CHAPTER 2

          She searched his face, holding her breath. But no memories rushed through her, no recollections of the hard curve of his cheek or the slightly wicked twist to his sensual lips. No memories of a thousand little intimacies between lovers. Nothing!

          He helped her sit up. His hands lingered possessively on her back, causing a sudden heat across her body. A heat she couldn’t understand. Calleigh licked her lips nervously.

“Um… You are… You must be… Gabriel De León?” she ventured, giving him a shy glimpse.

          After saying those words, Calleigh almost hoped he would deny it, and that her real boyfriend, a kind-faced man with gentle eyes, would walk through the door. The Spanish tycoon’s hands on her back paused and she felt ice going up and down her spine.

“So… You do recognize me.”

          She shook her head.

“No, I’m afraid not. Miguel and Rafael, your two employees… and Doctor Levi… They told me your name. They also said you were on your way to join me here.”

          Gabriel looked down at her, searching her face.

“Dr. Levi told me you had amnesia. I didn’t believe it. I really didn’t want to. But it’s true, isn’t it? You really don’t remember anything about me?”

          Calleigh looked at him, more thoughtfully this time. She could only imagine how that must hurt him!

“I’m so sorry…” she whispered, rubbing her forehead. “I keep trying to remember people, places, experiences… Well, there’s one thing I can remember and that is your employee, Miguel, pulling me out from my car. I will never be able to thank him enough for saving my life. It was a lucky thing he and Rafael were in the car behind me!”

          His lips seemed to curve imperceptibly.

“Yes. Very lucky indeed…” Gabriel said and sat up straight. “You will be leaving the hospital today.”

          ‘To go where?’ Calleigh said to herself then she took a deep breath.

“Today?”

“Right now,” he replied briskly.

“But…”

          She bit her lip then blurted out.

“But I still can’t remember anything! I hoped when I saw you…”

“You hoped seeing me would bring your memory back?”

          She lowered her head and nodded miserably. There was no point in feeling disappointed, Calleigh told herself fiercely, or making him feel worse about it than he must already!

          But she couldn’t stop the lump in her throat. She’d been counting on the idea that when she saw the face of the man she loved, the man who loved her, her amnesia would end. Unless they didn’t love each other as much as they should... Unless she’d gotten pregnant by a man who was barely more than a one-night stand.

“I’m sure you must feel so hurt,” Calleigh replied, trying to push away her sudden fear, then she continued haltingly. “I can only imagine how it must feel, to love someone who can’t remember you.”

          ‘Do you love me, Gabriel De León?’ she thought desperately, trying to read his face. ‘Do I love you? Why can’t I remember how it was between us? Why can’t I remember your kisses, your embraces? How we were together?’

“Shhh, querida (Spanish for ‘dear’). It’s alright. You will remember… soon.”

          Lowering his head, Gabriel kissed her tenderly on the forehead. The warmth of his nearness was like the summer sun on a winter’s day. Then he lifted her chin, and his dark eyes whipped through her like a blast of heat.

“Don’t worry, Calleigh. In time, I’m sure everything will come back to you… Everything. I promise.”

          Looking into his face gratefully, Calleigh realized that her first impression of him had been utterly wrong. Gabriel De León wasn’t cruel. He was kind, sweet, patient. How else to explain the fact that he could be so gentle and patient and loving, pushing aside his own hurt to focus only on her?

          Calleigh took a deep breath and made a silent promise to herself… and to the man near her. She would be as brave as he was. Ignoring the lump in her throat, she pushed the blankets aside, decided to start dressing.

“I’ll get dressed right away and we can go,” she said quite determined.

          Gabriel stopped her.

“Wait just one second. There’s something else we need to talk about.”

          She knew instantly what he meant to discuss. And without the barrier of blankets between them, in just her paper-thin hospital gown, Calleigh felt painfully bare, vulnerable in every way. She yanked the blankets back over her body, tugging them halfway to her neck.

“Dr. Levi told you, didn’t he?” she whispered.

“Yes.”

          His voice was low, almost grim.

“Are you… happy?” she said slowly and her voice trembled. “About the news?”

          Calleigh held her breath as his darkly handsome face stared down at her. When he finally spoke, his voice was charged with some emotion she didn’t recognize.

“I must say I was surprised.”

“So… this baby wasn’t something we planned?” Calleigh asked while searching his gaze.

          Gabriel’s hands tightened, twisting the blanket in his grip. He glanced down at it, then looked at her.

“You’re so different… I’ve never seen you like this,” he said in a low voice.

          His black gaze hungrily caressed her face. With his fingertips, he brushed some dark tendrils from her cheek.

“No makeup. Bare.”

          She tried to pull away.

“Oh… I’m sure I look terrible.”

          But he drew her closer. His eyes were dark as he looked down at her, making her shiver from deep within.

“Gabriel, please, answer me. Be honest with me… Are you happy about the baby?” she asked softly.

          He put his arms around her.

“I’m going to take good care of you.”

          ‘Why won’t you answer? What’s going on?’

          She swallowed, then lifted her head to give him a weak smile.

“Don’t worry, I’m not an invalid. I’m able to take care of myself. I just hope the amnesia will disappear in a day or two. I believe Dr. Levi said something about a specialist…”

          His arms tightened around her, cradling her against his hard chest.

“You don’t need another doctor,” Gabriel said roughly. “You just need to come home with me and let me take care of you.”

          She could feel the beat of his heart against her cheek through his black button-down shirt. She was enveloped in his masculine scent, sandalwood, and amber, exotic and woodsy.

          Against her will, she closed her eyes and breathed in his smell, heard the beat of his heart, felt his warmth. Everything else faded. The private hospital room, the nurses and doctor visible through the window of the door, the sound of one of Gabriel’s men speaking urgently into his cellphone in Spanish, the antiseptic smell, the beeps of the machines…

          Everything faded… There was only this. Only him. Held securely in his strong arms, for the first time since her accident, Calleigh felt safe and loved. She felt as if she had a place in the world. With him.

          He kissed her hair softly. She felt the warmth of his breath, the hot caress of his lips, and a shiver went over her. Fear? Desire? Did he love her? Calleigh reached upward, cupping his rough jawline with her hands.

          Though his clothes were sharply pressed, the dark shadow on his chin suggested he’d changed clothes on the plane without bothering to shave. He’d rushed here from the States. He’d flown all night. Did that mean love? That he really loved her?

“Why didn’t you come to London with me for my stepfather’s funeral?” she asked slowly.

          He paused. When he spoke, he seemed to choose his words with care.

“I was busy in New York acquiring a new company. Believe me, querida,” he said, “I never wanted to be away from you for this long.”

          Calleigh felt there was something he wasn’t telling her. Or was that just her own confusion playing tricks on her? She couldn’t trust anything in this hazy, empty world, not even her own mind!

“But why…”

“You are so beautiful, Calleigh,” he said, cupping her face, then exhaled in a rush. “I almost feared I’d never see your face again.”

“When you heard about the accident, you mean? You were worried about me?” she said in a small voice.

          When he didn’t answer, she licked her lips. With a deep breath, she asked the question that had been burning through her like hot lava.  

“Because we love each other?”

          His jaw clenched as he took a deep breath.

“You were a virgin when I seduced you, Calleigh,” he replied in a low voice. “You’d never been with a man before I took you to my bed three months ago.”

          She’d been a virgin? A wave of relief washed over her. Learning she was pregnant by a boyfriend she couldn’t remember had been a tremendous shock. She’d wondered why they weren’t married… wondered all sorts of things.

          Well, if Gabriel had been her one and only lover, if she’d been a virgin at twenty-five, surely that said something about her character? But did it also mean love? She looked up into his handsome face, opening her mouth to ask those same questions running around her mind since he entered her room.  

          ‘Do I love you? Do you love me?’

          But then Calleigh stopped. There was something beneath his darkly penetrating eyes. Something he wasn’t saying. Something hidden beneath his words. But before she could understand what her intuition was telling her, Gabriel placed his broad hands over hers.

           The warmth of his fingers burned her, intertwined with her own. Trapping her, but not against her will. Her heart pounded faster.

“Get ready to leave, bebé. (Spanish for ‘baby’)”

          Gabriel lowered his head to kiss her on the temple, running his hands up and down her bare forearms.

“I want to take you home.”

          Her breathing became short and shallow as he touched her skin. Little prickles of sensation sped up her arms, down her back, making her hair stand on end. The tingle swirled across her earlobes, down her neck, making her naked breasts beneath her thin hospital gown suddenly feel tight and full.

          She tried to remember the question she’d been asking, but it had already swept from her mind.

“Alright,” Calleigh breathed, looking up into his gorgeous face.

          Gallantly, Gabriel helped her from the bed, lifting her gently to her feet. She was more aware than ever of how much taller he was, how much more powerful. He was at least six inches taller, with an extra hundred pounds of pure muscle.

          Looking up at him, Calleigh forgot everything but her own longing and fascinated desire for the man towering over her like a dark angel.

“I’m sorry it took so long for me to reach you, querida,” he said in a low voice. “But I’m here now.”

          He kissed her head softly, his arms tightening around her as he pulled her into an embrace.

“And I’m never going to let you out of my sight again.”