He continued to talk, “You’re perfectly safe, Tess. No one can hurt you.” He watched her eyes move rapidly back and forth beneath her eyelids. “Nothing is going to happen. Nothing will hurt you. You are in total control. You can wake up anytime you need to.”
Beneath his fingertips, her muscles relaxed, and he could see the tension seep out of her shoulders. Her breathing slowed to normal. She was responding to him. Trusting what he said.
“Tell me what you see now, Tess?”
“Firecrackers. Thousands and thousands of firecrackers, all going off at once.” Her voice shook with a touch of wonder. “It’s beautiful. They’re filling up the sky. It’s like one big giant celebration.” She paused as if listening to something. “I can hear people shouting and clapping,” she said dreamily.
“I want you to concentrate on the voices, Tess. What are the people saying?”
Concentration knitted itself between her delicately arched brows. Ryan could feel some tenseness return to her body. “I can’t make it out. They’re shouting, but the words aren’t clear.” Suddenly her entire body jumped as if jolted by an electric wire.
Ryan touched her cheek, stroking her skin’s velvety smoothness. “You’re okay, Tess. Just tell me what’s happening. You’re safe.”
“Oh, God! Oh, my God!” she gasped. “Someone’s dead!” Her voice was harsh, strangled, but her eyes remained shut. She remained in a deep trance.
“Tell me who is dead.”
“I—I don’t know.” Her head lifted as if she was trying to see something. “I can’t see his face. But he’s dead. I can tell he’s dead. Everyone is standing around him. People are crying.” Confusion flooded her delicate features. “No, wait, it isn’t terrible. It—it’s a good thing. I’m glad he’s dead.”
Ryan watched as anger and sadness fought for dominance on her face. Some kind of battle raged inside her. She was torn, unable to decide how to feel. How to react.
Ryan fought an overwhelming urge to gather her into his arms, to hold her and comfort her. To tell her that everything would be okay. That he’d help her figure things out.
But at the same time, he knew it was wrong to even consider offering her comfort like that. It was impossible for him to step across the invisible barrier erected between them.
She was his patient, and no matter how personal her pain and anguish seemed, Ryan knew that he could not allow himself to become personally involved. He had to maintain his distance.
Her teeth chattered and her limbs trembled violently beneath the sheet. “Oh, God, he’s been shot. And there’s blood everywhere.” Her hands came up in front of her face and air hissed between her teeth. “Oh no, it’s on me! I’ve got blood all over me. Get it off! Get it off.” She frantically tried to wipe the imagined blood off on the sheets, her hands twisting and rubbing frantically on the sheets.
Ryan tried to gently restrain her frenzied movements, but she pulled away, sat bold upright and opened her eyes.
She stared at him, her pupils wide, her expression crumpling.
Ryan knew that he needed to calm her, to give her a feeling of being safe. He continued to speak quietly, his words reassuring. Soothing.
But the look in Tess’s eyes remained wild, and tears streamed down her face. She leaned forward, wrapping her arms around him and burying her face against the side of his neck. He could feel her tears on his skin.
“I don’t understand,” she sobbed against his neck. “Please help me understand.”
Ignoring the voice that warned him not to, Ryan wrapped his arms around her, pulling her slender frame close. He gently stroked her back, trying to make her feel safe and protected.
His fingers tangled in the luxurious strands of white-gold hair streaming down her back. He could smell the sweet fragrance of soap in her hair, and he felt a tightening in his groin. A sign of danger.
As he fought against the reaction, Tess dropped her head back and stared up at him through tear-filled eyes. Eyes that turned an astonishing crystal green.
Her lips trembled and softened, parting slightly. They were inches from his own and a slow heat built inside Ryan, a heat so hot that it seemed to singe his lungs with each inhalation, making him feel as though he would never again catch his breath.
And even as the voice inside his head cautioned him to remember who and what he was, Ryan found himself slowly losing the battle, forgetting everything he’d promised himself he wouldn’t do.
He dipped his head and brushed his lips across hers, savoring the taste. A taste like new honey on a hot summer’s day, smooth and sugary, with a warmth that reached so deep inside him that he thought he might surely die.
But when Tess responded, her lips moving beneath his, her hands tunneling deep into his hair and her mouth making soft, urgent little sounds of need, Ryan froze and then pulled away.
My God, what was he thinking? Had he gone completely and totally insane? Lost his objectivity? His sense of professionalism? His heart pounded in his chest, and he shook his head as if clear the heavy, mind-numbing fog that threatened to engulf him. “Damn! I’m sorry, Tess. I had no right to do that.”
“You don’t need to apologize for anything.”
He turned away and then turned back again, unsure what he wanted to do or say. But he knew he needed to do something.
“That was wrong. Totally wrong. I don’t know what I was thinking.” He raked a hand through his hair.
Tess watched him, her hair in wild disarray from the stroke of his hand. Her eyes were troubled. “Why did you stop?” she asked, and then laughed something soft and shaky. She lifted a hand and wiped a tear off her cheek. “You weren’t doing anything wrong. I wanted you to kiss me. Actually, I needed you to kiss me.”
“You might have wanted me to, but I stepped over the line.”
She smiled, the tears drying on her face. “What’s the matter? Didn’t you like it?”
“It’s not a matter of me liking it or not. I’m your doctor. I need to maintain a professional distance and I forgot that for a minute. I can’t treat you one minute and then kiss you the next. It’s totally unethical.”
She shook her head. “We already discussed this. I’m not looking for a doctor. There was nothing wrong with us kissing. Other than the fact that it was too short.”
Ryan didn’t want to argue. He knew in her confused state, Tess wouldn’t understand. Besides, it wasn’t her responsibility to keep the line between them clearly defined. That was his job, and he’d failed.
He quickly cleaned up the supplies he’d used, leaving the antiseptic on the small table near the bathroom in case she needed it in the morning. He tried desperately to regain control of the emotions raging inside him.
He would not forget his role again. No matter how vulnerable or beautiful Tess was, she could not be subjected to him trying to fulfill his own needs at her expense. This was about her getting better, not him satisfying his desires.
Tomorrow he needed to find someone else willing to treat her. Someone who could help her overcome her memory loss and help her heal. But he knew that person wasn’t going to be him. It was too dangerous for the both of them.
Somehow, Tess had touched a chord within him, unleashing feelings he hadn’t realized existed. She’d brought out something in his own psyche that had pushed him over the edge, allowing him to break a sacred trust between doctor and patient. It would never happen again.
TESS WOKE. One minute she was sound asleep and the next her eyes were open and she was wide-awake. She was disorientated for a minute, unsure where she was other than in a bed and it was dark. But a few seconds later, the light filtering in from the bathroom told her she was in Ryan Donovan’s house.
Rolling over onto her back, she listened, wondering what had woken her up. The tiniest of warning bells was going off inside her head. Something wasn’t right.
A light breeze, warm with a summer’s taste to it, ruffled the curtains and drifted across the room to brush her face. Outside, she coul
d hear the crickets chirping, their sound comforting.
She refocused her attention on the inside of the house. No sounds from the direction of Ryan’s room. But that didn’t surprise her. He’d retreated pretty quickly after kissing her last night, telling her he’d close his bedroom door to keep Jung from jumping onto her bed and snuggling up with her during the night. She grinned in the darkness. Something told her it wasn’t Jung he was afraid would come visiting during the night.
She tightened her shoulders. Damn, she needed to stop thinking like that. Her survival relied on her senses being sharp, tuned in. She didn’t need to be thinking about what it would feel like to make love to Ryan Donovan. He’d been pretty clear that he wasn’t going to let that happen.
She shifted her attention to the downstairs. The steady tick of the clock in the living room and the hum of the refrigerator in the kitchen. Nothing else. She rolled up on her side and snuggled deeper into the pillow. She needed to get some sleep.
Her eyes closed and she started to drift. And then, right when she was on the thinnest edge of sleep, she heard it. The soft scrape of metal on metal. Barely audible, but out of place in the natural rhythm of the night.
The crickets abruptly stopped chirping. They had heard it, too. Tess lifted her head, straining to hear. Her breath stalled in the back of her throat.
The sound had come from downstairs. It was the sound of the back patio door sliding open on its metal track.
She waited. Nothing—as if someone else was waiting, too.
Tess sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed.
Every nerve in her body tingled with anticipation. Someone was trying to get into the house. No, they were already inside. Tess knew they were here for her.
There was a scurry of movement in the downstairs hall, muffled footsteps and whispered voices. More than one person. She needed to get out. Too much of a risk to stay and fight.
She considered running down the hall to Ryan’s room, of making a stand with him at her side. But she could already hear them on the stairs.
No time. She shoved her feet into the shoes sitting at the side of the bed and headed for the window.
Down the hall, she heard Jung give a warning bark. Good boy, he was on patrol even though Ryan had barricaded him in his room. She slid the window open and started to throw a leg over the sill.
That’s when it hit her. A mind-jolting blast of pain right between her shoulder blades.
Tess dropped, falling over backward. Her limbs, arms and legs, twitched and jittered uselessly.
She landed on her back. Her vision clouded. Damn, someone had hit her with a Taser. Her brain yawned and then seemed to scramble, every thought going in a million different directions at once.
She tried to focus. Tried to make her muscles do what she wanted them to do. But they couldn’t cooperate. She was a defenseless infant, sprawled on the floor.
From the corner of her vision, she could see them moving toward her. Two dark shapes. But she was too scrambled, too confused to see any specifics.
She couldn’t move, couldn’t defend herself.
She was completely at their mercy.
SOMETHING COLD AND WET poked Ryan in the face.
“Jeez, Jung, get down,” he grumbled, pushing the dog’s wet nose out of the way. He lifted his head and listened, but the heavy hum of the air conditioner was the only sound. “Go back to sleep,” he ordered as his head dropped back down onto his pillow.
Jung whimpered and stuck his nose right back in his face.
Ryan sat up.
Frantic, Jung ran to the door, scratching and barking wildly.
“Okay, okay, I get the message. You need to go out.” He got up. “You better not be using this as a ploy to get into Tess’s room.” He leaned down to scratch Jung’s ear. “You’re as enamored with her as I am, aren’t you boy.”
The dog ignored him and barked again.
Ryan opened the door and was practically knocked aside as the dog charged down the hall, headed directly for Tess’s room.
Concerned, Ryan ran after him.
Two strange men, dressed entirely in black and wearing hoods, stood in her room. One of them had Tess in his arms. Her eyes were open, but she wasn’t moving. Her body was limp.
“What the hell—” Ryan yelled.
Jung was already tearing at the arm of one of the men, growling and snarling, his powerful jaws clamped onto the man’s wrist. The man appeared to have a gun clasped in his hand, but Ryan couldn’t be sure.
The other man turned toward Ryan. “We’re just here for the woman,” he said. “Call your damn dog off and we’ll leave.”
“You’re not going anywhere,” Ryan said, circling to the left. “Put her down.”
“Can’t do that, buddy.” The man moved closer to the window. “Just let us take the woman and you can walk away. It doesn’t have to concern you.”
“Not going to happen,” Ryan said, moving closer.
The guy backed up more, his eyes focused on Ryan’s face. As Ryan passed the vanity table, he palmed the bottle of antiseptic.
“Guess we do this the hard way, huh, Doc,” the man said as he unceremoniously dumped Tess’s limp body onto the cushioned chair next to the window. Her head lolled back, and her arms flopped to her side. Her eyes were fuzzy, as if she couldn’t focus.
The man charged, head down. He hit Ryan in the stomach, sending him backward. They hit the wall together with a crash. Ryan lifted a knee, jamming it up into the man’s chin. The man grunted, his head snapping back.
As he staggered upright, Ryan swung, hitting him full in the cheek. A burst of pain shot up the length of Ryan’s arm, but he ignored it, going after the man with a fast right, followed by a left. The man fell over, hitting his forehead on the windowsill. He lay still. Stunned.
Ryan turned his attention on the other man. Jung had him cornered, his back against the bedroom closet. The gun lay on the floor. Good dog, he’d earned an extra treat. He’d gotten the man to release the gun.
Ryan rounded the bed.
The second intruder dived for the gun, but Ryan beat him to it, lashing out with a kick that caught the man in the shoulder and spun him around. He yelped in pain as Jung jumped on his back, sinking his teeth into the meaty part of his upper shoulder.
“Ry-an,” Tess’s warning was weak, barely a whisper.
He whirled around but not in time to dodge a fist from the first man, who had recovered. The blow smashed into his left temple. Bursts of light exploded in front of Ryan’s eyes, and he staggered two steps back.
He shook his head, trying to clear it.
The man charged him again, knocking him into the closet doors. The doors crashed inward, sending Ryan sprawling against a collapsed rack of clothes.
“Come on, let’s get out of here!” one of the men yelled.
Jung yelped as the first man landed a good kick, sending him rolling into Ryan.
The two men rushed out of the room. Seconds later, their footsteps thundered on the stairs as they ran for the front door. The door opened and then slammed shut.
Untangling himself from Jung, Ryan pulled himself up. He ignored the sensation of red-hot needles prickling the entire left side of his face. He rounded the end of the bed, kneeling beside Tess.
“Are you all right?”
She lifted her head, her smile lopsided and halfhearted. “Sorry I wasn’t much help. They stunned me with a Taser gun as soon as they entered the room.”
He helped her sit up. “Who the hell were they?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. I woke up and they were in the house.”
“I’m calling the police.”
“No!” Tess reached out and grabbed his arm, preventing him from reaching for the phone sitting next to the bed.
“What do you mean, no? Someone broke into my house and tried to kidnap you. That’s not something to fool around with, Tess. The police need to investigate.”
She shook her head and
weakly tried to pull herself to a standing position. She flopped back against the cushion and he didn’t miss the frustration in her eyes. “No cops. If you call the cops I’m out of here.”
“From the looks of things, you couldn’t leave if you wanted to. You can barely sit up.”
Ryan picked up the phone and dialed 911.
Chapter Five
The next morning, General Thomas Flynn watched the endless rush of cornfields whip past the car window. He clamped his back teeth together and glanced down at his hands resting on his thighs. They were clenched so tight his knuckles shown white.
He forced himself to relax, sliding his finger along the crisp crease in his trousers. How did people actually live here? It was so far from civilization that their nearest neighbor could only be reached by getting into some kind of junky, beat-up truck and driving miles over teeth-rattling roads.
He shifted on the smooth leather seat, shooting his wrist out the end of his jacket to check his watch. Six-forty. The trip from the airport seemed to be longer than he remembered. Perhaps he should have allowed Bloom to send the helicopter, but Flynn knew keeping a low profile was critical right now.
He’d only visited once before, right after the center opened four years ago, and the less contact he had with the place the less chance there was that he’d be tied to the center if something went wrong.
If something went wrong. He snorted in disgust. Something like their prime test subject rabbiting on them and Bloom’s bumbled rescue attempt. He leaned forward and hit the button lowering the window separating him from the driver. The young man behind the wheel glanced into the rearview mirror and cocked a respectful eyebrow. “Sir?”
“How much farther to the Half Moon?”
“About ten minutes, sir.”
“Take me directly to the police station.”
The driver nodded. “Yes, sir. Dr. Bloom made it very clear that you wanted to be taken there first. He said that he’d meet you there. Perhaps you’d—”
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