He felt sostrange.If he could only think past this damnable sore head.
“Don’t badger him, my love.”The English rose placed a restraining hand on the man’s bulging bicep.
“Yes,” agreed the doctor, slapping his thighs before rising to begin packing up his black leather medical case.“Best to let him recover at his own pace, with as little disturbance as possible until the headache subsides.I can leave you with a draught for the pain, if you like?—”
“He doesn’t know me,” the dark-haired beauty blurted out, her voice high and thin.
Every head swiveled to face her, then all eyes immediately darted to Gabriel, who felt his mouth set in a stubborn line.“Should I?I’m afraid I don’t know any of you.”
Pandemonium.
The doctor reopened his medical bag with some excitement, intent on examining Gabriel more closely, while the couple made shocked noises and watched the dark-haired girl closely, as though she might be about to let fly with another startling revelation at any moment.
“What do you remember?”the doctor asked, peering into Gabriel’s eyes.“Do you know who you are?”
“Gabriel Lucien Wolverton de Vere, Duke of Thornecliff,” he recited automatically.
“Pleased to make your acquaintance, Your Grace.I am Dr.Francis Perry.A few more questions to establish mental competency: Can you please tell me the date?”
Such a basic, simple question, but the answer seemed to evaporate into mist when Gabriel reached for it.“Not…with any degree of certainty,” he said, feeling stupid and hating it.
“The year, even?”the doctor probed.
Gabriel’s head throbbed.“Eighteen…thirteen?”
He didn’t mean for it to be a question, or a particularly thrilling answer, but beside him the dark-haired girl took a sharp breath.
Gaze flying to her, he saw her cover her trembling lips with the hand not currently being held in a death grip by his increasingly tense fingers.
“Is that not correct?”he said hoarsely.Gabriel glanced about the silent sitting room at the others.
“The year is eighteen twenty-six,” the mountain rumbled.
Gabriel felt his stomach roll as if he’d had too much brandy.“It can’t be.”
But he sensed that it was the truth.On a certain level, it even made sense of some of the strangeness that had been assaulting him since he awoke.For instance, his body—sore and battered as it was—was not the body of a teenaged boy.And he didn’tfeelyoung.
Gabriel knew instinctively that he was a fully grown man…he just had no memory of becoming one.
Reeling, he looked back to the dark-haired woman.He didn’t know what he was hoping for—some reassurance?Answers about why this was happening?A comprehensive accounting of everything that had happened in the past ten plus years?
But she only stared down at him as though she barely comprehended more than he.Her midnight-blue eyes glittered, sheened with tears she would not let fall.Absurdly, Gabriel felt the urge to reach up and brush her cheeks.To comfort her.
“Fascinating,” the doctor was gushing, “simply fascinating.Amnesia!I’ve heard of cases of memory loss but I’ve never encountered one in my own practice.”
“Amnesia,” the dark-haired beauty echoed.“But it’s only temporary, surely.His memory will return?When his injury heals?”
“Possibly, possibly,” said Dr.Perry, rubbing his hands.“I shall have to do some research, but my understanding is that sometimes the memory returns when the swelling of the head goes down, and sometimes it does not.We will have to see how the patient progresses!Well, that settles it!The Duke of Thornecliff will accompany me back to my surgery, as I was discussing earlier with Your Graces.”
He nodded to the mountain and the English rose, evidently a duke and duchess in their own right, and Gabriel felt the already untenable situation spiraling even further out of control.
But before he could protest, the dark-haired beauty said, “No.I don’t want him to go.”
Gabriel’s chest filled with warmth.He shot her a grateful look, even as the mountain-sized duke growled, “I think perhaps it would be for the best.”
The authoritative note in his deep voice made Gabriel bristle.It reminded him unpleasantly of his Uncle Roman’s laying-down-the-law tone, but this duke was not Gabriel’s guardian and mentor.
Gabriel didn’t know who this man was or why he felt free to give Gabriel orders, but he didn’t like it.
