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He’d gone above and beyond to protect her. The thought of where they’d go after this had her looking back up at him. “What’s the plan once our ride gets here?”
“We’ll find a place to stay for the rest of the night.” He frowned and shrugged. “I should take you straight to the closest police station. The problem with that plan is they can’t do anything to protect you against an unknown threat.” His brow furrowed. “It would be different if you could remember why you’re in danger or who has it out for you.”
Strangely, she was relieved by the idea of not going to the police. “I would rather stay with you until my memory returns.”
He stared at her in the darkness. “And what if it doesn’t?”
She paled, the possibility never occurring to her until he voiced it. “I—it has to come back eventually. I can’t believe I’ll be in the dark about who I am forever.”
He shrugged again and looked away. “We’ll take it one step at a time. Being safe and having a chance to rest can’t hurt. Running from gunmen isn’t the best way to heal a head injury.”
She laced her fingers together to keep from reaching for him. She didn’t really know Doc, other than the fact that he’d saved her life more than once, but he was the only friendly face she knew right now. The thought of being left with strangers, even someone within law enforcement filled her with a keen sense of dread.
Doc was the only man she could trust.
“You don’t remember your father, huh?” Doc’s question hit her hard. The image of the photo she’d seen on his phone, her standing beside an older man, flashed in her mind.
“No.” She understood where he was going with this. “It seems logical we should reach out to him for help. I doubt he’s a threat.”
“Are you sure about that?”
She blew out a frustrated breath and ran her fingers through her dry yet tangled hair. “He’s my father. Why would he want to hurt me?”
“That’s my point. You don’t remember him, so there’s no way to know if he’s one of the good guys or not. Maybe you argued and things spiraled out of control.” Doc walked back and forth along the side of the road, his gaze sweeping the area. “I think we should hold off on contacting him. Maybe your memory will return by morning.”
“Okay.” She didn’t want to believe her father was involved in this. Didn’t fathers strive to protect their children? Yet there was a reason she had crawled out of the river and run through the woods until she’d stumbled across Doc’s cabin.
Why? She had no clue, but based on the two gunmen searching for her, it couldn’t be anything good.
She closed her eyes again and tried to clear her mind. Maybe struggling to remember only added stress, preventing her from thinking clearly. Yet even as she closed her eyes, the fog remained murky and impenetrable.
Replaying the brief fragment of riding a chestnut horse over a fence in her mind didn’t help either. She could see it like a loop, but nothing before or after the jump. Just the snippet of soaring through the air as one.
Frustrated, she opened her eyes and gazed at the moon and stars overhead, battling a wave of helplessness.
It was no use. Nothing worked. All she could do was pray for God to restore her mind as soon as possible.
Before it was too late.
Doc wished the driver Rex Grayson had arranged would hurry up and get there. He didn’t like feeling exposed. Yet staying within the confines of the church had not been a viable option either.
He wasn’t sure why the gunman had abruptly left the way they had. Fiona might attribute it to divine intervention, but he thought it was more likely their boss had called them back to regroup.
Mere seconds before he’d killed one and formulated a plan to take out the other.
It didn’t help to know someone out there was calling the shots. That the gunmen were hired to eliminate Fiona. He wished a couple of his fellow Grayson’s Guardians were close enough to offer assistance. Rex being in Chicago was probably the closest, along with Micah who lived thirty miles north of Rex. Cam had recently relocated to Grand Haven, Michigan, which was farther away. His boss had volunteered to drive down, but he’d told Rex to wait until morning. For one thing, it was a six-hour drive on a good day. For another, he hoped Fiona’s memory would return by morning. If not, they’d need to figure out how to identify the source of the threat against her.
The police? Maybe. He’d have to think about that.
He glanced at his watch again and decided they’d waited long enough. Time to head back to the address he’d given Rex. He strode back to the trees where Fiona sat resting. Her steps had lagged as they’d walked, but she hadn’t voiced a single complaint.
“Fiona?” Her head snapped up at the sound of his voice. “It’s time to go.”
“Okay.” She didn’t hesitate to push to her feet.
He took her hand, telling himself it was only to keep her from falling. When she smiled gratefully, he looked away.
This wasn’t the time to be aware of how attractive she was. Fiona couldn’t even remember her name, much less anything useful. He didn’t know her and fully anticipated that once her memory returned, she’d go back to her wealthy lifestyle and the world of horse racing while he’d return to the solitude of his cabin.
