“Absolutely.” Dee leaned forward, sensing she might finally be making headway. “Jacob, I don’t have a tidy explanation for you. I woke up in this room, alone and scared out of my mind. I had to look at the telephone book to find out where I was. There wasn’t even a purse or wallet with identification. Just a little money and this.” She scooped her hand into the neck of her sweater, pulling free the necklace. “The closest I could even come to a name is a tarnished D. For the last time, I swear to you I don’t know who I am.”
A piercing stare later, he asked, “Why didn’t you say something this morning? Why scrub bathroom floors all day?”
“Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately? You’re pretty darned intimidating, and I’m pretty darned vulnerable.”
The first hint of a smile eased through his perpetual scowl. “Okay, I can buy that. But what changed your mind? I didn’t magically shrink.”
She resisted the urge to rub her stomach. The police would have to know about the possibility of a child since it might help, but she wasn’t ready to share something so private. She settled for part of the truth. “Watching you with Emily and Madison made you seem more approachable.”
He crossed his feet at the ankles and studied his boots until Dee thought she might spring across the table and shake him.
Jacob glanced to Dee, the furrows smoothing from his brow. “So you have amnesia.”
A sigh racked through her. He believed her. He didn’t look happy about it, but she could live with that. No matter what she’d done before, he didn’t think she was a liar. “Yes. I do,” she whispered, her mind screaming, And I’m so scared. Help me, please.
Jacob watched the fear flood her face. Any second, he expected her eyes to fill with tears.
They never did. Every line of her body cried out her grief all the same.
He set his caged instincts free. His gut told him to trust her and not let old defensiveness rule him. Simply accept her story. If his instincts were wrong, he would only be out a ride into town.
If his instincts were right, this woman needed him, badly. A woman who balked at asking for a pair a shoes, needed him.
Something primal stirred within him, latched on and wouldn’t let go. Caveman in action? Maybe. Who was he to fight nature? Especially when it came in such an appealing package. “Let’s go back to our original plan then. I’ll run you into town tomorrow.”
“Thank you.” She twisted the necklace around her fingers until they turned bloodless. “What about the motel? Who’ll take care of the desk?”
“My regular cleaning lady should be back tomorrow. She can handle checkouts and then carry the cordless for incoming calls while she cleans. We’ll leave early so we have plenty of daylight if the weather turns rogue again. You need to be looked over by a doctor before we head to the station—”
“Hold on! I just want a ride, not a cavalry charge.”
“What do you know about your medical history?”
She winced.
“What if you’re a diabetic?” he pressed. “Or have some other condition? Head injuries can cause all sorts of problems. You need to have a doctor check you over. I have an old squadron pal stationed here. He’s married to a flight surgeon.”
She sagged in her seat. “Good point. But do you have to be so pushy?”
A grin tugged through, easing the knot in his stomach. “Military bluntness.”
He wouldn’t have to help her long. She must have family or a boss wondering over her unexplained absence. Or a husband.
Jacob shied away from that thought like the plague.
His gaze snapped to her hand. She wasn’t sporting a wedding band or a cheater mark on the pale, slim finger. Small consolation since he knew that wasn’t proof positive. Meanwhile, he needed to keep her safe until the police could match her with a missing persons’ report.
He could control his attraction. He had to. She needed him, whether she wanted to admit it or not.
Which meant keeping constant watch over her.
If she had some illness lurking, he couldn’t let her sleep in her hotel room by herself. Even a simple head trauma necessitated being monitored through the night—by him. Jacob wasn’t sure what would be more difficult, convincing Dee that he should stay with her, or resisting the urges that coursed through him while he shared her room for the night.
One fact shone through without question. She wasn’t sleeping alone.
“Sleeping with me at the apartment will be more convenient than your room.” Jacob crossed his feet at the ankles.
“What?” Dee’s hands clenched in the loose folds of her oversize sweatpants.