Page 5 of A Bear's Secret

Is she here yet?Austin wondered, thinking again of the girl with pale olive skin, black hair, and deep brown eyes. Even a sports bra and hiking pants hadn’t been able to hide curves just made for grabbing onto, really digging his fingers into as he—

Austin heard sirens and swiveled his head, following them. The ambulance came into sight, and as it made the turn into the driveway, Austin got back into the truck, waved at them through the window, and barreled back up the driveway.

As he drove, a chilling thought occurred to him: what if the girl had done it?

* * *

By the timeAustin got inside, the paramedics were already working. The syringe that he’d been afraid to touch was lying on Barb’s kitchen table, and they were taking the kid’s vitals, talking to each other in low, urgent tones.

“Ma’am, where’s the woman who found him?” a paramedic asked Barb.

“She’s in the restroom,” Barb said. She had her arms crossed over her chest and was watching the goings-on with a stern look on her face.

Austin’s heart beat a little faster, and he forced himself to watch them work, stone-faced.

“You’re the man who brought him back to safety?” a paramedic asked.

“Yes.”

“Did you notice anything else about the scene, anything unusual?”

“He was unconscious in the middle of the woods with a syringe in his neck,” Austin said.

“You don’t know who he is?”

Austin shook his head.

The paramedic nodded once, tersely, and addressed the other man.

“Let’s take him in,” he said.

As they put the kid on a stretcher in the kitchen, Austin heard a door open. Despite himself, he turned his head, knowing that he was going to find her standing there, and he did.

She’d changed out of her hiking clothes and into a super oversized rodeo t-shirt and a long floral skirt that buttoned up the front.

Austin had a very strong suspicion that Barb had insisted the girl borrow her clothes. He nodded at the girl once.

“Austin, this is Sloane,” Barb told him, keeping one eye on the kid being loaded onto the stretcher, totally unconscious. “Sloane, Austin.”

Austin stretched out his hand, forcing himself to half-smile at the girl.

“Hi,” she said.

Her touch sent shivers up his spine, and for a moment, his mind simply went blank.

Then, at last, he said, “Hi.”

“Sloane’s coming to the hospital with us,” Barb said. “It’s a safe bet that the cops are gonna want to talk to you two, and you know how I hate them tromping around my nice house.”

Austin heard another door slam, and the footsteps of several men came into the house through another wing, their loud voices echoing through the hall. The paramedics got the kid into the ambulance and turned the lights on again just as the three men came through the door to the kitchen.

“Barb?” the oldest one asked. He lifted his hat and wiped his bald head with a handkerchief.

“Our boarder found an unconscious boy in the woods,” Barb said, matter-of-factly. “We’re going to the hospital with him. You’re on your own for dinner.”

Bill, the bald, guy, nodded his head, and Barb gave him a kiss on the lips. Then she grabbed the truck keys from Austin and the three of them followed her out the door, the ambulance already halfway down the driveway.

* * *

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