Chapter Three

      Alana heard voices. They were only whispers at first. But they became clearer within just a few seconds.

      She didn’t open her eyes. Not yet. She waited, listening, trying to figure out what was going on.

      Was it safe?

      Or did she need to be prepared to run again?

      Judging from the sterile smell and the feel of the bed beneath her, she wasn’t back at the house in the woods. Nor was she in the alley next to the sheriff’s office. She was in a hospital. And the voice, at least one of them, belonged to Jack Whitley. He was talking to Dr. Bartolo.

      She peeked out. Definitely a hospital. The walls and bedding were stark white, and there was an IV in the back of her hand. Sunlight threaded through the blind slats and onto the thermal blanket that covered her.

      Neither the guard nor the nurse who’d held her captive was there. Everything felt safe. Which was a facade, of course. It wasn’t safe unless Jack had caught the guard after he’d attacked her in the alley.

      Maybe he had.

      The last thing she remembered before losing consciousness was Jack going after him. If he’d succeeded, then perhaps the nightmare was over.

      Well, part of it, anyway.

      There was still the issue of her son.

      Her mind no longer felt like sludge, and Alana didn’t have to think hard to remember everything. She was a jewelry designer. Born and raised in San Antonio. One sibling, her older brother, Sean. She had friends and a life that had disappeared eight months ago.

      The day she went into labor.

      She could recall each pain. Every moment. Including the birth of her precious son. She’d loved him instantly. A kind of love she hadn’t thought was possible until she’d held him in her arms for the first time.

      But there were blanks. The missing twenty-four hours of her life that followed the delivery. And even some of the time immediately before it. They were crucial gaps of time—she had no idea what had put her in that creek or what had happened to make her leave her newborn son and walk out into the cold December night. She only knew the end result. She’d been held captive, escaped and then nearly been killed again.

      “You’re awake,” she heard Jack say. He walked closer, crammed his hands into the pockets of his jeans and stood over her.

      He was still wearing the same clothes he’d had on the night before. And he hadn’t shaved. A dark, desperado stubble covered his chin, and there were smudgy circles under his eyes. He probably hadn’t slept.

      “Why am I in the hospital?” she asked.

      “The fever for one thing. It’s gone now, but Dr. Bartolo thinks you had a virus of some kind. You also hit your head when you fell in the alley. He needed to check and make sure it wasn’t serious. It’s just a bad bump.” He glanced at Dr. Bartolo on the other side of the room before his attention returned to her. “Don’t you remember?”

      She didn’t have to think hard for those memories to flood through her. Plus, the left side of her head was throbbing. “Yes. I remember. I was trying to get away because I was scared of the doctor. And you. But you caught me. Did you catch the man, too?”

      Jack shook his head. “Sorry.”

      Fear instantly returned. If the man had gotten to her once, he could get to her again. But Alana didn’t think that was her biggest concern right now. There was something guarded about Jack’s expression. For one thing, he wasn’t glaring at her. In fact, he was treating her like a patient.

      “Did you see the person who tried to grab me in the alley?” she wanted to know. “Not really.”

      “It was the guard,” Alana concluded, though she hadn’t actually seen his face. “You’ll have to find him.”

      Jack nodded, but it seemed to be a gesture to appease her. He eased his hands from his pockets, dragged a chair closer and sat down beside her bed.

      Oh, no. She got a really bad feeling about this. He was obviously about to have a heart-to-heart chat with her.

      “After I got you to the hospital last night, I called your brother, Sean, in San Antonio,” Jack explained. “Do you remember him?”

      “Of course,” she said after she got her teeth unclenched. Great. Just great. Now her overly protective big brother knew everything she’d told Jack. But that also meant that Sean had known she’d been held captive.

      He was probably already on his way to Willow Ridge.

      Sean would powerhouse his way into the hospital and try to take over. His goal would be to get her away from there so he could convince her that she didn’t want to try to claim her son.

      “I remember almost everything,” Alana mumbled. Including her brother’s objection to her being pregnant. Sean had hated the fact that she planned to become a single mom. Not because he was truly concerned about the challenges that might bring, but because of appearances. He believed their conservative business associates would think less of Alana and therefore think less of their company and him. Plus, Sean had also expressed concern that Alana’s focus might be on a child and not solely on her career.

      “Good.” Jack followed that with a crisp nod. “I’m glad you’re getting your memory back.”

      She’d been ready to try to get out of the bed, but that stopped her. “Good?” Alana contested. “Okay, what’s wrong?”

      He scrubbed his hand over his face. “You recall why you walked out of here eight months ago?”

      Alana hated to admit this, but she had no choice. If she told Jack as much as she knew, he might be able to help her put the pieces together. “No. But I know I gave birth to Joey. And I know I love him. I also want to see him. Now.”

      Jack stayed quiet a moment. “That wouldn’t be a good idea. You have a virus, remember, and in case it’s something more, it’ll be another ten hours or so before the antibiotics take full effect. You wouldn’t want to make him sick, would you?” His tone was sympathetic enough, but there was a lot of emotion and anger simmering right beneath the surface.

      “Oh, I get it,” Alana grumbled. “My brother told you to be nice to me.”

      “Among other things,” Jack admitted. “He’s coming to take you home.”

      Alana wanted to curse. “How much time do I have before Sean gets here?”

      “An hour. Maybe two. He said he’d be here around noon, and it’s a little after ten right now.”

      She sat up. “I don’t want him to see me like this. And I don’t want to go with him.”

      Jack caught her arm and eased her back down onto the bed. “Sean told me that Joey’s birth father was dead.”

      That clenched her teeth again. “You obviously had a long conversation.”

      “We did. But Sean and I had that particular discussion eight months ago when I was trying to track you down.”

      Everything inside her went still. She hadn’t thought of it sooner, but of course Jack would have tried to find her. Too bad he hadn’t. It would have saved her eight months of captivity, and that was just the beginning. It had also cost her time with her precious baby. She’d missed so much already.

      Too much.

      She wouldn’t miss any more.

      “Sean didn’t know why you ran off the way