Free Lost Memories (Honky Tonk Hearts) by Sherri Thomas

softened. “Come on, talk to me.” The friendship with the eldest Matthews developed and matured over the last two weeks, but if she informed him of her amnesia, would he understand?
    In the beginning maybe, but not now.
    “Do you ever talk to your folks?”
    “They ah...passed away.” And somehow that rang true.
    “Do you have brothers or sisters?”
    The notion of lying to him any more hurt now that he had broken through her shell. She couldn’t just blurt out, “I don’t know. I can’t remember.” Her mind scurried for a way to distract him from the subject.
    “Oh, geeze. Hold on. I spilled my wine.” She made a rustling noise, taking the reprieve to calm her nerves. After a few breaths she returned with a quick, “Okay, I’m back.”
    “Drinking, Darc?”
    “One glass. It helps me sleep after a busy week.” Her hand rose to cover the yawn the words provoked.
    “Don’t get defensive on me. You’re entitled to a drink. I’d like one myself right about now.”
    She swirled the remaining red liquid around in her glass. A comfortable silence stretched, and she closed her eyes, listening to his breathing. The sound soothed her, making her body languid along with the alcohol.
    He sighed. “It’s getting late. I should let you go. Hold down the fort until I get back.”
    Not wanting to let him go, she squeezed the phone.
    “Darc, you fall asleep on me?”
    An image of her head on his chest sprang to her mind. “No. But I should go. Night, Nick.” Darcy hung up the phone, set her glass in the sink, and went to bed. Her body hummed with the warmth of his tone while her mind grew troubled over the lies she told.
    With conflicting emotions absorbing her every thought, sleep did not come easy despite the alcohol.
    ****
    Nick tugged on his jeans, threw a T-shirt over his head and placed his feet in his boots, glad to be home. The phone calls to Darcy held him in suspense. His feelings for her remained a mystery to him. When he first left, he chalked up his attraction as just that—an attraction. She was a beautiful female; he a normal, hot-blooded male.
    The mistake he made was checking in on her. The sound of her soft voice echoed in his mind. Without the stress of day-to-day life on the ranch, he found he longed to hear the sound of her laugh and her low, sultry voice before he fell asleep.
    He went to the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee, thankful he remembered to set the programmable maker when he got in late last night. On his drive to the ranch, he called and rescheduled his last advertising meeting.
    You’re going through a lot of trouble for a woman, buddy.
    Not any woman, Darcy. Though the fact remained she still held back when he brought up her family and her past, she warmed up to him during their conversations.
    Downing the rest of his caffeine, he placed his mug in the sink, and went out the door. He squinted in the morning sunlight and started toward the equine barn. “Come on, boy,” he called to Dakota, slapping the side of his thigh.
    The boxy-headed dog ambled over.
    Nick reached down to scratch him behind the ears. He glanced to the full water dish and half-eaten food.
    “I see someone fed you.” About five feet two inches of heaven, no doubt . From what Sam told him, Darcy had taken a liking to the dog.
    He ambled across the way and grained the horses before letting the four-legged creatures out to pasture. T.J. kicked the wall in the last stall.
    “Itching to run, fella?” Grabbing a hold of the gelding, he led the animal to his friends. By the time he finished filling water buckets and mucking stalls, sweat clung to his shirt. The weatherman promised the nineties by early afternoon. He peeled the wet material away from his body and used the cotton to wipe the water from his forehead. Tossing the shirt into the tack room, he moved on to the pig barn.
    The petting zoo continued to be a success with the kids who stayed at the ranch, not to mention the few minutes of sanity