by Debra Webb
Mia reclaimed her seat. The back of the photo read “Catalina” and the date. Carefully, she turned over the photo and peered at the couple pictured there.
Reece looked young and happy. His face bore no trace of the grim lines he wore now or the scar. The woman, Lori, smiled as if this were the happiest day of her life. Her eyes…her lips were…Mia’s. The hair, even the way she parted it, was Mia’s. The shape of her face…the line of her jaw.
Mia sucked in a breath. Her hand went to her mouth to trace the lips reflected in the photo. This could be her.
She really could be Lori Reece…his wife.
Oh, my God. She looked up. “You’ve been carrying this photo all this time?”
“I stopped taking it out and looking at it a long time ago but I couldn’t bring myself to store it away. That was taken on our honeymoon on Catalina Island. We were too busy to take a real honeymoon so we just went away for the weekend.” He laughed, the sound painful to hear. “Turned out to be the best weekend…” He pushed away from the chair. “I should check things outside.”
Mia didn’t ask him any more questions. She wasn’t the only one this was bad for. She stared at the photo. If all this was true, how did she stop being Mia Grant and start being Lori Reece?
If this had been her life, why had it been taken from her?
12:50 p.m.
LINC COULDN’T QUIET the thundering in his chest.
He scanned the tree line, listened for traffic in the distance. The quiet was endless…except for the storm inside him.
Safeguarding Lori was his main objective right now and he couldn’t begin to focus on the necessary steps. Marcos could be anywhere. The chances of him finding them here were nominal at best. What troubled Linc the most was that Marcos might have gone underground. He had succeeded in evading detection by law enforcement for seven years already. Linc wanted him behind bars for the rest of his life. Or dead, which was preferable.
That was something he would have to deal with soon. Time was an enemy. Marcos would protect himself first and foremost. That he never gave up anything that belonged to him without a fight could prove his downfall this time. Linc knew his M.O. by heart now. For whatever reason, Marcos had taken Lori and claimed her as his own. He would exhaust every means available to him to get her back, as long as his freedom was not in jeopardy.
That was a reality Linc would have to deal with, but not today. Today he had to make sure Lori was handling the truth. Strangely, she seemed to be dealing with it better than he was. Mostly because of the uncertainty factor. Just because she accepted the truth about who she was didn’t mean she would accept him.
That, he wasn’t sure he could deal with.
He walked back inside. She stood in the middle of the room. As soon as his gaze met hers she held out the photo to him.
“I have more questions for you.”
He accepted the photo and tucked it back into his wallet. “You can ask me anything.”
She squared her shoulders as if what she was about to ask took a great deal of courage. “I’ve been on a few dates since…the accident. Been kissed a couple of times but nothing more.”
Jealousy roared but he kept his mouth shut.
“No one has made me react to the sense of touch the way you do.” She looked away. “There’s no possibility I’ll ever get my memory back, but one of the specialists I saw suggested that sensory or muscle memory could be the explanation for those déjà vu moments I have occasionally.”
His throat tightened. “You have those with me?”
She nodded. “When you hold my hand or stand close to me I feel safe.” Her gaze met his. “Like when you’ve been away and then you come home.”
Linc scrubbed his hand over his face, blinked at the sting in his eyes. He had cried once in his life…when he’d had to admit defeat in the search for her. He hadn’t succumbed to the urge since…until now.
“Your wife—”
“Lori.” She needed to get used to that.
“There must have been special ways you touched her or kissed her that she liked most.” Her cheeks flamed red as she spoke. “I thought maybe that would help me feel something from…before.”
The storm inside him stilled. “You want me to show you.”
She nodded. “Yes.” Her chest rose and fell with a shaky breath. “I need to feel this. The pieces are falling together in my brain, but I need the cement to hold them there.”
Linc took a step toward her and saw her shiver. “Lori liked when we sat on the sofa and just watched TV. We didn’t get to do a lot of that, but she loved cuddling.” Safe enough place to start.
She moved to the sofa and sat down, her posture still rigid, those golden-brown eyes watching him expectantly. He sat down beside her. His nerves jangled. Damn. He was nervous as hell. That hadn’t happened since the night he’d asked her to marry him.
“Now what?” she asked when he made no other move.
Linc draped his arm around her shoulder. “We just sort of got close and hugged up.”
She turned toward him, leaned her head on his shoulder, her hands on his chest, causing his heart to squeeze. His fingers found their way to her hair. He’d been aching to touch those silky tresses. Closing his eyes, he savored the feel of her against him. The sweet smell of her hair. He rested his other hand on her arm, caressed her soft skin.
She inhaled deeply as if she wanted to draw in his scent. Another of her little shivers created a new friction everywhere their bodies touched.
They sat that way for a long while. She melted against him and he absorbed her heat, his whole body hungry for any taste of her.
Eventually, she raised her head and turned her face to his. “I don’t understand how I can have no memory of you and yet I feel like I belong this way…in your arms.”
The admission got to him on a level nothing had touched since the day he’d lost her. Linc couldn’t take much more. “May I kiss you?” If he died tomorrow, having kissed Lori again would make his death worthwhile.
She stared at his lips a moment, then she tilted her mouth toward his. The soft fullness of her mouth was as familiar as his own name. He cupped her face and kissed her slowly, thoroughly. The way Lori liked to be kissed. Her fingers threaded into his hair and she kissed him back. She kissed the way she lived. Wild and sweet, relentless. As if tomorrow would never come and she had to do it all today. He lowered her down onto the ragged sofa and lost himself in the kiss.
Her hands went under his shirt and she shook hard as her palms flowed over his skin. His entire body reacted. He wanted to do the same to her but he had to maintain some sense of control. He was hard as a rock and she was moving under him, making him want all of her.
Linc moved onto his knees on the floor. She made a sound of disapproval. Her lids fluttered open and there was his Lori, all flushed and wanting.
He smiled. “This is an old favorite.” He leaned forward and kissed the tip of her nose, then her chin and down her throat until he encountered her T-shirt. When his lips stopped moving, she gasped. He stared at the T-shirt a moment with the understanding that going there might be a no-turning-back move.
Before he could convince himself to back off, she took the decision out of his hands. She grabbed the hem of her T-shirt and slid it up and off.
Her breasts were as beautiful as he remembered. Perfect. Firm. He squeezed his fingers into fists to prevent touching her. This was not about what he wanted. This had to be about what she wanted. What Lori had loved. He continued that path from the base of her throat to her breasts. She trembled and arched her back to show she wanted more.
He leaned close to her ear and whispered, “This is what you loved me to do to your breasts.” When his mouth closed over one taut nipple, she gasped. Linc remembered every detail of what Lori loved, of the soft sounds she made. The gentle kisses, the lavish attention with his tongue, and the way he suckled each breast until the building tension had her screaming his name.
Her fing
ers dug into his hair and she pulled his face up to hers. “Linc, just do it! I can’t take any more!”
He drew away, dropped back onto his heels. His hands shook. His entire body pulsed with the need to be inside her. This was the way his wife had always let him know to get down to business. He searched her desire-glazed eyes. Had she remembered? “Lori?”
Her lips quivered. She made a frantic sound as one arm went over her breasts and she grabbed for her shirt with the other. She scrambled away from him and dragged on the top.
He’d gone too far. Linc pushed to his feet and dragged a hand through his hair. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have let that happen.”
“Don’t you understand?” she cried.
Linc dared to face her. He deserved whatever she tossed at him. He’d gone too damned far.
She flung out her arms. “You made me feel things! Like I was where I’d always belonged.” She shook her head. “It’s some kind of bond that’s real and I felt it.” Hot tears flowed down her cheeks, and she swiped at them with both hands. “I believe you, okay? I’m not Mia Grant. God only knows what kind of monster my supposed uncle is.”
“We’ll work this out,” Linc promised. “We’ll find the right doctors. We’ll do whatever we have to.”
She shook her head. “That’s not the problem. The trouble is you want her back. I can’t be her.” A sob burst from her lips. “She’s gone and I can’t bring her back for you.”
Chapter Fifteen
Mia couldn’t take any more.
Her body still shook with the emotions and sensations he had aroused inside her. She had wanted more of him so badly…had sensed that making love with him would be a natural progression. She had no memory of making love, of how it felt to experience an orgasm. No matter, she felt certain that the shimmering, building sensations that had bombarded her moments ago had been headed toward that place.
But none of it had been for her—the woman she was now. It had been for Lori. The woman who knew to call him Linc and who knew just the right moment to urge him to fill her completely.
The sweet, warm glow he had kindled inside her had been abruptly extinguished. That life, those memories, had been stolen from her. Fury started to build. She wanted to hear Vincent Lopez—or Juan Marcos—admit the truth. She wanted him to tell her to her face that he had taken her whole life away from her under the guise of kindness and loyalty to her father—a man that he had never even known. A man she had no memory of because all that she had been was erased.
“You don’t have to be her.”
Mia whirled to face Reece. The desolation on his face made her ache.
He moved his head from side to side. “What you do with your life is your decision. I can’t make that decision for you. But don’t expect me to stop loving my wife just because you can’t be that person anymore.”
He still loved her. That choking sensation she’d suffered recently tightened her throat, and emotion burned her eyes. No matter what he said, he wanted their life back. He wanted his wife back.
She summoned her determination. What she had to do was clear. “I want to go back.”
The desolation was joined by a new misery. “Going back to your life in Blossom won’t be safe until Marcos is apprehended.”
“I’m not asking you to take me back to my life there.” She pushed aside the fear that threatened to undermine her fortitude. “I want to confront the man who did this.” What she really wanted was to watch him suffer as she had…as she would in the weeks, months and possibly years to come.
Reece shook his head. “It’s too dangerous. We stay right here until the feds get the situation under control. At the moment we don’t know for certain where he is.”
“I can find him.”
Reece’s face cleared of emotion. “How?”
“He gave me a number to call if I ever needed him when he was away. All I have to do is call.” The plan instantly solidified in her brain. “I’ll tell him that this crazy man kidnapped me and I need help.”
“He won’t go for that.”
A disgusted smile toyed with her lips. “He will. If he told me once, he’s told me a thousand times. I’m the daughter he always wanted. I gave him a reason to live.”
“Marcos never married,” Reece countered. “Word was he preferred no ties.”
“I think maybe you got the wrong word.” She cocked her head and eyed him with complete confidence. “Family is very important to him. By the time he learned of the existence of extended family in Blossom, they were gone, except for Gloria. Gloria and I are all he has.”
“Even if your plan would work, it’s far too dangerous.” Reece stubbornly held his ground.
“Maybe for you.” She held hers, as well. “But I’m going to end this with or without you.”
Southern Medical Center, Winchester, Tennessee, 7:15 p.m.
LINC DIDN’T LIKE THIS one little bit.
Keaton, having flown in, had taken a position outside the hospital with two FBI agents from Nashville. Dressed in scrubs, Linc and two additional Bureau agents had assumed positions in the E.R.
Lori was taking a hell of a risk. Linc hadn’t been able to stop her and he’d damned sure tried, all the way up until the time she’d made the call an hour ago. Keaton and Jim Colby from the Colby Agency had coordinated with the Bureau. Linc was stunned at how quickly the operation had come together. Just showed how badly the Bureau wanted Marcos. That the Nashville office would take down such a high-profile international criminal was all the incentive the agents had needed. The Franklin County Sheriff’s Department was recovering Linc’s SUV, ensuring the report was broadcast wide on their police channels. If Marcos had eyes and ears in local law enforcement, he would only hear about the accident and transport of two victims to the nearby Winchester hospital. The operation inside the hospital was off the books as far as local law enforcement went.
All involved with the op were linked with wireless communications. Posted at the nurse’s station, Linc had a visual on Lori in the examination room, thanks to a monitor. On it, he saw her lying in the bed fidgeting with the sheet. He was less than twelve yards away from her room, could see the doorway, and still Linc didn’t like it.
Lori had made the call in character as the victim of a man who had apparently lost his mind. Linc felt as if he were losing his right now. If anything went wrong…
He’d given her his weapon. He knew the Beretta wouldn’t fail her—if she remembered how to use it. He’d given her some instruction before they’d left the cabin, but she couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn. Apparently her shooting skills had been lost along with her memories of their life together.
As he watched her, every ounce of willpower he possessed was required to keep his mind off those hot, mindless minutes on the sofa. He hoped that wouldn’t be the last chance he’d get to make love to her. But he couldn’t push her. Just because she had loved him before didn’t mean she would ever love him again. That possibility tore at his heart. He didn’t want to lose her again.
He wanted her back, but more than that, he wanted her safe and happy. He could live with whatever her decision was as long as she was alive and well.
He touched her image on the monitor. Her dark hair spread over the white pillow made him smile. He’d loved waking up with her lying beside him. He would give anything to have her back like that. Anything.
“We have an arrival.” Keaton’s voice echoed across the communications link. “Latina matching the description of Gloria Lopez.”
“That’s it?” Linc had known this wouldn’t go down so easily. Marcos was too cagey to fall into a trap like this. The feds had recognized that the same as Linc had. A separate operation was in place at Marcos’s Blossom mansion. If Marcos went there, thinking the heat was here, he had a surprise coming.
“That’s it,” Keaton confirmed. “She’s coming in through the E.R. entrance.”
Linc was stopping this right now. “This is over.”
“No.”
The announcement came from Lori.
“The risk is pointless if Marcos is a no-show,” Linc argued. Frustration growled inside him. He started around the counter and had to turn back as Gloria Lopez swept through the double doors leading from the lobby.
“Back off, Reece,” Lori warned, sounding like the cop she’d once been.
“Heads up,” he murmured back. “She’s on her way in.”
“Where is my niece?” Gloria demanded of the nurse, who was also a federal agent, at the counter. “They told me up front that she’s back here.”
Linc kept his back turned. He thumbed through a chart.
“What’s your niece’s name, ma’am?”
“Mia Grant.”
“Exam room four. We’re waiting for a report on her X-rays.”
“Thank you.”
Linc turned around as Gloria Lopez entered Lori’s room. He shook his head, fury starting to pound at his skull. This was a mistake.
Gloria rushed to Lori’s bedside and hugged her. The dramatic gushing made Linc sick to his stomach. The woman acted as if she genuinely loved Lori. Lori played the terrified survivor flawlessly. When she asked about her uncle, Gloria explained that his plane had been delayed but that he would arrive soon.
Linc wasn’t buying it.
He watched the monitor, tension building. Was Marcos coming? Gloria kept assuring Lori that he was. When Gloria asked about Reece, Lori gave her the planned answer. He had been knocked unconscious in the accident. Once he’d been taken away in the ambulance she didn’t know what had happened to him.
Gloria got comfortable in a side chair and dropped her bag at her feet as if she was in no hurry and actually was waiting for her supposed brother-in-law’s arrival.
Linc listened closely to the conversation. This didn’t feel right. Why would Marcos send a sacrificial lamb? Linc had fully expected he wouldn’t show up, but sending a woman in his stead didn’t fit the Marcos profile.
“This is wrong,” he spat out.