A Forever Christmas - By Marie Ferrarella Page 0,61

ushered him out.

Apparently.

Angel looked around her one final time before getting into Gabe’s truck.

“He made you nervous, didn’t he?” Gabe said rather than asked, sliding in behind the steering wheel.

She cleared her throat, buying herself some time, and then asked innocently, “Who?”

Gabe’s smile was one of tolerance. “I think that’s the first time I’ve known you to lie.” His smile deepened. “I’m happy to say you’re not any good at it. You know who I’m talking about, Angel. That police detective who said you were his fiancée.”

The very thought of a relationship with that detective made her shiver. She looked away from the man at her side and stared out the side window.

With a shrug she hoped looked disinterested enough, she said, “He seemed a bit intense, but he did go away.”

Gabe had asked his sister to do some research on the man who claimed to be Angel’s fiancé. The San Antonio police detective had an impeccable record with several commendations for bravery and a long list of accolades in his file according to what Alma had managed to dig up. He sounded like an honorable, upstanding law enforcement officer.

But Gabe couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. Either someone had deliberately cleaned up the man’s file—or the detective was good at playing a dual role. Either way, Gabe had seen the fear in Angel’s eyes when she looked at Wynters and that was enough to convince him that the detective wasn’t going to get within ten feet of her.

“And I intend to see that he stays away,” he told her, commenting on her conclusion.

Oh, if only…

Angel shook her head in response to his words. “You’ve got no reason to make him stay away, Gabe,” she reminded him.

“I’ve got the best reason in the world,” he contradicted. “You.” Coming to one of the town’s few traffic lights, he stopped, waiting for it to turn green again. He studied her profile thoughtfully as he waited. Her jaw was so rigid, it looked as if it could shatter. “You’re sure you don’t remember him?” he prodded gently.

Exasperated with herself, Angel shook her head. “I’ve tried over and over again, but I just can’t pull up anything. I’m drawing a blank,” she emphasized. Angel sighed, looking up at the vehicle’s ceiling. “Wouldn’t I be able to remember him if I actually knew him?”

While Alma had looked into Wynters’s background, he’d spent the time trolling the internet, learning what he could about amnesia. The more he read, the less he seemed to know. Other than the condition defied boundaries.

“There are lots of different types of amnesia, Angel.” It wasn’t really an answer to her question, but it was the best that he could do.

“Right,” she murmured. “And I’ve got the annoying kind.” So where did that bring her? That she knew him? Or that she didn’t?

“Maybe there’s a reason you don’t remember,” Gabe suggested. “Maybe your mind is trying to protect you from something you couldn’t deal with at the time and maybe still can’t.”

She rubbed her forehead. Her head was beginning to hurt. “Well, I won’t know about that part until I remember, will I? If I remember,” she amended, the frustration in her voice growing.

He tried to lighten the mood. “Right now, all you have to remember is that you’ve got a starving man with you.”

And for that, she thought, she was eternally grateful. She was exceedingly lucky to have Gabe in her life and she knew it.

“Hungry, huh?” She laughed.

He glanced in her direction, his eyes sweeping over her. Loving what he saw. “In more ways than one,” he assured her with feeling.

A warm feeling rushed over her, banishing everything else into the background, as she anticipated their evening together. All that mattered to her, really mattered to her, she reminded herself, was in this car with her, driving her to his home.

To their home, she told herself, taking tremendous solace in the feeling that generated.

Everything was going to be all right, she silently promised herself. Clinging to that promise. And when everything died down again, then she’d tell Gabe her news. That was another promise.

* * *

“NEED HELP?” GABE ASKED as she began to head to the kitchen the moment they walked into the house.

Angel shook her head. This was her domain and she did best in it alone. “Thanks for offering, but it would only take longer that way.” She laughed.

Off the hook, he pulled his shirttails out of his trousers and began to unbutton his shirt. “Okay,