Diamond Bay

"No."

Silence fell between them. Rachel studied her hands, waiting for another question. When none came she tried one of her own. "Should I have called the police?"

"It would have been safer for you if you had."

"I took a calculated risk. I figured the odds were more in my favor than yours." She took a deep breath. "I’m a civilian, but I used to be an investigative reporter. I saw some things in those days that didn’t add up, and I did a little digging, found out some things before I was warned not to go any deeper. You could have been a drug runner or an escaped convict, but there wasn’t any hint of anything like that on the scanner. You could also have been an agent. You had been shot twice. You were unconscious and couldn’t protect yourself or tell me anything. If… people…were hunting you, you wouldn’t have had a chance in a hospital."

His lashes had dropped, shielding his expression. "You’ve got quite an imagination."

"Haven’t I," she agreed mildly.

He leaned back in his chair, wincing a little as he tried to get his shoulder comfortable. "Who else knows I’m here, other than the vet?"

"No one."

"Then how did you get me up here? Or did the vet help you? You’re not Superwoman."

"I put you on a quilt and dragged you up here, with help from the dog. Maybe he thought it was a game." Her gray eyes darkened as she thought of the Herculean effort she had made to get him inside the house. "When Honey got here, we lifted you onto the bed."

"Honey?"

"The vet. Honey Mayfield."

Sabin watched her quiet face, wondering at what she wasn’t saying. How far had she dragged him? How had she gotten him up the steps to the porch? He had carried wounded men out of battle, so he knew how difficult it was, even with his strength and training. He outweighed her by at least eighty pounds; there was no way she could have lifted him. She could be lying about not having anyone else help her, but there wasn’t any reason for her to do so; all he could do was read between the lines. Almost anyone would have called the police immediately on finding a man unconscious on their beach, but she hadn’t. Few people would ever have considered the options and circumstances that had occurred to her. People just didn’t think about such things. It wasn’t a part of their normal lives; it only happened in movies and books and therefore wasn’t real. What life had she led that would make her so cautious, so aware of something that should have been beyond her experience?

They both heard the approaching car at the same time. Instantly she was out of her chair, her hand on his shoulder. "Go to the bedroom and close the door," she said evenly, not noticing the way his eyebrows lifted at her order. She went to the window and looked out; then the tension visibly left her body.

"It’s Honey. Everything’s okay. I guess she stayed away as long as her curiosity would let her."

Chapter Six

"How’s the headache?" the veterinarian asked, peering into his eyes. She was a big, strong-boned woman with a friendly, freckled face and a light touch. Sabin decided that he liked her; she had a good bedside manner.

"Hanging in there," he grunted.

"Help me get his shirt off," she said to Rachel, and the two women gently and efficiently stripped him. He was glad that he’d chosen to wear the cutoffs, or they would have had his pants off, too. He didn’t have any modesty to worry about, but it still disconcerted him to be handled like a Barbie doll. He dispassionately observed the purpled, puckered skin around the stitches in his leg, wondering about the extent of the muscle damage. It was essential that he be able to do more than hobble, and soon. The damage to his shoulder, with its complex system of muscle and tendons, was likely to be more permanent, but mobility was his greatest concern at the moment. Once he had decided what course of action to take he would need to move fast.

Fresh bandages were applied, and he was put back inside his shirt. "I’ll be back in a couple of days to take out the stitches," Honey said, repacking her bag. It struck Sabin that not once had she asked his name or any other question that didn’t deal with his physical well-being. Either she was remarkably incurious or she had decided that the less she knew, the better. It was a view that he wished Rachel shared. Sabin had always made it a rule not to involve innocent citizens; his work was too dangerous, and though he knew the risks of his job and accepted them, there was really no way Rachel could comprehend the extent of the risk she was taking in helping him.

Rachel went out with Honey, and Sabin hobbled to the door to watch as they stood by Honey’s car, talking in low voices. The dog, Joe, took up a position at the foot of the steps, a low growl working in his throat as he turned first to watch Sabin at the door, then back to Rachel, as if he couldn’t decide where to place his attention. His foremost instinct was to guard Rachel, but those same instincts couldn’t allow him to ignore Sabin’s alien presence at the door.

Honey got in the car and drove off, and after a final wave Rachel walked back to the porch. "Calm down," she admonished the dog softly, daring to give him a swift touch on the neck. His growl intensified, and she looked up to see Sabin coming out on the porch.

"Don’t come too close to him," she warned. "He doesn’t like men."

Sabin regarded the dog with remote curiosity. "Where did you get him? He’s a trained attack dog."

Astonished, Rachel looked down at Joe, standing so close by her leg. "He just wandered up one day, all skinny and beat-up. We reached an understanding. I feed him, and he stays around. He’s not an attack dog."

"Joe," Sabin said sharply. "Heel."