Silent Run - Barbara Freethy [30]
Jake opened the door, and her pulse jumped at the sight of him.
When he came into a room she never knew what to expect. Most of the time he was extremely pissed off at her, but here and there she saw moments of softening, of kindness, or maybe she just wanted to see something good in him. She needed a friend, an ally, someone to trust, but was Jake that person?
He took off his jacket and tossed it over the back of the chair next to the bed. Then he sat down and stretched out his long legs in front of him, folding his arms across his chest. He looked like he was settling in for the night.
“Are you going to sleep in your clothes?” he asked.
“I think so,” she replied. The hospital gown made her feel far too vulnerable. She wanted to be ready to flee at a moment’s notice. “Where’s your brother?”
“Looking for a motel. He has his computer with him, so he’s going to get on the Net tonight and see what he can find out about some of the clues you’ve given us—the tiger tattoo and the idea that you may have been involved in some sort of press-worthy case.”
“You told him about that?”
He met her gaze. “He’s my brother. I’d trust him with my life—and yours,” he added.
“He doesn’t like me.”
“No, he doesn’t. He suspected you were lying to me long before you left, but I didn’t listen. In fact, I kicked him out of our home and said he didn’t know what he was talking about. Fortunately Dylan doesn’t hold a grudge. As soon as you disappeared with Caitlyn he came back, and he’s worked tirelessly to help me find you.”
Sarah looked away from Jake’s bitter gaze. She didn’t want to talk about her disappearance. She didn’t want to hear again how she’d destroyed their lives. Instead she wanted to go a little farther back, find a way to understand the life Jake had told her about. She hit the mute button on the television and asked, “How did we meet?”
He frowned. “That’s not important, and I don’t want to get into the past with you.”
“You’re going to have to, Jake. I need to remember my life, and you’re the only one who has any information. Maybe something you tell me will bring my memory back. That’s what we both want, isn’t it?”
Jake sighed and stared down at the floor for a long moment. He cracked the knuckles on his left hand, then his right. As she watched him, something fluttered deep within her. She’d seen him do this before when he was stressed, and she had the feeling that she’d worried about him, which surprised her. Jake was a big, strong guy, smart, more than able to speak his mind and to stand up for himself. So where would the anxiety have come from? Love?
He’d told her that they’d had a passionate romance, but it was difficult to believe, not just because she didn’t remember him, but also because he didn’t act like he loved her. He was so cold to her. She got a chill whenever he came near. Had his love disappeared with her hasty departure from his life? Or had something happened before that?
“We met in a café down the street from my office,” Jake said abruptly, lifting his gaze to hers. “You’d just started working as a waitress. I used to get lunch there on a regular basis. My architectural firm was
down the street.”
“What do you design?”
“Commercial buildings. But the day we met I was working on a personal project, a house I was planning to build. You were fascinated by the process and told me how much you loved houses, and you were dying to see some of the famous Victorians in the city. I offered to give you a tour, since you said you’d just moved to town and didn’t know anyone. You didn’t accept at first, but after a couple of invitations you said yes.”
So she’d been cautious at first—that felt right to her. “Go on.”
“The next weekend we spent all day Saturday looking at houses; then we moved on to the Trans-america Pyramid, Coit