Page 30 of A Forgotten Heart
His affection, feeling his warmth embrace her like a soft blanket she wanted to snuggle into—it’d all stripped her away a piece at a time. Even to the point of whispering things to him she had never shared with another soul.
You are worth remembering.
He’d said the words after she’d told him about her past—something she’d never told anyone else. She rarely unlocked the memories of those days. They were too painful. And Nick’s words, spoken with tenderness and compassion, had snuck inside the cracks of her heart.
It hurt so badly. Because it wasn’t real. She had to remember this wasn’t the real Nick.
The real Nick didn’t believe in her. He wouldn’t work beside her like a partner. He certainly wouldn’t tell her that he loved her.
I will never walk away from you, El. I love you.
Her pulse tripped even thinking about his breath brushing her ear as he’d said those words. He’d thought she was asleep, but she’d been in that nebulous space between wakefulness and drifting off. And then she’d been far too awake to sleep for a very long time.
A shuffling step startled her and tore her from her thoughts just before Nick’s hand pressed into her lower back. Her body jolted, and she spun away from him.
She saw a beat of hurt in his eyes as she angled herself away from him. He was standing up. For the second time. He was getting stronger. How much longer before his memory returned?
“I think it’s time I go and try to find some help.” She spoke over the lump in her throat.
He started to shake his head, but she squeezed past him to the coat rack by the front door. The echo of the words he’d whispered last night was too painful inside her.
“That boy walked three blocks from the saloon. I think I can make it to Merritt’s house.”
Her limbs trembled so hard it took two tries to shove her arm through the sleeve. But it wasn’t from the cold. Nor the idea of being lost in the snow.
It was because Nick was staring at her with such concern.
He tugged the coat, trying to gently take it away from her. “El, it’s not safe.”
She held fast. She had to do this. “But that boy?—”
“Is a kid with no common sense. It’d be easy to get disoriented, lost—you could freeze to death.”
She hadn’t seen this side of him—fiercely protective—in years. She’d forgotten how it felt to have that care focused on her. Oh, she wanted it.
New tears stung her eyes as he gently pulled her coat back off and hung it on the rack.
“I have to go.” She couldn’t stay here and wait for him to realize the truth. Her muscles stiff, she turned away and reached for her coat again.
“Fine,” he said, a curt tone in his voice. “If you’re going, then I am too.” He lifted his arm and grabbed his coat, though she saw him wince at the motion.
He couldn’t be serious. With his injuries, the storm would suck the life out of him. What if he got dizzy? Fell? She wouldn’t be able to carry him back.
“No,” she said sharply.
But he ignored her protest. “If you’re going, I am too,” he repeated.
She knew that stubborn set of his jaw. Knew he wouldn’t back down. She faced off with him anyway. This was hislifethey were arguing over.
“Nick, if you go out there, you could die.” The doctor’s ominous warning echoed in her mind.
His eyes flashed, dangerous. He edged closer so they were toe to toe. “So could you.”
She felt frozen, caught in his gaze. He wasn’t going to back down on this. Stubborn man. Her chest locked up tight, the breath trapped there from being so near to him.
His expression shifted, became tender. With the barest of touches, he reached up and brushed a tendril of hair behind her ear, his fingertips caressing her cheek.
“Don’t you see, El-Belle? If something happened to you, it would devastate me.”
