A Merry Little Christmas (24 page)

Now it was Warren’s turn to laugh, but it was a loud, hearty one full of real joy. “Well, it’s about time you woke up, Cochran. So when do you plan to let your wife in on this?”

Donnie was saved from replying by the ringing of his cell phone. He pulled it out and saw Angelique’s name on his caller ID. He smiled and answered in his best voice.
“Hi, Angel.
Where are you?”

“This is A.J. and we’re in the emergency room. Angel had an accident.”

Chapter Fourteen

Donnie stood motionless beside Angelique’s bed. Her doctor had assured him it was just a concussion, and that she would be fine, but his heart hadn’t stopped pounding since he got the phone call from A.J. It was a freak accident, that’s all it was; she’d been hit in the head by a deflected hockey puck and knocked unconscious, then rushed to the hospital and subje
cted to every test known to man,
but she would recover. She didn’t look fine to him, she looked little and pale and helpless.
He
felt helpless, watching her sleep. If anything had happened to her... he went cold, absolutely cold at the thought. A nurse came in to take her vital signs and when she picked up Angelique’s slender wrist to take her pulse, Angelique stirred.
 
Her eyelids fluttered and blinked open and she looked at him dazedly. Then her eyes widened and she stared at him for a long moment; she glanced at the nurse and looked around the room, her eyes coming back to rest on Donnie as she looked questioningly at him. Relief rushed through him like a warm flood as he saw her gaze becoming more alert.

“Where am I?”

“You’re in the hospital, Angel. You gave us quite a scare,” he said. “A hockey puck went out of control and bounced off a pillar
and
then it bonked you in the head. You’ve been out for a few hours, but it seems to be a concussion, nothing more serious. You
’ll be able to go home tomorrow;
you just need to get some rest tonight. A little pain reliever and you’ll be fine,” he assured her.

Angelique lay perfectly still during his words. She looked at the nurse, who was still performing her tasks. Then she looked back at Donnie and spoke again. “Are you my doctor?”

The nurse’s eyes got big and she answered before Donnie could say a word.
“
Doctor?
Honey, this is your
husband.
1
"

Angelique sat up straight in the bed wincing a little a she did so. She had a pretty rugged headache, after all. But she smiled at the tall, very handsome man. “You’re my husband? That’s nice. What’s your name?”

In a short while, the doctor was assuring Donnie that Angelique would be fine, that her temporary loss of memory wasn’t unheard of and was far from permanent. “It’s called retrograde amnesia and it can happen after a trauma to
th
e head like the one your wife suffered tonight. It usually goes away in a few hours. We’ll keep her here overnight and you can take her home in the morning.”

“I don’t want to stay here. I want to go home,” Angelique said firmly. She was sitting up now and Donnie was sitting in a chair by the side of the bed. She had taken his hand earlier and showed no signs of letting go. She looked at him with her eyes full of entreaty and repeated her words. “I want to go home with you, right now.” T
urn
ing to the doctor, she asked why she couldn’t leave. “My husband can take care of me. Can’t I leave now, please?”

Dr. Feinstein scratched his chin and looked at the determination on her face. “Well, it would be better if she was here so we could monitor her regularly,” he began. Angelique’s stony expression told anyone who knew her that this was only the calm before the storm. This was the point at which it was always better to compromise than risk a scene, and Donnie recognized the signs.

“Look, Dr. Feinstein, my brother is a physician and my best friend is also. My brother has privileges here, maybe you know him: Andrew Cochran.”

The doctor’s concern fell away from his face. “Of course, I know him. I think it should be fine. As long as you check her regularly and you’re in contact with your brother, there shouldn’t be a problem. I’m going to give you a list of symptoms and if she starts exhibiting any of them, bring her right back in. Actually, the sooner she’s back in familiar surroundings, the sooner her memory will come back. I’ll have the nurse bring in the information,” he told them. After a little more conversation, he left Donnie and Angelique alone in the room.

She smiled at Donnie, a ravishing smile full of trust “Well, I
think
I need to get dressed,” she said, looking down at her dowdy hospital gown. She finally let go of his hand and pushed back the thin sheet and blanket to reveal long, shapely legs, bare up to the hips where the gown had twisted. “Are you going to help me?”

Donnie swallowed hard as he realized the full import of the act. “Why don’t I get your clothes and the nurse and she can help you get dressed” he said quickly.
Fortunately for his sanity, Angelique agreed.

“Okay. Don’t forget to come back for me,” she said cheerfully.

After he got her situated with her clothing, he went out into the hall to wait for her. He took a deep breath and leaned against the wall to steady his nerves. Whatever else it was, life with Angelique was never dull.

***

The doctor had warned Donnie that Angelique might be groggy and disoriented for a few hours and suggested he put her to bed and check her pupils every hour. Dr. Feinstein had obviously never dealt w
ith
someone like Angelique. She was animated all the way home and more interested in the falling snow than her temporary amnesia “That looks so pretty! It looks like Christmas,” she remarked at one point
. 
Donnie finally got her home and into bed, a feat much more complicated than he’d expected. First she had to play with the dogs. She may not have remembered them, but they were still her great champions and they preened and danced
around and played with her to their hearts’ content. She was absolutely delighted with Jordan and Pippen, and rather charmed by the house, which she insisted on touring. Donnie had to demand that she get into bed by threatening a quick return to the hospital. She looked crestfallen, but agreed. Then she complicated matters by asking why her clothes were in the guest room.

It hadn’t occurred to Donnie that she would expect to sleep in the same bed with him, but since she had no recollection of their unorthodox marriage, she thought sharing a bed was perfectly normal. He stammered out something about them redecorating and reorganizing the closets and she seemed to accept it. It seemed a harmless fabrication until she went into title “guest room” and came back with a sheer pink confection in which to sleep.
 
He suggested that she find something warmer, as the Weather Channel was predicting a huge snowstorm for later that night.

“It’s going to get really cold, Angel. You need to have on more than that.”
And I definitely need for you to be covered up.
They compromised with her in one of his old T-shirts, which fit her like a nightshirt. She climbed into bed and looked at him expectantly.

“Aren’t you coming to bed?” she asked sweetly.

“In a little while.
Remember I have to check on you every hour,” he reminded her.

“Okay, well, I’ll stay up with you, I’m not sleepy,” she replied.

“But you need some sleep. Doesn’t your head still hurt?”

She looked a little uncomfortable and admitted that yes, it did. “But I can’t go to sleep unless you’re here with me,” she said doggedly.

She looked so sweet he couldn’t resist any longer and finally agreed to come to bed with her. He always slept in the nude so he had to dig around to find an old pair of shorts and a football jersey for himself; he didn’t own a single pair of pajamas. He slipped under the sheets and was touched and surprised when Angelique slid over next to him like she’d been doing it for years. She cuddled into his side and gave a soft little sigh, then rose up on one elbow and
studied Donnie’s face carefully before
lean
ing
over and kiss
ing
him softly.

“My husband
,
” she murmured and lay down again with her arm around his waist. He returned the embrace, holding her close until she fell asleep.

It was the most tortuous night of Donnie’s life. He was somewhat
prepared
for the interest his body took in hers, but not for its persistence. He was as hard as a rock and the fact that Angelique was extremely affectionate in her sleep was no help at all. She made soft little moans as she was sleeping and rolled over on him so many times, he wasn’t getting any sleep at all. When she wasn’t adjusting her body to his and twisting her hips against his huge erection, she was stroking him and sighing with what was undeniably desire. Having to wake her up every hour on the hour wasn’t a picnic, either.
 
He kept the bedside light on low and had a flashlight next to it. He would gently stroke her face and call her name until her eyes opened. They were
always warm and full of affection until the brilliant light violated her vision. He would then hold up his fingers and ask her how many she saw. After the four o’clock wakening, she smiled sleepily and spoke
to him
softly.

“Sweetheart, may I see that for a minute?”

He handed her the flashlight, which she promptly threw across the room. “Put that thing in my face again and I’ll show you a different finger. Cut it out!” she growled.

Donnie laughed in spite of everything. This was the Angel he knew and loved She would be fine.
He
might not survive if she didn’t keep her hands off him, but she was going to be fine. He drifted off to sleep only to wake up and find her lying completely on top of him without her T-shirt. He tried to slide her off his body but she pressed closer to him and opened her silken thighs a bit, the better to accommodate his body. Sheer panic set in, causing sweat to break out on his brow. This was temptation beyond temptation but he couldn’t give in—it was wrong. How could he even think about making love to her in this condition? She didn’t know who she was, who he really was; she didn’t remember any of the circumstances surrounding their current relationship. His hands stroked the satiny smoothness of her long bare back and he finally had to roll her off him with more force than he would’ve liked. He had no choice: it was that or total surrender.

Incredibly, she didn’t wake up, but turned over onto her back and treated him to his first look at her beautiful breasts, comely brown orbs that were
lusher
than he’d imagined. Her tempting brown nipples were big and erect, begging for his touch. His hands clenched and unclenched on the sheets and he finally threw the covers over her and got out of bed with great difficulty. He limped into the kitchen, stubbing his toes a couple of times as he tried to maneuver through the darkened rooms. Reaching his goal, the refrigerator, he made a makeshift ice pack out of a plastic bag and stifled a groan as he slapped it onto his aching member. His face contorted in pain as he looked down at the traitor and said, “Serves you right. Now maybe you’ll calm down when I tell you to.”

The next morning Angelique was in wonderful spirits. Despite the fact that she still had no recollection whatsoever of her life, she was surprisingly sanguine about it. She had someone who loved her and would take care of her and the doctor said her memory would be back anytime now. In the meantime, she lived in a nice house, she had two lovely dogs that apparently adored her and she had a big, beautiful man as her husband.
 
She sat up in bed, a bit dismayed to find that he’d gotten out of bed before her. She wanted nothing more than to roll over into his arms. Every time she touched him she was bathed in a blazing passion she wanted to explore. She looked around for the T-shirt she’d worn to bed and smiled when she found it tossed on the floor. She’d apparently taken it off during the night, and no wonder: it was hotter than Billy-be-damned in the house. Sliding the shirt over her head, she went in search of the bathroom to take care of a pressing need and brush her teeth thoroughly. She stared at the toothbrushes in the holder and realized she didn’t know which one was hers. She liked the looks of the green one and took it, reasoning that it really didn’t matter since she’d probably shared every bodily fluid possible with her husband. The thought gave her a delicious little shiver. She decided to take a shower, but first she wanted to find Donnie.

She walked down the hall and was accosted by Jordan and Pippen, who were very happy to see her as always. After petting them and telling them what clever boys they were, she ended up in the living room. There was Donnie, stretched out on the sofa and looking really uncomfortable, huddled under a knitted throw. She went over to him and kissed him under his ear. “Wake up, sweetheart. It’s morning.”

His eyes popped open and he smiled at her before wincing in discomfort.

“Why are you out here on the sofa, Donnie? I’ll bet your back feels terrible.
How about a hot shower to get the kinks out?”

He sat up slowly, due to his back’s unnatural position. Swinging his legs down to the floor, he took a good look at Angelique. “You look awfully chipper. How’s that head?”