The Deputy's Lost and Found Read Free Page B

memory. But that wasn’t entirely the reason she wanted to see the deputy again. He’d been nice and gentle. He’d held her with strong hands and soothed her with his low voice. At some point during their wait for the ambulance, he’d become her light in a heavy fog. She’d not wanted to leave him and now she fervently wished he was back by her side.
    “I would like to speak with him. If you think that’s possible.”
    Smiling, Lilly winked at her. “While you’re in radiology I’ll do my best to find him.”
    The nurse quickly swished out the door and as she watched her go, she desperately prayed the woman would find the deputy.
    Her world had gone crazy and he was the only person, the only thing her memory had to go back to. She was totally and utterly lost. And without Deputy Donovan, she didn’t know if she’d ever be able to find her way back home.

Chapter Two
    M ore than an hour later, Brady and Hank were sitting in the hospital coffee shop, finishing off huge slices of pie when Bridget walked up to their table.
    Shaking her head, she looked at the crumbs on their plates. “Looks like both of you are really worried about good nutrition,” she said wryly.
    “Pecan pie must be good for you or the hospital wouldn’t serve it, right?” Hank asked.
    “Wrong. But it looks delicious,” she said with a weary sigh.
    Immediately, Hank jumped from his seat and pulled out a chair for her.
    “Did you see our Jane Doe?” Brady questioned before she had time to get comfortable.
    The doctor thanked Hank, then pushed a hand throughher tumbled hair. “I did,” she said to Brady. “And I’ve become her doctor. For the time being.”
    “I’m glad. So what about her condition?” Brady questioned.
    His sister frowned at him. “I can’t give you details, Brady. You know that’s invading a patient’s privacy.”
    Brady muttered a curse word under his breath. For the past two hours he’d not been able to think about anything except the gray-eyed woman he’d held in his arms. Now his sister wanted to act all professional with him.
    “Damn it, Brita, just tell me—is she going to get better? Is she going to be able to remember? Tell us who she is?”
    Bridget studied him keenly, and then glanced pointedly at Hank. “What has he done, had a love-at-first-sight experience?”
    Hank grinned. “You mean another one?”
    Normally Brady liked to joke. In fact, Fiona Donovan had often called him her most lighthearted child, full of happiness and humor. But at the moment he wasn’t feeling anything of the sort. In fact, he was getting a tad angry at both his sister and his partner.
    Scowling, Brady muttered to the both of them, “I’m not in the mood for this!”
    Seeing he was serious, Bridget relented. “Okay, brother, I’ll be straightforward. Your Jane Doe will get better. The good news is that physically she’s fine. She wasn’t raped, and aside from some bruising on her arms and legs she isn’t seriously injured. As for her memory, how long that might take is a question I can’t answer.”
    “Are you kiddin’ me?”
    Reaching across the table, she patted the back of his hand. “No. Medicine is not always an exact science. And head injuries are sometimes tricky. She might remembereverything in the next few minutes, years from now, something in-between, or never.”
    The picture of awful uncertainty his sister was painting hit Brady like a fist to his mouth. No matter the circumstances that caused the injury, the woman didn’t deserve this.
    “Isn’t there something you can do to make her remember? Give her some sort of drug?”
    “Trust me, Brady. If she doesn’t improve quickly, I’ll be calling in a specialist. But since she’s a ward of the county, cost has to be considered—there’s just so much the hospital will allow. And quit staring at me like you expect me to perform some sort of miracle. I’m just a doctor.”
    Hank suddenly interjected, “Look, Brady, it might be that we find