Remember Me by Sharon Sala Page B

All I ask is that you bear with me a while. Help me find out what happened—and make sure it never happens again.”
    Clay’s smile disappeared. “Was that a warning, or were you being prophetic?”
    â€œNeither,” she said shortly. “Just facing a fact. I know I would never willingly leave you…so in my mind, there’s only one other reason for it happening.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œSomebody took me.” She shuddered. “What frightens me is that if it happened once, it could happen again.”
    Given everything they knew so far, she could be right. Danger could be anywhere, but they wouldn’t know what to look out for until she could remember where she’d been.
    â€œCome to bed,” he said. “There’s time enough to worry about all this later.”
    Frankie hesitated, almost afraid to ask as Clay helped her up from the sofa. “With you?”
    Clay tunneled his fingers through her hair and drew her close to his chest. “Yes, baby, with me—if you’re willing to sleep with a reformed jerk.”
    She wrapped her arms around his waist. For the first time since she’d regained consciousness in the hospital, she was beginning to believe everything would be all right.
    â€œI suppose I could set aside my prejudices for the night,” she said.
    He grinned. “Come on. It’s late, and you need to rest. Just because you’re out of the hospital, that doesn’t mean you can run roughshod over doctor’s orders.”
    â€œI was sitting down,” she protested as he led her into their room.
    â€œAnd now you’re going to lie down,” he said, straightening the covers as she crawled into bed.
    Moments later, he was lying beside her. An uneasy silence ensued.
    The sound of her breathing tugged at his heart. He hadn’t known how precious that small sound was until he’d lost it. Even though the bed was king-size, the surface seemed to have shrunk. For some reason, he felt hesitant to trespass into her space without her consent. It took a while for him to realize that the time she’d been lost had been longer than the time they’d been married. It seemed foolish, but he almost felt as if he was sleeping with a stranger.
    And then her voice broke the silence, and the moment he heard it, everything fell into place.
    â€œClay?”
    â€œWhat, honey?”
    â€œWill you hold me?” she asked.
    Once again, he was struck with remorse that his own wife felt obligated to ask for what should have been an understood right.
    â€œIt would be my pleasure,” he said softly, and opened his arms.
    Moments later, Frankie’s head was pillowed on his shoulder and one arm was across his chest. Soon the even rise and fall of her breathing told him that she’d fallen asleep. But sleep wouldn’t come for Clay. He kept thinking of what she’d said about being afraid it would happen again. What if she was right? What if she was in danger? Here they were, going about their lives as if nothing had happened. What was it the detective had said about the woman the cabby had picked up at the bus station? Oh yes, she’d come running out of the terminal as if she was being chased. His heart skipped a beat.
    At the time, the scenario had seemed so farfetched that he’d been inclined to ignore it. But what other explanation could there be? Her disappearance had been baffling. Her return was just the same. The fact that she’d been injured before she’d had time to explain could be nothing more than an unfortunate stroke of fate.
    With a reluctant sigh, he reached down and pulled the covers up over her shoulders, then closed his eyes and tightened his hold. Outside, the air was cold, the wind sharp. A new day was about to dawn.
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    Pharaoh Carn sat before the window overlooking the back of his estate, sipping a cup of coffee and contemplating the dawning day. A rabbit’s-foot key