Quite the Catch Read Free

discomfort and his body ached. So did his head—he owned the mother
of all headaches and he struggled to recall why. He didn’t think he’d been
drinking but something had happened to land him in bed. Maybe he’d fallen sick
or been injured but he couldn’t remember.
    He
opened his eyes and frowned. The strange room offered coziness in a rustic
fashion. The pine-knotted paneled walls, the plain white muslin curtains at the
window, and the colorful patchwork quilt over him lacked any familiarity. Where am I?
    Before
he could collect his thoughts, someone spoke, a woman from beside the bed.
    “Hi,
how do you feel?”
    “I
hurt like hell,” he told her. He didn’t think he knew her until he caught sight
of her wide, beautiful blue eyes. Somewhere, sometime he’d seen those before.
    “I’m
sure you do, Joshua.”
    Joshua?
The name failed to ring any bells. “Who?”
    She
frowned. “Isn’t that your name?”
    His
lips parted to tell her it wasn’t but he paused, uncertain. Nothing came when
he tried to summon his name from his brain. “I don’t know.”
    “You
told me it was when I fished you out of the river.”
    “What
river?” Shit. He didn’t know the
answers to anything. The woman offered him a smile.
    “Poteau River. Apparently you don’t remember. Don’t
worry about it. You hit your head on the boat pretty hard so temporary amnesia
isn’t uncommon But you’re north of Poteau and south of Spiro at the moment.”
    Maybe
not, but the idea scared the bejesus out of him. He tossed back the covers to
get out of bed and search for his clothing. When he did, he realized he wore
nothing but skin. But somewhere he must have a driver’s license or wallet or
something.
    The
woman frowned and flipped the blankets over him. “You’re not getting up until
we get your core temperature back to normal. Let me get the thermometer.”
    Before
he could process any of it or respond, she whipped out a device and loomed over
him. “You’re not sticking that in my mouth,” he told her. “No
way, lady.”
    “Tina,”
she said. “My name’s Kristina but everyone calls me Tina. And, not to worry,
that’s not where it goes.” She thrust the device into his right ear and used
her free hand to hold his head still. After the thing beeped, she pulled it out
and looked at it. “You’re getting warmer but it’s still just 96.5.”
    Digital, he thought, the damn thing is digital. “What’s my temperature got to do with
anything?”
    “You’re
suffering from hypothermia,” Tina said. “I treated it first because it was the
most critical but you’ve got a lot of other injuries. Like I said, you banged
your head pretty hard. You were wounded in the left side, more of a graze than
anything, although I imagine it hurts. And you’re bruised all over your body
from your wild trip down the river, not to mention your fall from the railroad
bridge.”
    Either
he had lost his mind or she had. For now, he didn’t believe any of it. His body
hurt, yeah, but more like he’d gotten into the losing end of a bar fight. “I
don’t think that’s what happened.”
    Tina
shrugged. “Well, it is. Now, I have no idea why you were running or who was
chasing you, but I saw you jump from the trestle and hit the river myself. Otherwise,
I probably wouldn’t believe it either.”
    Joshua
glared at her. Her blue eyes met his, open and candid. He liked the way her
dark brown hair tapered around her face, chin length and straight. Damn, but she’s pretty for a crazy gal. “I don’t remember any of that and I’d think I would.”
    “You
should, within a day or two. If you don’t, we’ll deal with it then. Do you want
something to help the pain?”
    “Yeah,
what’ve you got?”
    “I
have some Darvon or Vicodin. If you’d rather use something not as powerful,
I’ve got all kinds of OTC pain relievers.”
    She
rattled off the selection like a pro. “Vicodin will do,” Joshua said. “What are
you, a drug dealer or