Page 65 of Hero's Heart

He approached slowly, watching her. There was a quiet strength in her movements, a resolve to reclaim control. But he couldn’t ignore the way her shoulders still seemed too fragile or the faint tremor in her hand as she reached for a plate.

“You sure you shouldn’t still be resting? I can load the dishes.” He leaned against the counter. “You don’t want to overdo it.”

“Resting only makes me feel worse,” she said, not pausing in her task. “I needed to do something. Anything.”

Callum nodded, understanding the need to keep moving, to push past the shadows of helplessness. “Fair enough. But take it easy. No heroics in the kitchen, all right? I don’t want to see you juggling plates or leaping over the island.”

She chuckled softly, the sound like a faint chime in the quiet. “I’ll try.”

He moved closer to help her, and for a moment, they worked in companionable silence, his eyes lingering on her. Maybe now, he could get answers to some of the questions that had been burning a hole in his gut. He hadn’t wanted to press her while she was barely doing more than sleeping, but now that she was up and about…

“I’ve been meaning to ask. How did you find me?”

She stilled, her hand hovering over a glass. Her expression tightened for a heartbeat before she placed the glass carefully in the rack. “I remembered Oak Creek from our talks. This was the only one in Wyoming near the Teton Mountains, so I figured this must be it.”

That made sense. “How’d you end up in my yard?”

“I asked around,” she said, her voice measured. “Someone mentioned you lived out this way. I wasn’t sure if you’d want to see me, so I didn’t want to just knock on the door…”

“Next time, know I have no problem with you knocking on my door. I’d hate for you to wander around here and end up in one of the thousands of bear traps.”

Those blue eyes got big. “Bear traps? Really?”

He grinned. “No. But I would prefer not to tackle you anymore, so let’s plan on using the door from here on out.”

“Deal.”

“And I noticed there’s no car parked anywhere around,” he said. “How’d you manage to get here?”

She hesitated, then shrugged. “Hitchhiked most of the way from Seattle. Walked from town.”

“You hitchhiked across three states?” A surge of anger and worry tightened his chest.Hitchhiking. The thought of her out on those lonely roads, vulnerable, made his jaw clench. He forced his voice to stay calm. “Sloane, that’s…dangerous.”

“I didn’t have a car and didn’t have much money, so I did what I had to do,” she replied evenly, meeting his gaze with quiet defiance. “I’ll try not to do it again.”

Try. Meaning, if she had to, she would once again put her safety at risk. There was both a desperation and a determination in her words and appearance. One he didn’t totally understand.

Callum exhaled sharply but let it go. He didn’t want to push too hard, not when she was just starting to regain her footing. “What about your things? I didn’t see a bag either.”

She’d been sleeping in one of his T-shirts for the past two days. Although now, she had on the jeans and sweater he’d tackled her in. He’d washed them while she was out but hadn’t found any other clothes, even when he’d gone back out on his property to search and see if she’d stashed a suitcase somewhere.

“No bag,” she said, her tone flat.

She didn’t elaborate, and he didn’t press. Whatever she’d left behind, it was clear she wasn’t ready to revisit it.

He leaned closer. She didn’t want to talk about any of this; that much was obvious. But he had to ask. “Why here, Sloane? Why now? I haven’t heard anything from you in two months, and then you just show up.”

Her expression flickered, and she looked down at the counter, her hands stilling. “I couldn’t stay home anymore.”

“Do those bruises have anything to do with that?”

She looked down at her arms. “Yes and no.”

The thought of somebody hurting her…

“Nobody was abusing me at home, if that’s what you mean,” she continued. “But I did get these from climbing out my window to leave.”

Climbing out her window?That meant she’d snuck out.

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