What the Heart Desires Read online

  She took a deep breath and put her head back.

  Her head was spinning in circles again, and it was difficult for her to stay focus.

  She felt as if she was losing consciousness again.

  Her hand went up to grip an end of his jacket, and she held onto it tightly.

  “Umm …I…I…am.” She tried to speak, but the words wouldn’t come out.

  She was more exhausted than she thought.

  “Don’t tire yourself out. It wouldn’t do you any good. You will need your

  strength for later.” His command was swift but gentle, and she had no choice than to lie back and let him take charge of her. “Are you hurt?” he asked her again.

  His hands did a swift, but gentle sweep of her arms and legs before she could answer.

  He was making sure that she didn’t have any broken bones. Maybe he was a doctor after all. She met his kind eyes again. And strangely, she found that she was drawing strength from them.

  “Tell me if this hurts.” His hands went up to her arms.

  The touch of his warm fingers on her bare arms was so suddenly unexpected and intimate, that it sent the blood rushing through her veins.

  She gripped an end of the leather seat and held her breath as his fingers continued to probe her lower body.

  “Are you okay?” His eyes sought out hers again, and Becca did everything she could to avoid them.

  She glanced down at her bare shapely legs, instead, trying to think of

  something, anything but him being this close to her.

  Her cheeks felt like they were on fire. She shut her eyes and took a very deep

  breath. God! What was happening to her!

  She opened her eyes again to find him smiling at her. She noticed there was

  a big rip in her black sheer stockings; all the way up to the top of her legs, and she sighed in dismay.

  And to make matters worst, her skirt was hiked all the way up above her legs, exposing her thighs. She met his eyes once more with intense mortification.

  At that point, she felt like crawling under the car and staying there forever, or until he was gone. But she knew she couldn’t do either of those things.

  She was stuck here with him for now!

  “Can you move your legs?” He ignored the uncomfortable look on her face.

  “I think so.” She wriggled her feet a few times for him to see.

  “Good. At least we know your legs aren’t broken. Let’s be grateful for that.”

  He reached for an end of her black skirt and pulled it as far down as the hem would go to cover her legs.

  His eyes met hers for a second, and he smiled at her.

  She barely smiled back.

  Every touch, every word or glance from him was sending shock waves through

  her entire body! Goodness! She certainly didn’t expect any of this to happen between them.

  “Are you sure you aren’t in any sort of pain?” he looked at her flushed face

  again, and smiled.

  Her heart was racing so fast in her heaving chest that she needed a second to

  answer him. And she knew her inability to speak had absolutely nothing to do with the confused state she was in because of the accident, but everything to do with him being there with him.

  She found his closeness both unnerving and exhilarating at the same time.

  It wasn’t every day she found herself being rescued by a handsome, mysterious stranger like him!

  Her heart had never thumped this hard, and so loudly in her chest before.

  She closed her eyes and bit down on her trembling lip.

  The white silk blouse she was wearing was thin enough for him to see the swift rise and fall of her chest, and he must know that she was completely bothered by his closeness.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, his eyes never leaving her flushed face.

  “Umm…I…I…think I’m fine,” she replied in a small, shaky voice. “My head

  hurts slightly, but other than that, I’m doing okay.”

  “Good,” he told her quickly. “Thank heavens! I was afraid that you were

  suffering from a concussion of some sorts, but it doesn’t appear as if you’ve

  suffered much of a head injury. The airbag must have cushioned most of the

  impact. Your car took a rather nasty dive into the ditch.”

  He genuinely cared that she wasn’t hurt, Becca thought. He was a stranger,

  but the way he was fussing over her, making sure she was okay, made her feel as if he was someone she knew.

  She wished she could remember more, but she was too confused at the moment to remember if she had ever seen him other than today.

  It would probably come back to her later.

  “Where does your head hurt?” He placed two of his fingers on the side of her head and gently applied pressure there. “You have a rather nasty bump on your forehead.” She felt the warm tips of his fingers caressing the sore spot. “We’ll have to do something about that.” His eyes met hers again, and his lips parted in a quick, easy smile.

  His smile was one of the warmest Becca had ever seen, and it immediately put her at ease. He certainly knew how to make a woman feel good about herself, she thought. She knew he had been doing everything he could to make her feel as

  comfortable as she possibly could.

  “Let’s try to get you out.” He leaned over her and reached for the seatbelt, and

  tried to unbuckle it from around her lower body.

  And she found herself shivering as his fingers rested slightly against her stomach.

  The seat belt was stuck, and it took him a couple tries to release it.

  “There! That’s more like it!” He chuckled and winked at her. “You are free to

  go!”

  “Do you know if another car was involved?” she asked him in a barely there voice, her green eyes going up to search his face.

  His darting blue ones caught hers briefly, and he gave her an uncomfortable

  look. It was hard to tell what he was going to say to her. She was almost afraid to know. What if she had hurt someone else? What if children were involved?

  He squeezed her hand gently.

  “No. There were hardly any cars on the road. Thanks to that big snowstorm

  that’s heading this way. It’s expected to hit any moment. I’m surprised you chose to be on the road at this time.”

  She let out a deep sigh and managed a small smile. She was beyond relieved! She wouldn’t have been able to live with herself if anyone else was hurt. She didn’t want to be responsible for bringing pain and suffering on anyone else’s family.

  “I thought I would have been off the road by the time it hits.” She gazed up at

  him. “It wasn’t snowing when I left, and the roads certainly weren’t this bad.”

  “It’s coming down hard now. Looks like we are going to have lots of snow for

  Christmas.” His eyes darted skywards. “I was on my way home when I came

  across your car in the ditch.”

  “Thank you for stopping and helping me. I know you didn’t have to.”

  “Think nothing of it.” He gave her a wide grin.

  “You could have just easily driven by, but you did stop to help.”

  “I did what any other decent human being would have done. Now, wrap your arms around me.” He took one of her hands and placed it securely around his neck. “Let me know if it’s too much for you when I lift you.” He reached in and drew her gently into his strong arms, cradling her body gently against his warm chest.

  Becca nestled happily against his warmth, taking in the scent of him; his

  aftershave and cologne. She felt the swift beating of his heart as she rested her cheek against his chest and smiled.

  And for that brief moment she allowed herself to completely forget about the accident—it suddenly didn’t matter to her anymore. He carried her out of the car in one quite sweep, as if she weighed n
o more than a few measly pounds to him, and lay her down gently on the freshly fallen snow, her body quickly nestling into the soft whiteness.

  “How are you feeling?” He bent over, and asked, his caring eyes searching

  her upturned face.

  “Okay, I guess,” she told him in a near whisper.

  “It’s very important for you to be honest with me.”

  She couldn’t help smiling mischievously. “Yes, doctor.”

  “Any headache, nausea, or sudden sharp pain in your chest or head?”

  “No, doctor.”

  He gave her a very firm look. “This is serious.”

  The smile froze on her lips. “Only the slight throbbing in my head. I’m sure it will pass soon.”

  “What about your breathing; does it hurt when you breathe?”

  He lowered his head close to her face, and then slightly down onto her chest to

  listen to the steady rise and fall.

  “My breathing is fine.” She was surprised that he wasn’t alarmed by the way

  her heart was racing!

  “It doesn’t appear as if you have a collapsed lung or any serious internal injuries,” he told her.

  “And how would you know that? You aren’t a doctor, from what I can tell.”

  She gave him a discerning look.

  He looked at her and chuckled loudly. “It’s easy. You would have been screaming in pain the second I lift you from the seat. And you wouldn’t have been able to breathe normally. The air bag clearly did its job.” He nodded towards the almost wrecked Buick and gave her a lopsided grin.

  By now, she expected to see the flashing lights of an ambulance and a bunch of

  police cruisers pulling up at the side of the road.

  But there weren’t any in sight.

  She wondered if he had made the call when she was unconscious. And she had no way of knowing how long she had been out for; maybe it was for a few

  minutes, maybe longer.

  She had thought of asking him about it, but decided it wasn’t necessary. Maybe they were on their way. He had been unreasonably kind to her so far, so she had no need to worry.

  She really didn’t feel as if she had anything to fear with him.

  And she didn’t want him to think that she was being difficult. He might just leave her there and continue on his way—wherever that was.

  She needed him at her side.

  Strangely enough, having him here with her made her feel less afraid.

  Besides, it was probably the first thing he had done when he had come across

  her car. She decided it would probably take the paramedics some time to get here,

  too. The roads were bad, treacherous at most.

  The snow wasn’t letting up, and it didn’t look as though it actually would anytime soon. Driving in this type of weather on a mountain road would be tricky and dangerous at best! She wondered if he would stick around until help arrived.

  She hoped he would.

  “Here, you must be freezing.” He whipped off his sheep-skin jacket and

  wrapped it snugly around her shaking shoulders. “Do you remember what happened?” He gave her a guarded look.

  And she realized that he was waiting for her to tell him what she could remember about the accident. She closed her eyes for a second and tried to think.

  “N..oo, no, not really. I can’t remember much—except for coming around the bend and losing control of the car, but that’s all I can remember.”

  His brow knitted. He tilted his head to the side and gave her a quizzical

  look.

  “Are you sure that’s all you can remember? Do you recall seeing anyone

  around, another car, perhaps?”

  Becca met his searching eyes with a frown. “No. I thought you just said the roads were more or less deserted—that there wasn’t anyone around when you found me.”

  A nervous chuckle escaped his lips. He seemed uncomfortable, and she didn’t understand why. He had nothing to do with the accident as far as she knew.

  In fact, he deserved a medal for stopping to help her.

  “I just want to make sure that someone didn’t deliberately run you off the road

  and then took off. If another driver was responsible, then we are looking at a

  possible hit and run. Leaving the scene of an accident is a felony, at most.”

  She shook her head a couple times and gave him a doubtful look.

  “N…no. I can’t recall seeing another car or anyone around before or after I went off the road—well, except for you, of course, when I opened my eyes. The snow was coming down so hard, it was almost impossible for me to see more than a few inches ahead of me,” Becca told him with great certainty.

  She took a deep breath and raised her eyes to look at him. “And why would anyone do something, so, so hei…heinous.” She was struggling to find the right word to describe what had happened to her.

  She searched his face for an answer.

  “Well, I’m glad that another car wasn’t involved. I would hate to think that

  this was a deliberate act on someone’s part. The important thing is that you

  weren’t seriously hurt.” He averted her eyes and glanced back at the crashed

  Buick. “Do you remember where you were heading? I can make arrangement to take you there if you give me an address.”

  She paused for a moment, twiddled her fingers, and gave him a baffled look. She needed some time to think; to piece things together and retrace her steps. She could remember packing her bags and throwing them into the trunk of

  her car. She must have been going somewhere, probably to meet someone, but

  she couldn’t remember where, or who that person was.

  She just needed a moment to get over the shock of the accident, she thought,

  Then maybe it would all come flooding back to her.

  She could have lost her life if she had been speeding. Or she could have ended up getting badly injured if the impact had been worst. She was too rattled to think or to remember anything much at the moment.

  She nodded her head in confusion. “N…oo…no. I’m sorry, but I can’t

  remember anything right now.”

  He seemed relieved.

  He reached for her hand and held it gently in his. “It’s okay. I wouldn’t worry about it if I were you. Give yourself time. It will come back to you eventually. Sometimes it happens with an accident. Just the thought of the accident could trigger temporary amnesia.”

  She gave him a troubled look. “Do you think that’s what this is?”

  “I can’t be sure, but it seems likely. In the meantime, we can start with your name, and where you are from. A phone number will help too. Do you remember your name?”

  “Sure,” she told him quickly. “It’s Bec…Bec…ca.”

  “Becca,” he repeated, with a smile. “Is there a last name, Becca?”

  She stared vaguely at him. “Becc…Becca!” Her eyes widened in frustration. She pounded her hand onto her right leg and looked up at him. “It’s Becca…uumm…I can…n, I caa…n’t…can’t remember anything!” Becca told him in a very shaky voice. “I can’t believe I can’t remember my own name!” she replied in a low incredulous tone. “Everything is such a blur for me right now. I’m sorry!”

  She shook her head and gave him a helpless look.

  He squeezed her hand lightly and smiled at her some more.

  “Don’t be. It will come back soon. It’s probably all psychological. This is enough to scare anyone into forgetting who they are. Having our life flashed before your very eyes isn’t something anyone wants to experience. There must be something in the car to tell us something.”

  Her face brightened. “Yes! My wallet! My IDs are all in there, including

  my driver’s license. There are bunches of numbers on my iPhone. It’s not locked. You can scroll through them. There must be some in my contact list. You can press redial, and get the last p
erson I was speaking to before this happens. That person will definitely know who I am!”

  She was hopeful that he would get in touch with someone who knew her, and they would be able to give him all the answers she clearly couldn’t.

  “I will go check.”

  He got up and walked the few steps back to the car.

  Becca turned her head and watched him go.

  He came back shortly to where she was. He couldn’t have been gone for more

  than a few minutes; maybe four, five max. She had watched as he opened the front door, got inside the car, and as he rifled around the back and front seats looking for her handbag and phone.

  He had done a fairly thorough job of it. He had swept the car at least two, three times looking for her things.

  “Are you sure you had your phone and handbag with you?”

  She gave him a very confused look and nodded her head. “I never go anywhere without my phone, and certainly not without my wallet and IDs. My bag was sitting on the front seat next to me. I remember it was there when I skidded off the road.”

  “It must have gotten thrown from the car then, because I couldn’t find it.”

  He glanced back quickly over his shoulder at the Buick.

  “I could have sworn it was there.” Her voice trailed off. “My phone

  was sitting on my bag. I tried to get to it to make a call before I blacked out.”

  “They aren’t there now,” he told her in a low voice.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Very much so. They must have gotten buried in the snow some how with your

  bag. I will go have another look.”

  “No, don’t bother.” She reached for his arm and held onto it. “There will be

  plenty of time to look for them later.”

  For some reason, she didn’t want him to leave her side again.

  Her eyes shifted to the partially wrecked Buick. None of the windows appeared to have been smashed in the crash. And she wouldn’t drive with any of the windows down in this type of weather, either. Besides, the Buick was fully equipped with central heating and air conditioning.

  She glanced at the car again. The front was partially buried in a huge snow

  bank, but she doubted her wallet and phone had found their way there too.