“I’m here.” Laney’s voice came again, but he still could not figure out from where. He eased Admiral down.
“Where is she, buddy?”
Admiral had recovered enough to heave himself along the rough ground and around the spring, toward a pile of boulders.
Beckett scrambled after him, trying to avoid getting his boots stuck between the rocks. Admiral whined.
Behind the pile of granite he found her. Her hair framed blue eyes wide with fear. She sat huddled in a ball, arms around her knees. Admiral scrambled next to her, and she scooped him up. Beckett forced some level of calm into his voice, though his insides were jumping like frogs at sundown as he crouched next to her.
“What happened? Are you hurt? Did you fall? Are you bleeding?”
She pressed her lips together and cocked an eyebrow. “Which question do you want me to answer first?”
Sass. That was good. “Let’s start with are you hurt?”
She considered. “Not really, but my foot is stuck between two rocks.” Though she was all calm and bravado on the surface, her face was pale. She pressed the dog close.
Beckett bent to look. “Tell me what happened while I get you out of here.”
She hesitated a moment. “I was coming up to lock the gate. I felt someone was behind me. When I turned to look, this rock came sailing out of nowhere.” She swallowed. “If I hadn’t ducked, it would have clobbered me.”
He made an effort to unclench his jaw. “Did you see who threw it?”
“No. Whoever it was hid in the bushes. I ran behind the rocks, but my foot got wedged and I dropped my cell phone. I heard someone running away. I was going to make sure they were gone before I started yelling for help. Then Admiral took off. I thought he was scared. I didn’t know my doggy hero was going to send for reinforcements.” She turned her face away from him and rested it on Admiral’s back, as if she didn’t want to look at him. He heard a sniff that struck him to the core. She was fighting tears.
With the lightest of touches, he placed a palm on the crown of her head. “It’s okay. You did the right thing to try to hide.” Still she did not look at him, so he pulled his hand away and finished separating the rocks to free her. Taking her elbow before she could refuse the help, he raised her to a standing position.
“How does your ankle feel?”
She put weight on it. “Okay. Just scraped, I think.”
He held her hand while they eased away from the rock pile. “I need to find my cell phone,” she said.
“I’ll come back at first light and get it.”
When they reached the side of the pool, he noticed that her legs were trembling and there was blood on her sock. In one fluid movement, he lifted her up, Admiral still in her arms.
She stiffened. “I don’t need you to carry me.”
He didn’t answer, just made his way along the path. Her head was tucked under his chin. She’d always been a perfect fit. He was all bristly stubbornness and hardheaded determination, and Laney was the only one in the world who could see past that into the soul of him. He swallowed. It was exquisite pain to hold her, to know the love they’d shared was only alive in his memory.
She squirmed. “You’re being silly. I can walk.”
“You’re pregnant.”
“I’m quite aware of that.”
“I’ll put you down when we get back to the lodge.”
She heaved a sigh but did not reply. It seemed as though she weighed nothing at all. Was she eating enough? Was the baby growing properly?
“Too tight,” she said.
He realized he was clasping her to his chest too snugly and he eased up. “Sorry.” He also slowed his pace a fraction to prevent jostling her. Not too much, as he considered the fact that the rock thrower may not have actually left the property. He could still be here, with dozens of places to hide.
When they reached the house, he elbowed the kitchen door open and settled her into a chair.
Herm entered, holding a stack of coffee mugs, face etched with alarm.
“I’m okay,” Laney said before he could speak.
“Call the police,” Beckett said. “She was attacked.”
“Actually…” Laney started, but Herm was already off-loading his burden and heading for the phone. Beckett fetched a first-aid kit and peeled off her shoe and sock.
“I’ll call Dr. Irene soon as I clean this up,” Beckett said.
“I don’t need her.”
He dabbed at her ankle with a disinfectant wipe. “Sorry if it stings. Dr. Irene might need to check the baby. Make sure your blood pressure’s okay and stuff.”
“I’m perfectly fine.”
He still didn’t look at her. “Or do an ultrasound, to check for…”
Laney took his chin and tipped it up so he was staring into her pale blue eyes. He went still.
“Beckett,” she said calmly. “I do not need to see a doctor. I am fine. The baby is fine. A scraped ankle does not require an exam.”
He was suspended there for a moment, immobilized by her touch, stopped by the weight of what he’d lost. “I… Okay.”
She folded forward in the chair and watched as he applied a bandage to the scrape on her ankle. “Admiral needs water.”
“Got it,” Herm said, filling a shallow bowl for the dog, who lapped it with sloppy enthusiasm. “Jude is on his way.”
“Thanks, Herm.” Beckett noted the carafes of coffee and hot water on the counter. “I figured you’d have the kitchen packed up by now. Someone checking in after hours?” he said hopefully.
“No, sadly. Got a guest returning late for the night. Waiting to see if she wanted anything ’fore I got the kitchen buttoned up.”
A guest out late? “What guest?”
“Rita Brown. Said she was going out on a starlight photography tour.”
“Yeah? Cloudy for stargazing.” Wrong time of year too. The dazzling display of stars unaffected
