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He made a face, and Jenna smiled to herself. Machismo. He certainly behaved like a cowboy.
She stopped smiling. She was actually taking this man home with her, and she knew darn well that he was as attracted to her as she was to him.
But they weren’t going to act on it. They were both cautious enough not to let it take over. So it would be fine, she assured herself. He would be a recuperating guest, a patient of Doc’s, and nothing more.
She turned on the radio, and they listened to music instead of talking.
Finally, when they were on the private road leading to the ranch, he glanced over at her and said, “Déjà vu,” making a joke about repeating his car-ride experience from yesterday.
She tried to make light of it, too. “Your first encounter with it.”
“That I’m able to remember. I probably had déjà vu in my old life.”
His old life. That made it sound as if he’d become someone new. She supposed that, at least for now, he was a different person. But since she didn’t know who he was before, she couldn’t compare the old with the new.
“I wonder if I should put you in the dream cabin.”
“The cabins have names? Is that part of the B and B thing?”
“No. The dream cabin is what everyone on the ranch has been calling it, for years, amongst themselves. So we call it that, too. It has an old feather bed that used to belong to our great-grandmother. She had the gift of second sight, and her visions came in the form of dreams while she was sleeping in it.”
“Interesting family history.”
“The bed is magical.”
He openly disagreed. “Your great-granny having visions in the bed doesn’t make it magical.”
“Other people have had vision-type dreams while sleeping in it, too. Tammy had dreams about Doc. Then later, he had a life-altering dream about her, and he wasn’t even at the cabin when it happened to him. But we figured that her dreams triggered his, so the feather bed was still part of it.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t put me in that cabin.”
“Why? Don’t you want to have a dream that might come true?”
“It just seems like something that should stay within your family.”
“Doc wasn’t in our family until he and Tammy got engaged.”
“I’m not going to get engaged to anyone.”
Their discussion was barreling down an uncomfortable path. She struggled to rein it back in. “I wasn’t insinuating that you were.”
“I don’t understand the point of me sleeping in the bed.”
“You might have a dream that will help you regain your memory.”
“I can’t imagine that.”
She parked in front of the main house. “Anything is possible. Wait here and I’ll get the key to the cabin.” She went inside, wondering why he wasn’t more interested in the bed. Didn’t he want to regain his memory?
She returned with the key, and he sat in the passenger seat, looking tired and confused.
He said, “I don’t mean to offend you, Jenna, but I don’t know if I believe in magic.”
Ah, so that was it. He was a skeptic. “You just need to recover, J.D. and let the rest of it happen naturally.”
“Magic isn’t natural.”
“I didn’t used to think so, either. But I’ve become open-minded about it since Tammy and Doc had their dreams.”
He didn’t respond, but it was just as well. She didn’t want to discuss the details of Doc and Tammy’s romance with him.
She took him to the cabin. They went inside, and she showed him around.
“This place was locked up for a long time,” she said. “But we aired it out and put some modern appliances in it.”
“Like the gourmet coffeemaker?”
She nodded. “Eventually we’re going to use it as one of the rental cabins. We think people will be fascinated by the magic associated with the bed. Of course we can’t guarantee that they’ll dream while they’re here.”
“You can’t make that guarantee for me, either.”
“No, but I think it’s worth a shot.”
They entered the bedroom, and since the bed had already been presented as a focal point, it stood out like a sore thumb, even though it had been designed to look soft and inviting. The quilt was a soft chocolate-brown, with a sheepskin throw draped across it.
He ran his hand across the sheepskin. “Have you ever slept here?”
A sinful chill raced up her spine. Suddenly she was imagining sleeping there with him. “No.”
“If you believe in the bed’s magic, why haven’t you tried it yourself?”
“There’s nothing I need to dream about. Besides, there’s another story about someone who stayed here that’s been bothering me.”
He frowned. “Who?
Jenna winced. She should have kept her mouth shut. “Someone named Savannah Jeffries. She was my uncle’s girlfriend when they were younger.” She was also the woman who’d had a scandalous tryst with Jenna’s father, but she wasn’t about to mention that part.
“Did she dream while she was here?”
“I don’t know. Tammy accidentally discovered a secret Savannah was keeping, though, and now my family has been talking about hiring a P.I. to search for her.”
“Why? Did she go missing?” He wrinkled his forehead. “Was there foul play involved?”
“No. She left town on her own. When Tammy first discovered her secret, all of us girls—Tammy, my sister Donna and I—tried to find out things about her on the internet, but nothing turned up.”
“Sounds like you want to find her.”
“I’m curious about her, but I’d just as soon let sleeping dogs lie.” She purposely changed the subject. She wasn’t prepared to discuss Savannah’s secret or the possible ramifications of it. “Doc will have my hide if I don’t let you rest, so I’m going to get going. But I’ll come back and bring you something to eat. I’ll bring some extra groceries and stock the fridge for future meals, too. Oh, and I’ll see if I can drum up some clothes that will fit you.” She motioned to his rugged ensemble. “You’re going to need more than one shirt and one pair of jeans.”
“You don’t have to fuss over me.”
“I don’t mind.”
“You’re going above and beyond.”
“I want you to get well.” She left her cell-phone number on the desk. “Call if you need anything.”
“How long are you going to be gone?”
“Probably a couple of hours. You should try to nap while I’m gone.” She walked to the door and glanced over her shoulder at him.
He stood beside the feather bed, looking like a man in need of magic.
Chapter Three
After Jenna left, J.D. didn’t know what to do with himself. He didn’t want to take a nap, even if he was supposed to be resting. He glanced around the room, then eyed the landline phone.
Already he felt like calling Jenna and telling her that he needed something. But what?
Companionship, he thought. He was lonely as hell.
He sat on the bed, then went ahead and reclined on it. Damn. The feather mattress was heavenly.
J.D. considered his whereabouts. He was hellishly lonely on a heavenly bed? Talk about an odd combination.
The amnesia was odd, too. He couldn’t remember anything about himself, but he knew what year it was, who was president, what the world at large was like.
He closed his eyes, and unable to resist the bed, he dozed off.
He awakened hours later, the red-digit clock glaring at him. He hadn’t dreamed. His subconscious hadn’t created any thoughts or images.
He got up and waited for Jenna to return.
She arrived with a light knock at the door. He answered her summons eagerly.
Her hands were filled with grocery bags.
“I’ll take those.” He lifted the bags and carried them to the kitchen.
She went out to her truck and came back with containers of fried chicken and mashed potatoes.
“I’m not much of a cook,” she said. “This came from the diner in town. I picked it up when I got the groceries.”
“I hope you’re going to join me. It looks like there’s plenty for both of us.”
“Sure. I’ll eat with you.” She walked into the dining room to set the table.
After the plates and silverware were in place, she returned to her truck for the rest of the stuff she’d promised. He could see her from his vantage point in the kitchen.
Upon reentering the house, she called out to him. “The clothes belong to a ranch hand who, I think, is about your size. I’ll put them on the sofa for you. There’s a nice little satchel with toiletries, too. Donna had them made up for the guest rooms and cabins. She’s handling the marketing end of the B and B. She’s been redecorating, too.”
Interested in talking to her, he crammed the grocery bags in the fridge and met her in the dining room.
“What do you do, Jenna?”
“I’m a horseback riding instructor. It was my profession before I came to the Flying B. I’ve always been a country girl, even when I lived in the city. I grew up in Houston.”
“I assumed you grew up here.”
“No. Tammy, Donna and I inherited the ranch from our grandfather, and Tammy’s brothers inherited some undeveloped land on the west side of the property. All of us were rewarded money, too, with stipulations of how it’s to be used. The girls are supposed to keep the ranch going, which we decided includes the inception of the B and B. And the boys are supposed to take advantage of the mineral rights that go with the land, so they’ll be commissioning a survey. Our grandfather left us a portion of his legacy, but we barely got to know him before he passed away. Our families were estranged from him and each other.”
They sat down to eat. Curious, he asked, “Who was estranged, exactly?”
“Our dads. They’re twin brothers. They hadn’t spoken to each other or to Grandpa since…”
She didn’t finish her statement, and he wondered if the rift had something to do with Savannah Jeffries and why she’d left town.
He said, “Who knows who my family is or if I even have one.”
“Everyone comes from somewhere.”
“Yes, but I forgot who they were. I mean, how important can they be?”
“You have a head injury. That’s not your fault.”
He popped open a soda can. “It still feels personal.”
“Your life will be back on track before you know it.”
Would it? At this point, he couldn’t see past his amnesia. He couldn’t imagine who he was. “I fell asleep while you were gone.”
Her eyes grew wide. “Did you dream?”
“No.”
She seemed disappointed. “Maybe you will tonight.”
He didn’t reply.
A short time later, they finished their meals and went into the living room. They sat on the sofa, and he checked out the clothes, which consisted of a handful of shirts and a couple of pairs of Wrangler jeans. He noticed a package of unopened boxer shorts, too. “Where did these come from?”
“I bought those at the emporium in town. I took a chance that you wore that type. I took a chance on the size, too.” She paused, a sweetly shy expression on her face. “I hope it wasn’t too forward of me.” She quickly added, “I got you socks, too. Did you see those?”
“Yes, thank you.” But buying him socks wasn’t nearly as intimate as buying him boxers. “I appreciate everything you’ve been doing for me.”
“I borrowed the clothes before I went into town, and then, while I was shopping for groceries, it hit me that you might need those other things, so I made a quick trip to the emporium.”
“I feel badly that you’ve been spending money on me.”
