Delta Force Daddy. Carol Ericson

pebbles and pine needles.

      He bunched them in his hand and stuffed them into the pack on her back. “I don’t want to leave any evidence.”

      He hung back as the access road spilled onto the main drag. “It’s too exposed here.”

      “The car’s less than half a mile away. Wait here and I’ll pick you up.”

      As she started to turn away, he grabbed her hand. “You’ll be back?”

      “I didn’t come all the way out here to leave you behind, Asher Knight...even if you don’t know who the hell I am.”

      Paige ran to the car, the pack jostling on her back. She wished she had some clothes in there for Asher. She never would’ve imagined she’d be rescuing him in a hospital gown and nothing else.

      When she reached the car, she lunged at the door and threw it open. She gunned the engine and swung into a wide U-turn.

      The empty road in front of the access entrance stretched before her, and a wave of panic washed through her body. When Asher stepped out from behind a bush, a sob escaped from Paige’s lips.

      “Get hold of yourself, girl.” She flipped a U-turn again and pulled over.

      Before she even stopped the car, Asher had yanked at the door and jumped inside. “Go!”

      She didn’t have to be told twice—or even once. Her foot punched the accelerator and the little rental roared in protest before switching gears and lurching forward.

      The tires ate up the road, and Asher put a hand on her arm. “Slow down. We don’t want to get a ticket.”

      Glancing in the rearview mirror, she eased off the gas. “But if we do get pulled over, we can tell the police what’s going on. You’re not a prisoner. You haven’t been committed.”

      “Really?” He cocked an eyebrow at her. “I don’t know what the hell is going on right now. That’s the US Army, the United States government. They can tell the cops whatever they want and, I guarantee you, I’ll be back in their clutches.”

      Paige’s heart flip-flopped, and she tried to swallow her fear. She was the daughter of a police officer, had always trusted law enforcement, had always trusted authority. Now she had to rely on herself.

      Asher jerked his head toward her and braced his hands against the dashboard. “Unless that’s what you want? Where are you taking me?”

      Paige drew in her bottom lip. Great. Now she had to deal with Asher’s paranoia. Was it real or imagined? She slid a sideways gaze at him. Maybe his mental issues involved more than amnesia. Maybe he’d been kept naked and drugged because he did pose a threat to himself...and others.

      She could feel his hard stare boring into the side of her face. A stranger’s stare.

      “Is that it? Are you one of them?”

      His harsh voice grated against her ear, and she took a deep breath. If he could listen to reason and think logically, that would tell her a lot about his mental state.

      “I’m taking you to my motel right now. We should leave as soon as I can check out. This is a small town and the people at that house of horrors will most likely fan out there first to look for you.”

      He nodded, his mouth still tight.

      “Why would I contact you secretly and help you escape if I were in cahoots with the hospital and planned to deliver you back to them? What would be the plan? To test you? They don’t need to test you. They have you captive and a pharmaceutical cornucopia to keep you complacent.”

      His firm jaw softened and he blinked his eyes.

      “What did they tell you about the woods yesterday? Because I can tell you right now, one of those stooges who came after you, Lewis or Granger, shot a dart in the side of your neck to take you down.”

      Asher clapped his hand against the left side of his neck. “They said I passed out.”

      “Yeah, like a lion passes out after a few hundred blow darts sink into him.”

      “I suspected something but didn’t let on.” He touched the back of his head. “I’m still pretty confused, but I pretended everything was great so that I’d have another opportunity to go outside...in case you came back.”

      “Well, I did.” She reached for his thigh and stopped herself. He still thought of her as a stranger, but she planned to remedy that.

      She grabbed the bottle of water in the cup holder instead. “Do you want some water?” She shook the bottle and the water sloshed back and forth. “It’s not laced with anything—except my germs.”

      His hand hovered near the bottle for a couple of seconds and then he snatched it from her. He downed the rest of the water. “Sorry. Those damned drugs make me thirsty.”

      She looked away from the road and pointed to his feet. “We’re going to have to take care of those.”

      “My feet are the least of my worries right now—and I have plenty.”

      About a half hour later, they hit the outskirts of Mooseville and Paige tapped Asher’s shoulder. “You should slump down in about five minutes, just until we get through the town. My motel is tucked away from the main drag. I can sneak you inside without a problem.”

      “I’m not going anywhere sitting in this car.”

      “Excuse me?” She always did have to deal with Asher’s stubbornness, but his stubbornness combined with amnesia and fear just catapulted it to another dimension.

      “It’s too risky. Pull over now and I’ll get in the trunk.”

      “The trunk?” Her gaze swept his large form, unchanged from weeks of captivity and bed rest.

      “I can squeeze in. I’m not taking any chance of anyone seeing me in this town. Is it really called Mooseville?”

      “It is and I will.” She pulled over and popped the trunk from the inside of the car. They both got out and she lifted the lid of the trunk. “Make yourself comfortable.”

      “Looks like heaven compared to that hospital bed.”

      He crawled inside the trunk and his hospital gown spread open, revealing his mighty fine backside.

      “Here, let’s get you decent.” She tugged the gown around his thighs, her fingers skimming his cold skin. She started to remove her jacket.

      “Leave it on. You shouldn’t look any different from when you left... Shut it.”

      Paige slammed the lid of the trunk on Asher, curled into a fetal position. She could do this, despite what her mother believed.

      She drove through the sleepy town of Mooseville and pulled up to her room at the motel. She shouted over her shoulder. “I’m back at the motel. I’ll just grab my stuff and check out.”

      After Asher gave his muffled assent, Paige slid from the car and pushed the door closed with a click. It took her ten minutes to throw her stuff in a bag. She dumped the three bottled waters from the fridge into a plastic bag, along with her leftover sandwich from the day before.

      She strode to the motel office, swinging the room key from her finger. The bell on the door jingled when she swung it open.

      Charlie, the motel’s proprietor, peeked around the corner of the back office. His eyes widened when he saw her. “You’d better get out of here.”

      The key flew off her finger and her jaw dropped. “Why?”

      “They’re looking for you.”

      Goose bumps rippled across her flesh. “Who?”

      “Those folks at the rest home on the hill.” Charlie looked both ways as if the two of them weren’t the only ones in the room. “Government folks.”

      She