Count This Cowboy In (33 page)

All three of them anxiously asked her, “Are you okay?”

Heather took over, giving her a visual check, while feeling her arms and legs for possible injuries.  “Did they hurt you?”  She noticed the terrified look in her eyes, and saw her iron grip on Heath, and assured her, “It’s okay, honey, I’m a nurse.  I’m just checking to be sure you’re okay.”

She relaxed a little, giving Heather a tiny smile.  “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

Heather smiled at her.  “There’s nothing for you to be sorry for.  I probably scared you even more than you already were when I started checking you all over.”  She tried to relax, hoping it would help the frightened victim to relax. “I’m Heather, and I really am a nurse.  This is my husband, Phil, and the protective guy that refuses to let you go yet is my brother, Heath.  They’re both big and scary-looking, but they’re a couple of teddy bears.  Overprotective teddy bears, but harmless.”

Both men’s eyes narrowed as they looked at her, and she had to laugh.  “They really are good guys, and you can trust them.”  She rubbed the lady’s arms, trying to help her relax. “Can you talk yet, tell us if you’re okay?”

She tried to smile, though not very successfully, and hesitantly said, barely above a whisper, “I’m okay.  Thank you all so much.”

Heath gave her a big smile. “I’m glad to hear that.  Can you tell us your name?”

“I’m Sara,” she whispered.

“
Nice to meet you, Sara,” Heath told her, squeezing her hand a bit.

Phil asked, “Have you ever seen those two before, Sara?”

She shook her head no, and tears started streaming from her eyes again.

Heather pushed her husband aside, admonishing him.  “Phil, for heaven’s sake.  Give her a few minutes to calm down before you drill her.”  Looking back at her with understanding eyes, she said, “I’m sorry about that, Sara.  He’s a policeman, and he’s just trying to help, honest.”

Sara nodded her understanding, and allowed Heath to pull her in a little tighter against him.  He spoke softly as he said, “You take your time, Sara, to calm your nerves and gather your thoughts.  You’re safe here, so don’t worry about anything for a while.  When you’re ready, you can talk to Phil, okay?”

She managed a small smile as she answered, “Thank you, Heath.”

Heather looked at Phil. “I was surprised when you let those guys go.  I figured when you and Heath had them down you’d be hauling them off to jail.”

Phil grunted. “If I'd had my handcuffs, I certainly would have.  I was more concerned about Sara’s safety, and since I didn’t have anything to restrain them with, I figured I’d just scare them off this time.  They don’t know I’m a cop, and I got a good look at them, so I’ll just see if we can find them again.”  Looking at Sara, he said, “I’m sorry, Sara, I didn’t mean to sound so hard earlier.  I know you need time to calm down, but then if you can talk to me a little bit, I’m going to try my best to catch those two again.”

She nodded, but didn’t say anything.

Everyone was quiet a couple minutes, each in their own thoughts.  Heath wanted to try to help Sara calm, and tried asking, “Do you live around here, Sara?”  He felt her stiffen a little, and she simply shook her head.  Trying again, he asked, “Is there anyone you want us to call for you?”  Again she shook her head.

Heather picked up on Heath’s idea, and tried asking, “Are you here on vacation, Sara?”

She looked at Heather and whispered, “Sort of, I guess.”

Heather looked up at Heath and saw his eyebrows raise.  He gave Sara’s hand a little squeeze and said, “This is an awful way to spend a vacation.  I hope you don’t judge this whole area by those two thugs.  We’re not all that bad.”

Sara smiled a little and said, “I’m glad I found some of the good ones.  I don’t know what would have happened if you two hadn’t –"

Heath felt her tense up again, and quickly said, “Let’s not even think about that.  It didn’t happen, so no need to ponder it.  Are you staying here a little while, or just on your way to somewhere else?”

Sara sighed and considered his question several moments before replying. “I haven’t decided yet.”

Heath had been watching her all day, wondering about her staring into the ocean that long, and was concerned now.  She obviously didn’t mind his arms around her, so he kept one arm around her, the other on her hand.  She seemed scared, and hopefully that helped calm her a bit.  After giving her some water and taking one for himself, he asked, “Are you up to talking a little bit yet, or do you need a little more time?”

Sara looked up at him for the first time, and said, “First I want to thank you, Heath.  Not many people would have helped someone they didn’t even know at all.  I don’t know how to thank you.”  Looking at Phil and Heather she added, “And you two, as well.  Thank you.”

Phil assured her, “You’re welcome, Sara.  I just hope I can find those two again and get them behind bars, where they should be.  Are you ready for a few questions?”

She nodded. “I’ll try, but I don’t know that I can help you much.  I’ve never seen them before, and didn’t even notice them until they were there and talking to me.”

“What did they say?”  Phil asked.

Sara shook her head. "I don’t remember exactly.  Something about going to a party with them or something, and I told them no.  The shorter guy said they weren’t asking, they were telling, and that’s when I knew I was in trouble.  The tall man grabbed me and started pulling, but that’s when Heath appeared, thankfully.” 

She was looking at Heath now, and he could see her shaking.  He tightened his arm around her and tried laying her head against his chest.  She readily let him, and he wrapped both arms around her a couple minutes, until he felt her relax a bit again.  He assured her, “You’re okay now, sweetheart.”

They stayed like that several minutes.  Heath could feel the tension in her slowly leave, as he rubbed her back.  Just as he felt her relax, she jerked her head up off his shoulder and jumped back away from him.  “I’m sorry, Heath.  I don’t know what came over me.  I don’t usually act like this.”

Totally confused, Heath tried putting his hand over hers, but she pulled away.  He studied her a bit as he asked, “Like what?  What are you sorry for?”

She was obviously flustered as she said, “I don’t normally fall all over guys like that.  I’m sorry.  It won’t happen again.”

Heath quietly tried to explain, “Sara, that wasn’t falling all over anyone.  You’ve just had a very traumatic event, and you were just accepting the comfort we were trying to give you.  You did absolutely nothing wrong.”

“
I’ve taken advantage of your kindness enough.  I’ll just be going now.  Thank you again, all of you.”

All three of them were looking at each other in shock as they watched her quickly get up and start walking away.  Heath got to his feet and went to her before she’d taken three steps.  “Sara, come back here, please.  I don’t want you going off alone.”

“I’ll be fine.  I’ve wasted enough of your time.”

He put his hand on her arm and stopped her.  Pulling her around to look at him, he told her, “Sara, you’re not wasting my time.  You may not have noticed, but I was on my way over to you when you were attacked.  I was planning on introducing myself and asking you to have dinner with me.”  He paused a bit before asking, “So, what do you say? Dinner?”

Heath could tell she was hesitant, and he added, “If you’re nervous about being alone with a man you don’t really know right now, I completely understand.  Would you have dinner with all three of us?  We can go to a public place.  There’s a nice Italian restaurant not far from here that we all like.  Would you join us, please?”

She still looked uncertain, when Heather jumped in.  “Oh, yes, please do!  That sounds great.  We can tell you a little about this area while we eat.”

She looked at all three of them, and Heath could tell she was very unsure.  “Please?”  He smiled when he saw the hint of a smile on her lips.

“
Okay, if you’re sure.”

Phil assured her, “Oh, we are.  And I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m getting hungry."  The other two both agreed.  After assuring Sara she looked fine, they gathered up their blanket and cooler and went back to their SUV.  Heath asked Sara about her car, and found she’d walked there, so they didn’t have to worry about that. 

Dinner went well.  Heath kept a close eye on Sara.  She was quiet, not saying much, but seemed much more relaxed, and appeared to be enjoying herself.

After dinner Sara said, “Hey, I want to thank all of you for dinner, and everything you’ve done for me today.”

Heath was concerned about Sara and wasn’t about to let her go off by herself yet.  “Thank you for having dinner with us.  It’s such a nice evening, why don’t we all go back to my condo and have a glass of wine?”

Heather caught the momentary look of panic cross Sara’s face, and suggested, “I like the idea of a glass of wine, but let’s go back to our condo instead.  We have a TV on the patio and we can watch The Mentalist.  I love that show, especially when I can watch it outside, with some wine and friends.”

Heath laughed. “Sounds good to me.  Okay with you, Sara?”

Sara hesitated before saying, “I better get back to my motel. Thanks for the offer, though.”

Heath quickly said, “Sara, please come have a glass of wine with us.  I hate to think of you alone in a motel room.  I promise I’ll take you back later, but I’d love to be able to spend a little more time with you this evening.”  She looked hesitant, and he once again smiled and added, “Please?”

“What is it about the way you say please?  I just can’t walk away from it,” Sara said.

“Good.  I’ll remember that.”  He winked at her, which seemed to put her at ease again. 

They all enjoyed the evening.  Sara opened up a little more, but was still quite reserved.  Heath continued to watch her carefully, and was still concerned.  He’d decided there was more to her scare today than she was saying.  There was something bothering her that she hadn’t shared with them, and he was concerned.

Heather always could read Heath’s body language, and she knew he was concerned.  After the show was over Sara asked, “Heath, is your offer to take me back to my motel still good?”

Heather suggested, “Sara, I’m off tomorrow and I’d love to take you to a couple places we talked about this evening.  Why don’t you stay here, in our guest room tonight?  Then we can get an early start in the morning and I'll show you around.”

Heath caught Heather’s eyes and smiled his approval.  He suggested, “That’s a wonderful idea.  Phil, I know your shift starts early, but I don’t have any early meetings tomorrow.  If you two girls think you can be ready by 7:00 I’ll take you to breakfast before you begin your gossip-filled day of shopping.”

Heather indignantly asked, “What makes you think we’ll gossip?”

Smiling, Heath looked at Sara and said, “My baby sister has always been the queen of gossip.”

Huffing, Heather insisted, “I am not.  And I’m not your baby sister.”

Phil laughed and said, “That’s not what you said earlier.”

“
No, I said he was my big brother.  There’s a big difference,” she explained.

Heath grinned as he said, “No difference.  If I’m your big brother, you’re my baby sister.  You can’t have one without the other, sis.”

“Oh, you men are impossible,” she stated.  She turned and grabbed Sara’s arm. “Come on, I’ll explain what these two big lugs are talking about while I show you where our guest room is.”

“
But I shouldn’t stay here tonight.”

“
But you should,” Heath told her.  “Give us a chance to show you a good side to our humble little town.  Besides,” he added, smiling at Heather, “my baby sister will be really disappointed if you don’t.”

They all laughed as Heather punched Heath in the arm again.

“But I don’t have any clothes here,” Sara explained.  “I better just go back to my motel.”

“
Not a problem,” Heather assured her.  “We’re about the same size.  I have pajamas that will fit, and I always keep a few new toothbrushes on hand.  I’m sure we can find something that will fit you fine for tomorrow.”

“Heaven knows she has plenty you can pick from,” Phil added.

“Very funny,” Heather said, hiding a grin.  “See, Sara, you have to stay.  Don’t leave me alone with these two.”

Sara looked at all three of them, and finally agreed.  “Okay, if you’re sure you don’t mind.  I guess I’m not really looking forward to spending tonight alone.”

Though her last comment was said very quietly, it confirmed Heath’s concern.  “Sara, now that you’re staying here tonight, would you take a walk around the pool with me?  It’s such a nice night, and it’s not that late yet.  Are you up for it?”

She looked at Heath a few moments before saying, “I think I’d like that.  It is a beautiful night.”

“Good.”  He offered his arm, and she slipped her hand in and let him lead her off.

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