lightly, wishing he could take her sadness away.
A hundred questions came to mind, but he remembered their one rule. He’d have to wait for answers. All that mattered now was that she was safe here in his arms.
He kissed the top of her head and moved his hands comfortingly across her back.
She snuggled against him and cried softly as though her gentle heart was breaking.
“Are you hurt?” he finally whispered.
Shaking her head, she pulled away enough to look at him. “Promise me you’ll never tell anyone about me. No matter what happens, no one must ever know I’m here. I’ve vanished, you see, and I’m not ready to go back. For the first time ever, I’m living my own life. If this time ended, I’m not sure I could bear it.”
“I promise.” Whom would he tell? Yancy thought. No one would even know to ask. Besides, he’d sound nuts telling anyone he’d spent all these nights woodworking with a woman he called Rabbit but hadn’t asked who she was or where she came from. “I’ll keep your secret, if it will keep you safe.” He pushed a tear off her cheek. “I’d do anything to help you.”
She leaned against him and finally stopped crying. “Thanks,” she whispered as she kissed his lips feather light.
He returned the kiss. Just a touch, not an advance. Her lip trembled slightly, but she didn’t move away.
He held her, loving the nearness of her, wanting to help, needing to know what was wrong, but afraid to ask more. For now, it was enough that she was safe and unhurt. It didn’t matter what she was running from—only that she was running to him.
He brushed what felt like dried paint from her temple. “You been working in someone else’s workshop, Rabbit?”
“No. I was just playing around with oils today. I tried to mix the colors to match the sky at dawn, but I couldn’t get it right.”
“So, you paint.” He held his breath, fearing she’d think his statement was a question.
“Not much,” she answered. “Not lately.”
“Maybe I’ll give you a chance to do it again.” He smiled at her. “I found an old rocking chair at a yard sale. It needs work, but I could repair the broken pieces of wood and you could paint it red.”
She nodded. “I’d like that. I’ve always wanted to paint a rocker.” She fought down a giggle but he saw her smile.
The sound of a car passing on the road fifty yards away made her jump, but she didn’t leave his arms. When they heard the car pull off the road and head toward them, Yancy held her tighter. He could hear rocks crunching and winter-dead weeds snapping as the tires moved down the rut of a path to the house that no one ever used.
A beam of light flashed through a crack in the door.
They were about to have a visitor and there was no way out except through the barn doors. Yancy felt her panic as he moved his hand across her back trying to comfort her.
He knew she wanted to run, but from the sounds outside, the car couldn’t be more than five feet from the barn door.
Without hesitation, Yancy picked her up. With one step onto his toolbox and another on the table, he was high enough to lift her into the loft. “Get back behind the boards and don’t move.”
“But—”
“Go, Rabbit. I’ll stand guard. No matter what happens, don’t come out.”
She scrambled up. A car door opened somewhere outside. Yancy jumped from the table and ran the few feet to the loft ladder. He swung it down and shoved it beneath the table, where it blended with a pile of loose boards and scraps of materials he’d planned to trash.
As he picked up his hammer, he moved so that he faced the door, the table now between him and whoever might be showing up at this hour.
A car door slammed and footsteps sounded, coming closer, making no effort to be silent.
Yancy raised his hammer. If trouble stepped in through the barn doors, he could throw the tool and have another pulled from the wall behind him before the stranger could react. If someone were coming for the woman in the loft, they’d have to get past him first.
The door creaked and cold air rushed in as if the barn were inhaling.
“Yancy?” a low voice called. “You in here?”
Yancy was so relieved that he almost dropped the hammer. “Fifth,” he answered as Deputy Weathers stepped through the opening. “You scared the hell out of me, man.”
The tall officer smiled. “Sorry, I tend to have that effect on people. It’s hard for me to sneak into a place. I’ve tried lathering my whole body with lard because someone said it was shortening, but it didn’t work.”
“Very funny.” Yancy tried to calm his nerves, but they were still jumping under his skin. “Sounds like a joke one of the old retired teachers would tell.”
“It is. Mrs. Ollie told it to me the other day.”
Yancy forced himself not to look up at the loft. Rabbit wouldn’t come down, and he had to act like it was just an ordinary night. “You must be helping Mrs. Ollie practice so she can get her driver’s permit back. She always tells jokes when she’s nervous.”
“Yeah, she’s doing better with her driving than she is with her stand-up comedy career. Drives fine, just can’t remember if she should be in the right or left lane. Which complicates things on all these two-lane roads.”
Yancy nodded. He’d ridden with her once. His life had flashed before him so many times he thought it was in permanent reruns.
Normally, he would have visited, but tonight all he could think about was saying goodbye to his friend. “What brings you out this late, Deputy? Coming in from a date or on official business?”
“No date. I was just driving home and saw the light. Don’t usually see you working this late. Thought something might be wrong.”
“No,” Yancy said, “I’m just finishing up a project. I get out here working and forget about time.”
The deputy pulled off his hat, leaned against one of the other tables and crossed his arms. He appeared to be planted there for a while. “I almost had a date a few days ago. One of the O’Grady clan. Tall and lean with the prettiest red hair you’ve ever seen. We had a lunch date.”
“Really?” Yancy tried to act interested.
Weathers shook his head. “I think I just wanted it to be a date. She was something, but I didn’t get any signals that she was interested in me.”
“Why not ask her out again? Maybe you’ll grow on her.” Yancy added, “She’s still staying out at the Kirkland place.”
Weathers laughed. “This town is way too small. How’d you know?”
“Cap Fuller’s grandson waited on you at the window of the Dairy Queen. He told Cap you had a tall redhead
