Lover, Stranger Part 19

He took a few steps away from Grace and Ethan, as if struggling to gather his composure. But he continued to glare at Ethan.

"We did meet once. I guess you don't remember. I came to Amy's apartment to beg her to come back to me, but... it was too late. You'd already seduced her away from me."

The raw pain in the man's eyes made Ethan's stomach knot. He didn't know whether he was really Dr. Ethan Hunter or not, but at that moment, the one thing he was certain of was that he didn't much care for Dr. Hunter or the way he treated people.

Grace said softly, "I didn't know Amy was ever engaged. She never mentioned it."

"That's odd," the man said, wiping at his eyes. "Because she never mentioned having a sister, either."

grace could feel Ethan's gaze on her, but she kept her eyes trained on the man before her. Something about him seemed very pitiful to her. He was not unattractive, but the way he dressed, the receding hairline, the ordinary features must have made him feel like a moth to Amy's b.u.t.terfly. No wonder he harbored such animosity toward Ethan. He was the epitome of everything this man was not.

Grace said carefully, "Amy and I were estranged for several years. We hadn't spoken with each other until very recently."

"I guess that explains why she never wanted to talk about her family." The man stuck out his hand.

"My name's Danny Medford."

"Grace Donovan. You already know Dr. Hunter," she said with irony.

He shot Ethan a killing glance before turning back to Grace.

"I don't suppose it would be possible " He broke off, looking ill at ease.

"What?" Grace prompted.

Danny looked at her hopefully.

"Do you think we could get together sometime? You know, to talk about Amy?"

He seemed a nice enough guy, but Grace had no wish to perpetuate the deception, to contribute in any way to the man's pain. However, with Ethan looking on, she had little choice but to keep up the farce.

"I'd like that. Maybe in a few weeks when it isn't so painful to talk about her."

He nodded, smiling wistfully as he fished a card from his shirt pocket and handed it to her.

"That's my work number. I'm there at all hours. Feel free to call anytime."

Medford Engineering, the card read. Grace slipped it in her purse and smiled.

"It's been nice meeting you, Danny."

"Likewise." He turned to Ethan.

"I wouldn't be surprised if you and I meet again someday."

There was no mistaking the threat in the man's words, but Ethan merely shrugged.

"I'll be ready next time."

After the man had disappeared into the parking lot, Ethan fished a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped away the trickle of blood at the corner of his mouth.

"Yet another of Dr. Hunter's enemies," he said enigmatically, watching the man's battered Toyota sedan pull out of the parking lot.

"They seem to be coming out of the woodwork."

"He seems harmless enough."

Ethan lifted a brow as he daubed at his lip.

"Easy for you to say."

Grace almost smiled.

"I meant comparatively speaking. The enemy we really have to worry about is Trevor Reardon."

"I wonder." Ethan's eyes grew dark and distant, as if he'd gone someplace in his mind that Grace had no wish to follow. Or had he gone to a place she'd already been to?

There was still blood on his lip. She took the handkerchief from his hand.

"Here, let me."

She blotted the droplet of blood as gently as she could, but Ethan winced at her touch. He took her hand and pulled it away. For a moment they stood that way, her hand in his, eyes locked, until Grace's stomach began to flutter wildly.

She was accustomed to b.u.t.terflies. She got them the first day of every new a.s.signment, every time she had to draw her weapon, or when she faced danger.

But this was different, because the greater threat was coming, not from Ethan, but from within herself.

She shivered, watching him. So much about him she didn't know, but the one thing that was all too real was her attraction to him. Her feelings for him.

She couldn't explain them. They made no sense. But the emotions raging inside her were so real and so intense, that if he were to kiss her at that moment. Grace knew she would have no willpower to resist.

What few relationships she'd had over the years had been with men who had no expectations of a future with her. There could be no future with Ethan, either, and yet Grace found herself yearning for something she'd never wanted before. The hollowness inside her heart made her feel lost and lonely in a way she hadn't felt in a long, long time.

She almost hated Ethan for that. Hated him for making her lose confidence in her ability to do what needed to be done. For making her want him.

Grace closed her eyes, letting the heat of the day wash over her. The humidity curled the fine hairs at the back of her neck, and she could feel the silk of her dress clinging to her body. She had a sudden image of cool water lapping at her toes. Of a fragrant breeze rippling through her hair.

Of a man lying naked beside her, whispering in her ear. When she opened her eyes, Ethan was staring down at her so intently.

Grace thought he must have read her mind. She caught her breath.

' "What are we going to do about this. Grace?"

She didn't try to misconstrue his meaning. The sparks between them were all too obvious.

"There's nothing to be done. We just have to... ignore it, I guess."

"You think that's possible?" His eyes darkened, so much so that Grace had to glance away. She had to find a way to subdue the power he had over her.

"It has to be, because as you pointed out yesterday, you're a married man.

Just because you can't remember your wife doesn't mean you don't still have feelings for her. You might even still love her."

He almost laughed.

"Do you really believe that?"

Grace remembered the coldness in Pilar's.e.xpression, the emptiness in her eyes, and she shuddered.

"I don't think you still love her.

Maybe you never did, but it doesn't change the fact that you are still married to her. I don't take that lightly, Ethan. "

"I wish I could say the same." Grace didn't think he was trying to be facetious. His eyes were too haunted for that.

"And that brings us back to Amy," she said quietly. "I don't want to be another one of your conquests. I won't be."

"I don't even remember Amy," he said.

"Everything you've told me about her ... it doesn't even seem real. It's like... someone else had the affair with her. Someone else married Pilar.

It wasn't me. I'm not that man."

Grace wished she knew what to say to him, but she didn't. She wished suddenly that what he was telling her was true--that he wasn't Dr. Ethan Hunter, but someone entirely different. Someone free and honorable. Someone with whom she just might have a second shot at life.

But reality and fantasy were two different concepts, and no one knew that better than Grace.

"Ethan" -- "I'm not that man, Grace."

He could almost convince her when he looked at her that way. When he skimmed his knuckles along the side of her cheek, brushed back the hair from her face with a touch so gentle, Grace could have wept. She closed her eyes briefly, wanting him to kiss her with every fiber of her being, and knowing all the while that if he did, there would be no chance for her then. Everything in her world would be lost.

She took a step back from him.

"Losing memories doesn't change who you are. What you've done."

"What I've done." The shadow in his eyes deepened. He raked his fingers through his hair, turning away from her.

"There's nothing that will ever change that."

"No, but there is such a thing as redemption. Rest.i.tution."

His gaze came back to meet hers.

"And how do you propose I pay for my sins?" he asked grimly.

Grace shrugged.

"Helping me bring a man like Trevor Reardon to justice is a good place to start."

Ethan's.e.xpression hardened. Something that Grace couldn't quite define flashed in his eyes.

"That sounds so naive, but somehow you don't strike me as the Pollyanna type.

I may not remember who I am or what I've done, but I don't think I'm the only one here with secrets."

Grace's heartbeat quickened.

"What do you mean?"

He gazed down at her, studying her.

"I don't know who you are any more than I know who I am. We're strangers, and yet... we seem to have some kind of... connection. Even you can't deny that."

"Maybe our connection is Amy," Grace tried to say calmly.

He shook his head.

"I don't think so. I can't help but wonder if you're holding something back from me."

"Like what?"

He hesitated. His gaze grew even more pensive. "Did we know each other before?"

"No." Grace's heart pounded like a piston. He was getting too close. His suspicions were mounting by the minute, and she didn't know what to do to stop them. If he found out who she was. how she was using him. G.o.d help you if you 're lying to me.

"I told you before," she said.

"We'd never met until that night outside the hospital."

"Then what is this connection we have?" he asked almost urgently.

Grace shrugged.

"Attraction. Chemistry. Call it what you like, but that's all it is."

-"Why do I feel as if it's something more?" Ethan grabbed her forearms and pulled her toward him. "Why do I feel as if I know you better than I could ever know the woman who claims to be my wife? Why do I know how your lips would taste if I kissed you right now? How your body would feel beneath mine if we" -- "Please don't," Grace said breathlessly. She put her hands to his chest, but it was a meaningless gesture. She wasn't going to push him away.

It took every ounce of her strength not to pull him closer.

"You feel it, too. I can see it your eyes."

"Please" -- He drew her so close, their lips were only a heartbeat apart.

"You want me to kiss you," he said almost accusingly.

"Almost as much as I want to."

' "Ethan" -- The s.p.a.ce between them evaporated.