Safe At Home. Carolyn McSparren

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СКАЧАТЬ only been gone a few hours.”

      Tala dropped her head. “I meant to get back sooner. I’m sorry. About the job…”

      “Say yes, m’dear,” Mace said.

      “I have to speak to the manager at the Food Farm tonight. Give him a chance to meet your offer. I can’t just leave him in the lurch. But if he says no, and if you’ll really let me work from early until school lets out, and let me have the weekends off, I promise I’ll work very hard for you.”

      “Wonderful!” Mace said, and clapped his hands. Pete merely turned his back and mumbled something unintelligible.

      “I hate to leave you with this now, but I’ve really got to go home and get ready for work,” she said. “And I think I left my gloves inside last night. May I go get them?”

      “Of course. Pete and I will unload so you can take your truck. Call after you’ve spoken to your manager. If he does offer you more money, we’ll meet his offer. If you have to give him two weeks’ notice, so be it. We want you, m’dear.”

      Tala smiled and walked around the edge of the building, leaving the men hauling posts and wire out of the truck. Maybe Dr. Mace wanted her. She wasn’t sure about Dr. Pete.

      She opened the small door to the side of the overhead and walked inside the workroom. The light was dim, and the room felt even colder than outside. The faint aroma of raw meat met her nostrils. She looked over at Baby’s cage to see whether she was still sleeping.

      Empty!

      She felt her blood chill as she peered into the dark corners. She hoped Baby couldn’t fit between the bars on the elephants’ enclosure, but if she could, the lion could be anywhere in Hollendale County by now.

      Tala opened her mouth to yell for Pete and felt something heavy bump her leg. Without moving her head, she looked down. Baby stood beside her, butting her big golden head into the side of Tala’s knee like a house cat. But hard enough so that Tala had to brace her other hand on the medicine cabinet beside her to keep from falling over.

      Baby butted her again, then rubbed her body along Tala’s legs, crossed over in front of her and collapsed into a big yellow heap on the concrete. She lay there rumbling contentedly.

      “Okay, you’re not hungry—at least I hope you aren’t,” Tala said with more conviction than she felt. “And you’ve been around people, although God knows what they did to you before they shot you. I doubt seriously you know I rescued you last night, but maybe you’re just cold and lonesome.”

      Baby rolled her eyes and yawned. Even without all her incisors, her mouth looked capable of biting Tala’s head off in one gulp.

      Tala was trapped. The cat lay across her boots. Her body wound around so that in order to move, Tala would have to dislodge her feet and step over the mound of lion. Assuming Baby would let her. How much time would it take before Pete realized she’d been inside too long?

      She couldn’t wait. She’d better try to get herself out of this.

      “Sweet Baby,” she crooned. “Is your shoulder better?” Slowly, carefully, Tala bent her knees until she could touch Baby’s head. She began to scratch behind the cat’s ears. “My cats always loved this, let’s hope you’re cat enough to do the same.”

      The rumbling increased. My word, Baby was purring! Or as close to a purr as she could get. Tala began to stroke the animal’s head. “Aren’t you a sweet ole baby girl?”

      A moment later she nearly toppled head first on top of the lion as the door behind her opened and hit her in the rear.

      “Hey, can’t you find your gloves?”

      “Pete, stay out,” she hissed.

      He poked his head around the door. “Holy hell. You okay?”

      “I’m fine.” Tala tried to stand up, but couldn’t with Pete halfway in the door. Baby looked over Tala’s shoulder and lashed her tail, annoyed at the interruption.

      “Stand up very slowly,” Pete told her. “Then when I open the door, I’ll grab you and drag you out.”

      “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Tala said. “Or necessary. I think she just got lonely. I’ve been scratching her ears.”

      “Do what I tell you, woman. We’ll worry about what she wants when we’ve put a steel door between the two of you.”

      “All right.” In spite of her bravado, Tala felt a rush at his peremptory tone. He was worried.

      Or maybe he just didn’t want to have to deal with the consequences of having to explain her carcass to the authorities.

      She stood slowly. Baby rumbled again, but she seemed more disturbed at the loss of physical contact than angry. Tala felt the breeze from the slightly open door, and reached back. Pete’s big rough hand engulfed hers. “Hang on.”

      He shoved the door open, yanked her around the edge, and almost dislocated her shoulder. He slammed the door and dragged her into a fierce bear hug, lifted her off her feet and swung her away from the door. “Dammit, don’t ever do that again.”

      She forced her mouth away from his breast pocket and said indignantly, “Me? What did I do?”

      He held her at arm’s length with her feet dangling as though she were a rag doll. “Didn’t you see she was out of her cage?”

      “Put me down! By the time I spotted the empty cage, I had a lion on my feet wanting her ears scratched.”

      On her feet again, she stood toe-to-toe with him. “I think I behaved pretty darn well, all things considered. For that matter, so did she. She’s a sweet pussycat who just needs a little affection!”

      “Oh, my sainted aunt!” Pete struck his forehead with the flat of his hand.

      “What’s the matter?” Mace came running around the corner of the building.

      “She’s out is what. And little Miss Cat Lady here has been scratching her ears. I told you she was trouble.”

      “Me or the cat?”

      “Both, dammit!” Pete stalked off to meet his father. “How the hell are we going to handle the lion now? Even if we finish setting the posts today, the concrete won’t be solid until morning, and then we still have to stretch the fence and cover it over.”

      “We could shoot her,” Mace said solemnly. Tala caught his wink, but Pete obviously didn’t.

      “Are you crazy?” He stopped. “Okay. You got me. But we can’t leave her loose in the workroom either.” He turned to Tala. “Could you tell if she knocked down the enclosure?”

      “Didn’t look like it, but I must admit I didn’t check closely.”

      “Then she probably came out over the top. We can wire down some steel fence on top of her enclosure in about an hour and get her back into it with the capture gun if we have to, although I suspect another hunk of meat will do it.”

      “Promise СКАЧАТЬ