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His focused eyes stayed pinned to the front door as my heart raced faster.
“Do you need to go out?”
Ed barked again. His nails tapped against the hardwood.
“Is it Duck?”
Another louder bark and he turned in a circle.
“Youarean overprotective dad, aren’t you?” I scratched behind his ears. “I’m sure Duck is just fine. He’s sleeping.”
Ed took a step toward the door, his body still radiating tension. I rolled my eyes. “Stubborn like your dad, I see.” I grabbed Duke’s lined flannel from beside the door and slipped my arms into it. His warm, masculine scent cocooned me as I unlocked the door. I pointed at Ed to prove I was serious. “Let’s go check on Duck; then I’m taking that bath.”
As soon as the front door opened, Ed bounded down the stairs and across the yard toward the barn with more speed than you’d expect from a three-legged dog.
“Ed!Shit.” Carefully I hurried behind him, wrapping the flannel around my middle and wishing I’d thought to bring a flashlight. The large barn was closed up for the night, but I followed Ed’s whine in the distance. Down a row of mowed grass, his butt stuck out from between two blueberry bushes.
“Ed!” I called again in a whisper-shout. His ears smacked himself in the face as he turned to look at me but quickly refocused on whatever was in the bushes. When I got to him, he was whining. Crouching down as best as I could with a weighted beach ball attached to my front, I peered between the bushes. The low light made it difficult to see, but sure enough, Duck’sstark white feathers stood out against the blueberry canes. I nudged a stubborn Ed aside to get a closer look.
Duck quacked and attempted to move, but something was tangled around his webbed foot. “Oh, you poor thing! You’re all tangled up.” Reaching forward, I examined his foot as Ed circled me, sniffing and whining. Awkwardly, I was able to detach whatever was wound around his foot from the base of the blueberry bush.
“Now how did you get out, Mister?” A pathetic quack was Duck’s only response. He fought my embrace, more evidence that he only loved Ed or Duke because those two could mess with him all day, and he never complained. I held him in the nook of my arm and unwound what appeared to be a fishing line or nylon string of some kind. He must have gotten tangled up on his way to bed, and it got twisted among the bramble and roots of the bushes. I made a mental note to have Duke check the fencing to be sure there wasn’t a hole he’d escaped from. While it was no surprise Duck was domesticated, the last thing I wanted was him wandering out and a wild animal getting to him before we could.
“Poor guy. You’re all right.” Duck settled against my arm and rested his beak between my biceps and breast. I looked down and sighed. “Well, you are cute, I’ll give you that.” I plopped a kiss on his little head. “Let’s get you back to bed.”
Darkness fell around me, and I increased my pace to the barn. As I walked along the broadside, I noted that there wasn’t any visible hole in the fencing where Duck could have escaped from. When I turned toward the small door to the barn, I frowned.
Duke would never have left this open.
Tiny alarm bells buzzed in the back of my mind. “Come on, Ed.” I called the dog closer to me and carefully set Duck inside his pen within the barn. I worked quickly, closing the barn doorbehind me and wanting to shut myself within the safety of our home.
Light flashed in my peripheral vision. My heart leaped to my throat. Ed’s low grumble matched the cadence of my rattling nerves. At the back of the barn, a low sliver of light flashed again. Immediately my mind went to my brothers and their stupid pranks. It had been a while since they’d pulled something, and I knew they were itching to get back at the Sullivans for paying a group of local theater kids to drop to their knees and bow any time a King walked past a few weeks back. You’d think my arrogant brothers would have loved it, but the kids really committed to the bit—following them around, openly weeping when Royal walked past. One girl even stalked JP and dropped rose petals at his feet for an entire day.
I really thought we were past this childish bullshit.
I clenched my teeth and stomped in the direction of the light. Those idiots thought they were so clever, and I was about to scare the shit out of them before giving them a piece of my mind.
Serves them right for scaring me and delaying my epic bubble bath.
I had rounded the corner, ready to jump out and scare the shit out of whichever brother was sneaking around, when my scream strangled in my throat. Ed placed himself between me and the dark figure, growling and baring his teeth.
At the choking noise that came out of me, the figure whipped around to face me. My eyes went wide when I nearly collided with Bootsy. “Oh, shit!” I was panting and took a step backward. My hand flew to my chest, clutching the flannel. “Oh my god.”
The whites of his eyes were glassy and shifting in the low light. I tipped my chin. “Bootsy?”
“Miss Sylvie.” He cleared his throat. “Yes, hello.”
I took another step in retreat. Unease rolled through me. “What are you doing here?” My mind struggled to catch up withthe fact I’d just caught the town recluse lurking around the barn after dark. “Did my brothers put you up to this?”
His eyes whipped to mine. “No, ma’am. Don’t mind me. I’ll be off.” He chuckled and shook his head. “Get confused from time to time. Thought I had an appointment with Mr. Duke.” He rubbed his forehead. “Must have been mistaken.”
I was about to tell him Duke wasn’t here, but the alarm bells blaring between my ears stopped me. “He’s just inside,” I lied as I turned toward the house. “I can grab him for you.”
“No! Uh . . . no, ma’am. Not necessary. Confused . . . like I said.”
My heart went out to the man. It was true he’d lived his life on the fringes of town. The good people of Outtatowner had tried to take care of him and his late brother, but oftentimes they had remained a mystery. I risked one last try. “Do you need help?”
He scoffed when his eyes met mine. The weathered skin and deep lines were accentuated in the shadows, casting a harsh glimmer in them. “I ain’t the one needin’ help. You best be careful.”
