Bogart circled the trampled yard in some confusion. Many feet and vehicles had passed through the open area because of the fire.
James held his impatience in check but it was hard. He had to trust his partner. He did trust his partner. He gave him more leash, letting him form his own opinion of what to do next. They were in the dark at the edge of the grassy lawn when Bogart’s tail went up.
James grinned and came running up behind him. “Such! Shay!”
Bogart took off.
He was glad he worked out regularly. The terrain was mostly flat but the trail led through woods with shriveled vines and boulders, and without the aid of his high-beam flashlight the going would have been very tough. Shay knew she was running for her life when she traversed this maze. That thought kept him from giving a damn about how hard he was breathing and how much he wanted to smash things. He only wanted to hold on to her until she understood she was the best thing in his life.
Bogart paused a couple of times to sniff and consider but mostly he was taking them straight through the woods.
They came out the other side to a night full of stars. So silent and still it seemed as if they had popped out on the other side of the world. Except that Bogart was pulling him forward. Straining on his leash, he was determined to get to the bottom of a shallow ravine into which a dozen pipes had tumbled.
James couldn’t figure out why Bogart was so interested in them but his interest was good enough reason to check them out.
Bogart didn’t pause until he had nosed into a pipe that was up against a tree trunk on the other side of the shallow ravine they’d waded through.
James hunkered down and shined his flashlight inside.
Shay was in there, lying absolutely still. He couldn’t breathe in or out. Didn’t want to know the answer to the question beating through his pulse, if it wasn’t the right one.
Bogart dove in past his partner. Usually he didn’t like tight places, instinctively avoiding them as all dogs do. But this time, he was on duty and his goal was someone he knew. He grabbed one booted foot in his mouth and began backing out, dragging Shay with him.
She stirred and whimpered. It was the best sight and sound James had experienced, maybe ever.
James reached in when Bogart had pulled her close and patted Bogart’s back, his voice full of praise. “Gute Hund! So ist brav! Such a good boy!”
When Bogart had backed out, James reached in and slid her the rest of the way out. She was groggy and her face was bloody. She was wearing only jeans. But she smiled when she recognized James’s face. A really big all-happy smile.
“You came.”
He grinned at her. “You knew I would.”
“Yes.”
Bogart moved in close and, nudging James’s shoulder, stuck his snout in between them to lick Shay’s face.
She smiled weakly and reached out to scratch him behind his ears. “My Prince.”
James’s heart contracted hard as he picked her up and hugged her to him. She was frighteningly cold to the touch and there was blood on her, but he could tell by the way she reached up and grabbed his neck and held on tight that there was a lot of fight still left in Shay Appleton.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
James stood her in the shower and bathed her. There was nothing erotic about it. She was much too tired and sore, and drained from the volcanic overload of her ordeal, and still vibrating from the events of the night.
An ambulance had taken her to an emergency room in Roanoke Rapids where her wounds were assessed. She’d been grazed by a bullet, leaving a searing grooved burn on her upper arm that hurt like hell. There was also a nasty laceration on her right brow, made by a blow from the assailant’s gun. And a black eye. Her torso was scratched in a dozen places from her run half-naked through the woods.
During the exam, James stood by her, absorbing every telltale detail of her ordeal, his face a stoic mask. Beneath that fa?ade, he was feeling helpless and furious, wishing he had not been so by-the-book with the asshole who had done these things to her. Several times he had had to take a deep breath. On his job, he had come across bastards like the one who’d terrorized Shay. They raped and tormented for the pure pleasure of it. But he didn’t want to add fuel to her nightmares. Some things a man kept to himself.
Which is why he was also a tiny bit glad he had not known all she had been through when he and Bogart tracked the suspect down. Shay needed him here, not arrested for assault.
Deputy Ward showed up at the hospital, after handing over the suspect, to take Shay’s preliminary statement. But he didn’t push when James flashed him a look that said, Not now.
After a thorough examination to determine that nothing else was seriously wrong, the doctor had stitched her brow, dressed her wound, and given Shay antibiotics and a sedative. He recommended that she remain overnight for observation. She was suffering from slight hypothermia caused by exposure and trauma.