Free The Deputy's Lost and Found by Stella Bagwell Page B

That’s all. He’s safe behind bars now. And we’re all just fine.”
    The first few hours after she’d gone to bed, she’d imagined him in all sorts of dangerous situations and she’d been desperately afraid for his safety. Now, she felt foolish for letting her imagination and her feelings get so out of hand. “Does that sort of thing happen often?” she asked.
    “No. But neither does finding a pretty girl with amnesia,” he answered, a faint grin lifting one corner of hismouth. “The stars must have gone off-kilter this past week. The department’s been extra busy.”
    “Well, I wish the stars would realign themselves,” she did her best to joke. “Maybe then I’d get my memory back.”
    “Still nothing?”
    Staring down at her cooling coffee, she said dismally, “No. Apparently nothing up there in my head is regenerating.”
    “If Brita says it will, then it will. You just need time,” he said with encouragement. Pulling his legs toward him, he leaned forward and rested his forearms across his thighs. “Later this morning Hank and I are going to the track and plaster your picture throughout the clubhouse and betting area. It could be that some of the employees will remember seeing you there last Sunday.”
    Brady was being so kind and positive the least she could do was be hopeful and optimistic, too. But that was rather difficult to do when every path her mind took, it ran into a black wall.
    “But how will that help, Brady? More than likely I didn’t give my name to anyone.”
    “Probably not. But just having someone witness seeing you in a certain place is a big start. If we can confirm that you were at the track that will give us a starting place. From there we can try to trace your steps forward and backward.”
    She gave him the bravest smile she could muster. “Okay. I trust you.”
    He chuckled. “Really? Then you’re the first woman who ever has.”
    Was he saying she was gullible where he was concerned? It didn’t matter. As far as her missing person case was concerned, she had to trust him. As a man, it shouldn’t matter. Even if he wasn’t involved with one special woman,she was in no position to get her feelings tangled up with him. With her past a blank, her future could be nothing but uncertain.
    Not really knowing what to reply to his sardonic remark, she sipped her coffee and waited for him to take the conversation elsewhere.
    “So what are you going to do today? Sit in a stuffed armchair and read a book?”
    Wondering if he was serious, she glanced at him. “I have amnesia, not paralysis.”
    A dimple came and went in his cheek. “Well, if reading sounds too boring you can get Grandma to tell you stories about when she and Grandpa first came here. She has some real humdingers.”
    “I’m sure. She’s quite a colorful woman. But I already have something planned. Later this morning Dallas is taking me over to her stables to have a look around.”
    He groaned. “Listen, Lass, if you let her, Dallas will drive you crazy talking about all her kids and horses and work. If you get tired, don’t be afraid to tell her to hush and bring you home.”
    Home. Funny how he said it that way, she thought. As though this place was her home, too. The idea touched her and yet at the same time it made her feel a bit weepy. Somewhere there had to be walls and floors and rooms that had made up her home. Had anyone lived in it with her? Had she been loved? The way the Donovans loved each other?
    “I’m sure Dallas and I will get on just fine,” she told him. “I like her very much.”
    “Well, as much as I like sitting here with you and seeing you in that pretty red thing you’re wearing, I’ve got to head to work.” He rose to his feet, but instead of headingtoward the door, he picked up the thermos and refilled the china cup she was balancing on her knee.
    His remark about her gown had her eyes flying downward and she realized with a start that the sheet had slipped to expose her