New York Times Bestselling Author

Chapter One

“Jase, please don’t do this.”

“I’ve told you a million times not to call me that. My name is Jason. You’re so stupid.”

Jack held very still. He didn’t know where he was, who was talking, or why his head hurt so badly. He also wasn’t sure why he didn’t just sit up and open his eyes to find out what was going on…but something deep down inside told him to wait. To listen.

“Sorry.”

“You’re doing this, Maisy. I don’t want to hear any more about it. And if you don’t…”

The man’s voice trailed off, and even though Jack didn’t know either of them, he didn’t like the implied threat.

He probably should’ve kept his eyes shut, but he couldn’t stay silent any longer. He didn’t like the way the man was treating the woman.

Shifting on the bed, he opened his eyes. Or tried to. The light in the room was extremely bright, and he winced and immediately closed his eyelids once more.

“He’s waking up!” the woman exclaimed.

Jack braced against the pain of a killer headache, and when it subsided slightly, he risked opening his eyes once more. This time going slower and squinting. Everything was blurry as he struggled to sit up.

He felt a hand tug on his arm and resisted the urge to sigh. It was her. The woman with the soft voice. Given the size of her hand, it wasn’t as if she could actually move him, but Jack did his best to sit up on the bed anyway. Wanting to see the face that went with the soothing voice, Jack turned his head to look at her.

His breath hitched.

Her light brown hair was tussled and, to his untrained eye, looked as if it needed a trim. She had spots of deep pink on her cheeks and her chestnut-brown eyes met his without hesitation. She was a bit too thin, but he still thought she was very pretty.

“Easy,” she said in that melodic voice.

“Glad to see you awake,” the man said. His voice grated on Jack’s nerves. His eyes had adjusted to the light and he glanced at the man, instinctively knowing he was the one in the room he needed to be concerned about.

“Do I know you?” Jack asked a little gruffly. He felt off-kilter, his head was throbbing, and he had no idea where he was.

“Name’s Jason Feldman.”

The man didn’t hold out a hand for Jack to shake, and it felt as if the guy was assessing the situation, being careful not to say too much too soon. How he knew that, Jack had no idea. Bringing a hand up, he massaged his temple, attempting to alleviate the radiating pain in his head. “Where am I? What happened?”

“What do you mean, what happened?” asked the woman—who Jack remembered had been called Maisy. She was hovering next to the bed, looking at him in concern. He liked that. A lot. Had he ever had anyone seem that concerned about him before?

But at the simple question, his mind blanked. He wasn’t sure what he meant. He looked into Maisy’s eyes. “I don’t know.”

“What don’t you know?” she asked gently.

“Anything,” Jack blurted. “I mean…I know my name is Jack, but that’s about it. Why does my head hurt? Where am I? Who are you? What happened to me?”

An almost delighted snort sounded from Jason on the other side of the bed, and Jack quickly turned his attention to him.

“Sorry, I just…I didn’t expect this,” the man said.

Jack’s eyes narrowed as he took him in. If he wasn’t mistaken, the man was trying to hold back a smile. But that couldn’t be right. Why would he be happy that Jack couldn’t remember anything?

“As I said, my name’s Jason Feldman. You’re at my house in Seattle, Washington. You were in an accident and hit your head.” He nodded to the woman. “That’s my sister, Maisy. And you’re Jack Smith—my brother-in-law.”

Jack’s head spun. The only thing sticking him was the brother-in-law thing. That meant…

He turned to look back at Maisy.

She was staring at her brother with what Jack could only call a stricken expression on her face. But that emotion wiped clean when she looked down at him.

“Hi,” she said weirdly.

“We’re married? You’re my wife?” Jack blurted, frantically searching his mind for the tiniest memory of this woman…and coming up blank.

But instead of Maisy answering, it was her brother who said, “Of course she is. You two have been married for a couple years. You were out hiking together and you fell. Were out for hours. The doctor said you’d be fine, but we’ve been extremely worried…you don’t remember anything?”

Jack slowly shook his head. Everything was a complete blank. His breathing sped up as alarm spread through his body. But then he felt a light touch on his arm. Maisy.

“It’s okay…you’re okay,” she said urgently.

“Well, shit. Guess that means the vow renewal ceremony you’ve been planning is off,” Jason said.

Maisy bit her lip as her head shot up and she stared at her brother.

“What?” Jack asked.

“You two lovebirds were planning to renew your vows. The ceremony was supposed to be this weekend. Then you got hurt. And my darling sister, who’s spent a ton of time working on the details, was so excited. I guess we’ll have to postpone…although we could simply downsize things. Instead of the hundred guests Maisy invited, we could do a smaller ceremony, stick to just family.”

“Jase,” Maisy protested weakly.

“Jason,” he corrected immediately. He looked down at Jack. “She can never remember that I hate that stupid nickname from childhood.”

“Maybe we should give him time to get his memory back,” Maisy suggested.

“Are you going to stand there and tell me that you don’t want to do this?” Jason asked his sister.

Jack could feel tension in the air between the siblings, but he couldn’t begin to understand why.

Jason didn’t give Maisy time to respond before continuing. “You two love each other more than any couple I’ve ever met. You were both so excited about this. We’ll scale it down. I’ve got a friend who’s ordained, we can bring him in. It’s your new start. You know Mom and Dad would want this.”

The color leeched from Maisy’s face at the mention of her parents.

Frustration swam through Jack. He hated not knowing what was going on.

“Our folks died in a carjacking years ago. Maisy was their baby. Spoiled rotten. She was lost without them. Had to drop out of high school because she couldn’t handle losing them. I moved back here to the family home to help her out, and we’ve been here ever since.”

“How long have we been married?” Jack asked Maisy in a gentle tone. He felt terrible for her. He didn’t know if his own parents were still alive or not, but he imagined losing your parents had to be awful, and if it happened while you were a minor, it must be even worse.

But again, her brother answered for her. “Only about two years, and things were rough between you for a while, but they’ve been a lot better recently. So you guys decided to recommit yourselves to each other. Hence the renewal of vows ceremony.”

Nothing Jason said rang a bell within Jack. In fact, it felt…wrong. If he was married to this woman, if he loved her as much as Jason insisted he did, surely he’d feel something deep down inside? Instead, it felt as if he was meeting two strangers. It was disorientating.

“Are you hungry?” Maisy asked softly.

“Starving,” Jack admitted.

“I’ll get Paige to make something and bring it up,” Jason said. “She’s our cook.” Then he looked at his sister as he said, “I’ll leave you two to bond…and I’ll call my friend about this weekend.”

“Jason, please,” Maisy said.

“It’s for the best,” Jason told her. “You know it is. I’ll take care of everything. You know how overwhelmed you get. The last thing we want is you having a relapse and for the doctor to have to come and sedate you. Relax, sis. I’ve got this.”

Once again, Jack felt as if he was in the dark. He didn’t understand what the hell Jason was talking about, and he hated it.

As soon as the man left the room, Jack turned to Maisy. “Relapse? Sedate you?”

Maisy licked her lips nervously. “I don’t deal well with stress.”

That didn’t really answer his question, but because she looked so uncomfortable, Jack let it drop. For now. His eyes swept the room, desperately willing himself to recognize something, but nothing about the somewhat austere space felt familiar.

“Can I have some water?” he asked, spying a jug on a small table on the other side of the room.

“Oh! Of course. I’m sorry, I should’ve gotten you some the second you woke up,” Maisy fretted as she turned to head toward the table.

“It’s okay. So…my last name is Smith?” Jack asked.

Maisy shot him an uneasy look before turning her back on him to pour a glass of water. “Yeah,” she said.

“Jack and Maisy Smith, huh?”

This time, she simply nodded.

Something wasn’t right about this situation, but Jack couldn’t figure it out. Not when his head was pounding so hard. He brought a hand up and felt the back of his head where the pain seemed to be coming from, wincing as he encountered a large lump.

“Does it hurt?”

The question came from his wife as she hovered next to his bed once more, this time with a glass of water in her hand.

“Like a bitch,” Jack said as he reached for the water.

Their fingers brushed as he took the glass from her, and she gasped slightly.

Jack inhaled sharply as well when a jolt of what felt like electricity shot down his arm. Without thought, he reached out with his free hand as Maisy pulled away. His fingers grasped her wrist, and she froze.

Jack ran his thumb over the racing pulse in her wrist. Her skin was soft and felt a little chilly to him. But he couldn’t deny touching her felt right. The only thing that had felt right since waking up in this room. Would he feel like this with a stranger? No way. At least he didn’t think so. He hadn’t been sure he’d believed the story Jason was feeding him, but as he watched pink blossom in Maisy’s cheeks at his touch, satisfaction filled him.

This woman was his wife. He might not remember anything about his life, but he knew without a doubt this woman was his.

Suddenly, he was as anxious as she apparently was about their vow renewal ceremony.

“I don’t remember getting married,” he said gently after taking a sip of water and putting the glass on the table next to the bed.

“It was a spur-of-the-moment thing. We didn’t have a big ceremony.”

“I’m not surprised.”

She frowned. “Not surprised about what?”

“That I was too anxious to make you mine to wait for you to plan a big shindig.”

Her blush deepened.

“I’ll do it,” Jack told her.

“Do what?”

“Marry you again this weekend. I don’t remember our first ceremony, and this will be a new start for us, like your brother said.”

She stared at him for a long moment. “We don’t have to,” she whispered.

“I don’t remember you, or the life we had, but deep down I know you’re mine. My soul recognizes you. Not knowing who I am or anything about my life sucks. But for some reason, simply having you here makes the blackness in my brain not seem so scary. I know you, Maisy Smith, and it would be my honor to marry you…again.”

Tears filled her eyes and dripped down her cheeks. “Jack,” she whispered.

“Too much?” he asked as he gently tugged on her hand and brought it toward him. He kissed her knuckles.

“I just…this is all so overwhelming,” she said.

“Will you sit with me? I want you to tell me everything about yourself. What your likes and dislikes are, your dreams…hell, I don’t even know how old you are.”

“I’m twenty-eight.”

Jack opened his mouth, then sighed as he closed it.

“What? Too young?” she asked.

He chuckled, but it wasn’t a humorous sound. “Not at all, I was just going to make a joke about my age, but then I realized I don’t know my own birthday. How old am I, love?”

She stilled, her eyes wide as she stared at him.

The door opened, and a woman walked in carrying a large tray. She was around the same height as Maisy, in what he figured to be her sixties, and had black hair she’d pulled back into a messy bun at the back of her head. She was slender and regal looking, and he thought he saw a bit of Native American in her features. She looked at Maisy with a small frown as she juggled the tray in her hands. Jack couldn’t interpret the look, and the confusion and uneasiness he felt when he first woke up once more swept over him.

Maisy tugged her hand out of his and hurried over to help with the food.

Jack didn’t understand the tension between the two women. Paige looked concerned and he wasn’t sure why. He was no threat to his wife. And why did Maisy clearly not want to tell him how old he was? Was he much younger than her? Older? He didn’t feel as if he was in his twenties, but he didn’t feel as if he was in his forties either.

“I made you some hearty vegetable soup. You’ll feel better once your belly is full,” Paige told him after she put the tray down on the table next to the bed.

“Thank you. It smells wonderful,” Jack told her.

“Oh, I almost forgot. Here,” Maisy said.

Jack saw she was holding out a pair of glasses. He automatically reached for them and put them on. He didn’t even remember that he wore glasses, but as soon as they were on his face, he relaxed a little. Yeah, his sight wasn’t awful, but everything was much clearer now.

He stared at his wife and willed himself to remember, but he still had no memories before waking up, other than his first name.

“I hear we’re having a wedding this weekend?” Paige asked tentatively.

Maisy bit her bottom lip and turned to Jack.

“We are,” he said firmly.

He didn’t understand the look Paige gave Maisy, but she said, “Great. I’ll start planning a menu.”

“Nothing big,” Maisy warned the older woman. “It’s just going to be family.”

“I understand,” Paige said.

Again, there were undercurrents to the conversation that were way above Jack’s head, and he was so confused. Before he could ask questions, Paige turned and left the room without saying anything else.

“I should go,” Maisy said uncertainly.

“Stay,” Jack insisted. The thought of her leaving made his heart rate speed up. If he didn’t know better, he’d think he was having a panic attack. But that didn’t make sense. He wasn’t the kind of man who panicked at the slightest provocation…was he? Then again, he couldn’t really know that for certain.

“Are you sure?” Maisy asked. “I just thought maybe you’d want some privacy.”

“You’re my wife, I don’t need privacy from you. You know me better than anyone. Have seen me at my worst and best, I assume. Stay.”

It took several seconds before she nodded.

“While I’m eating, you can tell me more about our lives together. What we do for a living, about your brother, your mom and dad, and anything else you can think of.” When she remained silent, he gently clasped her hand. “Maisy?”

“Yes?”

“I might not remember you or our marriage…but I’m looking forward to getting the chance to fall in love with you all over again.”

Her eyes filled with tears. “I don’t deserve you, Jack.”

“Of course you do,” he told her. “We deserve each other.”


 

A fake-marriage, a lie, and a murderous brother somehow combine to give her the life she always wanted…if only she can live long enough.

Maisy Feldman has lived in a haze for years, coming out of it only recently to learn the brother she thought she knew was a man she no longer recognizes. Evil. A monster. And he’s about to prove it again—by forcing her to marry a stranger. It’s the only way she can gain access to her inheritance, and Jason wants that money. Badly. Badly enough to kidnap a man and force him to marry Maisy long enough to fulfil the stipulations attached to her parents’ will. But Jason has no idea who he’s kidnapped…and he certainly didn’t count on Maisy falling in love with her handsome fake husband.

Jack “Stone” Wickett has woken up in a haze, utterly unable to recall anything about his life apart from his first name. Not even the pretty, timid woman he’s told is his wife, or the shady, nasty man who calls himself his brother-in-law. Jack doesn’t understand the dangerous undercurrents ever present in the house, the palpable tension between Maisy and Jason, the vague details they share about his life that don’t seem right. In fact, the only thing that makes sense is Maisy herself. He may not remember his wife, but being in her arms is like coming home.

Until his memory returns…

With the help of his friends at The Refuge, Jack and Maisy flip the script on her dastardly brother, but it’s by no means a happily ever after. Jack can’t just forget Maisy’s part in his kidnapping. And while he struggles to forgive her betrayal, Jason is still out there…willing to do whatever it takes to get his hands on Maisy’s millions. 

Deserving Maisy