He fisted his hands. Thats impossible. I just saw my wife. His harsh voice blazed with accusations. She was dead.
I knowI saw the news, Caitlin whispered. That woman.my look-alike Her voice broke with emotions. That was my sister, Nora.
He shook his head in disbelief. Youre twins? His nails scraped the wooden desk as he stood, sending a chill down her spine. If you are Caitlin, where have you been?
She wet her lips, her legs threatening to buckle. In the hospital.
Tension rattled in the air between them. His breath rasped out. Or maybe it was hers. She wasnt sure.
His pained expression mirrored her own anguish, bringing reality crashing back. She was so confused. Why in Gods name was this happening?
A dizzy spell swept over her, along with exhaustion and the remnants of her harrowing escape. The room spun as she fumbled for something to hold on to.
If she were Caitlin and had been married to this man, why didnt she remember him?
REELING WITH SHOCK, Miles captured the woman in his arms to keep her from slithering to the floor. She shivered against him, and he cradled her closer, uncertain whether to kiss her or shake the hell out of her until she admitted the truth about her identity and where shed been. Was she really Caitlin? And if so, if she had a twin, why hadnt she told him? What hospital had she been in? Hed searched across the Southern states and no one had listed her as a patient.
She whimpered, and he skimmed her face. Whoever she was, something had happened to her. She was suffering from fatigue and malnourishment.
Her hipbones pressed into his thighs as if shed lost weight, her long dark hair was matted, and her damp clothes clung to her as if shed been walking through the sleet for days. And those long black lashes that fluttered over her creamy skin glistened with tears.
Although confused as hell, he whispered nonsensical words to comfort her. All lies. He had no idea how things would be okay. A woman hed thought to be his wife lay dead in the morgue, while he held a carbon copy of her in his arms.
Almost subconsciously, he stroked her back, memorizing her body, searching for some clue that this woman was his wife. That his prayers had been answered and that shed come back to him alive. That the woman hed found lying murdered in the creek with lilies floating around her naked body had been someone else. Her look-alike.
Too many unanswered questions clamored in his head, waiting for answers. Hed fallen for Caitlins act the first go-around. This time, he wouldnt accept anything at face value. Not even her name.
Her slender body convulsed against his. Youre freezing and in shock, he said. Let me take you to the hospital.
No! She jerked away and huddled against the wall. Please. Dont make me go back there.
He froze, studying her irrational response. Those pale green eyes that had once glowed with passion for him now looked glazed, terrified. But you need medical care, you
I wont go back. Her teeth chattered and her expression
flared into the wild-eyed look of a mad woman. The panic in her tone suggested she would run if he didnt stop her.
Then hed never get the answers he needed.
She swayed and bumped into the wall, then her head lolled back and her legs buckled. He caught her just before she hit the floor.
His heart pounding, he swung her into his arms, then cradled her to him and hurried to his truck. He cranked up the heat to warm her as he drove up the mountain to his cabin.
Inside, he lay her on his bed and stripped her soggy clothes, the tremors in her body alerting him to the fact that she might be suffering from exposure. On the ride to his cabin, she had stirred, but was disoriented. Shed mumbled something about being locked up, held against her will, drugged out of her mind. But had she taken the drugs first, then slipped into an alternate reality, or were her ramblings evidence of a real-life nightmare?
The sight of her skin so pale, the small bruises on her wrists, ankles and around her waist, shook him to the core. There were needle marks on her arms, too, that resembled track marks.
Caitlin had not been a drug addict. Shed barely even drunk alcohol. At least not until the last week of their short marriage when shed clung to that bottle of scotch like a lifeline.
What was going on? Had she decided to experiment and wound up in trouble? Had she become addicted and fallen in with some shady characters? Had she been kidnapped and drugged against her will? Was she Caitlin, and the dead woman her sister?
He wrapped a blanket around her, easing it over her arms, and forced her to sip some water. She barely opened her eyes, took a small sip, then collapsed again. His protective instincts kicked in, the guilt hed harbored the last few weeks returning full force. Had their argument that last night started the wheels in motion that had caused her to end up like this?
He paused, gripping the bed. Did he really believe she was Caitlin? Hed seen the dead woman with his very own eyes. She looked like his wife. But so did this woman.