Maddie’s body felt feather-light as she floated above a cottony cloud with no cares at all, except following wherever the beautiful little red-haired girl holding her hand led her. The girl turned to her and smiled, her green eyes bright. That amazing smile lit the child’s eyes, warmed Maddie’s insides and tickled something pleasant in her memory. Her heart expanded until it felt like it might burst with the emotion that filled it.

What was this place? Who was this girl? What was that infernal beeping noise that kept her from focusing on where they were going?

A soft, whispery stroke tickled her cheek and Maddie wiggled her nose. She gasped when the little girl yanked her arm, and frowned when the bright place where they walked became dimmer. The little girl tugged her arm harder, seemingly in a hurry to drag her toward a tiny dot in the distance. The farther they walked, the bigger that dot became. By the time they stopped, everything was dark and she could no longer see the girl’s face.

“Wait, where are we going?” Maddie asked, her heart beating faster when the small hand holding hers released it.

“You’re going home, silly.” A childish giggle frustrated her. She didn’t want to go home—she wanted to feel light again. To stay here and walk on clouds.

“I love you, Mommy,” the girl whispered, hugging her legs. When she stepped away, Maddie felt like she was falling. She sucked in a shuddering breath, and her body jerked.

Her eyes opened and she looked wildly around her for the little girl, but she was nowhere to be found. There were plenty of machines, though, and she identified the one that caused the beeping. Her gaze swung to the handsome man’s face that hovered above hers.

“I love you, Maddie,” he said with a breathtaking smile as he leaned in to press his lips to hers in a tender kiss. “Welcome back, baby.”

That smile. It was identical to the one the little girl in her dream wore.

Something in her mind shifted as she tried to place it. To identify who this man was to her. He said he loved her, so she must know him?

A picture of him naked, his face hovering above her just like it was now, zipped through her mind and blood rushed to her face as she actually felt those delicious muscles under her fingertips. She tried to hang on to it, but disappointment filled her when it popped like a bubble.

“Okay, sir. Let me take her vitals, then we’ll move her to her room. We’ll meet you down there in an hour,” a woman in a green scrub suit said as she elbowed him aside.

“But I—” the man said, his gorgeous smile disappearing.

“No, buts, big guy. The surgery suite is booked solid today, so we need to move her out of recovery. You can kiss her all you want once we get her into her room.”

The man turned away, a flash of the little girl’s face slid through her vision again and Maddie put a name with the face. Sarah! She paired it with a baby’s face, not a little girl, and freaked out.

“Where is my daughter?!?” she demanded, wheezing as panic tightened her chest and she tried to sit up.

The tubes connected to her body and the machines kept her anchored so she frantically pulled at them. The nurse squeaked and shoved her back down in the bed. When Maddie continued to struggle, she laid on top.

“Maddie, stop!” the man shouted, and Maddie froze. He pushed the nurse aside to take her hand and meet her eyes. “Sarah is fine. They are giving her fluids and checking her out. I’m going up there every couple of hours to hold her and check on her.”

“Who are you?” Maddie whispered.

“I’m Rhett Hawkins, Sarah’s father and your boyfriend. Or I was your boyfriend before you left me,” he replied, swallowing hard. The intense pain in his eyes and voice seeped inside her chest to make her heart hurt.

She must have been a moron to reject this man who was not only gorgeous, but who obviously cared a great deal about her and their daughter. How in the hell could she have forgotten him? It just didn’t make sense. God, why was she so damned confused?

Memories of being held prisoner by a drug lord in Guatemala came to her and her stomach lurched. Why had she been there? Oh, yeah, she’d crashed a helicopter. This man and the one who claimed to be her brother said she was in the Army.

“I’m sorry—things are a little fuzzy.” A little? Goodness gracious, Maddie felt like she’d lost her mind, and maybe she had.

Considering what she’d been through in Guatemala that wouldn’t be a surprise. The things she wanted to remember were gone, and the things she wanted to forget, crystal clear.

“Why am I in the hospital?” Maddie asked, reaching up to push the hair off her forehead.

Her fingers skimmed over the ridge of a scar and her body tensed as insane fear gripped her. Spanish conversation over the com channel, a bright light pierced through her brain, occluded her vision and she turned her head still fighting to maintain control.

Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! Shards of glass peppered her face and neck, she felt her skin ripping when a tree limb raked the side of her face. Nausea pushed up to her throat and a scream built in her chest. Hot metal sliced into the other side of her face and she suddenly had no control over her body as it was flung around the cockpit at the will of gravity. The truck, her begging them to kill her the pain was so bad. Them laughing as they tossed her into the bed of the truck and bumped over rutted roads to take her to their compound.

“Relax, Maddie. You’re going to be okay now,” Rhett soothed, stroking her shoulder and she opened her eyes. Why did his face look like that? Guilty almost.

“What happened to me?” she asked, running her hands over her chest and arms. The warm blankets were too heavy for her to lift her legs.

“You crushed your ankle in a helicopter crash. Do you remember that?”

“I remember crashing, yes,” she said her voice quaking. “Someone, the cartel I think, shined a laser into the cockpit and blinded me. But why am I here?”

“The bones didn’t heal right, and the pressure you put on it flying made things worse. You got an infection in the bones that almost killed you. It could have if…” His green eyes filled and his lips pinched. “Sarah needs you, baby. Max made the only decision he could.”

Max—her brother. “What decision was that?” she asked.

“To amputate your leg to save you, sweetheart. I’m so sorry,” he replied and Maddie’s whole body went numb.

Come back and take me little girl. I don’t want to be here anymore.