Free Washed Away by Carol Marinelli Page A

taking you and the Jeep with it. I swam out to you. You were unconscious when I got there….”
    “You saved me?”
    “I was there,” Noah said easily. “Anyone would have done the same. I would have taken you back to town for treatment, but the river burst. That’s why I brought you here.” He gave a rueful laugh. “That’s why we’re stuck here with no electricity and no phone, cut off from the rest of the world. I didn’t think to take my cell phone out of my jeans before I jumped in, and if you had one, it would have been lost with the Jeep.” He shrugged. “It probably wouldn’t have helped. I just heard on the radio that most people can’t get a signal.”
    His explanation didn’t seem to have worked. He could see the confusion still flickering in her eyes. Her forehead creased and she slumped back on the cushion, her mouth opening to speak, then closing in defeat.
    “You’re okay now, and that’s the main thing. As soon as the phone lines are back on, you can call someone, let them know what’s happened.”
    She nodded but the expression in her eyes was still scared.
    “It won’t be long.” He was staring down at her, but every word of comfort he uttered seemed only to agitate her further. “Once the phone lines are back on, I can get in touch with Mitch and get you evacuated to a hospital—”
    “Mitch?”
    “He’s the fire chief,” Noah explained. “He’s heading up the mass evacuation of Corpus Christi to Turning Point. I’m supposed to be helping him. The storm was heading for Corpus Christi, but according to the news bulletins, it’s veered off course….”
    “Stop!” Her hand shot up to her ears and she squeezed her eyes shut. “What storm, Noah?”
    The rain was pounding on the roof, every window rattling. She should have understood what he was telling her, but nothing seemed to add up.
    “I don’t know anything about a storm, Noah.” Tears were filling those velvet eyes now, and she massaged her temples as if willing it all to make sense. “I don’t know anything about Turning Point or Corpus Christi or fire chiefs.” Hysteria tinged her voice, and the absolute direness of her situation seemed to strike them both.
    “Noah,” she said at last, “I don’t even know my own name.”

CHAPTER FIVE
    “C HERYL .”
    Soft, infinitely understanding eyes held hers.
    “Your name is Cheryl.”
    Reaching over to the coffee table, he handed her a watch. Slowly she examined the object, turning it over in her hand, tracing every word of the engraving with her finger.
    “This is mine?”
    “You were wearing it when I found you, but the face was broken so I took it off. That’s when I saw the engraving on the back. I looked through all your other clothes—” he gestured to the untidy pile that littered the floor “—but there was no ID, nothing at all. I assume everything got lost when the Jeep went down.”
    “That’s everything?” Cheryl asked. “You mean that’s everything I had with me?”
    “Except for this.” He gestured to the little dog dozing in Cheryl’s lap. “She took a chunk out of my arm when I tried to resuscitate you.”
    “I stopped breathing!” It was more a statement than a question. Horror flooded her. She’d been in a life-threatening situation she couldn’t even remember, letalone comprehend. Each revelation caused a new jolt of alarm to ricochet through her. She fingered the scar on her cheek, which had only now started to make its presence felt.
    “Better not touch it,” Noah advised. “That was a nasty cut, and there are quite a few stitches in it.”
    “What’s the tinfoil for?” she asked, attempting a smile. “Were you planning to roast me later?”
    “It’s a space blanket—your temperature was low,” Noah explained, returning the smile. “I’ll go and get those clothes now.”
     
    “M AYBE MY FATHER’S DEAD .” The voice that greeted Noah when he returned sounded frail, an utter contrast to that of the supremely