up against the pen in the midstate finals.”
“That bull was one mean son of a—”
“Should I call someone?” Josselyn asked, interrupting Craig’s reminiscing about his rodeo days. But it was either talk about something else to get his mind off the injured woman currently on top of him or lie here thinking about the last time he’d been powerless to help a different injured woman.
“She’s stable,” Drew responded. “But we should get her to the hospital in Kalispell to have some tests run.”
Having grown up on his family’s ranch in Thunder Canyon, Craig was no stranger to small towns and medical emergencies. The people there were used to taking care of their own. Not that this particular lady was his own. Hell, he didn’t even know this woman resting so peacefully against him, the porcelain-white skin of her cheek relaxed against the red plaid checks in his shirt. But if the doctors said they could drive her from Rust Creek Falls into Kalispell, then that was what they would do.
As Drew and Ben gently lifted her off him, Craig left his uneaten donut on the floor and rose to his feet, tamping down his impulse to scoop the woman into his arms and carry her himself. After all, he was the one who’d saved her from a second blow to her head when he’d landed underneath her. That kind of bond made a man feel a certain responsibility. But Ben already had her off the ground, with Drew stabilizing her head as they walked toward the door. Which was probably for the best considering they were both trained in moving patients, whereas Craig was better trained to haul her around like a bale of hay.
“I’ll grab her purse,” Josselyn said as everyone seemed to spring into action.
Craig had barely enough time to scoop up his fallen hat and make it outside to open the back door of his crew cab truck. He quickly hopped up and slid across the seat to help gently maneuver the unconscious woman inside. He found himself with her head resting on him again, but at least this time it was on his lap as he sat upright on the bench seat. If he’d wanted to badly enough, he probably could’ve switched spots and let Drew sit back here with her. However, Craig had already taken on the rescue role inside the office and he didn’t feel right about abandoning the poor lady now.
He had to shift his hips carefully in order to fish the truck keys out of his front pocket and pass them to Josselyn, who volunteered to drive so that Drew could be available to check the woman’s vitals during the twenty-five-minute drive. Ben, realizing that there wasn’t enough room in the truck, decided to drive Josselyn’s car back to Sunshine Farm.
“Who should I notify?” Ben asked, and all eyes turned to Josselyn.
“Um, she works for Vivienne Shuster, but Viv and Cole Dalton are in Fiji on their honeymoon. Like me, she’s new to Rust Creek Falls, so I’m not really sure who she’d want me to call locally. I think her parents are college professors or something but I don’t know where they live.”
It seemed so intimate to be talking about the personal details of a woman he’d never met. A woman whose brown hair fell in soft waves against the denim of his jeans. Craig cleared his throat. “What’s her name?”
“Caroline Ruth,” Josselyn said, then put the truck into gear.
Caroline.
Her body was slender and petite, but she had curves in all the right places. A rush of shame filled him as he realized he was blatantly staring at an unconscious lady. An unconscious and vulnerable lady with a body encased in delicate, clingy feminine fabric that would never suit life on a ranch. Not that Caroline looked like the type to spend much time working in the outdoors. He narrowed his gaze toward her high-heeled sandals and the bright pink polish on her toes. She never would’ve fallen off that chair if she’d been wearing sturdy boots and functional jeans. But she was a wedding planner, so what did she know about physical labor?
Josselyn took a bend in the two-lane highway a bit too sharply and Craig instinctively wrapped his hand around Caroline’s waist to make sure she didn’t accidentally tumble off the seat. The touch sent an electric vibration up his arm, making him feel like even more of a creep, so he yanked his hand away quickly, but didn’t know where to put it. Lifting his elbow to the top of the backrest, Craig studied her face for signs of pain or discomfort. Fortunately, she appeared to be completely relaxed in her unconscious state, almost as though she were blissfully at peace.
Caroline Ruth was definitely an attractive woman, he’d give her that. Still. He was in no position to be noticing such things, and she was clearly in no position to be receiving his unwanted attention. Craig shifted guiltily in his seat and Caroline’s eyes suddenly shot open.
“Hey there,” Craig offered weakly. What else was he supposed to say to a complete stranger with her head in his lap? Caroline smiled dreamily at him before her lids fluttered closed and she was out cold again.
Chapter Two (#u3a3c9798-b7cd-5d0e-aa89-f20c31f8b6d4)
Caroline heard steady beeping before feeling something squeeze around her upper arm. It took considerable effort to raise her eyelids, and when she finally got them to stay open, there were a few seconds of blurriness.
Where was she?
What had happened?
“She’s awake,” a woman said, and Caroline blinked several times until the light fixture in the middle of the white ceiling came into focus. She wiggled her toes as her hands flexed against something that felt like a starched sheet. Was she in a bed? She was definitely lying down.
“Caroline?” someone else asked and she turned toward the voice, her eyes narrowing on the person standing beside her. A woman with steel-gray curls and smooth skin the color of dark copper placed a calming hand on Caroline’s shoulder. “Can you hear me?”
“Where am I?” Caroline asked.
“You’re in the emergency room at Kalispell Regional. I’m Dr. Robinson. Do you remember what happened?”
Caroline shook her head and then flinched at the stabbing pain that shot through her forehead.
“Careful, now,” the doctor continued. “From what I understand, you hit your head pretty hard. Your friends brought you in and we did an MRI while you were still unconscious. We think you have a concussion, but we’d like to get a CT scan of your brain to rule out anything more serious.”
“My friends?” Caroline asked, then turned toward the other woman in the room. She sighed when she saw Josselyn Weaver on the other side of her bed.
“Hey, Caroline.” Josselyn squeezed Caroline’s hand, accidentally dislodging some little white wires and causing a shrill beep.
“Don’t worry. It’s just the oxygen reader,” the doctor offered, putting the plastic device back over Caroline’s pointer finger. “You up for answering some questions?”
“Sure,” Caroline said as she tried to sit up. She was relieved that the rest of her body cooperated and that her head was the only thing hurting.
“Do you know your name?” Dr. Robinson asked.
“Caroline Ruth.”
“And what day is it?”
She blinked a couple of times until it came back to her. “November 21.”
“Good.” The doctor’s bright white smile was reassuring. “And what did you have for breakfast today?”
Caroline’s stomach rumbled at the reminder. “Only a couple of bites of a protein bar. I should’ve gotten a breakfast sandwich at Daisy’s this morning but I didn’t want to be late for my appointment.”
“Oh? What kind of appointment?”
“I’m a wedding planner.”
The physician looked over to Josselyn, who nodded in agreement. The questions must be part of some kind of test and Caroline hoped she was passing.
Dr. Robinson lifted a finger in front of Caroline’s nose. “Do you know where you live?”
Caroline’s eyes followed the finger as she rattled off the address for the tiny guest house she’d rented in the heart of Rust Creek Falls several months ago. The sooner she answered everything and proved she was perfectly fine, the sooner she could get something to eat.
“What’s the last thing you remember before coming to the hospital?”
“I was talking to Josselyn about her wedding and I climbed up on a chair to get the binder with a brochure for a venue when...” Caroline trailed off as she couldn’t recall what had occurred after that. Lifting her fingers to stroke her forehead, she asked, “Is that how I fell?”
“Yes,” Josselyn said, sighing as though she’d been holding her breath up until this point. “You went face-first into one of the shelves on your way down and were out cold. We didn’t want to wait for an ambulance, so we brought you straight to the ER.”
“We?” Caroline asked and looked around the room. There was another man near the partitioned curtain of the exam room, but he’d been talking to a nurse outside and she’d assumed he was another doctor.
“That’s—” Josselyn started, but Dr. Robinson cut her off.
“Do you know the name of this man?”
“No idea,” Caroline replied, hoping her honesty wouldn’t mean that she couldn’t get a snack soon. When she’d been ten years old, her dad had to be rushed to the hospital near the faculty housing at Berkeley. He’d insisted that it was only heartburn and asked Caroline to go to the cafeteria and get him some vanilla soft serve to soothe the acid. Turned out it was a perforated gallbladder and because he’d eaten the ice cream, the anesthesiologist delayed the surgery until his stomach was empty. It had been a long ten hours of her dad doing his awful Oliver Twist impression by begging for more food and insisting he was starving.
“Technically, she hadn’t met me prior to her fall.” The man the doctor had just asked about stepped forward and placed an arm around Josselyn’s waist. “I’m Drew Strickland, by the way. You’re planning our wedding. We had just walked in the door and you’d turned to look at us. That’s when you got your foot twisted in the chair and fell.”
“We?” Caroline asked again, feeling like a parrot. Her eyelids were getting heavy again and all she wanted was a hot breakfast sandwich and a nap. “Who’s we?”
“Me and—” Drew was cut off by Dr. Robinson holding up a hand like a stop sign.
“Do you remember them walking in the door before you fell?” the emergency room physician asked.
Caroline focused on a bright red electric outlet on the wall in an effort to concentrate, trying to form an image in her mind. But nothing was coming to her. She replayed the events of the morning over and over again, and the weight of the silence in the room suggested that everyone else knew what two plus two equaled and were desperately waiting for her to shout out, “Four!”
However, she was drawing a complete blank. In fact, she was positive that there wasn’t anything else that happened after that. She was getting tired again, probably from concentrating so hard, and just wanted to fall asleep. Couldn’t they simply tell her what had happened and let her take a nap?
“Sorry, I don’t.” Caroline shrugged, then yawned. “The last thing I remember was reaching for that binder on the top shelf.”
It was then that a second man walked into the room and Caroline’s breath caught as he took off his cowboy hat and ran a golden hand through his black, close-cropped hair.
Her entire body eased back onto the bed and she smiled in relief, everything finally making sense. “Oh, there you are.”
“So you know him?” the doctor asked, jerking a thumb to the newcomer.
“Of course,” Caroline said, then blinked slowly as the pillow cradled her head. “That’s my fiancé.”
* * *
Her fiancé?
Craig’s head whipped around to the hallway behind him. But nobody else was there. He opened his mouth to tell the doctor that he’d never even met this woman, but nothing came out. The air had been sucked out of his lungs, and probably out of the entire room, judging by the equally confused expressions on everyone else’s faces.
Caroline’s head injury must be more serious than they’d originally thought if she was babbling incoherent randomness. Scratch that. Her statement had been clear and articulate, but it made absolutely no sense. Nor did the way she was looking at him, her doe-shaped brown eyes all dreamy and her wide lips parted in a hazy smile as though he was the only one in the room, or at least the only person who mattered. It was the same look Tina had given him before she’d died, and the comparison made his blood go cold.
Caroline looked nothing like his high school sweetheart, but Craig’s memory had already been triggered, and that rush of helplessness filled his veins the same way it had all those years ago when they’d been trapped on the highway, waiting for the rescue workers to pry them out of the wreckage. He would’ve looked to Drew or Josselyn for an answer, but he couldn’t tear his gaze away from Caroline.
Logically, he knew he wasn’t reliving that awful night nearly fifteen years ago, but when Caroline’s eyes finally drifted closed, Craig raced to her bedside and grabbed her hand as though he alone could will her back to consciousness.
“She’ll be fine,” the ER doctor told him with a gentle pat on the shoulder, a move likely designed to reassure loved ones. No doubt, it had worked for the doc countless times in the past. The only difference in this situation was that Craig didn’t know the current patient, let alone love her.
“But I’m not—” Craig started and Dr. Robinson interrupted him.
“Let’s step into the hallway where we can talk.” The physician’s reassuring pat turned into a firm nudge as she steered him toward the nurses’ station.
Craig turned back toward his friends, who were slowly following them. Josselyn’s mouth was slightly open and there were a few squiggly creases between her eyebrows while Drew simply stared in concern as though Craig had been the one to hit his head and get the sense knocked out of him.
Not that Craig could blame the guy. There might be plenty of reasons why Caroline accidentally called him her fiancé, but there was absolutely no explanation for his intense emotional reaction to someone who was a total stranger.
While it was already embarrassing that the others saw him respond like that, it would be even more confusing and downright mortifying to explain what prompted him to run to her side and clutch her hand as though she was dying.
Despite the couple approaching, Dr. Robinson faced Craig and directed most of the information his way. Something about a concussion and needing consent for a CT scan to rule out any long-term damage. “My recommendation is to run a few more tests and then have her stay overnight for observation. Does your fiancée have any other family members we should notify or can you authorize consent?”
“She’s not my fiancée.” The words finally tumbled out of Craig’s mouth in a rush as he tugged on the collar of his work shirt. “In fact, I’ve never met her before.”
“Well, she certainly lit up when you came in the room,” Dr. Robinson replied, one hand on her hip as though she wasn’t buying Craig’s version of the situation. “I didn’t even need to shine my light in her eyes when I was examining her because her pupils contracted and focused on you like you were the be-all and end-all.”
“I promise I’ve never seen her before today. Right?” Craig shot a pleading look toward Drew for confirmation. “I have no idea why she would think we knew each other, let alone that we’re engaged. Maybe I resemble her real fiancé and the concussion just has her brain rattled?”
“I’m pretty sure she’s single.” Josselyn finally spoke up and Craig felt the oxygen slowly return to his lungs. “We’ve only talked a handful of times, but she’s never mentioned a significant other. Plus, she doesn’t have an engagement ring.”
At first Craig was filled with a sort of vindication from the proof that he wasn’t her fiancé. However, that was soon replaced by utter bafflement. “Then why would she imagine herself being in a serious relationship at all?”
“Maybe she has amnesia?” Josselyn suggested.
“I suppose that’s possible.” Drew turned down one corner of his mouth, his expression suggesting that it wasn’t possible at all. “However, she had full recollection of all the events leading up to her fall.”
“It could be confabulation.” Dr. Robinson now spoke to Drew, her voice lowered as she threw out phrases such as memory production and cognitive distortion and something else Craig couldn’t quite make out.
“Hmm.” Drew nodded. “I’ve read case studies, but have never seen it manifested in a patient.”
Craig rolled his eyes. “Do you think you guys could use some layman terms for us nondoctors?”
“Confabulation is similar to amnesia in that it’s a memory disturbance. It can happen when there is some type of damage to the brain. Caroline seems to remember almost everything leading up to her injury, but to fill in the gaps on what she doesn’t know, her mind has invented a story to explain it.”
Oh, boy. He should’ve stayed in Thunder Canyon this week. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Craig asked, “But why would she need to make up a lie about being engaged?”
“It’s not a lie.” Dr. Robinson shook her head. “To her, it’s very real.”
“Okay, so then we just tell her that she doesn’t know me and that she doesn’t have a fiancé and she’s good to go.” He slapped his palms together as though it were that simple. And it would’ve been if Craig had been speaking to the vet out on the ranch. Cows and horses never had issues like this.
Dr. Robinson shared another look with Drew before answering. “In theory, we would always recommend telling a patient the truth. But in this case, she hit her forehead, where the frontal lobe is encased, and that makes it hard for her to retrieve and evaluate memories. So in instances of confabulation, it doesn’t matter what you say. Her brain is in a fragile state right now and will only be able to understand what her frontal lobe is telling her.”
“How long does this last?” Craig folded his arms across his chest and looked longingly toward the ER exit doors. “I mean, do I actually have to pretend to be her fiancé?”
“I’m sure Dr. Robinson doesn’t want you to pretend to be anything,” Drew offered, looking at his watch.
“No, of course not. I’m simply recommending that we don’t upset the patient until all the tests come back and we know more about what’s going on.”
“So when will that happen?”
“As soon as her fiancé gives us consent?”
“But I’m not—”
Dr. Robinson held up her palm. “I was kidding. When she wakes up again, we can get her verbal consent. But is there anybody else we should notify in the meantime? Anyone else who can give us a better medical history?”
All eyes turned toward Josselyn again. “I looked through her purse, but I couldn’t find her cell phone. I heard back from Vivienne earlier, and she confirmed that Caroline’s parents are out of the country right now on some sort of teaching sabbatical and she doesn’t remember her mentioning any friends or family nearby. I would hate to leave her here all alone. What if she wakes up and is confused again?”
“Obviously, we can’t leave her here alone,” Craig said.
Drew looked at his watch a second time. “I have to get back to Rust Creek Falls before my son gets out of school.”
“I’d stay, but I have to speak at the city council meeting this evening to ask for extra funding for the elementary school library. If I miss it, I’ll have to wait another month to get my proposal approved.”
“Maybe I’ll call Ben and ask...” Drew started.
“No way,” Craig said, shaking his head before his friend could even finish the thought. “I can stick around.”
Chapter Three (#u3a3c9798-b7cd-5d0e-aa89-f20c31f8b6d4)
The words had flown out of Craig’s mouth before they’d had a chance to logically form in his brain. Not because his skin itched with jealousy at the mention of another man staying with Caroline when she was this vulnerable, but because Craig hadn’t been able to shake this sense of responsibility for her since he’d seen her slipping off that chair. If he tried to explain this impulse, it wouldn’t make sense to his friends. Hell, it didn’t even make sense to him.
“I mean, if I’m her... I...uh...mean...if Caroline thinks I’m her fiancé, then obviously she’ll be expecting me to be here when she wakes up. I wouldn’t want to make things worse. And it’s not like it’s a big deal,” Craig added, more for his own benefit than to convince his friends. “I’m not really doing anything else today.”
It was true. The late fall season was the slowest time on his family’s ranch because they’d already sent their latest herds to market and didn’t plan to start breeding the new calves until after the new year. He was in Rust Creek Falls to visit two of his brothers and to check in with some of the other local ranchers for what his dad referred to as “old-fashioned market research.”
Josselyn frowned. “I’m not sure if it would be in Caroline’s best interest to let her continue thinking that you two are really engaged. After all, she’ll get her memory back eventually, won’t she?”
Dr. Robinson lifted her shoulders in a shrug. “Like I said, we’ll know more after her tests. I’d feel better holding off on any treatment plan or official diagnosis just yet, but if it is confabulation strictly caused by a brain injury and not caused by a mental health issue or dementia, then this memory setback likely won’t last too long. With all that being said, while I wouldn’t advocate lying to a patient, I don’t necessarily see any harm in letting them believe in whatever is going to give them a sense of peace for the time being. Our biggest goal right now is to keep Caroline as calm and relaxed as possible.”
Drew looked at his watch again. “Are you sure you want to stay, Craig?”
“I don’t want to,” Craig clarified, more for himself than for anyone else listening. “But if it’s the easiest solution and it will keep Caroline calm so that she can heal, then I’ll do it.”
There, that sounded plausible enough, even to his own ears. After several more rounds of “Are you sure?” followed by Craig’s growing insistence, he eventually found himself sitting on the miserable plastic chair beside her bed in the exam room, drinking cold coffee and scrolling on his smartphone for the latest feed and grain reports. It wasn’t the same as getting out to the other ranches and talking directly to his fellow cattlemen, but he couldn’t just blow off all his work duties to sit around playing nurse.
Normally, he rarely used the device except for making calls and often told his brothers that any cattleman worth his salt didn’t rely on fancy gadgets that could easily get busted working on the ranch. If Craig was in the field and needed information off the internet, he usually just asked his brother Rob or waited until he could use the computer at the house. However, now that their father had been bitten with the technology bug and insisted on sending group texts with links to online articles, Craig found himself a reluctant user.
“Do you think I could have one of your Life Savers?” Caroline’s soft voice was so unexpected that Craig dropped his phone, its reinforced hard-shell case preventing the screen from cracking on the tile floor.
“Huh?” Craig asked, then wanted to kick himself for sounding like such a dope.
“One of your Life Savers.” Caroline pointed to the front pocket of his shirt, where he always stashed a roll of his favorite cherry-flavored candy.
His chin dropped toward the empty pocket. Okay, now that was weird. He’d had less than half a roll when he’d left his brother’s house this morning and then had nervously plowed through the rest of them by the time Caroline had undergone her MRI. Since she’d never been conscious during any of the times he’d popped one into his mouth, there was no way for her to be aware of his little sugar habit.
“How do you know about my Life Savers?” he asked, trying his best not to completely disregard the doctor’s instructions about keeping Caroline calm.
“You always have them,” she replied, her smile all dreamy again and his insides responding the same way they had the last time she’d woken up and grinned at him. “Plus, you smell like cherries.”
Craig let out the breath he’d been holding, mildly relieved with the second part of her explanation. “Do you know who I am?”
Caroline’s smooth forehead pinched into several lines as she studied him. Thinking that maybe she’d lost a pair of glasses in the fall and couldn’t see his face clearly, Craig leaned closer as intense concentration took over her expression. She opened her pouty bow-shaped lips several times before defeat filled her eyes. “I don’t know why I can’t think of your name.”
“It’s Craig,” he replied, wanting to pump his fist in celebration. Not that he should be basking in her confusion, but if she didn’t know his name, then she’d finally realized that he was actually a complete stranger. That meant that her amnesia spell or confabulation—or whatever it was—had finally passed and she no longer needed him to take care of her. He extended his hand as he introduced himself. “I’m Craig Clifton.”
Caroline inhaled deeply through her nose as she nodded. But instead of taking his proffered handshake, she laced her fingers through his. “Of course you are. I must’ve hit my head pretty hard to forget my own fiancé’s name.”
* * *
Poor Craig looked about as confused as Caroline felt. It must be difficult for him to see the woman he loved like this. But then again, at least he wasn’t the one who’d completely forgotten most of the specifics about the person he was supposed to be marrying. Hopefully, it wasn’t a bad omen for their relationship if she could perfectly recall every other detail of her life except for the one that was arguably the most important.
She squeezed her eyes closed as though it might help paint a more accurate picture of the man in her mind. Caroline remembered the hook-shaped scar on his neck, she remembered he liked cherry-flavored candy and... And that was where all the details stopped.
“Are you in pain?” Craig asked. “Should I call for a nurse?”
“Oh, no.” Caroline’s lids popped open. “I was just trying really hard to recall something more concrete about us, like how long we’ve been together or where we first met or where you live and work. But I’m drawing a complete blank, and to be honest, it’s making me a little nervous.”
“Don’t be nervous,” he said quickly, then rolled his lips inward, causing him look like a child who was trying to bite back a secret. The expression didn’t exactly alleviate her fears. Her growing anxiety must have been obvious because he added, “The doctor said that when you hit your head, it might have caused a few problems with your memory.”
Panic clawed at her throat, and she could feel the cold, dry air hitting her eyes as they grew wider than normal. “Like amnesia?”
“Not exactly.” Craig rubbed the scarred area of his neck. “The doctor called it something else, but it’s similar. She can probably explain it to you way better than I can.”
Craig stood up, and his cowboy boots clicked against the floor as he strode over to the open curtain and waved down a hospital employee in surgical scrubs. Caroline couldn’t hear what he was saying, but his thumb gestured her way and her gaze traveled from his hand down his tan, muscular forearms to where his red plaid work shirt was rolled to the elbows. Because of the way he was standing, Caroline could only study him from a side angle, but as she took in his well-rounded shoulders and flat abs and long, strong legs encased in faded denim, she couldn’t help but wonder how in the world she could possibly have forgotten a perfect form like his.
When he pivoted to walk back toward Caroline, her tummy dropped and she got light-headed again. The view from the front was just as good as the one from the side. Heat flooded her cheeks and she asked, “Do you think I could possibly have a drink of water?”
“I asked the doctor about you being able to eat or drink when you woke up and she said only a sip of water until after your CT scan. She doesn’t anticipate you needing any sort of surgery, but they haven’t ruled it out yet.”
The mention of surgery should’ve had her concerned. Instead, a sense of relief blossomed inside her chest. It was reassuring that her fiancé knew her well enough to understand that she’d be worried about eating and drinking and obviously had taken steps to provide answers for her. Maybe she’d even told him the story about her dad’s gallbladder surgery and the soft-serve ice cream. It was crazy to think that this man beside her was probably privy to all of her secrets and all of her needs. Now if only she could recall some of his preferences—besides candy, obviously—then they’d be on equal footing.
Craig picked up a water bottle from the bedside tray table and unscrewed the plastic cap before gently holding it to her lips. “Not too much, now.”
As she drank, she made the mistake of lifting her eyes to his face and was hit with such an intense attraction that she swallowed way too quickly and began coughing. Craig used the back of his hand to wipe the water that had dribbled down her chin. It was such an intimate gesture, not necessarily in a sexual way but in the way someone would take care of a loved one.
Something warm spread through Caroline’s body. She was loved. By this man. While the feeling wasn’t entirely familiar to her, it was certainly exciting. And very welcome. After all, Caroline had known that she wanted to be a wife and a mother since kindergarten, when she and five-year-old Scott Sullivan had staged a mock wedding during recess. Unfortunately, they’d barely gotten through the first-grade minister’s line of “You may kiss the bride,” before the teacher had put a stop to things and called Caroline’s and Scott’s parents to inform them that students needed to keep their hands—and their lips—to themselves at school. When her mother asked why she’d wanted to marry Scott Sullivan, Caroline had told her that he was the only boy who wasn’t playing handball that day. After that, Rita Rodriguez, department chair for Women and Gender Studies at Wellesley College, had made her daughter promise that she would never settle for a man.
And Caroline never did again. In fact, she hadn’t so much as had a boyfriend because every guy she’d ever gone out with hadn’t felt like “the one.”
So, while she couldn’t remember a thing about the handsomely rugged cowboy before her, Caroline had every confidence that she belonged with him. Unlike her recess-length courtship with the first available kindergartner, there was a powerful emotional connection between Caroline and Craig. Because of her absent memory, she didn’t understand it right that second but she felt it deep in her core. In twenty-three years, her instincts had never led her astray, and even her normally evidence-based mother had to admit that when Caroline felt something, she really felt it. In fact, after her college graduation, Caroline’s father had given her a framed quote by Charles Dickens that read “A loving heart is the truest wisdom.”
Her mother hated that quote.
Luckily, her parents were currently in India, her mom conducting research on the history and success of matriarchal tribes as her father compiled literary works by the lesser-known authors of the British colonies. Which meant they were too far away to question her every decision.
“How’s everyone feeling in here?” Dr. Robinson asked, sliding back the partition.
Craig immediately stood up, because, of course, he would. As if Caroline would ever pick a guy who wasn’t a complete gentleman at all times. However, his current white-knuckle grip on the bedside rail suggested his good manners were also helping to mask his discomfort and the nervous way his eyes were looking everywhere but at her.
“I’m still a little fuzzy on some things,” Caroline replied before reaching out the hand not connected to the oxygen wires and placing it over Craig’s. His fingers were warm, his skin slightly rough and very bronzed—probably from working outside or wherever it was that he worked. Caroline would worry about remembering those kinds of details later. She didn’t want to make her fiancé feel awkward or unimportant. That was why her smile wasn’t forced when she added, “But I’m content and comfortable for now.”
Dr. Robinson nodded before looking away, lines scrunching across her otherwise smooth brow. Caroline followed the woman’s gaze in time to see Craig give a brief shake of his head.
They were obviously referring to the fact that she hadn’t fully regained her memory and Caroline wanted to kick her feet in frustration like a petulant child. But her legs were tucked in under a weight of blankets, reminding her of the utter lack of power she had over both her mind and body. “So when can I go home?”
“Well, the radiology tech is on his way now. After the CT scan, we’d like you to stay the night so we can keep an eye on your concussion. As long as all the tests come back negative, I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t go home tomorrow.”
Caroline didn’t even realize she was now clutching Craig’s hand until his fingers slid through hers and squeezed with reassurance. “I’ve never stayed the night in a hospital before.”
“Nothing to worry about.” Dr. Robinson tsk-tsked, reminding Caroline of her Nan, who made that sound anytime she thought her granddaughter was too skinny and not eating enough. The physician nodded toward Craig. “And your man here said he plans to stay the night with you. So between him and all our nurses, you’ll never be alone.”
“You’re going to stay?” Caroline smiled at Craig and his eyes seemed to turn a darker shade of blue.
He cleared his throat and focused on the blood pressure machine beeping behind her. “Um, if that would make you feel more comfortable. Sure.”
If she had the full use of her faculties, Caroline would probably be able to better guess at what the man was thinking. However, she had absolutely no clue what her fiancé’s normal response would be in a situation like this. Did he really want to stay? Or was he just being polite? Judging by the forced expression on his face, Caroline would assume the latter. But before she could let him off the hook, the tech showed up to take her for the CT scan.
As the hospital employee maneuvered her hospital bed through the corridors, Craig walked beside Caroline, her bright pink tote bag looped over one of his broad shoulders. She recognized the purse as the one she’d picked out this morning to go with her new heels and had to swallow a giggle at how much it clashed with his red plaid shirt.
But when it got caught in the elevator door behind him, Caroline could no longer hold in her laughter. “Do you always carry my purse for me?”
He gave a slight grunt, then hefted it higher onto his shoulder. “It was either this or leave it behind in the exam room where anyone could walk by and steal it.”
After the radiology tech helped her transfer off the bed and onto the cold platform for her scan, he asked her a series of questions, like whether she was wearing any jewelry or had any metal implants anywhere in her body. Then the tech asked the one question that really threw her. “Any possibility that you’re pregnant?”
Caroline’s lungs seized and her mouth froze into a circle, unsure of what the answer was. Surely she would remember something like that, wouldn’t she? She was only twenty-three years old and had been waiting to have sex until she’d found “the one,” which she’d obviously found. She turned pleading eyes to Craig, hating that she couldn’t even recall if they’d had intercourse before, let alone whether they’d used any form of birth control. “Have we... I mean is there...?”
She couldn’t finish the embarrassing question with the radiology guy looking on, his clipboard not even raised high enough to cover his curious smirk.
A rosy shade of pink stole along Craig’s hardened jawline and his eyes went wide, probably as he realized that he was the only person in the room who could possibly answer such an intimate thing.
“Uh...” His mouth opened and closed several times before he finally cleared his throat. “I think they did a blood test in the ER before the MRI. Maybe it says in her chart or something?”
“Let me take a look,” the tech said before flipping a few pages. Caroline wanted to yell at the man for not bothering to check her file first. But she was too busy forcing her muscles to relax against the narrow sheet-covered table underneath her. “Nope, no baby on board. We’re good to go.”
Caroline almost sighed out loud as the air finally left her chest in a whoosh. Not because she didn’t want to have a baby—she most definitely wanted to be a mother someday. She just wanted to fully remember the man who could possibly be the father of her child. Unfortunately, the more she tried to drag the information from her brain, the more her head pounded.
The tech raised and lowered the table and gave her some final instructions about remaining still. At some point, the room went darker, but Caroline’s breathing remained ragged and her thoughts kept spinning.
While knowing that she wasn’t pregnant gave her one less thing to worry about in the overall scheme of things, it didn’t stop her from craving more details about the man she was planning to marry. And what their current physical relationship was like.
Watching Craig’s retreating form as he exited the room, she came to the pulse-elevating realization that just because she couldn’t remember having sex with him didn’t mean she couldn’t vividly imagine it.
Chapter Four (#u3a3c9798-b7cd-5d0e-aa89-f20c31f8b6d4)
Man, Craig had dodged a serious bullet back there in the radiology room when Caroline looked at him with those doe-shaped brown eyes and wanted to know if they’d ever had sex. How in the hell was he supposed to know the answer to that? Okay, so obviously he knew the actual answer, but he’d been clueless on how to phrase it out loud.
She’d fallen asleep again during the procedure, but Dr. Robinson assured him that it was pretty normal for a concussed patient to doze off occasionally and that resting could actually help her brain heal. As long as Caroline’s pupils weren’t dilated and she could hold a conversation when she was awake, she was supposedly fine.
By the time they finally got her admitted and assigned to a room, it was getting close to dinnertime and Craig was starving. When she’d confessed that she’d never stayed overnight in a hospital, she’d looked so scared, so frail.
The main goal was to keep her from getting stressed or putting any more strain on her traumatized brain. However, in order to keep his wits about him and do that, he also needed to eat something. Although, what kind of fake fiancé would he be if he sneaked off while she was sleeping to go down to the cafeteria to get some dinner?
Looking around for a pad of paper so he could leave a note, his eyes landed on her ridiculously huge purse sitting in the corner of the room. He had saddlebags smaller than that thing and never understood why some women insisted on hauling everything they owned all around town with them. If he were a betting man, he’d place odds that she had plenty of paper and at least several pens in the thing. The problem was, there was no way to look inside without feeling like he was invading her privacy.
Rubbing a hand through his close-cropped hair, he asked himself for the thousandth time today, “How in the hell did you get yourself into this situation?”
“What was that?” Caroline’s sleepy voice was deep and husky, a stark contrast to her delicate and feminine looks. It was also as arousing as anything he’d ever heard before.
“I was just wondering where I could find a pen and paper.”
Her sigh came from the back of her throat. “I always carry some in my purse.”
“Yeah, I assumed as much but it didn’t seem right snooping through your things when you’re sound asleep.”
“It wouldn’t be considered snooping since I don’t have any secrets from you.” Clearly, her mind was way too fragile to grasp the magnitude of just how many secrets they actually had since they didn’t know the first thing about each other. When he didn’t respond, she continued, “Are you always this proper around me?”
“I...uh...I guess I’m just a proper type of guy.” Or a guy who was simply way out of his element.
She studied him in the dim glow of the room, the sun fading outside the window. He rocked back on his boot heels and looked over his shoulder at the door. They should probably keep that open so nobody got the wrong idea about what was going on in this private room. And since when did hospitals have private rooms?
When Craig had surgery after his second clavicle fracture, he’d been stuck in traction next to an old man who used to confuse the emergency call button for the television remote. The volume on the evening news would go up every time the man didn’t get his bedpan in time. If Caroline had a roommate like that, Craig wouldn’t have to worry about that electric current charging through his body every time she turned those pretty eyes his way.
“Why did you need paper and a pen?” Caroline asked, and Craig turned back to her.
“Oh. I thought about grabbing a bite to eat downstairs and wanted to leave you a note in case you woke up and I wasn’t here.”
“So, you’re both proper and thoughtful.” Her full lips turned up at the corners, but her questioning gaze remained steadily fixed on him, as though she were awaiting more discoveries about him. “I’m starving.”
“The doctor cleared you to eat after she got the radiology report and there was nothing to indicate you needed immediate surgery. They delivered a tray for you earlier,” he said, wheeling the small table over to her bed. “I think it’s meat loaf.”
She lifted a plastic cover off the plate and crinkled her pert little nose at the cold gray lump underneath. “I’m missing part of my memory, not my taste buds. Since you’re going to the cafeteria, would you mind bringing me something from there instead?”
“Sure.” He replaced the lid and moved the offending plate out of the way. “What do you want?”
“Anything. Surprise me.”
Crap. He’d walked right into that trap. Craig eyed her small frame and couldn’t even begin to guess what kind of food she ate. Obviously, it wasn’t his preferred meal of steak and potatoes because she looked like a strong wind would blow her away before the next winter storm. For all he knew, she was one of those women who constantly monitored every calorie in order to keep her waist so tiny.
“Maybe a salad?” he suggested because he got the impression that she didn’t maintain her lithe shape by being a hearty eater.
“Ugh, no.” Caroline stuck out her tongue and made a gagging sound. “I hate vegetables. Except for french fries.”
“I don’t think french fries count as a vegetable.”
“They’re from potatoes, right?” Caroline’s voice held a trace of laughter.
“Fine. I’ll get you some french fries. How about a double bacon cheeseburger to go with that?” he offered, trying to match her playful tone but sounding more facetious.
“Mmm. That sounds perfect,” she replied, and he did a double take at her flat stomach under the hospital gown. Where was she going to put all that food? “Oh, and if they have onion rings, I’ll take a side of those, too. See, there’s another vegetable I eat.”
Apparently, her food preferences aligned more with a growing teenage boy than a consummate dieter. “Something to drink?”
“Strawberry milkshake, if they have it. If not, I’ll just take a large orange soda. Oh, and a tapioca pudding. When I was ten, my dad had gallbladder surgery and I remember his hospital had the absolute best tapioca pudding in the world.”
He tilted his head and wondered how she could remember a thing like the tapioca pudding she’d eaten when she was a kid, but not be able to remember that she’d never laid eyes on him before today.
When he didn’t respond right away, her face turned a charming shade of pink and she pointed toward her purse. “Um, I have money in my wallet. I know it’s kind of a big order and I’m not sure how we usually split costs—”
“I’m not taking your money,” he interrupted loudly before she insulted him by implying that he’d let the woman he was marrying reimburse him for a meal. Not that he was actually marrying her. He ran a hand through his hair and lowered his voice. “I was just trying to figure out how to carry it all back to the room. Never mind. Don’t worry about it. I’ll hijack one of these tray tables or a wheelchair or something to push it on.”
“Okay, then,” she replied, not seeming to pick up on his sarcasm, or at least choosing to ignore it. “Can you hand me my cell phone before you leave? I should probably let my parents know what happened.”
“Josselyn said she looked for your phone back at the office but only saw your purse.”
“I don’t suppose you have my parents’ numbers in your contact list.” She gnawed her lower lip, but Craig was saved from responding—as well as from staring at her sexy mouth—when she added, “Actually, they’re probably out of cell range if my mom is still with the Khasi tribe. I’ll just send them an email tomorrow.”
“The Khasi tribe?”
“Yes. I’m sure she told you all about her latest research trip. Wait. You’ve met my parents, haven’t you?”
“Uh, not in person. At least, not yet.” There, that should be ambiguous enough. After all, Josselyn mentioned her folks were out of the country so it was plausible that he might’ve talked to them on the phone or via a video chat. Not that Craig knew the first thing about video chatting.
Caroline tilted her head at him. “What about you?”
“What about me?”
“I’m sure you probably need to call someone to let them know you’re staying here overnight?”
He lifted a brow. “Like who?”
She shrugged, a deep V forming above her nose. “Do you live with anyone? Like roommates or your family or, um...me?”
His ribs squeezed with pity. It was bad enough that she couldn’t remember the fact that they hadn’t had sex. The poor thing really must be confused if she couldn’t even recall whether they lived together.
It was on the tip of Craig’s tongue to tell her that if they were sharing the same bed, he would’ve left a more lasting impression on her. Instead, he replied, “I live at my family’s ranch in Thunder Canyon.”
“Oh, good.” She relaxed onto her pillows. “I was worried about who would take care of your cat while you’re gone.”
Craig took a couple steps forward and lowered his chin. “My cat?”
“Yeah, the one with only three legs!” Caroline exclaimed, her face brightening as though she’d just had a miraculous breakthrough in modern science. “I can’t think of his name, but I’m sure it will come to me.”
Disbelief and a slow-growing sense of alarm kept him from celebrating her achievement. How in the hell did this woman know about his pet? Not that it was completely inconceivable given the fact that most ranches had barns filled with various animals, but the three-legged part confounded him.
“Do you work there, too?” Caroline asked, seemingly ignoring the fact that Craig was staring at her with his mouth hanging open in shock.
“Where?” Craig gave his head a slight shake to clear his thoughts.
“At your family’s ranch,” she said slowly, as though it was his brain that had been concussed recently.
“Uh, yeah. We raise cattle.”
Caroline got that satisfied, faraway look in her eyes again. Every time she made that face, Craig’s collar seemed to shrink around his neck and his skin got all tight. Her next question made his toes twitch inside his boots. “So I really am going to marry a cowboy?”
Craig didn’t know about that. She certainly wasn’t going to marry this particular cowboy. No woman was. But he kept his jaw clenched as his feet fought the urge to run right past the sign for the cafeteria and straight toward the exit.
* * *
After several more tests, including an EEG before bed, Caroline was surprised by how soundly she slept through the night. Of course, anytime a nurse came to check on her or take her vital signs, all Caroline had to do was look over to where Craig was partially reclined in a too-small chair, his cowboy hat pulled low over his eyes. Then a bubble of security would surround her, making her happily drift back to sleep.
She felt rested when her first visitor arrived.
“Is our patient allowed to have chocolate croissants this morning?” Josselyn asked as she carried in a cardboard tray of coffee drinks in one hand and a white bag in the other.
“She most definitely is,” Caroline said, sitting up straighter and resisting the urge to clap excitedly by adjusting the blanket across her lap.
Craig just grunted, before standing up to stretch. Judging by the frown on his face, he either wasn’t a morning person or he didn’t particularly care for flaky breakfast treats. Caroline hoped it was just the croissants because she couldn’t imagine a cowboy not being an early riser. Actually, she couldn’t imagine someone not liking fresh-baked pastries, either.
A cracking sound echoed through the room as he twisted at the waist. “I’m getting too old not to sleep in a bed anymore.”
Caroline took a quick gulp of coffee to keep from asking the question on the tip of her tongue. How old was he? It was another thing she should know about her fiancé, but couldn’t remember. He certainly didn’t look old, but there were a few more creases around his eyes than most men her age might have.
“Thanks for bringing breakfast,” Caroline said to Josselyn.
“I also brought you a pair of comfy pajamas and some toiletries, not knowing how long you’d be here.” Josselyn patted the small tote bag resting against her hip. “Since I didn’t have a key to your apartment, you’ll have to make do with things from the superstore in Kalispell.”
“Anything is better than this hospital gown,” Caroline replied, suddenly curious about where her own clothes were. The ones she’d been wearing right before she’d hit her head. She was about to ask, but Dr. Robinson entered the room.
As the physician examined her, Caroline saw Craig slip into the hallway and pull out his cell phone. It was difficult following the doctor’s penlight with her eyes when her gaze kept returning to Craig and the way his jeans cupped his rear end as he casually leaned against the nurses’ station and spoke into his phone.
“So all the tests suggest that there isn’t any long-term damage,” Dr. Robinson said just as Craig returned to the room. “Any changes with your memory?”
As much as Caroline sensed the connection with Craig, there was also an underlying nagging sensation in the pit of her stomach every time she smiled at him and he looked away. Had they had a fight recently? Or maybe it was just the fact that she couldn’t remember any clear details about the guy and she was projecting her own sense of guilt onto him.
“I feel like things are slowly starting to come back to me.” Caroline was trying to remain positive but it was impossible not to notice the way Craig, Josselyn and the physician all looked at each other.
Dr. Robinson finally nodded. “Good. Everything should resolve itself eventually as long as you give your brain time to heal and don’t add any additional stress.”
The older woman gave a pointed look toward Craig, who scrubbed at the lower half of his face, where dark stubble had blossomed overnight.
“So then I can go home this morning?” Caroline couldn’t keep the hopefulness from her voice.
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