Babe in the Woods. Caroline Burnes

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СКАЧАТЬ together and paid for some ballroom dancing lessons. I discovered that I liked it.”

      “No!” Rebecca was shocked. Dru, in his cowboy boots and jeans didn’t look a whit like someone who would tango or rumba. But then, what, exactly, would someone who could do those things look like? “I don’t know how to do those dances,” she said.

      “Don’t worry,” he whispered. “I learned that the man’s job is to make the woman look good.”

      They entered a restaurant and Dru led her down a flight of steps to a small bar where a woman in a sequined gown sang as a half dozen couples danced.

      Before she could muster a protest, he pulled her into his arms and began waltzing her around the floor. “Relax,” he said. “Just relax, feel the music and let me lead.”

      “Easier said than done,” she said, trying so hard to relax that she made herself stiff all over again. But in a few moments, she picked up the rhythm. When she did so, Dru began to move more freely around the dance floor with her. After one or two faltering steps, she adapted to his lead. In only a few moments, they were dancing like old partners.

      “See, I told you it’s easy,” he said, putting her into a turn and bringing her back into his arms.

      “Only because you make it easy,” she said, grinning widely. “This is great.”

      Dru ordered drinks, and they sipped them in between dancing each number. Rebecca was shocked when she looked down at her watch and saw that it was after two in the morning. “I should go home,” she said a little breathlessly.

      “Me, too,” Dru said reluctantly. “The night just got away from us.”

      He was paying the tab when his cell phone rang. Frowning, he answered it, waving to Rebecca that he was going outside to talk. She should collect his change.

      The expression on his face had her worried as she accepted the bills from the cashier and hurried up the steps and into the warm night.

      “Ms. Barrett is with me,” Dru was saying. “I’ll escort her home and check it out. No, don’t worry about it. You did the right thing by calling.”

      He put the phone away and turned to face her. “There’s been some trouble at Blackthorn,” he said. “I’ll take you there right away.”

      DRU SAW the flashing lights of the ambulance and pulled up behind it. Beside him, Rebecca looked alabaster she was so pale. She didn’t even wait for the car to stop. She got out and ran to the back of the ambulance where two attendants were loading Joey Reynolds.

      “Joey,” Rebecca said, grasping his hand. The young man was unconscious. “Joey!”

      Dru put his hands on Rebecca’s shoulders and gently moved her out of the way of the paramedics as they prepared Joey for transport to the hospital.

      “What happened?” Rebecca asked two officers who were standing nearby.

      They looked at Dru, and he nodded.

      “We got a call that Mr. Reynolds had fallen from the loft of the barn. It seems he may have been haying the horses when he tripped. I can’t guarantee it, ma’am, but he was breathing good and all. Once he regains consciousness, he’s probably going to be okay.”

      Dru wanted to thank the man for his kindness. No one could guarantee Joey’s condition, but the deputy had seen enough accidents to be able to deduce a little something to set Rebecca’s mind at ease.

      “Who called the ambulance?” she asked.

      “I did.” Brett stepped into the circle of light thrown by the patrol car headlights.

      “Thanks, Brett,” Rebecca said.

      “Now maybe you’ll listen to me and get that…Joey off the property. He’s not responsible. He never should be allowed around those horses. Up in that barn fiddling around, nearly killing himself.”

      “Mr. Gibson,” Dru stepped in. Now wasn’t the time to rant and rave about what should have been done. “How do you know Joey tripped and fell?”

      “I don’t know for certain. Maybe Joey was trying to fly,” he said sarcastically. “Either he tripped or he jumped, officer. I was giving him the benefit of the doubt.”

      “I should go to the hospital,” Rebecca said. “When he wakes up, I want him to see someone familiar.”

      “I’ll drive you,” Dru offered.

      “No, stay here and do what you can to find out what happened. I’ll take my own car.”

      Dru didn’t like her pale complexion, but he knew it was pointless to argue with her. He’d known enough women in his day to realize that trying to stop one on a chosen path was about as effective as stepping in front of a train. “I’ll check with you as soon as I’m finished here,” he promised and watched her hurry off into the night.

      With his two deputies, Dru began to look around the barn area. He found where Joey had fallen, and when he looked, it did appear as if perhaps Joey had stumbled and fallen from the loft into the center aisle of the barn. That raised several questions, one of which he asked Brett.

      “What was Joey doing in the hayloft at two in the morning?” Dru didn’t mention that he’d known Joey all of his life. Joey was honest, hardworking and he slept the sleep of the innocent. He went to bed at ten and got up at dawn. He wasn’t inclined to wandering around in the dark.

      “I don’t have a clue,” Brett said in a snappy tone.

      The anthropologist had a sharp tongue and an acid disposition. If he’d ever been taught any manners at all, he’d forgotten them. “What were you doing wandering the premises at two in the morning?” Dru asked easily.

      There was a pause as Brett considered the subtle implication that his early-morning wanderings might have some impact on Joey’s. “I heard something,” he said. “I was asleep in my tent and I heard someone rustling around in the bushes. I got up to see who it was. Then I heard this moaning sound and I went to investigate. Instead of questioning me, you should be thanking me. If I hadn’t stumbled on Joey, he’d have lain out there all night.”

      Dru didn’t point out that it wasn’t his job to thank someone for acting like a civilized human. “Do you think maybe Joey heard something, too?”

      Brett rolled his eyes. “Joey’s only interested in those damn horses and his plants. If the horses or plants were talking, he was probably out in the barn listening.”

      “Thank you,” Dru said. He was tired and he had had just about as much of Brett Gibson as he could take. He spoke with the two deputies, and they began marking off the area. It looked like a simple accident, but where Blackthorn was concerned, Dru knew he couldn’t be too careful.

      Rebecca had seen someone in the woods that very morning. It was possible someone was on the property with the intention of making trouble.

      WHEN JOEY OPENED his eyes, he blinked and focused on Rebecca. “I knew you’d help me,” he said. “My head hurts.”

      “I know,” Rebecca answered, СКАЧАТЬ