Excited over her own idea, she uncovered his leg and started drawing the letters for Europe up his shin bone.
When she’d finished, his head remained motionless.
“Hmm. How about this?”
She wrote South America.
Still there was no gesture from him.
Next she printed the words North America.
Now she got the nod she’d been waiting for.
“American?”
Another emphatic nod.
Terri shot to her feet. “I should have played this game with you earlier.” Her voice shook. “Do you work for the Herrick Company, too?”
He gave her a nod.
She sucked in her breath. “Okay. Let’s learn your first name. I’ll start saying the alphabet. You lift your right hand slightly when I come to the right letter. A,” she began. “B.”
He lifted his hand.
“Second letter. A. B. C. D. E.”
Again, his hand moved.
She went through the alphabet a third time. When she reached N, he raised his hand.
“Your name is Ben!” she cried out. “Short for Benjamin?”
He nodded.
With her heart racing she said, “Let’s do your last name.” She went through the same process. It seemed his last name started with an H. By the time she’d been through the alphabet seven times, he’d spelled the name Herrick.
Terri blinked. “Is it a coincidence you have the same name as the company you work for?”
He shook his head.
“You mean you’re the head of the company here?”
Contact at last!
Ben nodded as he gazed into her expressive eyes. They widened in incredulity. Their heavenly blue color reminded him of Texas bluebonnets which flowered every spring at the ranch.
With her dark-blond hair cut in a kind of windswept shag, and a mouth shaped like a heart when she was pondering something serious, she looked utterably adorable to him.
“But if that’s true, how is it possible no one’s looking for you of all people? Captain Ortiz never said anything about the head of your company disappearing. It doesn’t make sense! But that doesn’t matter right now. The important thing is that you’re alive and on the road to recovery.”
He watched helplessly as she bit the soft underside of her lip. What he’d give to taste such an enticing mouth.
“I’ll call Martha Shaw and tell her you’re here so she can let your family know.”
No! Lord, no. Not Martha.
He moaned, then lifted his hand in the air. Unfortunately his blond angel of mercy wasn’t paying any attention to him.