Luck of the Draw Read online

  Sid didn’t know what to believe. “This memory loss—”

  “A symptom of her dissociative identity disorder. The problem is that it seems to be getting worse. At this point, I fear for her safety. That’s why I requested the judge’s order to take her back for treatment. She will be safe there and available for future inquiries from you should this...incident go to trial.”

  Sid asked the question that had been nagging at him. “Did you know she was in Montana another time? Two years ago?”

  The question seemed to take the attorney by surprise. “I was not aware of that. It couldn’t have been for long. It isn’t where the private investigator I hired said he found her.” Vanderlin looked confused. “That’s odd. You’re sure she’s been here before?”

  Sid nodded, but didn’t elaborate. “Not that it’s important at this point. What is the treatment for DID?”

  The guardian shook his head. “It varies, but the process is often very intensive and extensive.”

  “So you’re saying that if she has this DID, that she could be locked up for a long time.”

  “I wish there were another way.” Vanderlin got to his feet. “I have attendants standing by to take her back to Seattle as soon as possible. I had asked that she be kept at the hospital, but I was informed that she was released yesterday.”

  Sid also got to his feet. “I’m going to have to look into that judge’s order.”

  The man scowled. “I had hoped it wouldn’t come to this.” Vanderlin had to know he was stalling and seemed about to put up a fight, but changed his mind. “That will be fine as long as you can assure me she is somewhere safe.”

  Sid nodded. “I’ll wait to hear from the judge, but I’m curious. How did you become her legal guardian?”

  “I was a close friend of her father’s. He made me promise that if anything happened to him, I would take care of his daughter.”

  * * *

  GARRETT WOKE TO the smell of bacon frying. At first he thought he was dreaming, but as he hurriedly dressed and went downstairs, he found Joslyn in the kitchen, cooking. He’d thought he might find her gone—just like the morning. He couldn’t believe how late it was, almost noon.

  They’d stayed up most of the night talking. She’d told him all about her childhood growing up, all the trouble she’d gotten into, all the time feeling as if at any moment her life could end.

  “My doctor, Neal Foster, says that it stems from seeing my father and stepmother murdered,” she’d said. “All I know is that I feel as if most of my life I’ve been running from something. That was until I met you. It was the first time I wanted to stay.”

  After everything she’d told him, he’d felt exhausted and unsure. He still didn’t trust her. There’d been too many lies. Hell, he wasn’t even sure she wasn’t lying still.

  “What are you doing?” he asked, unable to hide his surprise that she hadn’t taken off without a word again—and that she was cooking. Joslyn had never been an early riser. After their late night, he couldn’t imagine her up—even though it was almost noon—let alone cooking.

  She jumped at the sound of his voice and spun around. He’d startled her. She’d apparently been lost in thought. “Is it all right if I make breakfast for lunch?”

  The woman he knew couldn’t make toast in a toaster. “I’m not sure. Can you cook?”

  “Apparently,” she said with a wave of her hand to indicate what she’d done so far.

  His stomach rumbled at the sight of crisp bacon and a stack of fluffy-looking lightly browned pancakes. “That actually looks delicious.” He couldn’t help sounding skeptical though.

  “You of so little faith,” she said and laughed, but it lacked humor. They were both tentative with each other this morning. Not that he hadn’t wanted to take her in his arms last night and make love to her. But he’d kept her at arm’s length until he’d suggested they get what sleep they could and talk in the morning.

  “Thank you for bringing me here,” she’d said. “No matter what happens...”

  He’d nodded. His head had been spinning with everything she’d told him and he’d been angry and hurt and unforgiving. She should have told him eighteen months ago. That she’d denied him the chance of going with her killed him inside.

  Picking up one of the pancakes, he tore off a piece and popped it into his mouth. “Yum.” Apparently she’d learned to cook. Or she’d been holding out on him back then. Another lie?

  He pushed the thought away.

  Clearly, he was still upset this morning. He wasn’t sure how much he believed of what she’d told him. But last night’s kiss had brought back way too many memories of the two of them and why he’d fallen in love with her to begin with. Why he’d also bought the engagement ring and had planned to marry her. Why when she’d disappeared the way she had, it had broken his heart and as Dorothea had pointed out, had ruined him for any other woman.

  That Joslyn could still get to him like that with one kiss scared him. He’d told himself he wasn’t susceptible to her charms. He really had to quit lying to himself.

  Reaching into the cabinet, he pulled down a bottle of huckleberry syrup. He’d introduced her to huckleberry syrup two years ago. He wondered if she would remember that, as he set the table.

  Joslyn seemed proud of herself as they took the food over and sat across from each other. If she was worried about what the sheriff had to tell them, she didn’t show it. “Please, help yourself,” she said, smiling.

  Everything smelled delicious. He slathered butter on the pancakes, then syrup and took a bite. He felt his eyes widen in surprise. “Seriously, they’re really good.”

  “I wish you’d quit sounding so surprised. They’re pancakes. Anyone can make them with a recipe book and the right ingredients.”

  “You used a recipe book?”

  “Actually, I made them from scratch. It’s an old family recipe.”

  Garrett couldn’t help staring at her. An old family recipe? He leaned an elbow on the table and rested his chin on it. “Let me get this straight. You said you didn’t cook during the time we were together.”

  “I’d never cooked. It was true.”

  “Then how do you explain making these pancakes from an old family recipe?”

  “I looked around for a cookbook, but couldn’t find one. So I started putting ingredients together and as I did I remembered a recipe my favorite nanny used to make... It was her old family recipe. I must have watched her make it and remembered it. Strange, huh.”

  “Your mother didn’t cook?”

  “She died when I was two. I don’t really remember her and I’m pretty sure my stepmother never cooked. Amethyst, my stepsister? She told me that we had staff that did all that.”

  He’d forgotten for a moment what Billy had told him about the woman being heir to a fortune. Joslyn hadn’t mentioned it last night. The omission was not a lie exactly, right? “You had a favorite nanny?”

  “Didn’t everyone,” she joked. “My father made a lot of money.” She shrugged. “I honestly don’t remember that part of my life.”

  “So your stepsister, Amethyst, is eight years older and your stepbrother is six years older.”

  She nodded. “We aren’t close because of the age difference and probably the fact that we don’t share a parent.”

  He wondered if that was all it was. “And your guardian?” he prompted.

  “Alistair?” She smiled. “He’s in his late sixties. He’s always seemed old and stuffy to me. He wasn’t like a father figure. His job was to make sure I was fed and clothed and educated.”

  “You went to college?”

  “Several universities before I got kicked out.” She stopped eating to look down at her plate. “I was a troubled young woman, he would tell you. Rebellious. I got kicked out of some of the best schools that money could buy.”

  H
e nodded and went back to eating, but his appetite was severely affected. She’d hinted at the wealth she’d grown up with again, but hadn’t come out and told him. He thought of what Billy had read him. Poor little rich girl.

  Joslyn looked up from her plate. “I didn’t care about anything. Until I met you. Then I cared too much.”

  He held her gaze for a long moment, thinking about the two of them in front of the fire last night and what she’d told him. Had she thought by confessing everything that it would wipe out the hurt, the pain, the anger and disappointment he’d felt? When she’d left, he’d thought he would never see her again.

  When he had... She had no idea how much he wanted to trust her. He would love to take up where they’d left off. Last night he’d ached to tear down the wall he’d built between them and carry her upstairs to his bedroom. But he’d known that making love to her wouldn’t erase the pain and all the lies between them.

  “Joslyn—”

  They both turned at the sound of a vehicle pulling up out front. He recognized the sheriff’s patrol car. He reminded himself that the sheriff said he would be bringing her family, but the only person in the patrol car was Sid.

  “I should have told you last night,” he said as his gaze returned to her. She wasn’t the only one keeping secrets, he realized. “The sheriff said that your family was coming up this morning to take you back home.”

  Her amber eyes went wide. “Home? You mean to Seattle? Are you sure it’s Alistair who’s sending for me?”

  “Apparently your doctor wants to take a look at you and make sure you’re all right.” He knew this wasn’t exactly what Sid had told him. But Joslyn looked upset enough without telling her that her guardian had threatened a court order to take her back to a mental facility.

  He pushed away his plate and rose. “Thank you for telling me the truth last night.”

  She didn’t look as if she’d heard as she rose. She looked like a woman who wanted to run.

  “We should see what the sheriff has to say.” Garrett motioned for her to lead the way. She hesitated but only for a moment, looking resigned. That’s how he felt. Resigned to letting her go with her family. He didn’t know where he and Joslyn went from here. Maybe nowhere. The thought was like a knife to his chest.

  They walked out to the front porch as the sheriff got out of his patrol SUV.

  Sid looked from him to Joslyn and back. “Did you tell her?”

  “I told her that her guardian was coming to take her back to her doctor to make sure she was all right.”

  “That’s not all, is it?” she asked Sid, her voice breaking.

  Out of the corner of his eye, Garrett saw the ambulance come around the barn and head for the lodge. Joslyn saw it, too. Panic filled her face. She took a step back, the word no whispered on a surprised breath.

  “Tell me what’s going on,” Garrett said, stepping to her and taking her arm. “You look as if you’ve seen a ghost. Tell me before it’s too late.”

  “It’s already too late,” she said in wide-eyed horror as two attendants climbed from the ambulance and rushed toward her. She met his gaze an instant before they grabbed her. “You’re not safe, Garrett. Don’t trust anyone. No matter what happens, I’ll always be your Joslyn.”

  The attendants grabbed her, pulling her away from him. She looked back at him, tears in her eyes along with terror.

  “Hey, take it easy with her.” He’d thought he could let her go. Now though, he wasn’t so sure. He started down the steps after her, only to have the sheriff restrain him.

  “What’s going on?” he demanded of Sid. “You said they were taking her back, but not like this.”

  “They have a court order to take her,” the sheriff said. “There is nothing you can do.”

  He watched in horror as one of the attendants pulled out a syringe and jabbed the needle in her arm.

  Garrett pulled free of the sheriff’s strong grip only to have Sid step in front of him, blocking his way.

  “I don’t want to have to arrest you,” the sheriff said, keeping his voice down. “They have a court order to take her. Like I said, there is nothing either of us can do. Don’t make me cuff you.”

  “They’re treating her like...” He looked to the sheriff. “She’s not crazy.” But at that moment, he felt as if he was. “We were just eating breakfast. She...” He couldn’t continue as the attendants rolled out a gurney and placed her on it. He could see that the sedative was working. Her knees seemed to buckle as they lifted her onto it.

  Garrett caught her gaze and tried to hold it, needing her to reassure him. But her eyes were unfocused. Whatever they’d given her was about to knock her out.

  “She isn’t who you think she is,” the sheriff said, still restraining him.

  “Joslyn,” he called to her. Her eyes had closed, but she forced them open and looked right at him. For a moment he thought she no longer recognized him. Then, just before the attendants closed the ambulance door, she mouthed two words.

  Help me.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  “DAMN IT, I HAVE to do something,” Garrett swore as he tried to push past the sheriff. The man was stronger than he looked. He heard the click of handcuffs an instant before one was snapped to his wrist.

  “You settle down or I am going to take you in.” Another click.

  Garrett looked down to see that Sid had put the other cuff on his own wrist.

  He let out of a howl of frustration. “You can’t just let them take her. Sid, she doesn’t want to go with them. You saw her reaction. She’s terrified.”

  Sid shook his head. “Like I said, there is nothing I can do. Nothing you can do, either. I told you bringing her up here was a bad idea.”

  He looked to where one ambulance attendant had climbed into the back and was now closing the door. His last glimpse was of her strapped down in the back.

  Garrett’s voice took on an urgent pleading tone. “She told me everything. She really doesn’t remember what happened with the man who tried to kill her on the ridge.” The other attendant slid behind the wheel. He heard the ambulance engine rev and Garrett pulled hard on the handcuff.

  “Listen to me, Garrett,” the sheriff said, waving a hand in front of him to get his attention. “You’ve lost all perspective. You can’t think around this woman. Apparently, she needs medical help or a judge wouldn’t have sent a commitment order.”

  “She needs me,” he argued as the ambulance pulled away. “You saw her when they drove up. She was scared stiff. She came up here with me because she felt safe.”

  “She could have killed you in your sleep and taken off with your pickup.”

  Garrett stared after the ambulance. Sid was wrong. All of this was wrong. He had to do something. He didn’t know what, but his gut told him she was in trouble. Whoever those guys were, whoever had sent them, she shouldn’t have been that terrified. He recalled what she’d said about not knowing whom they had to fear.

  He felt light-headed from the anger, the confusion and a sinking feeling of dread. He kept his gaze on the ambulance, afraid to let it out of his sight.

  “If you interfere with this court order, you’ll get arrested. I don’t want to be the one to lock you up, but I will,” the sheriff said. “Listen, I spoke with Mr. Vanderlin this morning and—”

  “Who the hell is Mr. Vanderlin?” Garrett interrupted as he lost sight of the ambulance, his panic growing.

  “Her guardian and the person who has her power of attorney,” Sid said. “You need to calm down. I hope once you have time to think about this, you’ll—”

  “You know something is wrong with all this,” Garrett argued. “What is she doing with a guardian at her age? She’s not crazy.”

  The sheriff let out a sigh. “It’s confusing and upsetting, especially given your relationship with her. But at least now you know her real name. M
onica Wilmington. I stalled them as long as I could to give you the time with her. I shouldn’t have even done that,” he said. “You aren’t going to like this, but you’re going to have to accept that you don’t know this woman.”

  The sheriff was right about one thing. He had to at least appear calmer or he would end up behind bars. He nodded, pretending to give in.

  * * *

  “WHY DON’T WE go inside and talk,” Sid suggested. Garrett had been staring after the ambulance but now seemed to be resigned that there was nothing he could do. Once inside, he unlocked the handcuffs from their wrists before recounting everything that Alistair Vanderlin had told him about Monica, hoping he could get through to him.

  “Split personality?” Garrett scoffed. “I don’t believe it. No. There is no way she has multiple personalities.”

  “You don’t think Joslyn Charles could have been one of them?”

  The sheriff could see that his question took the wind out of the rancher’s sails. Garrett sat down heavily in one of the lodge’s leather chairs and dropped his head into his hands. “She’s not crazy. The guy’s lying and you have to ask yourself why.”

  “He seemed pretty convincing,” Sid said. “He’s known her a lot longer than you have.” He held up his hands when he saw Garrett’s angry expression. “Just saying, what if you’re wrong and it’s true?”

  “What if it’s not true? What if she’s in trouble? She thinks someone is trying to kill her? Well, I saw that man damn sure try and now two men just took her away in an ambulance after sedating her. What if she never makes it as far as Seattle?”

  “No one but her knows exactly what happened on the side of that mountain and she says she can’t remember. Memory loss is one of the symptoms, according to Alastair and he says—”