Part 35 (2/2)
”Toni? Bruce?”
Disappointment, dismay, washed over him. Thayer. Thayer was ahead of him. Still, he kept going. ”Aye, I'm here. Toni!”
The mist still lay before him. And the water.
He suddenly saw her, saw her.. .as he had seen the body of the dead girl. Facedown in the water. Long trails of blond hair no longer l.u.s.trous, but caked in mud and gra.s.s and tangled with twigs.
No! That was only in his mind's eye, a remnant of a dream.
”Toni!” His voice ricocheted through the woods, vibrant, loud.
”Bruce?”
Her voice was barely discernible in the rush of water and whisper of breeze.
”Where are you?” he cried.
”Toni!” From somewhere, he could hear Thayer's voice, as well.
And then he saw her. She was seated on a fallen log, drawing back sodden tendrils of her hair.
She wasn't facedown in the water. She was seated, alive and well. A bit bedraggled, nothing more.
He let out his breath in a rush of relief. His knees were weak, and his voice came out like crackling thunder. ”Toni!”
Then, just seconds after he had seen Toni, Thayer came cras.h.i.+ng through the brush from the opposite direction. Seeing Toni, and then Bruce, he, too, went still.
”Toni!” he breathed.
She rose, distracted, offering Bruce a weak smile and then a quick defense. ”Bruce!” She turned. ”And Thayer. Thank G.o.d. And wait, please, no one yell! I probably should have spent some time riding with someone else before taking old Wallace out on my own. I didn't come into the forest on purpose. I wound up riding some fields on the other side and didn't know where I was. Then it started to rain, as you can see,” she put in wryly. ”Actually, I think I would have made it out eventually, except that Wallace decided to desert me, and I walked smack into a major branch over there, and...” She was looking from one of them to the other. ”Hey! Bless you both, thanks for coming!” She gave Thayer a quick hug first, then turned to Bruce, a question in her eyes.
He reached for her. She came into his arms. He felt the air wrap around them, and felt the chill in her body.
”Let's just go back now, eh?” he said. Then he drew away, looking at her. She was somehow reserved, despite the look she had given him and the way she had melded to him.
”You're really fine?” Bruce said.
”Nothing happened?” Thayer asked.
She looked at them both and shook her head solemnly.
”The horse didn't throw you?” Bruce demanded.
”Wallace? No, Wallace is a love. I was off of him, stretching.” She winced. ”I haven't been riding in a while, I guess. Didn't bother with a saddle, so...did you see him? Is he all right?”
”He's on his way back to the stables now, I'm pretty certain,” Bruce said.
”Well, that's what I a.s.sumed he'd do in the first place!” Toni said. She pressed her fingers against her temple. ”I think I need some aspirin.”
”Let's get back,” Bruce said anxiously. ”Come here, I'll lift you up on Shaunessy.”
”No, no, that's all right,” she said, flas.h.i.+ng a smile toward Thayer. ”We'll all walk out together.”
”Toni, I can get out on m'own,” Thayer a.s.sured her. ”But you're soaked!”
”As I have been for hours,” she said lightly, then added firmly, ”We'll walk out, all together.”
For a moment, she thought that Bruce toyed with the idea of arguing with her, even taking a medieval stance and simply throwing her over Shaunessy's haunches.
It wasn't a matter of the total political incorrectness of such a gesture that stopped him; it was Thayer. He was hesitant about leaving the man behind, when, despite her words, there was something strange about Toni, about the way she had been sitting on the rock, and the way she had touched her forehead.
”Fine. We all walk out together,” he said. ”I'll just lead Shaunessy.”
As they started back, he pulled off his jacket and set it around her shoulders. She flashed him a smile of grat.i.tude.
”Darkness is coming quickly,” she murmured.
”And the buses soon, too soon,” Thayer murmured. He looked at her. ”You should rest. Gina can take on being you tonight. You could wind up with your death of a cold.”
”I feel fine,” she a.s.sured him.
”He may be right,” Bruce said.
”When I'm not fine, Gina can run around like a madwoman. Right now, I'm fine.” She glanced at him, her smile sweetly suggestive, her tone specifically for him. ”Absolutely nothing that a hot bubble bath can't take care of.”
”Ach, do I have to hear this?” Thayer demanded.
Toni laughed. ”And I thought I was being so subtle.” She stumbled slightly; the terrain wasn't level as they followed the brook. The rain had left exposed roots, and flooded some of the embankment.
”Man, this is quite a place!” Thayer murmured. ”The friggin' forest primeval!”
”Aye, that's why people should stay out of it,” Bruce said. He glanced at Thayer. ”I'm amazed that you stumbled upon Toni as I did...and as quickly,” he added, watching the man's reaction.
”So am I.I thought I was lost myself,” Thayer said. He pushed a tree branch out of the way for the others to precede him.
”Look how quickly it gets dark in here!” Toni marveled. ”Seriously, thank you both so very much for looking for me. I think I would have made it eventually, but I'm awfully darned glad not to be here alone, now.”
”Aw, shucks!” Thayer teased.
Minutes later, they'd broken through, reached the bottom of the hill and were on their way up. The others were waiting anxiously by the stables. Ryan had Wallace by the reins.
”Toni!” Gina came rus.h.i.+ng down the hill, hugging Toni, then drawing away. ”Ugh! You're soaked.”
”Toni!” Ryan was right behind Gina, hugging Toni, as well, then demanding to know, ”What did you do to Wallace?”
”What did I do to Wallace?” Toni demanded. ”He deserted me!”
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