Delta Force Daddy

He peeled open one eye and took in the form of a sturdy nurse in pink scrubs. It wasn’t this woman—Tabitha—he’d seen in the forest. How come he could remember her so well?

“What happened?” He cupped the back of his head with his hand, flattening his palm against the scar.

“You got a little too ambitious.” She shook a finger at him and he wanted to chomp it off, but the sentiment floated away before it even registered.

“While everyone else was napping, you decided to take a walk across the lawn and collapsed midway.”

Asher ground his teeth together, mashing the dirt in his mouth. You’re lying, Tabitha.

“I remember heading across the grass.” He massaged his temple with two fingers. “I don’t remember much after that.”

As he struggled to sit up, Nurse Tabitha sprang into action and perched on the edge of the bed. “Let me.”

She curled a strong arm around his shoulders, hooked the other around his chest and helped him sit up. “There.”

“How’d I get back here?” He straightened up farther, hoping to dislodge her hand resting on his chest.

She curled her fingers, briefly digging her nails into his pec before releasing him. “Granger and Lewis went out to move the lawn furniture and saw you sprawled on the grass. They got you back to your room.”

Asher ran his tongue along his dry teeth and recognized the cotton mouth associated with the meds they gave him—the meds he’d chucked this morning. His gaze wandered to the window, the curtains open to the dark night.

“Did I pass out? Have a seizure? It was daytime when I took that walk, or at least late afternoon.”

Tabitha’s translucent eyelashes fluttered. “Just a little overexertion, and because of your...brain injury, the doctors thought it best to medicate you.”

Of course they did.

Asher scratched the scruff on his jaw. “Thank God for Lewis and...”

“Granger.”

“Right.”

Tabitha hunched forward, her pink tongue darting out of her mouth. “I could shave you if you’d like.”

He’d rather grow a beard down to his knees. “I’m...”

“How’s the patient feeling, Tabitha?”

The nurse leaned forward and pressed a warm, clammy hand against his forehead. “He’s awake and feeling fine, certainly looking fine, and I’m sure he’s ready to eat. Are you hungry, Lieutenant?”

Asher threw back the covers, realizing for the first time he was naked beneath a hospital gown that gaped open in the front. Who’d done the honors of taking off his clothes? He sure hoped it wasn’t Nurse Touchy-Feely.

His gaze darted around the room, looking for his missing clothes. “I am ready to eat. Too late to grab something in the mess hall?”

“Not so fast there, Lieutenant Knight.” Dr. Evans stood by the bed, hovering over him. “I’d like to run a few tests and then bring Dr. Goshen in to see you.”

“The shrink?” He swung his legs over the side of the bed, almost taking out Tabitha. “I’m fine. I passed out. I didn’t have a hallucination.”

Did he? Was Paige, his fiancée, all an illusion? Nobody had said anything yet about finding a woman in the woods. If she hadn’t been a dream, he hoped she got away, because he had a feeling she wouldn’t be welcome here.

“Your passing out could’ve been psychological. We don’t want to take any chances.” The doctor jerked his thumb at Tabitha. “While we’re poking and prodding your body and mind, Tabitha can go down to the kitchen and put in an order for your dinner.” The doctor adjusted his glasses. “You can have dinner in bed and we’ll give you something to ensure you have a good night’s sleep.”

Asher’s blood boiled and his hand clenched into a fist. Then he closed his eyes, dragging in a deep breath. If he kicked up a ruckus now, they’d never let him out of their sights again.

“You know, that sounds good about now.”

“Of course it does. Tabitha, help the lieutenant back into bed. I’ll do my thing and go round up Dr. Goshen.”

Tabitha reached across him, her right breast brushing his arm, and fluffed up his pillows. “We had some delicious pork chops and mashed potatoes tonight. I’ll have the cook fix you up a special plate and have him add an extra dessert.”

“That’ll work.” He eased back onto the bed, his gown hitching up to his thighs.

Tabitha tugged on the edge of the material, her fingers dangerously close to his crotch, and then twitched the covers back over his legs. She tucked the covers around his waist, and her hands lingered next to his hips.

“Anything else I can get you before ordering your dinner?”

“I’m fine, Tabitha. Thanks.” He even managed to crack a smile in her direction.

Wrong move.

The nurse turned pink up to her strawberry blond hair. “We’re going to make sure you stay that way...Asher.”

When Dr. Evans returned with the psychiatrist, Dr. Goshen, Tabitha squeezed Asher’s thigh and gave him an encouraging nod.

He endured their invasion of his body and mind with a smile on his face and an agreeable tone in his voice. When Tabitha returned with a tray groaning with steaming food, Dr. Goshen shook out two blue pills next to the plate.

“Take these when you get some food in your stomach, and you’ll be back on track.”

Back on track to crazy town? The only track he wanted to be on was the one back to the forest...and Paige.

* * *

PAIGE RAN HER fingers through her damp hair and collapsed on the hotel bed. He really didn’t know her. His dark green eyes had been vacant when he looked at her. Maybe he suffered from more than memory loss.

She’d worked with enough people suffering from PTSD to know it could take many forms. Maybe he was a danger to himself and others and that was why the army had him stashed away here—captive. Maybe he’d been trying to go AWOL, like Major Denver. Maybe they were just holding him here until he got better before they court-martialed him.

She rolled over onto her stomach and pounded the pillow with her fist. No way. She had a hard time believing Major Denver turned, but apparently Asher himself had confirmed it. He’d been the lone survivor of the disastrous mission that had resulted in the death of an army ranger, the defection of Denver and Asher’s fall and subsequent amnesia.

If Asher were in trouble with the army, wouldn’t they just tell her? That would be enough to keep her away. Her inside army source, Dad’s friend and now Mom’s confidant Terrence Elder, hadn’t mentioned anything about an arrest or court-martial. Terrence had pulled in a few favors to find out where Asher had been sent after Germany. That was how Paige had tracked Asher down to the convalescent facility, Hidden Hills, here in Vermont.

Asher’s own teammates had been no help at all. If they’d returned her calls, and only a few did, they denied any knowledge of Asher’s whereabouts and weren’t too concerned about finding him. They’d viewed his accusations against Major Denver as the supreme betrayal of the man and the team.

But Asher would always do the right thing. With his father in federal prison for bank robbery, Asher followed the straight and narrow path. If he saw any wrongdoing, he’d report it—no matter who it was or how much it pained him to do so. She had firsthand knowledge of that.

If Asher said Major Denver killed that army ranger, pushed Asher off a cliff and took off, that was what happened.

But Asher had amnesia. How did he remember all that and not remember his fiancée? And if he didn’t remember her, he didn’t remember...

Her cell phone rang on the nightstand and she swept it off and answered. “Hi, Mom. Everything okay?”

“We’re fine. Everything okay there? Did you see him?”

“Sort of. It’s a long story.” She tapped her phone’s display. “You’re not using FaceTime. Is Ivy still awake? It’s three hours earlier there.”

“I’m sorry, honey. Ivy went down for a nap right after dinner. Do you want me to do the face thing when she wakes up?”

“That’s all right, Mom. I’m exhausted.”

“I-is Asher okay? Do you think you can help him?”

Paige scooped in a big breath. “I do. I think I can help him.”

“All by yourself? Maybe you should come home, Paige. You don’t need this stress. Let the army handle it.”

“I can handle the stress, Mom. Don’t worry about me. It’s Asher who needs help this time, and I’m not going to abandon him.”

Her mother clicked her tongue. “Don’t push yourself. You don’t do well under pressure.”

After that comment, Paige ended her call with Mom sooner rather than later and stretched out on the bed, staring at the ceiling.

She’d better start doing well under pressure, because the only way to help Asher was to get him out of that hellhole and restore his memory of her...and their daughter.

* * *

THE NEXT MORNING after breakfast, Paige shook out a clean pair of jeans. She’d wear the same hooded jacket as yesterday, since it seemed to have kept her hidden in the forest. Those two goons had no idea she was hiding in plain sight.

Asher had been on that porch by himself after lunch, so she’d aim for the same time again. Would he follow her signal? Would he rat her out—just like he’d ratted out Denver?

At least nobody had come into the small town of Mooseville looking for her. If she could get back to that wooded area again, she’d be safe. She just needed Asher to trust her.

Could he trust a...stranger? She clutched the jeans to her chest and bowed her head. She and Asher could never be strangers. Her love for him soaked every pore in her body.

When he found out she was pregnant, he’d swept her up in his arms and swung her around and around, even though the pregnancy had been a surprise and she wasn’t quite...ready. He’d wanted nothing more than a family of his own...and now he couldn’t even remember he had one.

She wiped the back of her hand across her tingling nose. She had no time for tears and no time for Mom’s doubts. She had to rescue her man, if he’d let her.

After lunch, Paige parked her rental car in a turnoff on the main road, tucking it away and out of sight. As she hiked up the road to the access trail, she tilted back her head and studied the sky. The sun still shone through the clouds, enough for her to catch its beams with her mirror and signal Asher, as she’d done yesterday.

She ducked onto the access road and pumped her legs up the hill as the terrain grew more challenging. A steep angle and a few bushes didn’t faze her. She’d hike through fire and brimstone to get to Asher.

The trees became denser, but Paige had marked her way the day before and those bits of blue yarn guided her back toward the compound perched on the hill.

She located her lookout tree and jumped to catch the lowest branch. She swung herself up and clambered from branch to branch like a clumsy monkey to reach her perch.

She shrugged off her pack and pulled out the binoculars. She scanned the desolate lawn. Maybe the action perked up in the warmer weather months...or maybe this retreat kept its patients drugged up and chained in the basement. Clenching her teeth, she shivered.

Fifteen minutes later Asher rewarded her patience by appearing on the porch, taking the same chair as yesterday. She focused the lenses on him, and her heart filled with joy. He looked healthy, if...lackadaisical.

As she reached into the inside pocket of her jacket, the door behind Asher opened and a nurse stepped onto the porch.

“Damn.” Paige’s whisper stirred the leaves on the branch hanging next to her face.

Were they watching him now? They must’ve been watching him yesterday to notice he’d left the porch and loped across the grass.

Her jaw ached with tension and disappointment. She might just have to go through the front door and demand to see him.

She refocused on Asher and the nurse and pressed her lips into a thin line. Was personal massage part of Asher’s recovery?

The nurse, standing behind him, had her hands on his shoulders, massaging and rubbing him. Each time she reached forward, her hands slid beneath his jacket and moved against his chest.

Either Asher liked it or he was too zoned out to care. Each time the nurse’s hands slid farther and farther down his chest, working toward the inevitable happy ending.

Asher turned his head and said something, and she stopped. Had he gotten the feeling his fiancée was watching?

When the nurse retreated inside, Paige grabbed the mirror and caught the weak sun. She tilted it back and forth, and Asher raised his head.

He’d seen it.

Paige’s soaring spirits crashed a minute later when Nurse Grabby-Hands returned to the scene, this time pushing a wheelchair ahead of her.

Paige held her breath as the nurse helped Asher from the chair to the wheelchair. He listed to the side, and the large woman wrapped both of her arms around his body to right him. She kept her arms around him, putting her face close to his while talking to him.

Paige growled. “Get out of his face.”

The nurse tucked a blanket around his legs and aimed the chair down the ramp.

If Asher needed a blanket on his lap, he’d be too weak to accompany her through the forest and down the hill. Squinting into the binoculars, Paige tracked their progress across the lawn. The nurse pushed the chair with one hand, her other resting on Asher’s shoulder.

They made it about midway and stopped. Paige swore when she noticed Asher’s attire. He did have a jacket on against the cold, but he wore it over a hospital gown. No wonder he had a blanket draped over his lower extremities. He was in bigger trouble than Paige imagined and a sob burst from her chest. She’d never get him out of here like that...especially with Nurse Ratched hovering over him.

Suddenly both of their heads jerked in unison. The nurse turned to face the building with the porch where Asher had been sitting.

Paige swept her binoculars toward the building and zeroed in on a doctor standing and waving. Paige tracked back to Asher and the nurse on the grass. The nurse jumped to her feet and waved back.

Leaning over Asher, the nurse smoothed the blanket across Asher’s lap and tucked it under his thighs. Then she ran her hands over his chest before pulling his jacket closed. Finally, she turned and scurried back to the building.

Paige watched the doctor and nurse team go inside and shut the door behind them. She jerked the binoculars back to Asher and held the mirror up to the sun again, tilting it back and forth.

But what could he do in a gown and a blanket? He didn’t even have shoes.

Asher sat quietly for several moments, and then Paige’s heart slammed against her chest as he rose from the wheelchair. The blanket fell from his lap and he bunched it up and stuffed it into the chair. Then he shrugged out of the jacket and wrapped it around the blanket. From behind and from a distance, it might just look like someone slumped over in the chair.

Without looking behind him once, Asher took off in a jog across the lawn.

Paige stashed the binoculars in her backpack and scrambled down the tree. She hit the thick carpet of mulch just as she heard Asher crash through the trees.

“Are you here? Are you here? Paige?”

Her heart took flight. He remembered her. All he needed was to see her once.

“Here! I’m here!”

He emerged through the trees, the hospital gown flapping around his bare legs, a pair of socks the only barrier between his feet and the sharp needles and twigs that formed the forest floor.

She rushed to him. “Asher. Oh my God, Asher.”

He grabbed her hands and held her off from throwing herself in his arms.

“You’ve gotta help me. You’ve gotta get me out of this place...whoever you are.”

Chapter Three

His words chipped off a piece of her heart, but she squared her shoulders and stepped back from him. “We have to go through these woods and down a steep hill. Can you make it dressed like that?”

“I could make it naked with one arm tied behind my back to get out of here. Lead the way.”

“Let’s go. You should’ve kept that jacket though.”

“That jacket might buy me some time if someone happens to look out the window at the drugged-out invalid to make sure he’s still drooling in his chair.”

“You’re not drugged?”

“I’ve been spitting them out—and pretending.”

She held a branch to the side for him. “They still didn’t trust you enough to give you clothes.”

“They underestimated me.” He charged after her. “Don’t worry about clearing a path for me. Just go. I’ll follow you.”

“Your physical health is okay?”

“Strong as an ox.” He nudged her back. “Stop talking. You’re wasting energy.”

She scrabbled and stumbled her way to the forest’s edge. When they reached the path down to the access road, she made a half turn. “You can make it down?”

“I survived a tumble off a mountain in Afghanistan. I can traverse a wooded hill in Vermont.”

He didn’t need her to show him the way anymore, and he barreled past her into the descent, reaching back with one hand. “Keep up now.”

As his gown gaped open in the back, her eyebrows shot up. “You’re naked under that thing.”

“Their way of keeping me tame. Like I said. They underestimated me.” He craned his head over his shoulder. “If you’re really my fiancée like you said, my bare backside shouldn’t shock you.”

“I’m not shocked.” She twisted her fingers out of his grasp. “And stop dragging me or we’ll both end up in a freefall to the bottom of this hill.”

They had no words left as they negotiated their way down. When they hit the access road, Asher peeled off his socks, now decorated with dirt, small pebbles and pine needles.

He bunched them in his hand and stuffed them into the pack on her back. “I don’t want to leave any evidence.”

He hung back as the access road spilled onto the main drag. “It’s too exposed here.”

“The car’s less than half a mile away. Wait here and I’ll pick you up.”

As she started to turn away, he grabbed her hand. “You’ll be back?”

“I didn’t come all the way out here to leave you behind, Asher Knight...even if you don’t know who the hell I am.”

Paige ran to the car, the pack jostling on her back. She wished she had some clothes in there for Asher. She never would’ve imagined she’d be rescuing him in a hospital gown and nothing else.

When she reached the car, she lunged at the door and threw it open. She gunned the engine and swung into a wide U-turn.

The empty road in front of the access entrance stretched before her, and a wave of panic washed through her body. When Asher stepped out from behind a bush, a sob escaped from Paige’s lips.

“Get hold of yourself, girl.” She flipped a U-turn again and pulled over.

Before she even stopped the car, Asher had yanked at the door and jumped inside. “Go!”

She didn’t have to be told twice—or even once. Her foot punched the accelerator and the little rental roared in protest before switching gears and lurching forward.

The tires ate up the road, and Asher put a hand on her arm. “Slow down. We don’t want to get a ticket.”

Glancing in the rearview mirror, she eased off the gas. “But if we do get pulled over, we can tell the police what’s going on. You’re not a prisoner. You haven’t been committed.”

“Really?” He cocked an eyebrow at her. “I don’t know what the hell is going on right now. That’s the US Army, the United States government. They can tell the cops whatever they want and, I guarantee you, I’ll be back in their clutches.”

Paige’s heart flip-flopped, and she tried to swallow her fear. She was the daughter of a police officer, had always trusted law enforcement, had always trusted authority. Now she had to rely on herself.

Asher jerked his head toward her and braced his hands against the dashboard. “Unless that’s what you want? Where are you taking me?”

Paige drew in her bottom lip. Great. Now she had to deal with Asher’s paranoia. Was it real or imagined? She slid a sideways gaze at him. Maybe his mental issues involved more than amnesia. Maybe he’d been kept naked and drugged because he did pose a threat to himself...and others.

She could feel his hard stare boring into the side of her face. A stranger’s stare.

“Is that it? Are you one of them?”

His harsh voice grated against her ear, and she took a deep breath. If he could listen to reason and think logically, that would tell her a lot about his mental state.

“I’m taking you to my motel right now. We should leave as soon as I can check out. This is a small town and the people at that house of horrors will most likely fan out there first to look for you.”

He nodded, his mouth still tight.

“Why would I contact you secretly and help you escape if I were in cahoots with the hospital and planned to deliver you back to them? What would be the plan? To test you? They don’t need to test you. They have you captive and a pharmaceutical cornucopia to keep you complacent.”

His firm jaw softened and he blinked his eyes.

“What did they tell you about the woods yesterday? Because I can tell you right now, one of those stooges who came after you, Lewis or Granger, shot a dart in the side of your neck to take you down.”

Asher clapped his hand against the left side of his neck. “They said I passed out.”

“Yeah, like a lion passes out after a few hundred blow darts sink into him.”

“I suspected something but didn’t let on.” He touched the back of his head. “I’m still pretty confused, but I pretended everything was great so that I’d have another opportunity to go outside...in case you came back.”

“Well, I did.” She reached for his thigh and stopped herself. He still thought of her as a stranger, but she planned to remedy that.

She grabbed the bottle of water in the cup holder instead. “Do you want some water?” She shook the bottle and the water sloshed back and forth. “It’s not laced with anything—except my germs.”

His hand hovered near the bottle for a couple of seconds and then he snatched it from her. He downed the rest of the water. “Sorry. Those damned drugs make me thirsty.”

She looked away from the road and pointed to his feet. “We’re going to have to take care of those.”

“My feet are the least of my worries right now—and I have plenty.”

About a half hour later, they hit the outskirts of Mooseville and Paige tapped Asher’s shoulder. “You should slump down in about five minutes, just until we get through the town. My motel is tucked away from the main drag. I can sneak you inside without a problem.”

“I’m not going anywhere sitting in this car.”

“Excuse me?” She always did have to deal with Asher’s stubbornness, but his stubbornness combined with amnesia and fear just catapulted it to another dimension.

“It’s too risky. Pull over now and I’ll get in the trunk.”

“The trunk?” Her gaze swept his large form, unchanged from weeks of captivity and bed rest.

“I can squeeze in. I’m not taking any chance of anyone seeing me in this town. Is it really called Mooseville?”

“It is and I will.” She pulled over and popped the trunk from the inside of the car. They both got out and she lifted the lid of the trunk. “Make yourself comfortable.”

“Looks like heaven compared to that hospital bed.”

He crawled inside the trunk and his hospital gown spread open, revealing his mighty fine backside.

“Here, let’s get you decent.” She tugged the gown around his thighs, her fingers skimming his cold skin. She started to remove her jacket.

“Leave it on. You shouldn’t look any different from when you left... Shut it.”

Paige slammed the lid of the trunk on Asher, curled into a fetal position. She could do this, despite what her mother believed.

She drove through the sleepy town of Mooseville and pulled up to her room at the motel. She shouted over her shoulder. “I’m back at the motel. I’ll just grab my stuff and check out.”