Wife With Amnesia

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“Matt, please.”

“Behave yourself,” Emma told him. “You’re embarrassing the poor girl.”

Evidently Emma was right, Matt decided at the sight of the color flooding Claire’s cheeks. He kissed the tip of her nose. “Sorry.”

“You can put me down now,” Claire told him.

“He’ll do no such thing. You’ve a sprained ankle according to what Mrs. G. and Mr. Matthew told me and you shouldn’t be putting any weight on it, lamb.”

“But I—”

“Besides, Mr. Matthew, here, is as strong as an ox,” Emma replied, her expression going from stern to loving as she addressed Claire. “He can carry you into the den. I’ve set up a tray of coffee and some of those little chocolate cakes that you like so much.”

“You heard her, Red. It’s best not to argue with Emma.”

“But I don’t want either of you to go to all this trouble,” Claire protested.

“As if it’s any trouble. Why, if you’d known how worried I was when I heard you’d been hurt…” Emma snatched a tissue from her apron and sniffed, then straightened her shoulders. “I’d better go see to the coffee.”

“Who exactly is she?” Claire whispered as Matt followed Emma down the hall.

“Believe it or not, she’s the housekeeper.”

“The housekeeper?”

“Yeah,” he said with a chuckle. “Hard to believe, considering she’s the one giving the orders around here.”

“I heard that, Matthew Gallagher.”

“I swear the woman’s got eyes and ears in the back of her head,” Matt complained.

“A body certainly needed them with you around as a boy,” Emma informed him as she waited while he positioned Claire on the big overstuffed chair and propped her ankle up on the ottoman. “Don’t you pay him any mind, Miss Claire,” Emma told her as she shooed Matt out of the way so she could fit the breakfast tray table over Claire’s lap.

When Matt reached for one of the chocolate cheesecake squares on the tray, Emma swatted his hand. “Those are for Miss Claire.”

“What about me?”

“There’s more in the kitchen if you want some.”

“See what I mean?” Matt countered and was rewarded by a grin from Claire.

He was treated to several more of Claire’s smiles during the next thirty minutes as Emma regaled her with stories of his youth. And while Emma fussed over her like a mother hen over her baby chick, he fielded call after call from his family, checking on Claire.

By the time he had repeated Emma’s instructions on heating the casserole she’d prepared for their dinner and closed the door behind the housekeeper, the troubled look he’d noticed sneaking into Claire’s eyes several times during the afternoon was back. For the life of him, Matt couldn’t quite figure out what was behind it.

Claiming a corner of the oversize chair beside her, he asked, “So how’s the head feeling?”

“Tender,” she replied, and ran a finger along the edge of the bandage affixed to her temple. “I was hoping that coming here would help me to remember.”

“Has it?”

She shook her head and lifted her gaze to his. “I can’t believe I don’t remember Emma.”

Matt grinned. “She is a hard one to forget.”

“She really loves you and your family a great deal.”

“And you,” Matt amended. Giving in to the need, he reached for her hand. “She loves you, too, Red. All of my family does—and me most of all.”

“I don’t know what to say,” she told him, averting her eyes.

Sighing, Matt released her hand. “There I go pushing again. Sorry.”

“Don’t be,” she said, touching his arm when he started to rise. “I’m the one who’s sorry. You’ve been wonderful, Matt. You, your family, everyone. I just…I just wish I could remember.”

The disappointment etched across her face ripped at him. “Don’t be so tough on yourself. You heard what the doctor said. You just need to give yourself time.”

The smile she gave him was soft. Slow. Warm. “You’re a nice man, Matthew Gallagher.”

Matt winced. “Nice? Whatever you do, please don’t say that I’m sweet. If you do, you’re liable to find out that I’m not nice at all.”

“But you are sweet…and kind…and patient…”

“Stop!”

She chuckled at his protest. “It wasn’t meant to be an insult. Those are all good qualities.”

“Trust me, Red,” he said, his voice gruff. “No man wants to hear a woman describe him as though he were some kind of saint.”

Her lips twitched. “Somehow I doubt that anyone would mistake you for a saint.”

“Thank heaven for that.”

“So, what descriptive terms does a man want to hear a woman use to describe him?”

“Oh, the usual ones,” he told her, his mouth kicking up at the corners. “Sexy…virile…stud…”

“I get the picture,” she said dryly, a flush climbing her cheeks.

“Sorry. I just couldn’t resist teasing—not when you blush so prettily.”

He watched her struggle to regain her composure. When she did, the lighthearted moment had passed. “It all seems so strange. Not knowing anything about myself, about you, about us.”

Matt hesitated. “The doctor said to let your memories come back on their own.”

“I know, but it’s frustrating not remembering even simple things. Things like…like how long we’ve been married.”

“We were married two years last month.” And their wedding anniversary had been one of the most miserable days of his life, because they hadn’t celebrated it together or even been living under the same roof.

“Two years,” she repeated as though trying to grasp the concept.

“I’d better get that,” he said at the sound of the phone, grateful for the excuse to drop the topic of their marriage. He couldn’t help feeling guilty for deceiving her about their relationship. Yet, he saw no alternative—not if he hoped to win Claire back.

And win her back he would, Matt told himself a few minutes later when he returned to the den. “That was my sister Maggie. She was checking to see if you needed anything.”

“You have a big family,” she said, and the troubled look was back in her eyes.

“We have a big family,” he corrected.

“But they all seem to be your family, Matt. It was your sisters and your parents that came to the hospital to see me, and they’re the ones who’ve called. What about my family? Why haven’t my parents or my siblings come to see me?”

Matt struggled with how much he should tell her. “You’re an only child,” he finally replied, deciding it would probably be okay to tell her that much. As far as Claire had known, she’d had no siblings. And in that damning search that he had started, to locate her parents, the investigator hadn’t turned up any siblings either.