Page 17 of Ash

Four

Wren Woodland knocked on the glass panel of the door marked James Redding, Esq., and waited for a verbal answer.

"Yes? Come in!"

She opened the door and stepped inside, smiling at the shock on the fox shifter's face as he stood up behind his desk. "I'm glad you're here, James."

Leveling his keen, discerning gaze at her over the upper rims of his glasses, James' voice dropped in tone. "What's wrong?"

Wren fluttered her hand in a habitual gesture. "You know me too well."

James stepped around his desk and moved to stand before her. "As much as I love to see you cross my doorstep, I know that you wouldn't come to my offices unless there was something that needed my immediate attention."

She lowered her head in a graceful nod that moved her curly hair around her shoulders. "I know you sent a letter to Betty's Great Niece."

Wren saw the momentary flash of shock across James' features before he shook his head. "Nothing gets past you."

"I see more than I want to, but in this case, I believe that it's a good thing. Our girl didn't get back on the bus at a rest stop."

She saw the dark shadow that crossed James' features.

"What?"

"She's on her way, but the bus made a rest stop and she didn't get back on."

James' gaze flicked over the room, sweeping as his tail might during times of worry. "I need to get to her." He turned to reach for his keys and stopped.

His keen gaze was a thing of the past when night fell, and he could clearly see the clock on the wall. It would soon be twilight, and he'd have to drive most of the way in the dark.

He opened his mouth to speak, but Wren was ready with a solution.

"I saw Arron Winter and his mate come into town for a visit. They will still be here in the time it takes you to gather your coat and come with me."

James didn't dillydally for an instant.

He walked past Wren to the door, tugging his coat from the coat and hat stand by the door. "Let's find them, shall we?"

Wren took his offered arm, not that she needed it, but James had long passed the age where there was an inherent spring in his foxlike step. She didn't have to point it out, he knew it on his own, but she could help him in the subtle ways that kept his pride from being singed.

Asoft knock at the door lifted Suzannah's head from the wooden surface. Her heart began to pound again.

"Hello?"

The voice was female and familiar.

"Hello? Alice?"

"Open the door, sweetheart."

Suzannah had to gather her wits as well as her limbs as she got up onto her knees and using the handle of the door to help her get up to her feet.

She cast a quick look at her hand and saw that it wasn't shaking all that much. With an indrawn fortifying breath, she twisted open the lock and gave the door a little nudge.

The door opened out and Suzannah saw Alice's eyes wide with shock and concern. "I wondered what had happened to you?"

Suzannah's chin dropped toward her chest. "I had to hide."

"Hide?" Alice held out her hand and Suzannah took it. "Come here, dear. Come and have a seat."

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