Secret Agent Dad. Metsy Hingle
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“I don’t want to rest. I want to find out who I am,” he said, frustration emanating from him in waves. The fingers rubbing at his temples stopped abruptly, and he whipped his attention to her. “What about ID? I must have had some sort of identification on me. A driver’s license? Credit cards?”
She shook her head. “I’m sorry. All I found was a money clip with the initial B and a wad of bills. If you had a wallet, I guess it’s possible it’s still in the car. I didn’t take the time to look too closely. Or it could have fallen on the road when you got out of your car.” And if that were the case, they would never find it, thanks to the rising water and wind, she added silently. “When the storm lets up, I’ll drive out to where you had the wreck and see what I can find.”
“No. I’ll go. It’s my problem, and I’ve already put you to enough trouble.”
She shrugged, seeing no point in arguing that he really wasn’t well and shouldn’t be behind the wheel of any vehicle. “Well, neither one of us will be going anywhere until this storm lets up.” She paused, wondering whether she should tell him what else she had found.
He turned laser-sharp eyes on her. “What is it? What aren’t you telling me?”
It unnerved her that he could read her so clearly, and made her pray he hadn’t been able to read how attracted she was to him. “Besides the money clip and cash, you had a gun. It was hidden in one of your boots.”
The frown creasing his brow deepened, but he said nothing, simply continued to watch her.
“I put it over there, in the top drawer.” She pointed to the armoire in the corner. “The money clip and cash are with it.”
Still silent, he pushed to his feet. And when he swayed, she reached out instinctively to steady him, and another sizzle of heat rippled through her. Awareness, lightning quick, flashed into his eyes. He sank back down to the bed, and Josie snatched her hand away. “Guess my head’s not as hard as I thought The damned. .darned thing feels like somebody took a hammer to it,” he muttered.
“I’ll go, and let you get some rest.”
“No,” he responded quickly. “I’ve had enough rest. I’d like to get dressed and then take a look at that money clip and gun. Maybe seeing them will trigger my memory.” He stood again, this time steady.
Unable to stop herself, Josie stared at him. He had a magnificent body. Tall, strong, solid. He reminded her of a mythical god, a warrior prince cast in bronze and gold, she thought. She ran her gaze over him and paused at a jagged scar on one shoulder, wondering how he’d gotten it. She skimmed past the flat stomach, and shifted lower to where his sex strained against the black briefs. Liquid heat spilled through her as she recalled the feel of him pressed hot and heavy against her thighs. Recognizing the dangerous direction of her thoughts, Josie forced her gaze up to his face. But looking into his eyes proved no safer. They were dark, mysterious and burned with a sensual fire that had the air backing up in her lungs.
“Angel, unless you’ve changed your mind about joining me in this bed, I think you’d better stop looking at me like that and let me get dressed.”
Mortified to have been caught gawking at him like a lovestruck schoolgirl, she took a step back to allow him to pass.
But he made no attempt to leave. Instead he stood there looking impossibly sexy and tempting. The bandage on his forehead added an edge of danger to his appeal, but was at odds with the hint of a smile on his lips.
“Is there a problem?” she asked, irritated and hurt that he found the mousy little widow’s fascination with him funny.
“No. I just realized that you must have been the one to undress me last night.”
Her pride pricked that she’d made herself such a vulnerable target by gaping at him. She hiked up her chin. “It was either that or let you catch pneumonia. You were soaked to the skin.”
“Hey, I wasn’t complaining. At least not about you undressing me. I just think it’s a shame that I don’t remember.” The grin he flashed her was quick, reckless and did strange things to her pulse.
“Nothing to remember except being wet and cold,” she informed him primly. Feigning a nonchalance she was far from feeling, Josie said, “You might want to put on some clothes.”
“Be happy to. But first you’ll need to tell me where I can find them.”
Color stained her cheeks, and she once again wanted to cringe over letting the man rattle her so badly. “Your things are in the bathroom. I hung them there to dry last night. I’ll get them,” she offered, eager to put some distance between them.
“That’s all right,” he told her, catching her by the arm as she started to turn away. Another stab of heat shot through Josie at his touch, making her heart slap against her ribs to the beat of a Texas two-step. From the expression on his face, she wasn’t the only one having trouble breathing. “I’ll get them,” he said, his voice rough, gravelly. “I need to use the facilities, anyway.”
Sure she’d swallow her tongue if she tried to respond, Josie simply nodded. And not until the bathroom door closed behind him was she able to breathe again. Get a grip, Josie. Now is not the time to be hit with your very first lust attack! You’ve got to think, girl. Think!
But thinking around him wasn’t an easy task, she admitted, as she walked over to the window and sank down to the floral cushion that covered the bench seat. She stared out into the storm that continued to rage outside. A perfect reflection of her own feelings, she mused. None of it made any sense—not her reaction to his man or the predicament she found herself in.
And she was in a predicament. A real fix, Sister Mary Claire would have called it. She was all alone, isolated on a remote farm nearly two hours from the nearest town with a sexy stranger who claimed to have no memory, but who rattled her common sense and awakened hormones in her that she hadn’t even known she’d possessed. To make matters worse, the normally dry creek bed that ran alongside the road leading to her farm had already overflowed when she’d checked earlier this morning—which meant driving him into Royal or Midland or asking the sheriff from either town to come out here to get him was not an option. Of course, added to the list was the problem of the babies.
The babies! For Pete’s sake! She smacked her forehead. She hadn’t even told him about the babies. Surely seeing his children would help him remember who he was.
And remind him that he had a wife?
The question sneaked itself right into her thoughts. Despite his claim that he wasn’t married and the fact that he lacked a wedding band, she knew darn well the man hadn’t come by those two little darlings by himself. Having been on the receiving end of a cheating husband herself, she certainly didn’t want to be the cause of some other woman’s pain. Because whoever the woman was—wife or girlfriend—she had helped him create two adorable children.
A tender ache blossomed inside Josie as she thought about the twins. What would it be like to be their mother? To hold their little mouths to her breast as she nursed them, to cradle them in her arms and love them? She had been so sure she would have a houseful of babies of her own by now.
But no babies had grown inside her. Not a single one. She pressed her hand to her flat belly. Ben had claimed he wasn’t ready to be a father, had wanted to wait. Even if he hadn’t died, she wasn’t sure there would have ever been any babies—given the troubles in their marriage. But, oh, how she’d wanted a child of her own, someone to give all the love she had stored up in her heart. Josie brought the heel of her hand to her chest, rubbed at the spot where her heart beat.
She heard the door to the bathroom open, and Josie shoved her sad thoughts aside as he came walking into the bedroom again—this time wearing jeans and with a towel draped around his neck. Lord, but the man was beautiful.
“I found an unopened toothbrush in the medicine cabinet and used it. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Of