he spoke reassuringly to the bird, edging closer when she calmed and pausing when she seemed to be growing unnerved by his presence. Finally, he was close enough to wrap the hawk in his jacket, and Bekah stepped up with the duffel bag to enclose the frightened animal.
Cradling the bundle, she felt the bird’s frantic heartbeat as if it were her own. She knew how it was to feel powerless, and she cuddled the hawk to her chest hoping to make her feel safer. “It’s all right, baby—you’re safe now. We won’t let any more bad things happen to you.”
The struggling eased a bit, and Drew opened the passenger door for her. When she understood what he was suggesting, she took a large step back. “What are you doing?”
“You’ve got her calmed down, so I figured I’d drive us to the rescue center. Is that okay?”
Not in a million years.
She was more or less comfortable with holding their patient, but the idea of allowing someone else to drive her to an unknown destination filled her with a terror so deep, it was threatening to choke her. That kind of blind trust had caused her no end of trouble in the past, and she wasn’t keen to set herself up for that again.
Then logic kicked in to remind her that it would be impossible for her to drive while holding the injured bird. Not to mention, she had no idea how to get to this rescue center he’d referred to. So, undone by necessity, she let out a quiet sigh and nodded. “I guess.”
Once she was settled in the passenger seat, he quietly shut the door and hurried around the front to get behind the wheel and start the engine. He pulled his cell phone from a cargo pocket on his shorts and put it on speaker before pulling onto the road. A pleasant voice on the other end answered, “Oaks Crossing Rescue Center. This is Sierra, how can I help you?”
“Hey, it’s Drew. I’m coming in with a badly injured red-tailed hawk. Thought you’d like a heads-up.”
“Get it here as fast as you can,” the woman replied in a crisp, efficient tone laced with concern. “I’ll be waiting.”
Drew tapped the screen to shut off his phone and tucked it back in his pocket before glancing over at Bekah. “How’re you ladies doing over there?”
“Still breathing.” Bekah peeked into the bag to check on their passenger. The hawk was coiled like a spring, but at least she’d stopped wriggling and trying to get loose. Either she was calming down, or she was fading fast. Since she knew next to nothing about birds, Bekah realized she had no choice but to hope for the best. “She’s really scared, though. I wish there was something more I could do.”
“It’s not your fault she got hit,” he assured her as he took a sharp curve like a pro. “We’ve got a lot of red-tails around here, and they like to hunt at the edges of these woods. They get so focused on their meal, they don’t check for cars, so most likely she ran into you instead of the other way around.”
“Where did you learn so much about hawks?”
“I grew up here, so that’s some of it. The behavior stuff I’ve learned from the folks who rehab wildlife at the rescue center. You’d be amazed what kind of critters end up there.”
“Really? Like what?”
It was very unlike her to prolong any conversation beyond the absolute basics, so the curiosity she heard in her voice surprised her. Apparently, her dramatic bird encounter had unsettled her even more than she’d realized.
“Skunks, orphaned bear cubs, last week an entire possum family. Then there’s the usual dogs and cats, rabbits, stuff like that. My family and I run Gallimore Stables on the other side of the property, retraining retired racehorses for new owners.”
The mention of horses got her attention, and she couldn’t help being intrigued by this outgoing man who’d interrupted his morning to stop and help out a complete stranger and a hawk. Feeling some of her reluctance seeping away, she took a deep breath and blurted, “My last name’s Holloway.”
“Pleased to meet you, Bekah Holloway.” Sliding her an easygoing grin, he added, “What brings you to Oaks Crossing?”
Despite her lingering tension, she laughed. “So, that’s where I am. I was trying to get to a job interview in Rockville. The receptionist gave me directions, but I got turned around somewhere and couldn’t find any road signs.”
“Worked out well for me.” When she gave him a puzzled look, his grin widened. “If you hadn’t gotten lost, I never would’ve met you.”
She’d known more than her share of smooth talkers, and she recognized a line when she heard one. Normally, she would have let it pass since she’d never see him again. But something inside her raised up its head and pushed her to nip his subtle advance in the bud. Maybe she still had some of her dignity, after all.
Not wanting to sound rude, she came up with a polite way to set him straight. “And without you to help her, this hawk would be in major trouble. Right?”
He seemed to pick up on her meaning, and he nodded. “Right.”
They made the rest of their trip in silence. While that was what she’d had in mind, Bekah was almost disappointed. Drew struck her as a genuinely decent guy willing to lend a hand where it was needed, even if it was inconvenient for him.
Unfortunately, she’d run across too many people who seemed good at first and turned out to be anything but. It had left her jaded and, by necessity, leery of—well, everyone. It was really too bad, she thought as she stared out the window at the trees flashing by. If she was someone else, she might have considered finding a job here and staying a while. A long string of personal disasters had soured her on serious relationships, but based on their quick connection, there was a chance she and Drew might have become friends.
She’d grown weary of constantly traveling from one place to another to hide her tracks, and always being an outsider was disheartening, to say the least. Now that summer was over, she’d love nothing more than to spend the winter in a nice little town way off the grid and catch her breath. The trouble was, she knew she hadn’t come close to shedding her past, and she didn’t have the luxury of becoming complacent. She’d have to settle for finding a reasonably safe harbor until her well-honed survival instinct warned her it was time to move on again.
It wasn’t the life she wanted, but it was the one she had to live. And there was nothing she could do about that.
* * *
Bekah Holloway was a puzzle wrapped in a mystery.
To Drew, it looked as if she’d been living in her car, and the condition of it told him she was pretty hard up for money. As if that wasn’t bad enough, her skittish behavior made it obvious to him that she was running from something—or someone. Slender but clearly stronger than she looked, her auburn hair and vivid blue eyes accented a pretty face with freckles sprinkled across her cheeks. In truth, she reminded him of the pixies in the stories his mother used to read him when he was a boy.
That observation drifted through Drew’s mind as he snuck a glance over at her. Completely engrossed by soothing the wounded hawk, she seemed oblivious to Drew’s presence. That was a new one for him, and he couldn’t keep back a slight grin. Most of the time, women flirted shamelessly with him, and he obliged them by flirting back.
Being from good Irish stock, he’d always believed friendliness
