Eagle Down (Cyber Cowboys Series Book 3)

by M Elle Kelso

  What on earth was he thinking? He’d never felt her hair on his chest and he wasn’t likely to be doing that anytime soon. She was a married woman.

  He turned back in time to surprise unshed tears in her eyes.

  Now what?

  “How are you feeling this morning, David? The headache finally gone?”

  Her concern was natural, one human being to another. She had talked to herself before coming in here and made herself a promise that today there would be no outbursts or tears in the waiting room. The others didn’t need that.

  And there’d be none in David’s room either. He didn’t need that.

  “Not bad, all things considered. Must have been a spectacular crash to bang me up this bad. I hope you got pictures, I’d like to see how bad it was when I get out of here.”

  Before she could reply, two orderlies appeared in the doorway.

  “Morning, Mr. Taylor. We’re here to move you. You’re getting a room of your own, without all this equipment.”

  They had been quietly tucking in straps, removing bars that acted as brakes and as smoothly and quietly as possible they began pushing the bed toward the door.

  “Dr. Hawkins will be in later to see you, so we’ll have you all set up in your new digs before he gets here.”

  C.J. had been following along, holding doors when she could, or staying out of their way when she couldn’t help. As she held the last door, David heard one of the orderlies speak to her.

  “Thanks, Mrs. Taylor. Once we get him onto that bed, we’ll be off.” The taller of the two orderlies spoke to his partner.

  “On three. One, two…”

  On what would have been three, David felt his body lifted from the ICU bed and swung gently onto the bigger bed in this new room. The feeling made him think of flying. That thought caused him to frown. That and the fact that the orderly had called C.J. McCormack Mrs. Taylor.

  “You okay, sir?” The second orderly had noticed his facial expression and wondered if he had felt some kind of pain from the move.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. I was just trying to remember something.” David’s voice was gruff and not overly friendly.

  C.J. watched his expression, wondering if he had remembered the accident.

  As the orderlies finished up in his room, David remained silent.

  “There you go, Mr. Taylor. You take it easy.”

  With that they were gone. But David was still trying to puzzle through what the orderly had said. He had definitely heard the man call C.J. Mrs. Taylor. He just must have been confused.

  This time C.J. took the big armchair by the window and sat with her feet up on a small table from nearby.

  When they brought him some of the typically liquid hospital lunch she came up beside him to give him a hand. As long as he had to lie flat, he had to drink his meals through a straw. After he drank his lunch, she returned to her chair. She didn’t talk unless he spoke to her so conversation was limited.

  He didn’t know what to say to her. He didn’t know why she was here. He reminded himself to ask the doctor about her.

  When Matt Hawkins stopped by in the afternoon, he was amazed at the speed at which David was improving. He was also incredulous at the way C.J. was behaving. Like she was just David’s friend. He was concerned over how long she could keep up her act.

  “Hey, Doc,” David called after Matt Hawkins as the doctor got ready to leave, “answer a question for me. Actually, two question. Do you have a first name?”

  Matt smiled as he replied to that and a new friendship was formed.

  “Now, Matt, the other question. Why is C.J. McCor…”

  “Sorry, David, gotta run. I’ll be in to see you tomorrow.”

  Well, so much for that. He didn’t know anything more now than he had before Matt Hawkins visit.

  David woke from his afternoon nap and found himself all alone.

  Funny, I didn’t realize that I’d come to rely on her being there. I miss her. That beautiful smile, the enormous green eyes and that lush hair. Man, I’ve got to stop thinking like that. It might get me all hot and bothered.

  For the next three days it was more of the same. Each of his friends took turns visiting for a few minutes. C.J. was there nearly all day, disappearing only long enough to get a bite to eat. The rest of the time she sat and read. And each day he tried to get an answer out of Matt Hawkins. It was beginning to annoy him. And the more annoyed he got, the shorter his temper became with those around him. He knew he was behaving like a pig but he couldn’t seem to help himself. Not even when he sent C.J. from the room in tears over something so minor as the glass of water he couldn’t reach. She had inadvertently moved the rolling table and it was just out of his reach.

  When she returned, he tried to apologize.

  “I’m sorry, C.J.. I didn’t mean to make you cry earlier. But I really would like to get out of here and nobody will tell me what’s happening. Matt says that until I remember what happened, I have to stay. That I can’t go running around out in public with that much of memory missing.”

  She grasped his hand and gave it the now familiar squeeze.

  “Don’t force it, David, it’ll come. Just relax, let it slip back.”

  “Yeah,” he sighed deeply, “that’s what Matt said, too. Do you really think that will work?”

  “I know it will.”

  Without thinking, she leaned down to kiss him. When her lips touched his, he felt as though he’d been burned.

  C.J. backed away from his bed looking utterly astounded.

  “I’m sorry, David. I shouldn’t have done that. I’ll leave.”

  With that, she grabbed her purse and coat and ran from the room..

  David laid there, his free hand touching his lips. There was something awfully familiar about the feel of her lips and the taste was incredibly reminiscent of something. It wasn’t a strange taste. He thought he should know it. He thought about it for a while then finally fell asleep.

  When he woke up, she was back.

  Her hand with the fiery emerald was holding up her head as she gazed out the window. The ring caught his attention. His head felt as though he had entered someone else’s crystal ball.

  He was seeing images, hearing voices. They were all familiar. And the words he was hearing were spoken by voices he recognized. One was his. The other was C.J. Then there was a strange voice, intoning softly, do you Cornelia Jane, take this man…

  Cornelia Jane. C.J.. C.J. McCormack.

  No. That wasn’t it. It was Cornelia Jane Taylor.

  His eyes flew open as it hit him.

  This woman was C.J. Taylor.

  His wife.

  He lay there watching her as all of his memories of her came rushing back. This was his wife. She had told him that she loved him and had married him.

  My God, how could I have forgotten that?

  They had laughed together about her name. She hadn’t told him, until he heard it from the minister, what her full name was. She had told him she didn’t like it. Whenever he wanted her to think he was annoyed with her, that’s what he’d called her.

  But now, he would use it as a sign. To let her know he’d remembered.

  “Do you think you could pull that chair closer,” he paused, “Cornelia Jane?”

  For a moment there was dead quiet in the room, nobody moving or breathing. Then her eyes flew to his. Her smile blossomed.

  She flew across the room to the bed and leaned over him.

  “You remember! David, you’re back. You remember.”

  She reached over his shoulder and pushed the buzzer that called the nurse.

  “Do you remember this, David?”

  She leaned to kiss him, her tongue finding his immediately. It was her David. He was back.

  She held his face between her hands and kissed him, again and again.

  That was how the nurse found them; his free arm around her shoulders and her head next to his on his pillow, deep into a sensual kiss.

  “Oo
ps, sorry. I thought the buzzer went off in here.”

  C.J. sat up, her face turning bright pink, and smiled at the nurse.

  “It did go off. Can you find out if Dr. Hawkins is in the hospital? My husband’s memory is coming back and he wanted to be here if that happened.”

  Hearing her call him my husband made his heart race. Her husband. Yep, he sure was.

  “I’ll see if he’s still here. Be back in a minute.”

  One minute became five and still the nurse didn’t return. David kept C.J. occupied while they waited. The familiar tastes and textures of her kisses were stirring memories but nothing else.

  The longer they had to wait for the doctor the more frustrated he became. He had never kissed this woman before without going hard immediately. Now all he felt was a twinge. And he certainly didn’t feel hard. In fact, he didn’t feel anything. Well, let the doctor explain that away.

  When Matt entered he found C.J. sitting beside David on the bed, leaning slightly across his chest. David’s left arm was around her.

  “So, do I take it you’re remembering things or are you hitting on another man’s wife here, David?”

  Matt was smiling almost as big a smile as C.J. David was remembering.

  Now was when it would become tricky.

  “I’m hitting on my own wife, Matt. And if she will just wait outside the door, I need to talk to you in private for a moment.” Turning to C.J., he gave her another kiss.

  “Out, darlin’, you can come back in when he leaves.”

  C.J. gave him another quick kiss then stepped outside.

  As soon as the door closed behind her, David turned on the doctor.

  “Okay, Matt. Now tell me what gives. That is my wife. I know I’ve only been married a couple of weeks but I also remember that any time I was in her presence, hell, all I had to do was think about her, I was hard. Immediately hard and fully aroused. And today I only feel a twinge.” He looked down the bed at his own body.

  “Did I lose something or injure myself down there?” he asked.

  The way he asked the question made Matt Hawkins howl with laughter.

  “Well, I don’t think I’ve ever had a patient ask that question in quite that way before, David. But the reason is quite simple. The shock to your system has left you… how should I put this...slightly dysfunctional?”

  “You’re sure it’s just shock? It isn’t permanent?”

  “Don’t think so.”

  Matt was hedging and he knew it, but that was close to the truth.

  Even if David had suffered an SCI he would eventually get his sexuality back. The thing he wouldn’t tell him right now was to what degree the accident might affect him. Until he remembered the accident, he would have to just wait for further details. And because he had remembered his wife, the rest of the accident wouldn’t likely be far behind.

  Late that night, long after all the lights had been turned out on the ward, David was still awake. He had taken his sleeping pill, but it hadn’t started to work yet. So when he heard the two young women talking in the hall, he laid quietly and listened.

  “I know, isn’t he a doll? Those to-die-for blue eyes. And that redhead he’s married to is gorgeous, too. Just imagine being married to someone that good looking. You’d be worrying all the time about some other woman stealing your husband. But I guess that won’t be a problem for her.”

  “What do you mean?” The other voice sounded slightly older, but not by much.

  “Well, he’s paralyzed. He won’t ever be able to walk. So who’d want him? He should be thankful he’s got her now, because there aren’t too many good looking women like her who’d want to marry him now. Would you?

  ‘How do you know he can’t walk?”

  “It’s obvious. If he could walk, they’d have had him out of bed by now. The swelling in his back has been back to normal for over a week. I even heard Mrs. Roman talking to Dr. Hawkins about it. They were calling him an SCI. You know what that means.”

  “Gosh, that’s really awful for them...”

  As the voices faded, David laid there, motionless, in shock.

  They couldn’t have been talking about him. But he did have a red head for a wife and Mrs. Roman was his nurse from the day shift. Well, he’d just have to ask about it in the morning. He was growing sleepier with every passing minute.

  The sleeping pill finally did its job and dragged him under. It was an uneasy, drugged sleep, with dreams that kept making him toss and turn. Or at least he thought he did.

  Dreams where he was on the floor, trying to stand, but he couldn’t get up.

  Dreams where he was lying in bed, trying to swing his legs over the side, but they wouldn’t move.

  When the pill finally took him deeper, he slept.

  And when morning came and the pill wore off, he tried it. He tried to swing his legs over the side of the bed.

  Nothing.

  He tried again, pushing at his legs with his good arm.

  Still nothing.

  He looked to the bottom of the bed where his feet stuck up. He tried to move his toes.

  Nothing.

  He tried again.

  Still nothing.

  Nothing worked. That nurse was right. He was paralyzed.

  Why hadn’t they told him?

  Then he remembered that even his doctor hadn’t said anything, just told him to keep letting his memories come back at the speed they wanted to come. Don’t rush it. That’s what he’d said. Don’t rush it.

  Yeah. That was a good one.

  As long as I don’t rush it, he doesn’t need to tell me what happened and he doesn’t have to tell me I won’t ever walk again.

  But the doctor wasn’t the only one who had to know. The doctor must have told C.J. too. She had to know. So why hadn’t she told him the truth.

  Well, that was all the crap I’ll take from her for the rest of my life. She couldn’t be honest with him over this, then I can’t trust her about anything. All those times she stood beside this damn bed and told me she loved me. I bet. Why would she love someone who couldn’t walk?

  When C.J. returned to the hospital the next morning, David was lying in his bed, staring at the wall. He didn’t turn to her or let on he knew she was there. He ignored her.

  OKay. if that’s how he’s feeling this morning, I can play the game, too.

  She took her usual chair, opened her book and started to read. The silence lasted nearly an hour before she heard his hand moving on the sheet.

  Watching from the corner of her eye, she saw his fingers plucking the sheet in a fitfull manner and wondered what had happened to bring his spirits down.

  Still he wouldn’t look at her.

  When the nurse came to change his shoulder dressing and check the bandage on his head, he was surly and mostly unresponsive. Nina Roman knew the problems this man had and was actually surprised he had gone this long before coming to the point where he was this morning.

  “Well, Mr. Taylor. I think you’ll be able to lose this dressing today.” She was gently pulling the bandage loose from his head wound. The strip of scalp where he’d been shaved showed the beginnings of a stubble.

  He’s been lucky there, the nurse thought, nearly all of the scar will be under his hair.

  When the nurse left, C.J. waited to see if he would acknowledge her presence.

  He didn’t let on he heard or saw her, which angered C.J.. No matter how depressed he was feeling this morning, it was no excuse to be rude to the nurse. She’d speak to Mrs. Roman later and apologize.

  Still he wouldn’t look at her.

  One of these days she would have to sit down and actually read this book that was her prop. She religiously turned the pages, making a good show of reading, but if she’d been asked the name of the book, she couldn’t have said. It had been on the table in the waiting room and she had carried it in here by mistake the first day. While it looked like she was reading, she could worry about David and their future without anyone knowing.


  Lunchtime came and went. David refused his tray of liquid lunch and when the nurse came to pick up the tray, he wouldn't acknowledge her presence.

  Still he wouldn’t look at her, either.

  Nearly two hours passed before C.J. felt something might be going to happen. He had been folding and unfolding the edge of the sheet and he had now just smoothed it down. Maybe he had finally decided it was time to let her know that he knew she was there.

  She waited, doing nothing.

  Matt Hawkins had warned her there would be days like this. Days when nothing pleased David and when nothing that was said or done would make him talk or acknowledge a presence. She just hadn’t expected those days to start until he knew about his injury. And he hadn’t even remembered the crash yet.

  “So, C.J., how long were you going to make me wait before you told me?”

  His question hit her with a crashing wave of pain.

  Oh, my god. He’s remembered.

  “What...”

  “Don’t you dare ask me that. You know what I’m talking about. My dear...no, I don’t think I’ll call you that, because I really don’t think you are my dear, are you, C.J? If you were, you’d have told me. Instead, I have to find out from a nurse. Someone I don’t know. In fact, someone I have never seen. Because I didn’t even have the benefit of her presence when she told me.”

  C.J. wondered what he was talking about. She stood and moved closer to the bed. Reaching out, she tried to take his hand, but he batted hers away and turned his head to the wall.

  “Get out of here, C.J.. I really don’t want to talk to you right now. Maybe never. In fact, I think that’s a good idea.”

  He turned back to her, fury in his gaze as he fairly hissed.

  “Get out, C.J.. I don’t want you here. Do not come back.”

  She tried to speak, but he interrupted her.

  “Ever.”

  She felt the floor giving way beneath her. Or maybe it was her legs. Something was unsteady, but she hung on to the last shreds of her composure, turned and picked up her purse and jacket and quietly left the room.

  As the door closed behind her, she heard the stainless steel water pitcher that had been on his bedside table hit the door she had just shut.