The Heiress and the Sheriff Read Online Free Page A

head of her bed and stared down at her. The cut on her forehead had been covered by a bandage, but he could see the whole spot had begun to swell and redden. Someone had undressed her and put her into a flimsy hospital gown. He tried not to notice the shape of her bare breast beneath the thin cotton. But it was next to impossible to keep his gaze from dipping to the full roundness pushing against the fabric.
    â€œOr something,” he said, while fighting the odd urge to reach down and brush the tangled hair away from her cheek. He’d been around a lot of pretty women in his thirty-one years—Texas was full of them. But there was something different about this one. Something that, God help him, made him want to protect her.
    â€œI told you I wouldn’t leave. What did the doctor say?” he asked.
    Sighing, her gaze dropped to the sheet spread across her legs. “He said I had a concussion and that I’ll have to stay in here for observation. At least until tomorrow.”
    â€œHave you remembered anything?”
    â€œNo. But he thinks everything will start coming back to me soon.”
    She glanced to the foot of the bed where Matthew was busily scanning her chart. “Who are you?” she asked him.
    He glanced at Wyatt, then to Gabrielle. “I’m—one of the staff doctors here at the hospital.”
    â€œAre you going to be my doctor?”
    He smiled gently at her. “That depends.”
    She motioned to the chart in his hand. “What does that say?”
    â€œIt says you’ve had a trauma to your head. But you’re going to be all right.”
    She looked up at Wyatt and flashed him a crooked smile. “Sorry to disappoint you, Sheriff, but the doc here says I’m going to live.”
    She was obviously trying to be flip and indifferent, but Wyatt didn’t miss the quiver at the corner of her lips. She was as frightened as hell. But whether it was from her loss of memory or because she was up to something, he had no way of knowing.
    He pulled his gaze from hers and glanced at Matthew. “Have you seen enough?”
    â€œYes. I’ve got to start my rounds.” He came to stand by Wyatt and looked down at Gabrielle. “Has your vision cleared any, Miss Carter?”
    Her eyes squinted as she tried to focus on the doctor’s face. “At times it’s clear, and then it gets fuzzy again. Right now you look a little blurred.”
    â€œThat’s understandable.” He slipped a penlight out of his lab coat and shined it in each of her eyes. “I imagine you’ve got quite a headache.”
    â€œThey gave me something down in Emergency. It’s beginning to ease a little.”
    â€œThat’s good.
    She swallowed nervously as her gaze vacillated from one man to the other. “Doctor, what if I don’t remember tomorrow? Is there something you can give me or do to me to make me remember?”
    Matthew patted her shoulder. “Don’t worry about yourmemory, Miss Carter. Just rest and let your body try to heal itself. Right now that’s the best thing you can do.”
    She nodded, and Matthew made a motion to Wyatt that they should leave the room.
    â€œI’ll be back later, Gabrielle,” Wyatt promised. “After I’ve searched your car.”
    He saw her study his face, then deliberately turn her head toward a window to her right. The light coming through the slatted blinds spread a soft glow behind her, and the sight of her tender profile hit a spot smack in the middle of Wyatt’s chest.
    â€œIt’s a cinch you’ll know where to find me ,” she said quietly.
    He cleared his throat while mentally shaking himself. “Just make sure you don’t try to sneak off from this place. I’ll find you wherever you go.”
    Outside in the hallway, Wyatt deliberately put several feet between them and Gabrielle’s door before he questioned his friend. “Well, what do you