The wolf howled again.
She stared out the window into the darkness. “I wish he’d stop. He’s unsettling Monty.”
“We wouldn’t want that to happen. I seem to have a calming effect on him. Why don’t I stick around for a while?”
She had been half expecting that suggestion from him. She should have followed her instincts and dropped him off in Phoenix. If she hadn’t been so tired, she would never have let him get his foot in the door. “Nothing’s changed since the night you first came.” She brought him his coffee. “I don’t want anyone staying here.”
“Things have changed. We’ve gone through a lot together. I don’t think you regard me as the enemy any longer.”
“That doesn’t mean I want you in my house. Why the hell did you come anyway? When you first showed up I thought you were just out of your head. We both know any action you take against Madden doesn’t have to be done from here. Something’s weird.”
“Can’t we argue about this in the morning? I’m pretty tired.”
“Then finish your coffee and call Margaret.”
“I’m too tired.” He set his cup on the table beside him and smiled faintly. “You wouldn’t kick a wounded man out of your house.”
“Maybe I would.” She let her breath out in a resigned sigh. He was playing on her feelings, but he did look terribly pale, and she knew what he had gone through in Taiwan. “Okay. Tomorrow. But that chair isn’t as comfortable as those cushy recliners on your plane. By morning you may be ready to leave.”
He closed his eyes. “You can never tell. . . .” He was asleep.
She sank down on the couch and gazed at him in frustration. Déjà vu. Why couldn’t she get rid of him? She didn’t want him there. That he had become too much a part of her life in these last days made her uneasy. She had seen him tired and discouraged and hurting. She had seen his tears. He disturbed her, and she had enough disturbance in her life. This was her home, her haven, and she wanted no strangers—
But that was the crux of the problem. He was no longer a stranger. She didn’t know exactly what Logan’s place was in her life now, but he could never be a stranger again.
The wolf howled.
Monty lifted his head and whimpered deep in his throat.
She couldn’t blame him. The wolf’s cry was terribly melancholy and heartbreakingly wistful.
And closer.
Stay in the mountains, she prayed. Those ranchers will shoot you. There’s danger here. They think you’re a threat and don’t care if you’re wild and free and beautiful.
Monty put his head on his paws. Beautiful . . .
8
“Get up, Sarah.”
She opened her eyes to see Logan standing over her. She had been sleeping hard and for a moment she thought she was back in Taiwan.
“Come on. He’s gone. I can’t go after him by myself.” He half walked, half hopped toward the door. “Hell, I couldn’t catch up with a turtle.”
She sat up and rubbed her eyes. “What is it?”
“Monty. He took off out that dog door like a bat out of hell. He heard something.”
She swung her feet to the floor. “What?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t hear anything. I’d just opened my eyes and saw Monty get up. He listened for a minute and then took off.” He opened the door. “Does he go out much at night?”
“No, but it’s not completely unusual.”
“I tell you he heard something. We’d better go after him.”
Logan was clearly worried, and his concern was infectious. Monty had probably just gone outside to relieve himself, but she had to check. She grabbed a flashlight and followed Logan. “Monty!”
She waited.
“Monty!”
For the first time, fear iced through her. Monty always answered her.
Unless he couldn’t.
She heard something in the distance. Not a bark. A moan?
“I hear something.” She set out at a run. “Go back to the house.”
“The hell I will. Where are the keys to your jeep?”
“I always leave them in the ignition.”
“Well, that’s safe.”
She paid no attention as she ran west, where the sound had come from.
Darkness.
Silence.
“Monty!”
No sound.
“Answer me!”
A low moan in the distance.
Monty. She knew it was Monty. She flew over the hard-baked sand, the beam of her flashlight spearing a wide circle from side to side in front of her.
Then she saw him.
Blood.
Monty was lying in a pool of blood.
“Oh, God.” She flew toward him, tears running down her face. “Monty.”
He looked up at her, his eyes full of pain.
She was almost to him when she saw what his big body had blocked from view.
Gray fur, silver eyes staring fiercely in the light, and lips drawn back from gleaming white teeth.
And a front paw caught in an iron-jawed trap. The blood was trickling from the wolf, not from Monty.
Monty nestled closer to the wolf. Pain.
“Get away from him, Monty. He’ll hurt you.”
Monty didn’t move.
She knelt down beside them. “I’m going to release the trap. Just get out of the way.”
He didn’t move.
“Okay, be stupid.” He wasn’t the only one who was stupid. Trying to free the wolf from this trap without putting him to sleep first was asking for trouble. She took off her shirt and wrapped it around the arm nearest the wolf. “I’m going to get you out of this,” she said softly. “Give me a break, will you?”
The wolf snapped. Sarah snatched her arm out of harm’s way just in time.
“Okay, no break.” She reached for the iron teeth of the trap. Quick. She had to be quick.
The wolf snapped again. This time he drew blood.
She sat back on her heels. “Look, do you want to bleed to death? Let me help.”
The wolf lunged toward her and then collapsed with a cry of pain.
Monty crawled closer to the wolf.
“No!”
Monty ignored her and laid his head across the wolf’s throat.
She held her breath. “What are you doing, boy?” Any minute she expected the wolf to rise up and slash at Monty.
But the wolf lay still.
Unconscious?
No, she could see the gleam of his slitted eyes. What was she doing, sitting there? It didn’t matter what weird thing was happening between Monty and the wolf. Seize the moment. She started working at the trap, every moment expecting the wolf to make a move.
Lights suddenly speared the area.
The jeep.
“Stop, Logan.” She froze, her gaze on the wolf.
No motion. As if Monty’s touch on his throat were paralyzing him.
“Can I help?” Logan called from the jeep.
“Get the first aid kit under the front seat and then come and help me with this trap. I’m not strong enough to do it alone.”
A moment later Logan was kneeling beside her, his gaze on Monty and the wolf. “What’s happening here?”
“I’ve no idea. I think Monty’s hypnotized him or something.” She opened the medical kit and withdrew a hypodermic and sedative. “Get ready to spring the trap after I give him this shot.”
“Why not afterward?”
“He’ll run away. I have to take care of that leg before he bolts.” She kept her eyes fixed warily on the wolf as she gave him the injection. No movement. Maybe the pain of his leg dwarfed the little pinprick.
Monty was the one who gave a low moan as if in sympathy with the wolf’s agony.
“Just keep him quiet a minute more and we’ll have him out, Monty,” she murmured. “I don’t know what you’re doing, but keep doing it.” She said to Logan, “Be ready to jerk open that trap when I tell you.” She put her hands beside Log
an’s on the iron. “On the count of three. One, two . . .” She glanced at the wolf. He had gone limp. “Three.”
She and Logan pulled with all their strength. The iron jaws slowly parted. “Can you hold it open while I get his foot out?”
“Do it,” he grunted.
Carefully she freed the wolf’s leg. “Let it go.”
The trap snapped shut with a lethal click. How she hated those traps. She unwound the shirt from around her arm, formed a pressure bandage, and bound the wolf’s leg. “Get in the jeep, Monty.”
Monty hesitated, then got to his feet and ran toward the jeep.
“What now?” Logan asked.
“We get the wolf back to the cabin, where I can tend him.”
“A wild animal?”
“A wounded animal.” She picked up the wolf and carried him toward the jeep. “Come on. I need your help. You’ll have to drive while I keep an eye on him.”
“Okay.” He struggled slowly to his feet as she settled the wolf in the backseat. “There’s blood on your arm.”
“He barely broke the skin.” She jumped in the passenger seat. “Hurry. I’m not sure how long he’ll be under, and I want to work on him without giving him another shot.”
“Right.”
Logan pulled the jeep in front of the cabin in less than five minutes and Sarah jumped out. “Go on ahead and open the door beside the fireplace. It leads to a small screened-in back porch.”
He limped into the cabin. “Anything else?”
She followed him. “Grab that throw on the back of the couch and put it on the floor of the porch.”
He did, then asked, “Next?”
She set the wolf carefully on the throw. “Bring me the bag with the medical supplies in that first kitchen cabinet.”
She knelt down and gently stroked the wolf’s muzzle. “What a beautiful boy you are. Don’t worry, we’re going to take good care of you.”
Monty settled himself beside the wolf.
“You’ll have to get out of the way,” Sarah told him. “I’m going to stitch up that cut and set the leg. It’s fractured.”
Monty laid his head on his paws, his gaze on the wolf. “Here’s the bag.” Logan fell to his knees beside the wolf. “Tell me what to do to help.”
She looked across the wolf’s body at him. So far he had taken orders without question, and heaven knows she needed help. “First we have to clean the wound.”
“Are you going to leave Monty in there with the wolf?” Logan asked as he followed Sarah from the porch an hour later.
“I don’t think I could budge him.” Sarah set the medical bag on the counter and washed the blood from her hands at the sink. “Not until he’s sure the wolf’s okay. Coffee?”
“Yes.” He carefully lowered himself into the easy chair and raised his leg onto the hassock. “I could use it. How long will he sleep?”
“I hope another hour or so. And it’s she, not he. I assumed it was a male too, until I started working on her. I’m surprised you didn’t notice.”
“I was preoccupied.” His gaze shifted to the fire. “Aren’t you a little cold?”
“No.”
“Well, neither am I. Will you go put on a shirt?”
She glanced at him in surprise. “I’m wearing a bra. That’s no different from wearing a bikini top.”
“Trust me, there’s a difference.”
She inhaled sharply as she met his gaze. She quickly averted her eyes. “Oh, for God’s sake. I suppose I should have expected it even in a situation like this. It’s a guy thing. I read an article once that said men think of sex once every eight minutes.”
“Then I must be a cold fish. I’m sure it doesn’t pop into my head more than every ten minutes.”
His tone was flippant, and the disturbing moment was gone, she realized with relief.
She went into the bedroom and came back pulling a white T-shirt over her head. “Satisfied?”
“No.” He changed the subject. “What are you going to do with the wolf?”
“Get her well and then turn her back over to the Wildlife Federation to relocate.” She made a face. “If I can keep my rancher neighbors from busting in here and trying to kill her again.”
“Maybe I can help there.”
“What are you going to do? Pay them off ?” She shook her head. “These ranchers are independent as the devil and they’re not about to be bought. They’ve lost livestock and they’re mad as hell.”
“I’ll think of something.” He drew a quick breath. “I wonder—if I could—trouble you to get out your medical bag again. I may need a little first aid myself. I believe kneeling beside that wolf may have been the last straw.”
Her gaze flew to the leg propped on the hassock. A wide dark stain was spreading on the inner side of his thigh. “Dammit, you tore open the stitches.” She grabbed the bag off the counter and moved over to the chair. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You were busy. We were both busy. You seem to live in a constant state of emergency. I’m almost afraid to close my eyes around— What are you doing?”
“Taking off your jeans.”
“You seem to have no compunction about nudity in yourself or others.”
“There’s nothing shameful about nudity.” She wriggled the trousers off his hips and down his legs. “I can repair those stitches—unless you want me to call an ambulance.”
“No, you do it.” He closed his eyes and smiled faintly. “Just please don’t enjoy sticking that needle in me too much.”
“I never enjoy inflicting pain.” She bent over his thigh. “You didn’t break all the stitches. This shouldn’t take long.”
“That’s good. I’ve never been good at—” He inhaled sharply as the needle went into his flesh. “I should have asked for a shot like our wolf friend.”
“I would have given you one, but I have only morphine, and you’re allergic to it.”
“Oh, shit. I knew that would come back to haunt me.”
“Just a couple more.”
Actually, it was three more before she was able to rebandage the wound. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?” she asked as she pulled up his jeans and fastened them.
“It wasn’t good.” He opened his eyes. “But since most of it was my fault, I guess I can’t complain. Could I have that coffee now? I need it.”
“Sure.” She moved toward the counter. “I could use a cup myself.”
“I can see how you would. It’s been a difficult night for you.”
She poured the coffee, gave him a cup, and then sat down on the hassock with her own. “And for you. And it wasn’t your fault that you broke open those stitches. You were trying to help Monty and then the wolf. If anyone’s at fault, it’s me.”
He shook his head. “No, my responsibility.”
“You said that before. You’re big on responsibility.”
“It’s one of the few codes I never break. Whatever I do, I shoulder the responsibility for my actions.”
She took a sip of coffee and was silent a moment. “Why did you come here, Logan?”
“Why do you think I came?”
“I don’t know. I thought it might be the medication that caused you to stumble here from a sickbed. But I can’t see you being that woozy even under drugs. So it was something else.”
“Go on.”
“Tell me.”
“I’m enjoying watching you work it out. Did I ever tell you how much I admire that fine brain of yours?”
“Don’t flatter me, Logan.”
“I wouldn’t presume. We may have had our differences, but I’ve never underestimated you.”
“Just used me.”
“That’s done. I’ll never use you again, Sarah.”
She studied his expression.
“Believe me.”
She did believe him. “If that’s true, then it narrows down the reasons you’d show up here. You made me a promise about Madden, but you wouldn’t have thought it necessary to drag yourse
lf here to keep it.”
“I would if you’d told me you wanted it done immediately.”
“But I didn’t tell you that.” She tilted her head, thinking. “And you were more scared than I was when Monty ran out of here tonight. You were afraid something would happen to him.”
He was silent, waiting.
“Responsibility.” She met his gaze. “You were afraid someone would hurt Monty.”
“Or you. You nearly gave me a heart attack when you took off running. I knew I’d never catch you with this bum leg.”
Her eyes widened. “Rudzak? Why?”
“He had to have seen you when you jumped out of the helicopter after Monty.”
“And that’s enough to target me?”
“More than enough. You helped me, and no one believes more in revenge than Rudzak. He’ll regard his defeat as a humiliation, and you both participated in and witnessed that humiliation.”
Her hands clenched into fists. “I thought I was out of it.”
“Will you come back to Phoenix with me?”
“No, I think you’re off base about any threat to me, but if there is, I’ll take care of myself.”
“I thought that would be your response. I told Galen to get some security out here, but it would be much easier if you go back to Phoenix.”
“I want my life back. I don’t want to make it easy for you.”
“Then if you’re going to stay here, let me stay too. I’ll be chief cook and bottle washer. You have your hands full with the wolf and Monty.”
“I told you I don’t want you here.”
“Just imagine me humble and at your beck and call. Doesn’t the picture appeal to you?”
“Like a dream come true. But you’d probably break open the stitches again and I’d be waiting on you too.”
“I trust your stitches.” He grimaced. “They hurt too much not to be tight as a drum.”
“And you’d be more danger to me here than behind those gates in Phoenix. Rudzak would probably crawl up to my cabin and blow it up just to get you.”
“No, my presence will actually make you safer. Rudzak doesn’t want me dead yet. He wants me to suffer first.”
“What the hell did you do to him?”
“I took away fifteen years of his life. I should have killed him, but things didn’t work out.” The words were cold and the tone without feeling. Then he smiled. “But that’s the past. We have to worry about the future. Just let me stay until you get the wolf in shape. Maybe by that time we’ll have located Rudzak. And I have some strings I can pull to get the IRS to persuade the ranchers not to go after the wolf again.”