The Heiress and the Sheriff

“You have no idea what you were doing on the road to the Double Crown Ranch?”

Gabrielle strained to remember, but all that came to her mind was waking up with the floorboard of the car pressed against her face and the smell of gasoline choking her.

“No. The name means nothing to me.”

“Does the name Fortune register with you?”

She looked at him hopelessly. “If I’ve ever heard of it, I don’t know it now. Who are these people? Could I have been going there to do a job?”

His lips thinned to a grim line. “That’s what I’m wondering.”

The sarcasm in his voice stung her. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing,” he said bluntly. “We’ll talk about it later. After you’ve seen a doctor.”

That was fine with her. She was more than a little tired of his innuendos. The pain in her head was making her nauseated, and thinking more than ten minutes into the future was terrifying. She simply wanted to close her eyes and forget the laconic sheriff beside her. She didn’t want to be reminded of the fact that she knew nothing about Gabrielle Carter.

A few moments later, his deep voice jerked her out of her jumbled thoughts. “I wouldn’t go to sleep if I were you.”

She opened her eyes, but didn’t bother to lift her head from the back of the seat. “Why?”

“If you’ve got a concussion you shouldn’t sleep.”

“I thought you said you were no doctor.”

“I’m not. I’m just a lawman.”

Her gaze lingered on his rigid profile. “Grayhawk,” she repeated. “Is that a Native American name?”

He didn’t answer immediately. Finally he said, “My father was Cherokee.”

“And your mother?”

“White. Like you.”

Even through the haze of her pain, Gabrielle picked up a sharp bitterness in his words. She wondered why, then just as quickly told herself it didn’t matter to her if he hated white people, or women, or even her. He was just one man in a big world. Once her memory returned, Sheriff Wyatt Grayhawk would be well and truly out of her life.

Two

The remainder of the trip passed in silence. At the hospital Wyatt escorted Gabrielle into the emergency unit and grabbed the attention of the first nurse he came upon.

“Can he come with me?” Gabrielle asked as the nurse helped her into a wheelchair. She didn’t know why she wanted the sheriff to remain at her side. Only minutes ago, she had wished him out of her sight. Yet he was the only familiar face around her, and even if he was unfeeling about her plight, his presence was steadying.

The nurse glanced at Wyatt. “Is he your husband?” she asked Gabrielle.

“No. But—”

“Then it would be better if he didn’t. If he’s needed, I’ll come after him.”

He cast Gabrielle a dry glance. “Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere.”

Even though the tone of his words was far from gentle, his promise calmed her somewhat. She nodded jerkily at him, and then the nurse wheeled her away.

Wyatt watched her disappear down the hallway, then through a door on the left. For a brief second he almost followed and told the nurse he was going to stay with Gabrielle whether she liked it or not.

Hell, Wyatt, what are you thinking? he asked himself. The woman doesn’t need you. Yet, just for a moment, when she’d looked at him with those big pleading eyes, she’d reminded him of a little lost lamb about to go to slaughter.

With another silent curse, he turned and headed to a busy nurses’ station across the room. He showed them his badge and asked one of the nurses to page Dr. Matthew Fortune.

She quickly complied and he thanked her, then headed to the waiting area. Even though he didn’t want to go there. The frightened look on Gabrielle’s face when the nurse had taken her away was lingering in his mind, and oddly enough he was still fighting the urge to go back to the examining room and make sure she was all right.

Forget it, Grayhawk, he muttered to himself. She wasn’t a child. Although she was young, he figured she was at least twenty-one or two. And for all he knew that frightened look could have been an act. Just like the loss of memory.

With a tired sigh, he went over to the coffee machine and filled a cup. The strong burnt smell assured him it had been made hours ago, but he took a sip of it anyway. He’d been going since three o’clock this morning—he needed something to fortify him.

Ignoring the vinyl chairs and couch where several people sat flipping through worn magazines, he walked over to a plate-glass window and stared out at the parking area stretching away to the city street. It wasn’t often Wyatt personally hauled someone to the hospital. In fact, if it hadn’t been for the accident happening on Fortune land, he would have sent a deputy out to handle the investigation.

But the Fortune boys had been his closest friends since childhood. They had stood behind him when others had shunned him for being a half-breed. Without their solid support, he never would have been elected sheriff. And now that trouble had fallen on the family, he was personally checking out every movement on or near the Double Crown Ranch.

In the background, he could hear the nurse on the intercom paging Matthew to come to Emergency. He was still sipping on the bitter coffee when the doctor’s voice sounded behind him.

“Wyatt! What are you doing here? Has something happened to Claudia or Taylor? Have you heard something about Bryan?”

Wyatt turned to see the tall, dark-haired doctor hurrying into the waiting room. Wyatt desperately wished he could tell the oldest of the Fortune brothers that he’d located his missing son. But the sad truth was that he was no closer to finding the baby now than he had been six months ago.

Matthew’s baby, Bryan, had been taken from his crib during his christening party at the Double Crown nearly a year ago. A special FBI agent had been sent in to handle the case and he’d recovered a baby and the ransom money. But when he’d gotten the child home, everyone was shocked to discover the baby wasn’t Bryan. They’d kept the other baby though, since a blood test showed he had the rare Fortune blood, and had named him Taylor.

Wyatt tossed the cup in a nearby trash bin and crossed the small area of the waiting room to greet the other man. “Don’t get upset, Matthew. This isn’t about Claudia or Bryan or Taylor. Or at least I don’t think it is. Do you have a few moments?”

Matthew gestured toward the double doors leading out to the parking lot. “Of course. Let’s go outside.”

The two men walked out into the heat and took refuge under the shade of a sycamore.

“The reason I’m here, Matthew, is that I brought a young lady into Emergency a few minutes ago. She’s had a wreck on the Double Crown. Her car burned, and she has no idea who she is. Or so she claims.”

Matthew’s finely chiseled features were suddenly frozen with shock. “Oh, my Lord! Was she hurt badly?”

“I don’t think so. There was a small cut on her forehead, and she was complaining of a severe headache.”

“Didn’t she have any identification?”

Wyatt shook his head. “It must have been in the car. I’m going to search it after it cools down, but I doubt there’s a chance in hell I’ll find anything. Your sister-in-law, Maggie, saw the accident. She was still with the young woman when I got out there to investigate.”

“Maggie didn’t know her?”

“No. The woman says her name is Gabrielle Carter. I thought it mighty odd she could remember her name but nothing else.”

“Gabrielle Carter,” the young doctor repeated. “The name doesn’t ring a bell with me. Do you think she might have some connection to my son? Maybe the kidnappers sent her to the ranch for some reason?”

Losing baby Bryan had put a strain on the whole family, but Wyatt could see it was beginning to crush Matthew and Claudia’s marriage. Especially now that the DNA testing to determine paternity of Taylor had shown Matthew was the father. Matthew claimed it could only be the result of a sperm bank donation he’d made years ago, but Claudia was distraught and skeptical. Wyatt was checking out the sperm bank lead, though.

“I can’t rule that possibility out, Matthew. Or she might even have some connection to Taylor. We really won’t know until she comes clean with her memory or I can find out who she really is.”

“Then you think she’s lying?” Matthew asked.

Wyatt grimaced. “I don’t know. I just have a gut feeling something’s not quite right. But I could be wrong. You’re the doctor—is it possible the accident caused her to lose her memory?”

Matthew thoughtfully rubbed his chin. “It’s possible, though amnesia is certainly not something that happens routinely. You say she has a head injury?”

“Her forehead was cut at the hairline and she was complaining of a headache. Could you examine her, Matthew? I’d like to have your opinion before I do anything. And who knows—you might recognize the woman.”

The young doctor glanced at his watch. “I’m not due for rounds for another thirty minutes. Let’s go in, and we’ll see what we can find out.”

The two men left the shade and as they approached the entrance of the building, Wyatt placed his hand on Matthew’s shoulder. “Matthew, when you first see this woman, don’t let on that you’re a Fortune. I want to see if there’s any sign of recognition on her face.”

Matthew frowned. “You sure are a suspicious cuss.”

“I have to be.” Wyatt grimaced. “And you should be, too, after all that’s been happening to your family.”

The doctor sighed. “Yes, I know. I just hate all this mistrust. Every time a stranger comes to the ranch, I look at them and wonder if they know where my son is, or if they know something about baby Taylor. I’m even starting to look for clues with my patients here at the hospital! And Claudia—you know what all these unanswered questions are doing to her.”

Wyatt squeezed the other man’s shoulder. “Believe me, Matthew, I understand how hard all of this has been on you. But you can’t give up hope now. This woman might just be the lead we’ve been looking for.”

Back in Emergency, the two men discovered Gabrielle had been admitted to the hospital and taken up to the fifth floor. They headed up together.

Much to Wyatt’s surprise, when they walked through the door of her room, she gave absolutely no outward sign of recognizing Matthew. Rather, she planted an accusing look on Wyatt as though he were the direct cause of her being restricted to a hospital bed.

“I take it you haven’t done enough to me?” she asked Wyatt. “You’ve come up here to take my fingerprints or something?”

Wyatt went to the head of her bed and stared down at her. The cut on her forehead had been covered by a bandage, but he could see the whole spot had begun to swell and redden. Someone had undressed her and put her into a flimsy hospital gown. He tried not to notice the shape of her bare breast beneath the thin cotton. But it was next to impossible to keep his gaze from dipping to the full roundness pushing against the fabric.

“Or something,” he said, while fighting the odd urge to reach down and brush the tangled hair away from her cheek. He’d been around a lot of pretty women in his thirty-one years—Texas was full of them. But there was something different about this one. Something that, God help him, made him want to protect her.

“I told you I wouldn’t leave. What did the doctor say?” he asked.

Sighing, her gaze dropped to the sheet spread across her legs. “He said I had a concussion and that I’ll have to stay in here for observation. At least until tomorrow.”

“Have you remembered anything?”

“No. But he thinks everything will start coming back to me soon.”

She glanced to the foot of the bed where Matthew was busily scanning her chart. “Who are you?” she asked him.

He glanced at Wyatt, then to Gabrielle. “I’m—one of the staff doctors here at the hospital.”

“Are you going to be my doctor?”

He smiled gently at her. “That depends.”

She motioned to the chart in his hand. “What does that say?”

“It says you’ve had a trauma to your head. But you’re going to be all right.”

She looked up at Wyatt and flashed him a crooked smile. “Sorry to disappoint you, Sheriff, but the doc here says I’m going to live.”

She was obviously trying to be flip and indifferent, but Wyatt didn’t miss the quiver at the corner of her lips. She was as frightened as hell. But whether it was from her loss of memory or because she was up to something, he had no way of knowing.

He pulled his gaze from hers and glanced at Matthew. “Have you seen enough?”

“Yes. I’ve got to start my rounds.” He came to stand by Wyatt and looked down at Gabrielle. “Has your vision cleared any, Miss Carter?”

Her eyes squinted as she tried to focus on the doctor’s face. “At times it’s clear, and then it gets fuzzy again. Right now you look a little blurred.”

“That’s understandable.” He slipped a penlight out of his lab coat and shined it in each of her eyes. “I imagine you’ve got quite a headache.”

“They gave me something down in Emergency. It’s beginning to ease a little.”

“That’s good.

She swallowed nervously as her gaze vacillated from one man to the other. “Doctor, what if I don’t remember tomorrow? Is there something you can give me or do to me to make me remember?”

Matthew patted her shoulder. “Don’t worry about your memory, Miss Carter. Just rest and let your body try to heal itself. Right now that’s the best thing you can do.”

She nodded, and Matthew made a motion to Wyatt that they should leave the room.

“I’ll be back later, Gabrielle,” Wyatt promised. “After I’ve searched your car.”

He saw her study his face, then deliberately turn her head toward a window to her right. The light coming through the slatted blinds spread a soft glow behind her, and the sight of her tender profile hit a spot smack in the middle of Wyatt’s chest.

“It’s a cinch you’ll know where to find me,” she said quietly.

He cleared his throat while mentally shaking himself. “Just make sure you don’t try to sneak off from this place. I’ll find you wherever you go.”

Outside in the hallway, Wyatt deliberately put several feet between them and Gabrielle’s door before he questioned his friend. “Well, what do you think, Matthew?”

“I think you were rather hard on her.”

Wyatt’s eyes widened with surprise. “Hell! I already know I’m not a pleasant man. What I need to hear from you is whether Gabrielle Carter is faking her memory loss.”

“I don’t think so.”

Wyatt let out a long breath. He’d never wanted to believe anything so much in his life. But several reasons held him back. The biggest one being Gabrielle was a woman. And a white one at that. “You think. You can’t say for certain?”

“No. Like I said before, amnesia isn’t something doctors encounter routinely. And even when it’s genuine, it’s tricky to deal with.”

“Have you ever seen this woman before?”

Matthew shook his head. “Never. I’m sure of it. But Wyatt, I really think you’re barking up a wrong tree here. Miss Carter hardly seems the sinister type. I can’t imagine her being connected to Bryan’s kidnapping, or even to Taylor’s winding up on the ranch.”

“You couldn’t imagine your own child being stolen from its crib either!” Wyatt bluntly reminded him. Then, muttering a curse under his breath, he shook his head. “I’m sorry, Matthew. I know I’m scratching at a wound that hasn’t healed, and I don’t want to hurt you any more than you already have been. But we can’t afford to trust this woman. At least, not until I find out more about her. It might turn out she’s the mystery mother of baby Taylor.”

Matthew quickly shook his head. “Her chart reads she’s a virgin. Apparently she told the admitting doctor she had some abdominal pain. Since she couldn’t remember her medical history, she agreed to a full physical—including a gyn—just to make sure there were no internal problems. So it’s clear the woman hasn’t even had sex with a man, Wyatt. Much less given birth to a child.”

For some reason Matthew’s words spread a dull flush over Wyatt’s dark face. The idea of Gabrielle Carter being pristine and untouched had never occurred to him.

“That doesn’t make her innocent in other ways.”

The young doctor sighed as he pinned Wyatt with a regretful look. “You’ll never trust women, will you?”

“Not in this lifetime.”

Matthew threw up his hands in a gesture of surrender.

“All right, Wyatt, so what if you find out Miss Carter was up to no good when she headed out to the ranch? What are you going to do—arrest her on suspicion?”

Gabrielle’s pale, haunted face crept into Wyatt’s mind, but he pushed it out. If he wasn’t careful, that lost, vulnerable look in her pretty eyes would lead him right down a path to ruination.

“I don’t know,” Wyatt answered. “I’ll have to see what tomorrow brings.”

Gabrielle could leave the hospital. The doctor had given her the release a few minutes ago. But what was she supposed to do? The only things she possessed were her jeans, top and a pair of clunky sandals. She had no money or car. No home to call for help. At least, if she did, she couldn’t remember who her family was, or where they were.

At the moment Gabrielle could only think of two options. Walk until she found a shelter. Or throw herself on the mercy of the Department of Human Services. Neither choice held any appeal. But she had to have some sort of shelter until her memory returned, or until she could find a job and care for herself.

There was a telephone beside the head of the bed. She supposed she could use it for local calls. But there was no directory that she could find. And besides, she had no one to call.

You could call Sheriff Wyatt Grayhawk.

She cringed at the sound of the little voice inside her head. The man had promised he’d be back, but it was nearly noon and she hadn’t seen him yet. It was pretty obvious he’d decided she wasn’t worth bothering about. Besides, she’d rather ask a stranger on the street for help than ask that man.

“Gabrielle! Great—you’re up and all ready to go!”

At the young woman’s voice, Gabrielle swung around from her spot at the window. Maggie Fortune stepped into the room.

Relief flooded through Gabrielle. “I’m so glad you came! The doctor has released me and I need a ride to some sort of shelter. Would you mind dropping me off?”

The dark-haired young woman walked over to Gabrielle. “I would mind very much. I wouldn’t think of allowing you to go to a shelter.”

Gabrielle’s brow puckered with confusion as she looked at the other woman. Maggie Fortune was casually dressed in white slacks and a red blouse, but Gabrielle could see her clothes were expensive, as was her wedding ring and the rest of her jewelry. She was obviously well-to-do. Surely she wasn’t going to suggest that Gabrielle go with her!

“I have to do something, Ms. Fortune, until I get my memory back. And so far it’s no better than it was yesterday.”

“Call me Maggie. Does your head feel any better?”

Gabrielle nodded. “It still aches, but the throbbing isn’t fierce like it was yesterday. The doctor read my brain scan this morning, and he says there is no serious injury.”

“But what about your memory? Can’t he do something about that?”

Gabrielle grimaced. “He believes it will gradually come back to me on its own after my brain gets over the shock of the accident. That’s why, for now, I’ve got to find a place to stay.”

“Of course you do. That’s why you’re coming out to the Double Crown Ranch with me.” Gabrielle opened her mouth to protest but Maggie was waving her hand before she could utter one word. “Don’t argue, Gabrielle. I’ve already talked it over with my husband and father-in-law. They and the rest of the family want you to come. We all feel guilty about putting you in this awful situation.”

Feeling suddenly weak, Gabrielle walked over to the bed and sank down on its edge. “I—don’t know what to say. From what you said, the whole thing was an accident. I certainly don’t hold you or your family accountable.”

Maggie smiled gently at her. “I told them all that you would feel this way. And I also assured them I wouldn’t come home without you.”

“But…I’m sure I’ll be able to stay a few days at a shelter. And by then I’ll probably remember everything and be able to go home. If not, I can surely find a job somewhere.”

Maggie shook her head. “You can’t work in your condition. You need time to recuperate.” She walked over to Gabrielle and gently squeezed her shoulder. “I promise—my family is nice. And the ranch house is so big you won’t possibly be in the way. Now get your things and let’s go.”

Gabrielle suddenly chuckled and held up her empty palms. “I don’t have any things. Whatever I had with me must have burned in the car.”

“Oh, my goodness! I wasn’t thinking. You poor thing, you don’t even have a toothbrush. Well, never mind, we’ll go shopping for whatever you need.”

“Oh no! I—” Gabrielle’s words halted as a knock sounded on the door.

Both women turned to see Sheriff Grayhawk entering the hospital room. Today he was dressed more like a lawman. A revolver in a hand-tooled, leather holster was strapped low on his waist. His shirt was khaki with a sheriff’s department emblem on the sleeve. On the pocket over his heart was a shiny round badge with a star in the center.

Gabrielle had thought he looked tough yesterday. Today, he was formidable.

“Hello, Wyatt,” Maggie greeted him.

Not bothering to remove his black Stetson, he nodded at the woman, then planted a direct stare on Gabrielle. “I see you’re dressed. Are you leaving the hospital?”

Her heart pounding madly, she nodded at him.

Maggie spoke up, “Gabrielle has been released by the doctor, so I’m taking her out to the ranch.”

“Is that what you want to do?” he asked Gabrielle.

She opened her mouth to speak, but once again Maggie beat her to it. “She wanted me to take her to a shelter. But I wouldn’t hear of it.”

The sheriff’s eyes narrowed on Gabrielle’s newfound friend. “Does the rest of your family know of your intentions to take Gabrielle out to the Double Crown?”

He made it sound as though she were a leper who should be banished to a dark cave somewhere, Gabrielle thought.

Maggie frowned at him. “We discussed it last night. Ryan and Dallas insist on it. They think it’s the least we can do to help Gabrielle. And so do I.”

“I see,” he said.

Did he? Gabrielle wondered, then choked back a sigh as he glanced at her, then back to Maggie.

“I want to talk with you alone for minute,” he told Maggie.

She excused herself, and Wyatt ushered her out of the room.

Gabrielle remained on the bed, staring at the door he’d carefully closed behind him. She had no idea what, if anything, he’d discovered in her car. But two things were becoming very clear to her: he still mistrusted her, and he did not want her going to the Double Crown Ranch.

But why? she asked herself. What was going on out there that could possibly involve her?

Neither Wyatt nor Maggie appeared too happy when they returned to the room, and Gabrielle felt even worse than she had before the Fortune woman had shown up to help her.

“Look, Maggie, I don’t want to cause any problems for you. I’m sure Sheriff Grayhawk agrees that I should stay at a shelter and—”

“Don’t worry about Wyatt,” she said to Gabrielle. “He understands the situation. In fact, he’s going to drive you out to the ranch himself while I go do some shopping. So I’ll see you in a little while.”

Maggie quickly left the room, and Gabrielle’s eyes flew to the sheriff’s face. His dark, chiseled features were stoic, giving her no clue as to what was going on behind his intense eyes.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

She slipped from the bed, but was instantly swamped with dizziness. Her hand instinctively shot out for something to steady her and landed smack in the middle of Wyatt’s chest. She jerked back as if she’d touched fire.