Dark Summer

one restraining order on him since the divorce.'

'Well, he'd better not come around here bothering you,' Janet said fiercely. 'I'll blow his nuts off.'

'I don't think he'll be showing up on my doorstep. These days he limits himself to nuisance calls and making threats when he thinks I'm seeing other men.'

'Fat chance of that,' Janet said sourly. 'You're so busy taking care of all those animals, you don't have time to do more than brush your teeth.'

She smiled with an effort. 'Well, I do manage a shower now and then. Don't worry, Janet. It may not be Lester. If it is, I'll handle it.'

'We'll handle it,' Janet said tersely. 'Now you go lie down and get some rest. You look like you're ready to pass out. I'll call you when dinner is ready.' She tapped Ned's collar. 'Let's go. You don't need her. You got me.'

Ned hesitated, studying Janet's face. Then he moved stiffly down the hall after her.

Maybe Ned was even more sensitive than Devon had thought. Perhaps he had been able to see beyond that brusque exterior. Janet did not have anything so cliched as a heart of gold, but she was fair and hardworking, and though she would not admit it, she had a generous amount of the same maternal feeling as Gracie exhibited. Devon could not have asked for anyone more devoted or conscientious than Janet to take care of her animals.

Janet stuck her head outside the kitchen. 'Scat.'

'Right.' Devon grinned and ran up the stairs to her room. She was tired, but it wasn't the kind of weariness that would be assuaged by an hour's nap. She'd take a shower and read her mail.

Should she disconnect the phone? The last thing she wanted was to have to deal with Lester tonight. She'd hoped by putting the new number in Nick's name that it would make it harder for Lester to get it. It had been a feeble attempt but all she could think to do. But the police could find out anything if they wanted to do it.

And eventually Lester found out any information he needed. After the first restraining order, he'd convinced his superiors that she was the one who was bothering him. Cops always stuck together when it was one of their own in trouble.

Don't think about it. She couldn't be sure that Lester was starting the calls again. She'd face that ugliness when she was forced to do so. Right now she wanted to keep problems at a distance, but she'd created a bushel of them by taking Ned out of Santa Marina.

Lord, it was good to be home. This house was old and a little rickety but between her and Nick, they managed to keep it functioning. The secondhand furniture was shabby but comfortable, and the garden out back furnished them with vegetables and herbs. It was all she needed. All she wanted. A haven to come home to from the storms of everyday life.

'Want a cookie, Devon. Want a cookie, Devon. Stingy Devon. Give a gal a cookie.' Bronwyn, the most vocal of the parrots, was screeching at her from her perch in the sunroom.

'Shut up, Bronwyn. You'll get one after dinner.' Devon closed her bedroom door behind her.

Peace.

She moved over to the rocking chair and dropped down on it. She'd take just a moment and close her eyes. She needed to unwind before she called Hugh Dalks, who was filling in for her at the clinic. It was hard to get out of the mind-set of search and rescue and into the more mundane job of veterinary medicine. She always felt remote when she came back, but that changed with the first patient.

No, it was the end of the office day, and Hugh would be going home. She didn't want to disturb him there. She dialed his cell number.

'I thought I'd hear from you soon,' Hugh said when he picked up the phone. 'I stopped hearing anything on CNN about the rescue mission. That usually means that you're going to be on your way home.'

'I just got to the house. How are things at the clinic?'

'Wonderful. I haven't missed you at all. Why don't you stay gone for a little while longer? By that time all your patients will be so enthralled by me that I'll be able to steal them away from you. I need to open a practice of my own.'

'No deal.'

'Then will you marry me and support me?'

'Hell no.' She could almost see Hugh with his lean, angular face, horn-rimmed glasses, and quizzical grin. He had gotten out of school only two years before, but he'd worked at a county emergency clinic and the experience had made him one of the best veterinarians she knew. 'You haven't missed me, but have any of my patients?'

'Well, Mrs. Johnson has been waiting for you to have her bea gle spayed. She's very impatient. She won't trust me with her darling.'

'Call her and tell her to bring Cuddles in tomorrow morning.' She paused. 'And save a little time to give an in- depth examination to a wounded Lab I brought home from Santa Marina. I don't think Nick or I will have time tomorrow. I'd bet there are a few more clients who just might prefer us.'

'It's a possibility. Is this dog a stray or one of the rescue team dogs?'

'Neither. I just don't know where the own er is right now.'

'I'll do the workup.' Hugh paused. 'It's good to have you back, Devon.'

'Thanks, Hugh. It's good to be back.'

'And I really would marry you and let you support me. We could let Nick run the practice, and I'd concentrate on opening a new world for you. Did I ever tell you that I minored in gigolo at college?'

She smiled. 'And I'm sure you're very qualified. Good-bye, Hugh.'

The smile still lingered as she hung up the phone. Everything was easing back into the same comfortable path as when she'd left. Tomorrow would be hectic and demanding and she would welcome it.

But right now she needed quiet time for herself. She didn't want any intrusive thoughts that might jar her.

Like Jude Marrok.

She rejected that thought immediately. She had seldom met a more disturbing man, and she did not want to be disturbed. She would be just as happy if she never saw him again.

Not likely. He would be back for Ned.

And then she would decide whether to turn him over to Marrok.

Conflict. Aggression. Battle. They all loomed on the horizon when Marrok showed up.

Not yet. Those might come with Marrok, but he wasn't here now. She didn't have to deal with anything more unsettling than the problem of staying awake until Janet called her for supper.

Take advantage of these moments.

The house phone rang.

She stiffened. No ID. Let Janet answer it?

No, face it.

She picked up the receiver. 'Hello.'

'I hear you were batting around the Ca rib be an,' Lester said softly. 'How many men did you sleep with on that pretty island?'

Hang up? No, he'd just call back. Let him get the poison out, and he might give her peace tonight. 'None. If you know I was on Santa Marina, you know that I was on a job.'

'Yeah, everyone in towns says how noble you are, but we know different, don't we? You only go away because you want to fuck, and you know I'd kill you if I caught you with any man here. I'd kill you both.'

Threats and obscenities. He never tired of them. 'That's ridiculous. I was on a job.'

'It's been a long time since I heard your voice, bitch. I've known the number since the second week after you changed it, but I wanted to make you think you'd fooled me. Surprises are always more effective. I'm having a little trouble getting your cell number, but I'll persuade someone in the phone company office to give it to me soon.' He paused. 'The house phone is in Nick Gilroy's name. You have him wrapped around your finger, don't you? Do you sleep with him, too?'

'We're friends,' she said between her teeth. For God's sake, let him hang up. She didn't know how much more she could stand.

'No, I think it might be Dalks. He's younger and I know your appetite. Do you do it at the clinic?'

'No. And I'm sure you know it.' She couldn't take anymore. 'I'm going to hang up.'

'And you're hoping I won't call you back.'

'Yes. I don't deserve this, Lester.'