Brightness abruptly bathed her face and she wondered if this was the phenomenon often reported by those having near-death experiences.
Surrendering, she laid her head against the shoulder of her captor and slipped into unconsciousness.
* * *
It had been several years since Shane Colton had practiced CPR but everything came back to him in a rush. He laid the woman on the ground, tilted her head to make sure her airway was clear, then pressed his lips to hers and delivered several rescue breaths before checking her pulse.
“Ambulance is almost here,” Harlan shouted. “Is she alive?”
To Shane’s immense relief he was able to reply, “Yes!”
“I oughta slap the cuffs on you for pullin’ a stunt like that,” the sheriff said. “What would your little boy do if his daddy went and got himself killed? Huh? You ever think of that?”
Shane shook his head. Harlan was absolutely right. A single parent needed to be extra careful. He would never purposely endanger Kyle’s future. The poor little guy had been too small to miss his mother much after she’d left them, but losing his only remaining parent would be devastating, even though he’d still have loving grandparents.
“I wasn’t thinking. I just did what I thought was necessary,” Shane said.
“How’d you find the victim in all that smoke?”
“Heard a dog barking,” Shane told him. “You got any water in your car?”
Harlan handed him a small bottle and stood back while Shane trickled some onto the woman’s face and gently wiped it with a clean bandanna.
Off to his right, trying to bark and mostly squeaking instead, was a sooty, dusty mongrel. “You may be a sorry excuse for a dog, little guy, but you did your part today.”
Still kneeling beside her, Shane gazed at the young woman. Even with reddened cheeks and soot and water streaking her face, it was clear that she was a beauty. He’d never seen hair that silky or quite that dark.
So who was she and what had she been doing inside the abandoned house? He frowned. A better question might be, what did those creeps in camo have against her?
Sirens heralded the arrival of the sheriff’s backup units and the ambulance so Shane reluctantly relinquished his place to the team of paramedics and stood aside. As soon as they had checked the victim’s vital signs, they put her on a gurney, began administering oxygen and pushed her toward the waiting ambulance.
“Is she going to be okay?” Shane asked, following.
One of the medics nodded. “She’s trying to talk. That’s a good sign. Keeps saying she’s worried about a white dog.”
“I can get him. Are you transporting to Fulton County Hospital?”
“Yeah. They’ll send her on if necessary.”
Shane approached the mini pickup and noticed the excited dog racing toward him. He opened the driver’s-side door and stood back. The dog leaped in. What a relief. Of all the things he’d tried to do that day, catching a half-wild pup had turned out to be the easiest.
Fire trucks were arriving. He hailed Harlan. “The dog’s out of the way. Want me to go ahead and haul her truck back to my place?”
“Yeah. Lock it in your service yard, then come back for this other one. I’ll stop and check them after I’m done here.”
“Gotcha. I thought I’d drop her dog by the vet’s and make sure it’s okay, too.”
“You’re the one with the kid at home. You should keep him.”
“No, thanks.” Shane was smiling more broadly. “Did you happen to hear what she called it when she was talking to the medics?”
Harlan chuckled. “Sounded like Useless to me. That name sure fits.”
Shane totally agreed.
* * *
Jamie Lynn had fought her way out of the fog clouding her brain. By the time she was delivered to the emergency room, her eyes had been bathed to soothe them and she was able to sit up on her own.
“I told you, I’m fine,” she insisted between bouts of coughing that doubled her over.
“I’ll be checking you out to be sure,” an amiable nurse said. “Can you tell me your name?”
“Jamie Lynn Nolan. I have my ID in my purse. It’s in my truck.”
“Do you remember what happened?”
Jamie touched her forehead. It felt gritty. “Yes. Two men were after me. I hid and they set the house on fire.”
“That’s pretty much the story I got from the sheriff,” the nurse told her. “I’ll ask him to bring your things to you here. How’s that?”
“Wait!” Jamie grabbed her forearm. “They have to find my little dog.” Tears began to fill her eyes and trickle down her cheeks. “Ulysses was with me inside the house and I don’t know...” More coughing interrupted her as she buried her face in her hands.
The nurse gently patted her shoulder. “Okay. Wait right here. I’ll go find out what I can.”
The weight of her anticipated loss was so burdensome, Jamie Lynn wondered how she could bear it. Poor little Ulysses. She drew up her legs, clasped them in front of her and rested her forehead on her skinned knees. Aunt Tessie had warned her against stirring up the past, but she hadn’t listened. And now her stubbornness and curiosity had cost her the life of her very best friend.
More bits of fractured memory began to drift into place and fit together. She recalled being lifted and carried from the burning house. At the time she’d tried to resist, but whoever had rescued her had continued to treat her gently. He had delivered his own air to her burning lungs and forced her to breathe again. Whoever it had been deserved her lifelong gratitude.
Jamie didn’t know how long she’d sat there, lost in thought. It must have been a long time because when her nurse reappeared she was carrying the purse from the truck.
“You found my things!”
“Sure did. All of them.”
As the nurse stepped aside another figure came into view; a well-built man about six feet tall. He seemed familiar. Had she looked into those warm brown eyes before?
“This is my friend Shane,” the nurse told Jamie. “He’s the guy who saved you.”
New moisture bathed Jamie’s reddened, smarting eyes. She didn’t try to hide it. This man was her hero and she wanted him to know how grateful she was.
As he stepped closer, she reached out. He clasped her hand, their gazes locking, their connection evident.
“I don’t know how to thank you,” she whispered hoarsely.
“No thanks necessary. I’m just glad the good Lord led me to be there when I was needed.”
“I wish my little dog had been rescued, too.”
The grin that instantly illuminated his handsome face gave her new hope. Her eyes widened. Her grip on his hand tightened. “You found him?”
Shane nodded. “Yes.
“He’s okay? I mean, he wasn’t burned?”
“That long hair got singed and he was more gray than white, but the vet says that’s basically all. They’ll take care of him until you can pick him up.”
Elated beyond her most fantastic dreams, Jamie Lynn swung her feet off the side of the exam table, threw her arms around her