Page 4 of Diagnosis Attraction

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“They made me feel alive,” he said, unaccountably admitting something to this woman that he had always kept to himself.

“And recently, you were in Africa. In the middle of a nasty little war. They were shooting at you, and the guy next to you was killed. You stayed hidden, with him on top of you, soakingyour clothes with his blood, until it got dark and you could sneak away.

He answered with a small, wordless nod. It was a memory he’d tried to forget, and she’d pulled it from his mind.

“You went there to help people, and you saved a lot of lives. But you never knew quite how to connect with anyone.” She gulped. “Just like me.”

The admission jolted him. “What do you mean?”

She kept her gaze fixed on him.

“You were in my head. You know I’m like you, with that feeling of never being able to quite—relate to people on the deep level you craved. You know, like everybody else has a secret handshake, only nobody ever taught it to you.”

He’d never thought of it quite that way, but he nodded because she had spoken the truth. All his adult life—all his life, really—he’d been searching for something he was sure he would never find. Something other people had but he lacked. Until now, with this woman. But that couldn’t be possible—not after all the years of being alone.

“Why you?” he whispered.

“I don’t know.”

“Because you can’t remember your past?”

“What would that have to do with it?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“But touching you brought back memories I couldn’t reach a few minutes ago.”

He nodded.

“Let’s take it from the opposite angle. Why you?” she murmured.

“I have no idea.”

Neither one of them seemed capable of breaking the visual contact. But he took one more step away from her—to put more distance between them. He was so off balance that he wasn’tsure what else to do. Maybe something crazy like reaching for her again because touching her had been like every aching fantasy he’d ever experienced.

She moistened her lips. “What exactly happened?” she asked again.

“I don’t know. But I found out that your name is Elizabeth.”

She gave a nervous laugh. “Yeah, right. I have amnesia, but when you touched me, you brought some of my memories back.”

“Yes.”

“Before this, did you ever pick up someone’s memories by touching them?” she asked.

“No. Did you?”

“No.” She made a frustrated sound. “At least, I don’t think so. The only personal things I remember are what you gave me.”

There was no logic to what she’d just said. And she might have been lying, come to that. But he didn’t think so.

He saw the challenge in her eyes and heard it in her voice. “We could try it again. Maybe you can bring back more of me.”

“I can’t.”

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