“The doctor said it could be this way.”
“I read up on amnesia, so I reckon he’s got you all figured out.”
He was calculating, and her not having a phone with her wasn’t adding up. Not in her disoriented thoughts either. “Maybe I purposely left my phone in the car. You know, to keep them from seeing something I’d saved there.”
“We’ll go with that for now. That, or they have the phone and already know what’s on it.”
“Okay.” Her heart was sinking by the minute while her pulse seemed to be rising. “I need to get out of here, Ryder.”
Ryder went back to the locker again. “When you’re able.” Then he went into the bathroom, probably checking the place out for weapons or things she’d hidden, since he obviously didn’t believe her or think she should leave the hospital.
She was about to show him that she was able to get up and go but the door opened and a janitor entered with a big cart. “I need to clean the AC filters.”
Emma glanced toward where Ryder had gone still beyond the bathroom door, his hand on his weapon, a finger to his mouth. Then she glanced back at the man and shook her head.
“Excuse me?” she said, stalling. “I don’t see any filter vents in here.”
The man didn’t elaborate.
Ryder didn’t wait. He whirled around the door, his gun drawn and aimed at the man. “Show me some ID.”
The surprised intruder took one look at Ryder and pushed the cart toward him, then managed to tug at the door and run down the long hospital hallway.
“Don’t move, Emma,” Ryder called out. Then he hurried down the hall ordering the nurses to call security. “Lock this place down,” he shouted. “Now.”
Ryder moved down the stairwell at a breakneck speed, his boots hitting steel as he chased after the man who’d just tried to attack Emma. When a shot rang out and missed Ryder by inches, he grunted and picked up speed. They made it to the bottom floor of the sprawling hospital. Ryder listened as a door opened and shut with a thud and a bang.
By the time he got outside to the loading dock, the man was gone in a sea of linen trucks and official vehicles.
Calling in a description, Ryder hurried back up to check on Emma. After a thorough search by both hospital security and several police officers, the lockdown was lifted.
Pierce showed up and took a report. “No sign of the man you described, Palladin. He’s long gone. But we got people looking.”
“Keep at it,” Ryder replied while they stood in the hallway in front of Emma’s room. “I’ll stand guard. And let me know what our people find at the Dumpster behind the bar. Tell them to go over every inch of that alley and the side streets.”
“So...you’re staying here tonight?” Pierce asked, his hazel eyes moving over Ryder’s face as if he had the plague or something.
“Yeah,” Ryder said. “You have a problem with that?”
“No, but we have people for that.”
“I’m people. I can guard her door if I want to.”
“That’s the part that’s got me confused. You wanting to.”
“What does that mean?”
Pierce pushed a gangly hand through his straight brown bangs. “You never want to...get this close to someone, Ryder. You make it a point not to want to, know what I mean?”
“Look, I’m protecting a woman who got hit over the head by two very nasty men. That’s not exactly a fair fight.”
Realization lightened Pierce’s eyes like a bulb in a dark hallway coming to life. “Oh, now I get it. You’re all about things being fair in life.”
“Yeah, you got a problem with that, too?”
“Nope. But we both know that ain’t how life works.”
Ryder got in Pierce’s face, the frustrations of the day raging through his system. “I’m staying here tonight, Mr. Philosophy. Get over it.”
Pierce shrugged and whirled to leave. “Don’t worry. While you’re being a Guardian of the Galaxy, I’ll be doing all the grunge work on finding the car, the phone, the bad guys. You know, little details that make up a case.”
“Thanks. So sweet of you.”
Ryder turned back to Emma’s room to find her glaring at him. “I don’t need you to stay here with me. I need you to get me out of here. I’ve been through tests, I’m remembering more by the minute and my head has finally stopped throbbing like a sore thumb. I’m okay to leave.”
She’d obviously heard his conversation with Pierce. “The doctor thinks you need to stay awhile longer.”
She fell back against the pillow. “Okay.”
Ryder knew she was biding her time. If he closed just one eye, she’d bolt right past him. Shaking his head, he said, “I’ll just bunk right here in this comfortable recliner.”
“No. You stay outside. Watch the door.”
“No. I’ll stay right here. In this recliner. Throw me a blanket, will you?”
“How did you get so stubborn?”
“That’s a long story.”
“I have nothing but time and a blank mind.”
Ryder shook his head. “You realize that what happened here earlier was another attempt to get to you, right?”
“How can I not realize that? I told you they’d find me. If you hadn’t been here—”
Her aggravated blue-green gaze rippled across his soul like undercurrents of warm, inviting water. Ryder couldn’t go down in that current.
Then she spoke again. “You set me up nicely for that admission, didn’t you?”
“I didn’t set up anything. That’s the facts, and you know it. But now I agree that we need to get you out of here. I will do that, but I need to figure some things out first. So until then, we stay here. Together.”
She tossed him the blanket. “Do you snore?”
“Never.”
“Can we order in?”
“What do you want?”
“I told you—a cheeseburger.”
He could seriously fall for this woman.
“No, we can’t order that in because I’m pretty sure you’d regret it. Probably wise to eat soft foods not so heavy on your system for a few days.”
She slanted her eyes. “Are you speaking from experience?”
“Could be.”
He could read her enough to know that she didn’t want to back down either, but she looked tired and defeated. “Okay, I’ll eat more Jell-O and scrambled eggs. But once I’m out of here—”
“I know just the place,” he replied, grinning. “And I’ll even buy.”
“It’s a date,” Emma said. Then she shook her head. “I mean, not a date. It’s not a date.”
Ryder gave her a mock-sad face. “Okay, I get it. It’s a nondate date. A make-good-on-a-promise kind of date. Because you and me—not a thing. Not gonna happen. Am I right?”