Sunrise Point

apples at her?” he asked.
    She nodded. “I was going to hold her off with the ladder.”
    A small huff of laughter escaped him. He put a finger under her chin and lifted, giving her a small kiss. “You scared me to death,” he said.
    “Join the club,” she said, a hiccup in her voice.
    “Why didn’t you come to the house when you got here?”
    She gave a little shrug and looked down. “Red Caddy,” she said softly.
    Tom noticed Junior out of the corner of his eye, rifle in hand and pointed down, giving the dead bear a kick to see if she moved. The action caused the cub to skitter away. The ground was getting soaked with blood—that bear was done. He looked at Nora. “Yeah, that. I didn’t know she was coming.”
    “You didn’t invite her?” she asked.
    “I told her I was going hunting. I didn’t know it was true. Remind me to tell you some important lessons about lies.” Then he swiveled toward Junior and said, “We have three cubs to round up.”
    “They were here all night,” Junior said.
    “Most likely.” Then he swiveled back to Nora, ignoring Junior. “Are you going to be all right?” he asked softly.
    “Eventually…”
    He leaned toward her and kissed her again, this time a little more deeply. She put a hand against his bare chest and against his lips she whispered, “You must be freezing.”
    “Ha. Not hardly. Is steam coming off me?”
    She massaged his chest a bit with one hand, right over a tattoo. “I’ve never been so scared.”
    “Come on,” he said, standing and pulling her up. When she was on her feet he pulled her against him for a moment, just holding her. He kissed the top of her head. As he finally let her go, he kept an arm around her shoulders, holding her close against his side, and said, “Let’s get you to the house. Then I have to help Junior with these cubs.”
    When he turned he saw not only Maxie standing behind him, Duke at her side, but also Darla. And Darla had a horrified look on her face, but she wasn’t gazing at the dead bear. She was looking at Tom and Nora. And as she met Tom’s eyes, she lifted her chin indignantly and whirled away, marching fast toward the house.
    Nora looked up at him. “I think I’d rather go to the office. Or maybe just home. Is there workman’s comp for bear scares?”
    “Let me take you to the kitchen. Maxie will make you some tea or something, make sure you stop shaking before you go home.”
    “I don’t feel like tangling with Darla. She looked pretty pissed.”
    “Yeah,” he said, taking a deep breath. “I don’t feel like tangling with her, either, but it has to be done.”
    “Good, you do it,” she said, pulling away. “I’m going home to hug my children. I came a little too close to orphaning them.” She allowed herself a small smile. “Thank you—you were pretty magnificent. That bear was going to eat me.”
    “I spent half the night looking for that damn bear and her cubs. Darla showed up just after dark and she didn’t close the gate. Duke let us know there was a bear.”
    She gave his naked chest a pat. “Well, I’m sure she’s very upset. You better go see if she’s all right. I’m going home.” And she walked down the lane to her car, parked by the barn. “Good luck,” she said to him, giving him a wave.
    * * *
    Tom grabbed a shirt and jacket and went to help Junior round up the cubs, which turned out more like a game for all the orchard workers as they were on the run. The men carried rakes and shovels to try to direct the cubs into a corner where they would be trapped. The gate remained closed so they wouldn’t escape into the forest; they were probably mature enough to survive, but it would be better if an expert made that decision. A couple of hours later someone from Fish and Game arrived with a flatbed attached to a big truck to take away the bear carcass; an hour after that, animal control arrived to transport the cubs to a holding facility.
    All this time there was no sign of Darla and the red Caddy remained parked at the back of the house. He stood outside his office staring at that damn car. It would probably have been best if she’d gotten angry enough to leave while he was playing tag with cubs because there was little doubt in his mind she was going to be angry enough to leave after they talked.
    “Girl trouble?” Junior asked him.
    “What makes you say that?” Tom returned.
    “Well, one charged out of here after a bear nearly ate her and in case you think no