"In all honesty, I don't know. Joe looks nothing like the boy in my dreams. His coloring is completely different, for a start."
"But he could be?"
"I guess so. Anything is possible, especially when I don't even know if the dreams are real or a figment of a warped imagination."
He considered her, hazel eyes shuttered. "Is Joe real?"
"I've already said yes to that question. Though I doubt Joe is his real name."
He shrugged, as if that in itself meant nothing. Which she guessed it didn't. Whoever Joe was, it was logical that he wouldn't give her his real name—not until he knew he could trust her. Which was an odd thought.
"Do the dreams feel real?" Gabriel asked.
"Yes." Too real, too painful, even if she didn't entirely believe them.
Or maybe that should be even if she didn't entirely want to believe them.
"If you are so sure, why have you never mentioned them?"
She hesitated. "Just because they feel real, doesn't mean they are real. For all I know, they could have been planted in my subconscious for some nefarious reason." She looked ahead as the car began to slow and saw they were nearing the hotel.
She returned her gaze to his. "That's what you were thinking, isn't it?"
A smile fleetingly touched his lips. "At first, yes. But I think it's becoming increasingly obvious you're from one of the Hopeworth projects, though whether that project is Penumbra or something else is anyone's guess right now. That being the case, you've obviously slipped their noose until now. Which means you had help."
"Because a teenager could not escape the might of the military alone."
"A normal teenager, no. But you are not normal, Sam."
"If that wasn't apparent before, it sure is now." She smiled to counter the bitterness in her tone. "But even so, my memories—or lack thereof—and the fact that there has been a careful 'refinement' of my past suggests that someone, somewhere, knows who and what I am. And they have gone to great lengths to hide it."
"Yes." He paused. "Have you asked this Joe Black about it?"
"He says I will remember when I need to remember."
"Helpful."
"Yeah. And I've asked who he is, and I get the same answer."
"Then perhaps you need to find another source."
She raised her eyebrows. "You don't think I've been trying?"
"I meant another Hopeworth source. Have you ever gone back to see that woman who claimed to be your nanny in Hopeworth? The one who called you Josephine?"
"No."
"Then perhaps we should."
"What? Now?"
"Is there anything else you particularly want to do right now?"
"How about sleep?"
He looked at her for a moment, and then he laughed a little sheepishly. "Yeah, I guess you would. How about I come back later this morning?"
How about you come join me in bed? She rubbed a hand across her eyes and tried to ignore the impulse to say the words out loud. For all that she wanted this man, it wasn't the right time for a seduction. And in all honesty, her planned lunch probably wasn't the best time, either, though she had a feeling there was never going to be a "good" time.