Unforgettable

“That was incredible,” Faith murmured

With Faith nestled against his chest, sated after hours of delicious lovemaking, Lex knew what he had to do. This was the moment. He lifted her head, making her look into his eyes. “I need you to remember something. It’s very important, okay?”

“Sure,” she said, obviously perplexed.

“I am in love with you.”

A smile curved her mouth. “I—”

“I’ve been in love with you since the first moment I saw you,” he continued, his voice intense. It was vitally important that she understand him. “I think you are the most remarkable woman I’ve ever met. I look at you and I—” He looked away, trying to find the right words. “I look at you and I melt. Something happens to me in here.” He thumped his chest. “I need you to know it. I need you to remember it.”

Her eyes seemed to mist over and she kissed his cheek. And then she said the words he’d been dreading. “Oh, Nash. I love you, too.”

Dear Reader,

My writing career has finally come full circle. Many, many years ago I submitted my first ever romance novel to Harlequin Temptation—it was called The Lover’s Candle and I’m eternally thankful that it never saw publication. Like me, many authors have books in their past that hold the Worst Book In The History of the World award and we happily use those manuscript pages for rough drafts and doodle paper for the kids. Unforgettable, though, is a book that I’m very proud of.

What happens when an author gets amnesia, then wakes up as the heroine in her wildly popular romantic-suspense books? Chaos of the first order. Especially when she first sets eyes on hunky lodge owner Lex Ellenberg and decides he’s her hero. Only, little does she realize that Lex is about to show her what being a real hero is all about….

I hope you will enjoy Faith and Lex’s story. I had a blast writing it. For more information on past and upcoming books, be sure to check out my Web site, www.booksbyrhondanelson.com.

Happy reading,

Rhonda Nelson

Books by Rhonda Nelson

HARLEQUIN BLAZE

75—JUST TOYING AROUND…

81—SHOW & TELL

115—PICTURE ME SEXY

Unforgettable

Rhonda Nelson

www.millsandboon.co.uk

You may have tangible wealth untold;

Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.

Richer than I you can never be—

I had a mother who read to me.

—Strickland Gillilan

This book is dedicated to my mother, Hope Whitley.

Thanks, Mom, for sharing your love of the written word, for telling me stories and fueling my imagination.

For being a champion, a friend and confidante.

Bun love Mom.

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Epilogue

1

“WHOSE IDEA WAS THIS again?”

“Yours,” Trudy said drolly.

Faith Bonner bit her bottom lip, glanced at the passing scenery as they wound their way higher and higher up into the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. Despite the glorious display of fall color, a tremor of trepidation shook her tummy. “Well, it was a bad one,” she said grimly.

Her assistant expelled a small breath. “No, it wasn’t—it was brilliant.” Smiling, she nudged Faith’s shoulder. “You just need to relax. That was the purpose of coming up early, remember? I’m going to finalize all the arrangements for the To Catch a Thief event—which is going to be spectacular, by the way,” Trudy said excitedly. “And you’re going to rest.”

That would be a neat trick, Faith thought, since her muscles were practically atrophied with stress. What the hell had she been thinking? Honestly, they could have hosted this publicity event in any number of fine hotels in Nashville, or any other large city, for that matter. Not in the wilds of east Tennessee, where signs like Do Not Feed Bears Under Penalty of Law were posted every several hundred feet.

While Faith appreciated nature, she nonetheless preferred her creature comforts. By all accounts, Oak Crest Lodge—their ultimate destination—had every necessary amenity, but Faith couldn’t help but be a little nervous this far removed from true civilization. While she wasn’t precisely a dyed-in-the-wool city girl, she still hadn’t had a single camping/hiking/kayaking outdoor adventure that hadn’t ended in disaster. Broken bones, snake bites, poison oak…You name it, it had most likely happened to her. She was a graceless klutz and had long ago accepted that unflattering truth about herself.

To make matters worse, she’d been attacked by a small dog as a child—a Chihuahua, for pity’s sake—but the experience had been nothing short of traumatic and had left her ridiculously terrified of most animals—particularly ones with teeth. Faith’s worried gaze scoured the tree line and she fidgeted in her seat. The idea that wild creatures with huge, glistening incisors roamed in these beautiful woods scared the living daylights out of her, made her stomach twist with an oh-hell kind of dread.

Trudy negotiated a hairpin turn. “I don’t know why you’re so worried about this, Faith,” she chided gently. “It’s not like you don’t know what you’re doing. Hell, you know the character—you’ve been writing the Zoe Wilder books for years—and you wrote the mini-mystery for this weekend. Why are you so freaked?”

Faith summoned a droll smile. “Oh, I don’t know. I guess the idea of making a complete fool of myself is a little intimidating.”

Trudy huffed an exasperated sigh. “You’re not going to make a fool of yourself. First of all, no one but you will know if you screw up. And secondly, the fans are going to be so excited about being a part of this that nothing else will matter.”

Faith had her doubts about that. She knew her readers expected her to be every bit as bold and brash, as hot and sexy as the heroine—Zoe Wilder—in her wildly popular romantic adventure books. Faith resisted the urge to snort. She and Zoe were polar opposites, couldn’t be any more different. Faith had purposely given Zoe every trait she’d like to possess but, sadly, didn’t.

Instead, she lived out her dreams vicariously through her audacious, chic, savvy gun-toting heroine. Through her books, she was beautiful, she was brave and fearless, charming, witty and sexy. She wore too-tight too-short skirts, a push-up bra and red lipstick. And, when taking care of the bad guys hadn’t been enough—when Faith had found herself miserably lonely—she’d given Zoe Nash—a badass to end all badasses, a to-die-for heartthrob whose melting smile was so hot it could make an orchid bloom in an arctic frost.

She’d also made him the best lover in the northern hemisphere and she couldn’t write a love scene between the two during which she didn’t have an overwhelming orgasm. She repressed a delicate shiver.

In fact, though she’d never risk the psych ward by admitting this to anyone, Faith feared that the fictitious Nash Austin—a total figment of her imagination—had ruined her for any living male. Now how pathetic was that? She’d fallen in love with a character, a person who existed only on paper and in her mind.

Furthermore, she’d made him so damn good that no real guy could ever compare. Or at least if one did, Faith had yet to find him. If someday hell froze over and he did happen along her path, Faith knew he wouldn’t be the type to be interested in her.

Men like that—or any man, for that matter—rarely gave her a second glance.

Regrettably, she seemed to blend in, like a part of the scenery.

Most of the time, Faith preferred being unremarkable. She liked order—her childhood had provided enough chaos, thank you very much—and moved through her daily routine without any glitches. She got up every morning, ran a couple of miles, came home, showered, ate breakfast, then sat down at her computer and worked on her work-in-progress until her belly rumbled. She’d eat lunch, then work until another hunger pain struck, heralding the end of that day in front of the computer.

Occasionally the routine would vary—she’d go wild and use her laptop—but for the most part, one day looked the same as another. She liked it that way. She really did. There was a strange sort of comfort in the monotony.

Until a new book came out—then things went to hell in a handbasket.

Faith had a new release every September, spent that entire month as well as the two following on tour to promote the book. She enjoyed meeting her readers, hearing their thoughts about her books, and she liked seeing new cities—but she hated the interviews and she hated when perceptive readers realized that her whole I’m-just-like-Zoe act was just that—an act. She swallowed, felt a smile tug at her lips as she watched a couple of squirrels argue over an acorn. No amount of success, no amount of money made up for those momentary feelings of inadequacy.

This year, she’d decided to offer something a little different—a To Catch a Thief contest—in which ten lucky fans got to spend the weekend with her and solve a mystery. Faith had run the idea past the powers that be at her publishing house, and they’d loved it. Once she’d gotten the official go-ahead, she and Trudy had designed a whodunit mystery and assigned each winner a specific character. Dossiers with instructions and a list of suspects had been sent to each guest. They would all arrive in character, ready to play.

Faith would play the part of Zoe, of course. One of the perks of being the author, she thought. Trudy was right on one score—Faith knew Zoe Wilder better than she knew herself, and to be brutally honest, she’d been equally thrilled and intimidated by the idea. A rogue wave of excitement bubbled through her, then was washed away by a monsoon of dread.

She was literally going to step into the spiked heels of her kick-ass heroine.

And if she could get over the fear of making a complete and total fool of herself, she’d think it was cool.

“Okay,” Trudy said, and from the brisk tone of her voice, she was gearing up for another verbal checklist. “Let’s run over things once more, just to make sure that we’re covered.”

Faith suppressed a small smile. “Okay.”

“Do you have a copy of the character dossiers?”

“Check.”

“The winners list and accompanying information?”

“Check.”

“A master copy of the mystery?”

Faith nodded. “Check.”

“Your ‘Zoe’ wardrobe?”

“Check,” Faith told her.

In fact, she’d shocked the crap out of her personal shopper at the local mall. Faith’s tastes tended to lean toward soft neutrals and earth tones—her closet was a sad sea of beiges, browns and rusts. Adding Zoe’s bright, slinky wardrobe had been like adding a tie-dyed T-shirt to a rack of tan turtlenecks. She’d undoubtedly look ridiculous, Faith thought—she’d gotten a wee bit carried away with sequins—but then who wouldn’t? All the characters had been exaggerated, so she wouldn’t be the only one who looked as if she’d just stepped out of a mental hospital.

She’d even gone by a local spy shop and picked up a few handy little gadgets, as well as a convincing-looking piece, though the only way she could defend herself with that gun would be to conk someone over the head with it.

“And John will be here Friday?”

“Right, and he’s outfitted as well for his part.”

Trudy chuckled. “I can’t wait to see that.”

“Me either,” Faith replied with a reluctant smile. Her editor, John Wallace, would play the part of Nash. Faith’s lips quirked. He resembled her hunky Nash about as much as she resembled Zoe, so they were even on that score. Faith heaved a small sigh.

Bears, bobcats and big scary teeth aside, she didn’t doubt for a moment that the whole experience would be exciting. Though she was anxious, she still looked forward to stepping into her alter ego’s shoes, at least for a little while. Of course, she would look forward to it more if she could shake this curious sense of foreboding. For reasons that escaped her, she felt…weird. Braced. Just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Which was ridiculous, when she had Type-A Trudy along. Faith cast her good friend and assistant a covert sidelong glance.

Trudy—while she had to be one of the most melodramatic people Faith had ever known—was profoundly efficient. Trudy wouldn’t stand for any sort of chaos, any flaw, any wrinkle. She was a short, spunky dynamo in pumps, and could bark orders better than a drill sergeant when the need arose.

She was worrying needlessly, Faith decided, forcing the tension from her limbs. Everything would be fine.

“Well, I think that covers everything,” Trudy finally said, having deemed them suitably prepared. “This is going to be fantastic. You’ll be fantastic.” Her lips curled in a knowing little grin. “You’re more like Zoe than you think, you know.”

Faith grunted, directed her gaze out the window. Not hardly, but she wasn’t going to waste her breath arguing the point.

After what felt like several more miles up the winding mountain, past beautiful vistas and rocky meandering streams, Trudy pulled the SUV through a stacked-stone-and-cedar arch that bore the name Oak Crest Lodge. “Ah, we’re here,” she said needlessly.

The large A-frame stacked-stone-and-cedar building blended in so seamlessly with the surroundings it gave the impression of sprouting from the ground, much as the trees did. Colorful leaves dotted the roof, lined the gutters and spilled over the long, weather-beaten front porch. Mossy patches and mushrooms grew along the foundation, crept up through the fissures in the broken rock.

Potted ferns and mums in varying fall shades were planted in old washtubs, barrels and watering cans, and sat in no particular order on the porch. Grapevine wreaths graced the huge, rounded, rough-cut cedar doors.

Faith undid her seat belt as the SUV rolled to a stop, and quietly considered the place. A funny feeling, not easily read, tingled in her chest, making her shift in her seat. Beside her, Trudy rambled excitedly.

Though she’d never been here before in her life and this lodge didn’t remotely resemble her modern, two-story brick home back in trendy Brentwood, Faith had the strangest feeling of homecoming, for lack of a better description. That same feeling one got when seeing an old, treasured, but seldom-seen friend.

Which was equally impossible and insane.

Though she’d led a nomadic life during her childhood—her late parents had thought moving was a grand adventure and never stayed in one place long enough to put down roots—Faith knew they’d never traveled to this part of the state, much less stayed at this particular lodge. Honestly, Faith thought. What was wrong with her today?

Feeling ridiculous and out of sorts, she shook the feeling off, got out of the car and stretched. Her muscles had bunched in the small of her back, and her legs felt like lead.

“God, isn’t this the most beautiful place you’ve ever seen?” Trudy enthused, her voice high-pitched with wonder. “The pictures simply didn’t do it justice.” She threw her head back and drew in a deep breath. “Oh, the air is so crisp and clean. This is simply fantastic.”

Faith had to agree. It was spectacular. The overall mood of the place seemed cozy and warm. A little careworn here and there, needing a little TLC, Faith decided, eyeing the full gutters. Still, she was instantly enchanted. The place just inspired—

A flash of something big and black caught her eye, making her pause, midstretch. That cloak of foreboding she hadn’t been able to shake tightened imperceptibly around her throat, and a skitter of alarm whispered over her nape, making her scalp prickle.

Faith slowly turned and in the nanosecond it took for her brain to assimilate just exactly what she was looking at—what horrifying monstrosity was barreling toward her at breakneck, slobber-spewing speed—her muscles froze with terror, locking her in place. She could barely draw a breath, much less move.

So she screamed.

Then fainted.

2

LEX ELLENBURG’S HEAD jerked up as an earsplitting scream suddenly rent the air. Oh, hell. Not Pooh again, Lex thought as a ball of dread ricocheted around his abdomen. Not Pooh, dammit. He didn’t have time to deal with another lecture from the park rangers—he had too many other pressing problems to deal with.

Like keeping his fledgling lodge afloat.

He buried the ax into a log and raced to the front of the building. The young bear had been coming around a lot more lately and, while most of his guests were regulars and knew of Pooh’s penchant for wandering about the lodge grounds, there was always a newbie who would see him and squeal like a wounded hog.

Then report him.

While Lex believed Pooh too tame to be a real threat to anyone, he was still a wild animal and animals could always be unpredictable. Lex snorted. Like women.

He rounded the corner and breathed a palpable sigh of relief. Not Pooh, thank God. Only Beano. Granted, the giant black lab had pinned a small woman to the ground, but she clearly wasn’t in any danger of being mauled to death. Lex’s lips twisted. The worst Beano could do was drown her in doggy drool. Still, his dog knocking guests to the ground couldn’t be good for business.

“Beano!” Lex bellowed sharply. “Off!”

“Off!” cried another woman, this one desperately trying to haul the giant dog off her friend. She might as well be trying to move a mountain with a spoon, for all the good it was doing. “Get off her, you great ox!” When she spied Lex, her face wilted with relief. “Thank God. Call him off. Get him off her!”

Tongue lolling out of the side of his mouth, Beano turned his soulful dark brown eyes toward Lex and seemed to say, “Look what I found. A new toy.”

It was at that precise moment that Lex realized the woman on the ground seemed unnaturally still. She made no effort to shove the dog from her chest, and she wasn’t screaming. Not a good sign. He mentally swore and a whole new kind of tension tightened his spine.

Pulse hammering in his ears, Lex rushed to her side, dropped to his knees, shoved the dog off her chest—“Off, dammit!”—and checked for any visible injuries. The worried friend crouched beside him, took the woman’s hand and gently shook it. “Faith? Faith? Oh, Faith!” she cried.

No blood, thank God, Lex thought, though he was still far from relieved. He ran his hands over her limbs, checking for any broken bones, then picked up her small wrist and checked her pulse. The strong beat throbbing beneath his fingertips marginally alleviated some of the dread.

He looked up. “Did she hit her head when the dog knocked her down?”

“Faith? Oh, come on, Faith,” the friend pleaded desperately, gently nudging the unconscious woman. Worry wrinkled her brow. “I don’t know,” she said, clearly agitated. “I was on the other side of the car. But the dog didn’t knock her down. She fainted before he got to her.”

Startled, Lex frowned. “Fainted?”

“She was attacked by a dog when she was a child,” she said defensively, casting him an annoyed glare. She gestured irritably at Beano. “I’m sure he’s probably harmless, but he charged her like a bull, for heaven’s sake. That animal will have to be put up while we’re here.” She scowled and didn’t appear to like the idea, but seemed resolved nonetheless.

Though he couldn’t possibly understand what had been said, Beano whimpered, trotted over and buried his wet nose in Lex’s neck.

“Go on,” Lex told him, giving him an affectionate push. “I’ll deal with you later,” he said, exasperated. Damn dog. He didn’t need this, and he didn’t want to put up his dog, but under the circumstances, he didn’t see where he would be left with much choice.

“Let’s get her inside.” He carefully lifted her in his arms and, despite the tension gathered in every muscle, couldn’t help but notice that her slight frame had all the right curves, in all the right places. She felt…nice against him, soft and womanly. Her scent, something light and floral—daisies maybe?—drifted up and teased his nostrils. She had a smooth heart-shaped face, a lightly freckled button nose and a dainty chin, which would have made her simply cute…but when one factored in that full, ripe mouth, she became downright beautiful. Soft-as-silk fawn-colored curls bobbed over his arm with every step he took, and to Lex’s unending astonishment, his blood simmered, igniting a pilot light in his groin.

He swallowed a bark of self-deprecating laughter. Which just went to show just how desperately he needed to get laid.

Hell, he hadn’t had the time, much less the energy. Keeping the lodge in the black, practicing creative finance—which he’d become so adept at in recent months he should qualify for a damned Ph.D.—and constantly maintaining the building hadn’t left him with so much as a morning to sleep in, much less time to find a woman willing to indulge in a little recreational sex.

His gaze dropped to the woman in his arms and a muscle ticked in his tense jaw. Clearly, if he had sunk to lusting over unconscious females, it was time to remedy that problem.

But there was something altogether intriguing about this particular woman, Lex thought, as his gaze inexplicably lingered on her gorgeous face far longer than it should have under the circumstances—she was unconscious, after all. It didn’t stop his chest from unexpectedly tightening, nor did it account for his suddenly galloping heart. He blinked, unsettled, and forced himself to look away, to focus on getting her inside the building.

The friend hurried forward and opened the door to the lodge. Lex muttered his thanks, crossed the threshold and made his way over to one of the big leather sofas positioned in front of the fireplace. He gingerly deposited his bundle on the couch and, to his vast relief, she finally stirred. She’d been as limp as a rag doll while he’d brought her in.

The mystery woman’s lids fluttered, then opened, revealing a pair of huge, heavily lashed, light brown eyes. They were the color of melted caramel, Lex thought, swallowing past a curious knot in his throat. That bizarre tourniquet around his chest tightened, pushing the butterflies in his belly farther behind his navel. He went momentarily deaf while staring into those utterly captivating eyes—couldn’t hear a single sound—and the sensation left him feeling more than a little disturbed.

Her brow wrinkled and a wondering, gorgeous smile bloomed across her oh-so-sexy lips. He felt that smile clear to his toes, most particularly behind his zipper. “Nash?” she breathed reverently.

The friend eagerly bumped him aside. “Faith! Oh, thank God! Are you all right? Are you hurt?”

Nash? Lex wondered, bewildered. Who the hell was Nash?

Confusion filled Faith’s eyes, lined her forehead. She gazed back and forth between them, then inhaled sharply, closed her eyes and groaned. “I—What—Oh, God.”

“The dog charged you,” the friend explained, “but Mr.—” She shot him a questioning glance.

“Ellenburg,” Lex supplied, still bewildered by his intense reaction to her.

“Mr. Ellenburg has assured me that the animal will be put up for the duration of our stay.”

The look she gave him dared him to argue and, though he knew it was unreasonable, he would like nothing better than to argue. Lex didn’t want to put up his dog, dammit—he’d be miserable. Furthermore, Beano was harmless and it seemed wholly unfair to punish him for the sins of another animal.