Big Shot by Joanna Wayne Read Free Book Online

Angela Drake. I’ve been taking care of you—along with Durk. You’re lucky to have a friend like him.”
    She’d decide if she was lucky, once she remembered him. “I want to talk to my doctor.”
    “I’ll call him, but it may take him a while to get up here. He’s involved with another emergency now. In the meantime, I’m here. Are you in pain?”
    “My thoughts are muddled. I can’t seem to remember anything.”
    Angela patted her shoulder. “Confusion is understandable after what you’ve been through.”
    “It’s more than confusion. I’m… I don’t remember being attacked or how I got here.”
    “Give yourself time. Just try to relax, Meghan. Let us do the worrying.”
    Meghan pushed her hair from her face. When she tried to tuck it behind her ear, she felt a tender knot. She examined the rest of her head with her fingertips and discovered a bandage at the back, a few inches up from the base of her skull.
    “Why is my head bandaged?”
    “The doctor will explain everything to you and answer all your questions.”
    “Then please get him,” Meghan pleaded.
    “He’ll be here soon,” the nurse assured her. She lifted Meghan’s right hand. “While we’re waiting, can you squeeze my hand?”
    Meghan squeezed, but her irritation was growing.
    “Very good. Now squeeze a little harder.”
    Meghan squeezed even though it intensified what had been a dull ache at both temples.
    Angela dropped her hand, pulled a flashlight from her pocket and shone a beam into Meghan’s left eye and then her right.
    “Do you know where you are, Meghan?”
    “In a hospital.”
    Angela grinned as if Meghan had given the winning answer in a quiz show. “Do you remember how you got here?”
    That question was tougher. Had Durk driven her here? No. He’d just told her. She waded through the haze.
    She’d been attacked. There had been a rescue. A neighbor…
    “I came by ambulance,” she said, though she didn’t remember being in one. All she knew was what Durk had just told her.
    “Good for you, Meghan. You’re coming around. I’ll let Dr. Levy know you want to see him.”
    When Angela walked away, Meghan looked back at Durk, searching his face and especially his eyes, futilely hoping for some grain of recognition. There was nothing.
    Durk leaned over her bed. “If my being here is upsetting you, I can leave. Is that what you want me to do?”
    Yes. If she were by herself, she wouldn’t have to think.
    But right now he was her only link to her past, even if she didn’t remember him. But he surely hadn’t bargained for this when he’d come for a visit.
    “Do you want to leave?” she asked.
    “I want to do whatever makes you the most comfortable. But I won’t go far, not until you’re up and bossing us all around. Trust me, that won’t take long.”
    “In that case, I’d like you to stay.”
    He took her hand. “I’ll stay as long as you’ll let me. And that’s a promise.”
    She fought back tears. She was bewildered and afraid, but at least she wasn’t alone. Her eyelids grew heavy in spite of the apprehension churning inside her.
    As soon as she closed them, the drowning sensation returned, this time even stronger than before. The swirling water pulled her to the bottom.
    As the breath escaped her lungs, a strong hand reached out to her. She held on tight and the cowboy pulled her to shore.
    * * *
    “ H ELLO, M EGHAN. I heard you wanted to talk to me.”
    Another stranger had wandered into her dream. She tasted fear and reached for the stranger who’d pulled her to safety. Her arms came up empty.
    “It’s Dr. Levy, Meghan. You’re safe. Open your eyes and I’ll answer all your questions.”
    Dr. Levy. She fought her way back through the haze. This time when she opened her eyes she turned first to see if the cowboy was there or if he’d only been in her dream.
    But he was there, standing next to the bed, his gaze fixed on her.
    “Good morning, sleeping beauty. Your doctor is