Emergency Contact. Susan Peterson
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didn’t seem to put much of a damper on her libido.
“All right, I think we need to go down to the station and talk this out,” Cole said.
“She’s not going anywhere, Chief,” Donovan said. “We agreed to stop here on the way to the center. Your questions will have to wait until after I’m done conducting a few tests.”
Cole scowled. “Just make sure you don’t leave town before checking in with me.” He turned away, throwing one final threat over his shoulder. “I’ll have more to go on after the forensics people finish up with the evidence gathered from the car.”
Tess watched him walk off, unable to deny the tiny twist of fear that coiled in her belly. What if she really did have something to do with this accident? What if it wasn’t an accident but a murder? Would the Chief’s men find something to connect her to the man’s death?
“You can tie yourself in knots over this, Tess. Or you can let it go for now.” Ryan moved up to stand next to her. “Let the Chief and his men figure out what happened and then we’ll deal with whatever they find. Until then, let’s you and I focus on finding out more about you.”
“Sure, that sounds reasonable,” she agreed, deciding that agreeable was the tack to take at the moment. But she wasn’t foolish enough not to listen to the warning in her gut that no matter how honorable Ryan Donovan seemed at this moment, when things heated up, he would throw her to the wolves.
IMPATIENT, RYAN SHOVED the CT scan onto the view box and studied it. No big surprises. Her brain was uniform and the ventricles were normal, no sign of a bleed.
Not that he’d expected the scan to show anything significant, but he’d insisted Tess have the head CT anyway. He believed in covering all the bases.
He glanced at the screen showing a camera view of Tess lying on the table waiting for them to tell her she could get up. Her eyes were closed, her lips, pink and lush and lightly parted as if she were sleeping. There was no panic in her relaxed limbs.
The technician turned in his chair to check and make sure Ryan didn’t have any last-minute instructions before he told Tess that the examination was complete. Ryan shook his head and headed for the door leading to the examination room.
Inside, he hit the light switch and Tess turned her head.
“Everything looks good,” Ryan reassured her.
Tess nodded and jumped gracefully off the table. As she bent down to scoop up the striped cotton robe lying across the back of a chair, a section of her gown parted and allowed him to see the smooth glide of her skin and the line of her backbone. He’d never thought of a cotton hospital gown as particularly sexy, but somehow Tess had made it seem that way.
He jerked his thoughts off that particular track. Better to keep focused on Tess’s mind, not her body. Anything else would lead to trouble. The kind of trouble he didn’t need now or anytime in the future.
“So, no idea why I can’t remember anything?” she asked as she shrugged into her robe.
Ryan shook his head, trying to ignore the twinge of regret as she cinched the robe around her slender waist. “Not a clue. Sorry. But then I wasn’t really expecting to find one. I ordered the scan as a precaution only.”
“I take it that’s a good sign.”
“It is.” Ryan motioned toward the door. “Why don’t you go get dressed and have a seat in the waiting room. I’m going to go over the scan with the neurologist on call. At this point, I’m going with the diagnosis of a mild concussion. We’ll see what he has to say.”
Tess didn’t move. “Then why can’t I remember who I am? I’ve had a concussion before and didn’t lose my memory.”
“When was that exactly?” Ryan probed.
Tess tilted her head, those exquisitely clear eyes unfocusing slightly as she accessed the memory. “I was rock climbing and my rope slipped. I fell about ten feet and hit my head on the rock face. Got a nasty bump and a real shiner.” She stopped, and her green eyes cleared. She locked gazes with him. “How did you do that—get me to remember like that?”
Ryan smiled. “Your memories are still all intact. Something is just blocking you from getting to them.”
Her shoulders tensed, as if she was ready to rev up for some kind of unforeseen battle. “So how do I unblock them?”
“You don’t.” Ryan reached out and touched her shoulder, trying to impart some comfort. A zing of awareness shot through him, but he kept his face carefully neutral. “The more you try to force your way through the wall, the stronger it gets. You and I are just going to have to find a way around it.”
Frustration flickered in her eyes, and her fingers tightened into fists at her sides. “Why can I remember the fall but not my name?”
“Relax, Tess. You’re trying too hard. Let the memories come back on their own. You haven’t lost them—they’re all still there.”
She yanked on the belt of her robe, cinching it tighter. The tops of her knuckles turned white. Her agitation was clear. “That’s easy for you to say. You’re not the one who can’t remember if you like cream in your coffee or mustard on your hot dog.”
Ryan laughed. “Food jokes. Something tells me that you’re hungry again.” He pulled two doughnuts wrapped in a napkin out of his jacket pocket and offered them to her. “I happen to have these. I thought you might get hungry later. Want one?”
Tess accepted the doughnuts and slipped them into the pocket of her robe. “Not at the moment, but I’ll be keeping a close eye on them.” She glanced toward the technician’s booth. “What now?”
“Why don’t you go get dressed. When I’m done talking to the neurologist, we’ll go to my office and talk for a while?”
“Oh, so now you get me on the couch.”
“No, just a comfortable chair.” He flashed her an easy grin.
“I already told you I’m not in the market for a shrink.”
“Fair enough. We’re only going to talk. Decide on what you want to do next, okay?”
She nodded and then headed for the small dressing cubicle across the hall. After she was out of his sight, Ryan leaned down to pick up the sheet that had fallen to the floor.
“Where is she?”
The voice broke into Ryan’s thoughts. He glanced up to see Sidney Bloom, his boss, standing in the doorway. The light from the brightly lit hall silhouetted his stubby figure.
In spite of being a few inches short of five feet seven inches and on the plump side, Sidney never had to work to gain anyone’s attention. When he walked into a room, people sat up and took notice.
“I assume you mean the young woman I brought in a little while ago?” Ryan said, draping the sheet over the back of the chair.
Sidney nodded, his bald dome catching the light. He didn’t appear happy. In fact, he looked downright peeved. Ryan sighed inwardly. Only on the job a few weeks and he already had his boss breathing down his neck for some perceived infraction. Sad fact was, it made him feel right at home. Breaking infractions seemed to be his lot in life lately.
“She’s across the hall dressing.” Ryan cocked his head. “Who mentioned to you that she was here?”
Sidney smiled. “This is my facility, Ryan. I know everything that goes on here—especially when patients are admitted without my approval.”
“She sustained a mild concussion, Sid. She needed to be checked out. The closest medical center is over two hours away.”
The door behind them opened and a petite redhead poked her head in. “Someone in here request a consult from the neurologist on call?”
Before Ryan could