Danice Allen by Remember Me

had a little nourishment. You might not wish to admit it, but you’re in a rather weakened condition just now.”
    Jack wanted to argue, but he was too tired. So he simply lay in the bed and watched her rhythmically pull the soft bristles of the brush through the long wavy length of her hair. Watching was mesmerizing, comforting, relaxing. He thought he must have always enjoyed watching women brush their hair, but for some reason he couldn’t recall a single experience doing so, nor even conjure up a single female face that was familiar.
    It was all very odd, thought Jack, growing drowsy despite himself. His thoughts seemed so scrambled, and images that he should be able to easily grasp hovered just out of reach. Perhaps after he’d eaten something his thoughts would fall into a logical order and his memories would quit being so damned elusive. And perhaps if he closed his eyes for a moment …
    While the stranger slept, Amanda stoked up the fire, gave herself a hasty sponge bath behind a folded screen, changed into a fresh black dress, fashioned her hair into a neat coil at the nape of her neck, then ordered tea and breakfast from the chambermaid who scratched on the door at the stroke of seven. It seemed that after interrupting Amanda while she was undressing the stranger yesterday, the maid was cured of entering without knocking first.
    While Amanda waited for the tea and the breakfast tray, Theo showed up. Realizing that the stranger would need to take care of personal matters, Amanda asked Theo to wake the gent and help him with the chamber pot while she took a morning stroll. She felt she was already too intimate with the man, and she had no desire to embarrass either of them by taking on all the duties of a nurse.
    When Amanda returned to the room, the maid had arrived with the breakfast tray. As the maid prepared to leave, Amanda remembered that the stranger’s shirt needed to be laundered, and she handed it over with instructions to make it fit to be worn as quickly as possible. She had no desire to be confronted with the stranger’s bare chest any longer than necessary.
    With Theo hovering at the end of the bed with a scowl that could scare off bears, Amanda simultaneously ate her own breakfast while helping the stranger manage his.
    “It’s very rude of you to eat that in front of me,” the stranger said peevishly, swallowing the last dregs of his barley water.
    “Eggs would only make you sick,” said Amanda, dabbing a napkin to her mouth. “By this evening I daresay you’ll be able to eat something solid.”
    “I certainly intend to,” he said in a tone that implied he’d brook no opposition. He pushed himself to sit taller against the pillows, and as he scooted up the bedclothes fell away to expose a goodly portion of his chest. Amanda felt her color rising—remembering just how much of his body she’d seen last night—and she resolved to look him straight in the eye and nowhere else.
    “You look as though you’re feeling better,” Amanda said bracingly. “There’s color in your cheeks. Does your head still hurt?”
    “Not as much. But I’m dizzy.”
    “I’m sure it will pass. The doctor will be here soon.”
    “I have some questions—”
    “So do I. And I must insist that I ask at least one of mine first. I am on a rather urgent journey and cannot linger here any longer than necessary. So, if you’ll just tell me who you are and how I can contact your nearest relative, we can send word immediately. I daresay there’s a great many people—and perhaps someone in particular—who will be very glad to know you are safe—”
    Amanda stopped speaking. The stranger had turned deathly pale, his expression a mixture of panic and astonishment.
    “Good heavens! What’s the matter?” she asked him, bending solicitously forward. “Are you going to be sick?” Theo rushed forward with an empty basin.
    The stranger impatiently pushed aside the basin and ran a shaky hand through his