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lined his brow as he looked down at her, worry and relief paramount in his gaze. He smelled of smoke and he had dirt on his face. Smudged with soot and crumpled, his white T-shirt looked as if he’d pulled it out of the “to be bleached” pile of laundry.
    “You look about as bad as I feel,” she croaked out.
    The corner of his lips tilted in amusement and his teal green eyes twinkled. “You must not be too bad off then, or do you always wake up handing out compliments?”
    She managed a smile. “I’m not a morning person. That’s for sure. Uh, is it morning?” she asked, confused once again.
    “No, it’s almost midnight. But as far as your comment on not being a morning person,” he paused and ran his thumb down her jaw, his gaze following its path as he finished in a husky tone, “I’ll keep that in mind.”
    “Where am I? What happened?”
    Josh’s brows drew together and he took her hand. “You don’t remember what happened?”
    Her heart thudded against her chest and her stomach tensed that she couldn’t recall how she got there or why her head hurt so damn bad. His warm hand on hers helped calm her frazzled nerves. At least the fuzzy feeling spreading from his contact with her hand to the rest of her body was comforting.
    “Why were you so late?” she asked, trying to remember when he finally showed up at Elise’s house. Staring at his tousled hair and five o’clock shadow on his sexy jaw, she wondered how the hell she could forget him finally putting in an appearance.
    “Sabrina, Josh saved your life.” Nan’s upbeat voice came from the other side of the bed.
    She turned her head as Nan entered her room. Taking in the sparsely decorated room, the IV pole, the hard twin bed she was residing in and the cotton gown with a blue floral print on her body, Sabrina realized she was in a hospital.
    Nan patted her other hand then picked it up and squeezed it. “I’m so thankful you’re okay. When I got back and saw all the fire trucks—”
    “Fire trucks?” Sabrina interrupted, her voice raising an octave as panic started to take over. “What fire trucks?” Even as she asked, she realized the mention of the fire trucks explained Josh’s bedraggled appearance.
    “The stables were on fire and you were unconscious inside,” Josh explained.
    “Oh my God,” Sabrina said as she raised a trembling hand to her mouth in horror, afraid to ask. But she needed to know. “The horses?”
    “Are fine, my dear,” Nan answered with a calming smile.
    “What do you remember?” Josh asked, his question urgent.
    Sabrina met his intense gaze, frustrated that she couldn’t recall. “I waited for you to come to…to tell you that Elise had to go out of town suddenly.” She furrowed her brow, hoping the rest would come back to her.
    Nan took her hand back and squeezed it, concern on her lined face as she glanced at Josh. “I know you’re rattled, Sabrina. What else do you remember?”
    “All I remember was hearing a sound and walking outside to see what caused it. And…and…” She struggled, trying to remember. Fear slammed into her and she blurted out, “I do remember someone or something hitting me in the back of the head but…but who and how, I just don’t know.”
    “You don’t remember anything else?” Josh asked her, his expression insistent as he came around to stand beside Nan.
    She slowly shook her head. “No, I’m sorry. That’s all I remember.”
    Josh gave a heavy sigh. Then he said to Nan, “The doc won’t let her talk to the police until he’s checked her out himself.”
    “The police?”
    Josh nodded. “I stopped by to apologize to Elise for missing our appointment when I saw the smoke coming out of the stables.”
    He met her gaze, his serious, concerned. “Here are the facts as I know them for now. The stables were on fire and the doors were locked from the outside. You were inside the stables and you have a knot on your head as if you were hit from behind. We’re not