“Are you ever going to marry again?”

Kendall looked up, startled. Danni was helping her store supplies in the warehouse and chatting away as she worked.

“I don’t know,” she hedged, breaking open a box of paper cups. “I haven’t really given it a lot of thought.”

“Are you going to my sisters’ wedding?”

It was not something she was looking forward to, but she supposed she would survive it. “Yes. It sounds like it’s going to be the wedding of the year for this town. Are you looking forward to it?”

Danni moved her stepladder to a new location and climbed up again, putting cans on high shelves, but she didn’t answer the question. “I think it’s silly to have a double wedding. It’s not as if they’re twins.”

Kendall stopped what she was doing and looked at the girl, remembering things she’d said before. Poor Danni felt so left out. For just a moment she considered calling Sandi and asking if she realized how her closeness with Anne left Danni in the lurch, but immediately she thought better of the impulse. It was none of her business. She could just imagine how well she would receive a similar phone call from someone she knew. No one liked a busybody. She would keep out of it and hope for the best.

“I’m sure the wedding will be lots of fun,” she said carefully. “What’s your dress like?”

Danni shrugged. “Pink. It’s yucky.”

“You’ll be a knockout. I’d bet on it.”

The girl turned and gave her an ear-to-ear smile, then turned back to her work. “You’re so pretty and so neat,” she said casually. “You ought to be the one getting married. You’ve got to do it. Anyway, you want to have kids someday, don’t you?”

Kendall stared at the back of her head, wondering if she’d been talking to her brother lately. But no. Brett certainly wouldn’t discuss things like that with Danni. Would he?

“I’m not so sure I’ll ever have time for kids,” she answered, trying to keep her voice light and breezy. “After all, I’ve got all the ‘kids’ I can handle right here.”

Danni turned and regarded her solemnly. “I don’t know if Brett will ever get married either.”

Kendall put away the cups and looked around for something else to open, something difficult, so that she would have an excuse to give it a savage yank. “Would you like him to?” she asked.

“No. Not to any of the girls I’ve seen him go out with. They all think I’m a little kid who can be shoved aside and forgotten. If he married one of them, I would hate it.”

Kendall got very busy stuffing shredded paper in a trash bag. “I don’t think you really need to worry about it. Brett doesn’t seem like the marrying kind to me. He’s the type of man who likes a lot of women around, wouldn’t you say?” She gave the bag a solid smash. “I don’t think he’d be happy with just one.”

Danni didn’t answer and when Kendall looked up, she was shocked to see how desolate the girl’s face looked. What had she said to disturb her so?

“But then again, I don’t really know your brother that well. You know him much better than I do, don’t you? What do you think?”

Danni came down off the ladder and very deliberately looked everywhere but into Kendall’s face. “I’m finished with the supplies,” she said evenly. “Shall I check the water before I go home?”

Kendall watched as she left the building. Her heart went out to the girl. The teenage years were hard enough without the added burden Danni seemed to be carrying. She wished she knew what she could do about her. It came to her at last that she would have to discuss her with Brett. He would know what to do, once he knew what was going on.

Strange how comforting that thought was. The man wasn’t Superman, after all. But just the same, he did exhibit an air of confidence that seemed to help. Or at least, stir things up.

Kendall sat very still and watched Chelsea with her babies. The big, sleek cat was still calm and tame, but something subtle had changed. Was it in her or in her cat? Somehow the tie between them had loosened. They weren’t the close unit they had once been.

Perhaps it was just as well. She’d been a little goofy about it. Kendall sighed and rose to her feet. “’Night Babe,” she whispered to her cat.

As she turned to go, a flash of something moving caught her eye. Looking again, she realized it was Ringo, the ocelot, streaking for the hills.

“What?” She whirled. There was the cage, standing open. It had happened again.

Her first impulse was to run after Ringo, chase him down in the hills. But she quickly abandoned that. She would have to call Brett. She was neither as quick nor as skilled as he was, and she didn’t want anyone to get hurt, including the ocelot. She ran to the office and called him, then waited for him to arrive.

Ringo hadn’t got much of a head start, and Brett found him quickly, bringing him back like a bad tabby cat. The beautiful cat blinked at Kendall as if to say, “Well, I tried.”

Once they had him safely encaged again, Kendall’s anger surfaced. “Someone is deliberately doing this,” she said. “Can we call the police? What can we do?”

Brett considered for a moment. “If you call the police, it will be common knowledge in town in twenty-four hours. That might not be good.”

She threw out her arms in despair. “Then what can we do?”

He raised an eyebrow at the word “we.” “Be vigilant,” he told her. “Call me when it happens. And for the rest...” He shrugged. “See if we can figure out who’s doing it.”

“Great.” She didn’t hold out much hope for those methods. She looked up at him, very much aware that they were alone as nightfall approached.

He saw her look and grinned. “I caught your ocelot, and you haven’t even offered me soup.”

She flushed. “I... are you hungry? Would you like something?”

He touched her hair softly, looking slightly abstracted. “You know what I’d like,” he said softly. “But don’t worry. I’m learning to live without it.” With another grin, he turned on his heel and was out the gate, striding for his car.

She watched him go and swallowed hard. Fool, she told herself silently. Being careful had its drawbacks. And right now she couldn’t even remember what its advantages were.

Her cellphone rang bright and early Thursday morning.

“Did I wake you up?” It was Brett’s deep voice.

“No, not really.” She was still in her nightgown and she curled her toes in her slippers. The man’s voice did things to her. “What is it?”

“We’re coming over at nine.”

She shot up straight. “What? Who’s coming over?”

“Dr. Granger, Miss Jones, and a few other people I’ve gathered together. They’re all interested in seeing your operation. Get everything spiffy, okay?”

“How... how many people?”

“Oh, about twelve.”

“Brett!”

“It’ll be great. Just wait and see. Nine o’clock.”

A whole tour coming to inspect and she wasn’t ready. Ninety seconds later she was in shorts and a safari shirt and running for Pedro’s little trailer, her mind full of things that had to be accomplished in the next three hours. By nine o’clock, every cage was sparkling, every walkway raked, every food trough cleaned. She and Pedro were about to collapse, but they were ready.

The gate was open and at precisely nine, a caravan of cars came gliding into the compound, led by Brett’s Bronco. Then came a station wagon full of happy faces. Six others were in a Cadillac convertible, one of them whooping as they arrived, another waving a hat in the air. Kendall caught a glimpse of Brett in the driver’s seat of the Bronco as he passed her. The window on the passenger’s side was rolled down and a pretty young woman looked out and waved. All in all, a party atmosphere prevailed.

Kendall and Pedro exchanged glances. “Ho boy,” Pedro muttered, moving away. “Call me if you need me.” And he began to lope off toward the tool shed.

“Coward,” she hissed after him, but then it was too late for more. The visitors were disembarking.

Brett introduced her all around, but there were too many people and she was nervous, so they were pretty much a blur. A few stood out, beginning with Flora Mae Partridge, the pretty redhead who’d been riding with Brett.

He introduced her.

“You’ve heard of Elmer Partridge, the mayor. Well, Flora Mae is his wife.”

Flora Mae looked about twenty-two. Kendall had met the mayor. He was at least sixty.

“How do you do?” she said politely, shaking hands.

“Nice to meet you,” Flora Mae returned. “Brett has promised to protect me from the big bad lions and tigers. Haven’t you, Brett?” She giggled and batted her eyelashes and Brett grinned as though she were just cute as a button and Kendall nearly gagged.

Dr. Granger and Millie Jones said “hello.” Then Brett brought her aside to meet George Fuentes.

“I’m completely impartial,” George told her, his dark eyes appraising her and everything all around her coolly. “But I follow my conscience. I’m going to be giving this place a hard look.”

“He’s on the city council,” Brett murmured to her as George walked away. “Treat him nice, okay?”

“Like you’re treating Flora Mae?” she murmured back out of the corner of her mouth.

He grinned. “Naw, maybe not that nice.”

She glared at him and he laughed, taking her hand and pulling her over to meet an angular-looking woman in jeans and a plaid shirt.

“This is Gladys Beckman. She has a column in the local paper. She’s planning to do a spread on the shelter.”

“I’m a nature freak,” said Gladys, peering through bangs that looked as though they hadn’t been cut since the Sixties. “I’m a charter member of Women for Wildlife. You’ve heard of us? We do many good things. We’ve closed down zoos from here to Barstow.”

“This isn’t a zoo,” Kendall said quickly.

Gladys squinted at her. “We’ll see about that,” she promised ominously.

Kendall’s smile wavered, but she took a deep breath and pressed on. She began the tour with the wolves. Greyboy was the only wolf out of his den. He lay under a bottlebrush tree and regarded the group dispassionately with his cold golden eyes.

Flora Mae shuddered and moved closer to Brett. “Ooh, I’d hate to think what might happen if he ever got out,” she said.

Brett looked at Kendall over Flora Mae’s red head and winked. “Don’t you worry, Flora Mae,” he drawled. “I’ll make sure he never does get you.”

Kendall groaned inwardly, but turned away, giving them all a short description of where Greyboy had come from. “He was used in movies until he became too stubborn to cooperate any longer. Then the man who owned him wanted to get rid of him, but no zoos would take him. He was too old. And too used to living with humans to be sent back into the wild.”

Gladys sniffed loudly. “You should let him out. He’d be better off. Animals were meant to run free, not to be put in cages for people to stare at.”

Kendall had a feeling her temper was going to get a real workout from this woman today. She tried to smile and remain calm. “Well, I’ll tell you, these animals aren’t really here for people to stare at,” she began.

“Oh, excuse me!” Gladys interrupted. “Look at the way you’ve got them all lined up, their cages all in a row, like little mannequins on display. How much do you charge anyway?”

Kendall gritted her teeth. “This is not a zoo,” she repeated evenly.

“Right,” Gladys said sarcastically. “And I’m not a reporter.”

Kendall deliberately ignored her remark, turning to the group as a whole. She told them more about the wolves, then moved them on to where the cages for the birds were set up: macaws, a falcon with an injured leg, and a lone golden eagle.

“This isn’t right,” Gladys said as they approached the cage where the eagle sat on a huge, leafless branch, as patient as stone. “This is an outrage! You have this eagle in a cage much too small for him.”

A murmur washed through the crowd. The cage did seem small. For the first time, Kendall felt sympathy was with Gladys instead of with her.

The woman was almost jumping up and down in her angry excitement. “He needs room to fly! This is overt cruelty to animals. I think you should definitely be reported on this one. I, for one, am going to see that something is done about it.”

The group murmured again, some nodding in agreement. Kendall felt panic nipping at her heels. She threw Brett an angry look. What were these people doing here, anyway? She didn’t want them. She didn’t really care what they thought. It was none of their business what she did with her animals.

Brett caught her eye, saw her anger, and frowned, shaking his head ever so slightly. She knew what he was trying to say. She really did need these people. She needed their approbation for what she was doing, or she just might find herself without the means, or zoning, to do it. She couldn’t just turn her back and walk away, although that was tempting. She had to convince them. It was very important.

Turning slowly, she looked from one face to another, staring them all down.

“In theory,” she said evenly once they’d settled down to hear her, “I agree with you completely. But you see, this is reality we have to deal with.” She gestured toward the motionless bird in the cage. “This eagle was found in Arizona, half starved. He’d been left to die. We took him in and nursed him back to health. It would be lovely if we could let him go back to the wild. But we can’t. And it would be lovely if we could build him a huge cage to fly around in. But he doesn’t need the huge cage you’re talking about.”

“Oh really?” Gladys snorted. “And why, pray tell, is that?”

She turned and looked directly at the woman. “Because he’s blind.”

The group gasped.

“Pedro Ramirez, my assistant, is an expert with birds and he’s been training him to move about his cage. He hand-feeds him and exercises him. We could let him out into the wild. He wouldn’t last a day. Would you prefer that?”

The people looked more closely and could see the evidence for themselves.

“Hmph,” said Gladys. “All the same...”

Vowing to ignore the woman from now on, Kendall turned and started walking toward where the cats were housed. The others followed quickly behind.

“Score one for our side,” Brett muttered as he brushed close to Kendall.

She very carefully did not meet his gaze, but she heaved a sigh. This tour was getting to be worse than even her darkest predictions had painted it.

Pedro was checking on Chelsea and her babies and cleaning up what was left of their morning food. She introduced him to the group, then let them get a look at the pumas. They were real crowd pleasers. Everyone was thrilled. Except for Gladys.

“What’s that stuff?” she demanded, pointing to the canister of food Pedro had on his cart.

“This?” he asked, looking down.

“That,” she said acidly. “It looks like dog food.”

“Of course. It is dog food.” He met her fierce gaze blandly. “It’s for the wolves.”

“Cutting corners is disgraceful. I want to take samples of your food,” she blustered. “I have grave doubts about how nutritious it could possibly be. There are standards that must be maintained, you know.”

Pedro lifted an eyebrow. “The food is my department,” he told her. “I’d be glad to have you inspect it.”

“Good.” She looked very pleased with herself. Turning to Dr. Granger, she said sternly, “You really have to keep on these people all the time. They’ll try to get away with anything they can, just when your back is turned.”

Kendall felt her own cheeks burn and knew Pedro was surely insulted, but he didn’t say a word. Nodding to Kendall, he left again.

“What’s this you’re building over here?” someone asked.

Kendall walked to the construction site. “That’s going to be an otter slide. We’re getting two otters that were kept by a young couple in Sausalito as pets. As usual, when they matured, they didn’t seem so cute any longer. So we’ve agreed to take them.” She gestured toward the otter slide. “We’re putting in a recycling water system so there will be constant water in the chute. They’ll be able to slide down it to their hearts’ content.”

The tour was basically over. She’d shown off everyone, including the monkeys and the desert tortoise with a broken shell. The group was milling about as though they expected something more.

“You might have provided refreshments,” Gladys groused. “It’s hot and dusty here. We’re all parched.”

At that very moment, Pedro arrived with a covered tray. Kendall’s brows drew together, wondering what he was up to.

“What’s that?” Gladys asked suspiciously.

“For you.” Pedro’s smile was gentle. “Special.”

“Oh.” Gladys looked smugly pleased. She sat down on the only chair available and made a lap for the tray. “Well, I’m glad someone has some manners around here. Let me have it.”

Pedro looked at Kendall, his eyes wide with innocence. “She wants me to let her have it,” he said softly.

Kendall was definitely worried now. “Pedro...” she warned.

But he stepped forward and offered Gladys the tray with a flourish. “Here you are, lady reporter. Just what you asked for.” He removed the cover and set the tray in her lap. She looked down in horror at the little mounds of brown food arranged attractively on the platter. A silver spoon was set charmingly, just off center. The smell alone was enough to make the poor woman faint.

“You said you wanted to sample what we fed the animals. I figured you knew what you were talking about.”

Gladys’s scream echoed between the hills. The tray went flying, clanging as it hit the ground, and Gladys was next seen running for the car she’d come in. Kendall looked at Pedro. Pedro shrugged, all innocence. “I thought she meant what she said,” he offered before he bent down to pick up the tray.

There were snickers and a few outright guffaws. Kendall merely shook her head and looked at Brett. He grinned. “Okay everybody,” he said. “Show’s over. Let’s go home.”

They began to file toward the cars. George Fuentes stopped to say good-bye. “I want you to know that I’m very impressed by what I’ve seen here,” he told her. “You’ve got a friend on the city council. Call me if you need anything.”

So it hadn’t been the complete disaster she’d thought. Kendall smiled at him. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”

Flora Mae was waiting in the Bronco, but Brett came back to say good-bye, searching her out. Kendall pretended to be busy washing down the cast-iron sink behind the storeroom, out of sight of the cars.

He leaned against the wall, watching her. “What do you think?” he asked. “Wasn’t it worth it?”

Of course it was worth it, but she wasn’t ready to admit that to him. She looked up from the sink, glaring at him. “What did bringing along Flora Mae accomplish?” she asked, and then wished she could bite her tongue. How transparent!

But he didn’t seem to notice. “She might put in a good word with the mayor.”

Kendall knew she should keep still but she couldn’t help herself. “You flirted with her outrageously.”

His smile crinkled the corners of his eyes. “Sure I did. When I’m going to flirt, I always like to do it outrageously. It’s more fun that way.”

She sighed, straightening to look him in the face. “Does that mean a woman can never trust a thing you say?”

“Probably.”

Their gazes met for a long moment. Involuntarily, she glanced at his sensual mouth, then quickly away again.

“Why are you doing this?” she asked him softly.

He took a strand of her black hair between his fingers, curling it. “Because I want you to be happy.”

She felt a shiver snake down her spine. Mute, she shook her head.

“You want to have animals around you?” he went on. “Okay. I’m going to help you to be able to do that.”

She had to force words out. “You don’t need to do this. I can fight this battle on my own.”

“I don’t think you can. I don’t think you realize how strongly sentiment has been running against you and your shelter in town. Until now. I’m going to change that.”

She held out her hands, palms up. “But you don’t even like what I’m doing.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. The more I see of what you’re doing here, the more I like it. I didn’t understand at first. It’s not like you’re taking animals out of the wild and forcing them to live in cages. You’re taking animals that have been perversely forced to live in civilization and trying to put them back in the wild. You’re trying to set animals free.” His hand cupped her cheek. “I only hope that someday you learn how to set yourself free,” he said.

And then he was gone, striding toward the parking area. She closed her eyes, holding back the feelings, but they flooded her anyway. She had a new and awful secret. She was in love with Brett Carrington.

She spent the rest of the day in a daze, unable to keep her mind on any one project at a time. She was in love with Brett Carrington. It was true. Why hadn’t she seen this coming? Why hadn’t she headed it off at the pass? What was she going to do now? The whole thing was ridiculous.

The only thing more ridiculous was the way her thoughts were wandering all over the emotional landscape. She couldn’t stop herself from wondering about Brett and Flora Mae. Had he taken her straight home? Did they stop off for lunch at some cozy little restaurant? Did he go in when he took her home?

“Ah!” she cried, slapping her hand against her forehead. “Stop it!” She had no claim to the man.

He could do whatever he wanted. After all, she’d rejected him. Why shouldn’t he look for affection elsewhere?

But she loved him. Didn’t she? Well, maybe so. But that didn’t mean she had to tell him about it, did it? That didn’t mean she had to act on her emotions.

When Danni came in that afternoon, she found herself not-so-subtly giving her the third degree.

“Was Brett home when you got home from school? I’ll bet he’s helping your sisters get ready for the wedding, isn’t he? Is that what he’s going to be doing tonight? Is he going to be one of the ushers? Who are the bridesmaids? What’s he going to wear?”

She had to force herself to cut it out, to draw back and get involved in something to stop herself from bugging the girl. She knew she was making a fool out of herself. Why couldn’t she quit it?

Danni went home. So did Ernie. She and Pedro were making their last rounds. She stopped to talk to Chelsea. The big cat listened gravely, seeming to understand every word. That was comforting, especially since Kendall didn’t understand a thing she said herself.

Suddenly she heard Pedro shout. Looking up, she saw him running toward where she was.

“What is it?” she cried, running out to meet him.

“It’s happened again,” he shouted. “The spider monkeys are gone. All three of them. Vanished. The cage is sitting open.”

“What?” Her hand went to her throat. “Not again.”

“It’s true.” He skidded to a stop before her. “I looked all around the area but there’s no sign of them.”

Kendall’s heart fell. “What will we do?”

Pedro shrugged as though there were no question. “We’ll have to call Brett Carrington.”

She shook her head, her mouth set with determination. “No. Not this time.” After all, the monkeys weren’t really a danger to anyone. No matter how fast they ran, they would never make it into town. Knowing the little beasts, she was sure they would be distracted by everything in their path. It would take them hours just to get out of the compound. “They’ve got to be around here somewhere.”

Pedro sighed. “Okay. You take that side of the grounds. I’ll take the bird cages and the back lot.”

They split up for the search. Kendall moved quickly, looking in every shed, behind every bin, around the cages, under tarps. Nothing. There wasn’t a sign of them.

She met Pedro back by the monkey enclosure. She could see the metal door standing open, swinging sadly in the wind.

“No luck?” she asked him.

“No.” He shook his head. “Where can they be?”

Kendall laughed shortly. “Where would you go if you were a monkey?”

Suddenly there was a noise. A crashing sound. And it came directly from Kendall’s trailer. They looked at one another.

“Oh my God!” Kendall cried. She turned to run toward her home, but Pedro stopped her.

“No, wait,” he said. “Better let me go after them.”

She was tired of being treated like a helpless, superfluous thing. “It’s my shelter,” she snapped. “I’ll do it.”

He made a face. “Well all right. But if you’re going to go after monkeys, you’ve got to be prepared. You’ve got to wear padding. If they get mad, they’re going to bite.”

“Bite?” She realized she really hadn’t dealt much with these animals. Her focus had always been the larger cats and wolves and their relatives. For just a moment, she wavered, but then resolve hardened again. She was going to do this.

“Yes, bite.” He nodded solemnly. “You’ll need to be padded from head to toe. It’s like playing football with hyperactive space aliens.”

She knew he was right. He’d had more experience with primates than she had. Still, she wondered….

Another crash split the air. She turned to Pedro. “All right, I’ll get padded. But hurry!”

Hurry was a relative concept. He tried, but there were so many things to consider, and he seemed to have an endless supply of equipment to go through. When they were finished, Kendall had pulled on bright red skiing gloves, a chartreuse motorcycle helmet with a yellow visor and black face protector, huge football shoulder pads, and orange hip boots.

“I must look totally insane!” she cried.

“The monkeys like insanity,” he assured her. “In fact, crazy people are their favorite kind.”

Kendall took a last despairing look at herself. “I don’t know if Jane Goodall would approve.”

“Jane Goodall deals with chimpanzees. They’re hard in their own way, but a lot more civilized than these little monsters.”

She could barely walk in all her regalia, but finally she made it back to the door of her trailer. The chattering inside was frenzied. The monkeys sounded like a kindergarten birthday party in full swing. Armed with a trapping cage, she hesitated.

“Here goes,” she said, unnecessarily, not moving.

“I’ll go in for you,” he offered once again. “Really. I’ve done it before. I can do it again.”

“No...no. I’m all dressed up. I’ll do it.” She took a deep breath, pulled open the door, and plunged in.

The place was in chaos. The monkeys had pulled everything out of her shelves: crackers, flour, and rice were spilled all over the floor. For just a moment she stood there in horror. Nothing moved.

Then she caught sight of one of them, and when she made a lunge in his direction, the two others jumped out of their hiding places, chattering, one swinging from the curtains, the other climbing the Venetian blinds, while the first fellow danced on her kitchen counter and screamed at her.

Steady, she told herself. Take it slow. But slow didn’t work very well when her quarry moved at something approximating the speed of light. In just a few minutes of bounding about the room she knew her efforts were not going to reap results. So what now? Craftiness, she decided. That would do the trick.

There was one bastion of food the monkeys hadn’t managed to storm. The refrigerator. Moving slowly, she went to it and opened the door. Inside were tomatoes, peaches, what was left of a German chocolate cake. She grabbed generous portions of each and placed them in the trap cage, then put it in the center of her table and stood back.

The monkeys had been watching her every move. Their little eyes bugged as they caught sight of the riches she’d laid before them. Two of them seemed to swoon, their little lips pursing and tightening nervously. One looked at the other. They chattered unhappily. But the temptation was just too much. First one, then the other, swung down onto the table, and finally, into the cage, their little hands grabbing at the luscious food.

Kendall almost laughed aloud with triumph as she locked the door behind them. But triumph was short-lived. There was still one left. He glared at her, his eyes full of defiant intelligence, hanging from her curtain rod by his tail. She stared back. If this were to be a test of wills, she was going to make hers strong. She started toward him, moving slowly, her gaze holding his. He tensed. She took another step. He tensed more.

“Okay, you little chatterbox,” she said in a low, sing-song voice. “I want you in this cage. I’m going to grab you and you’re going to let me. You just stay where you are...”

She began to move slowly, slowly, her hand reaching out, her gaze staring him down, and he gaped at her seemingly hypnotized. She reached closer, her hand almost there. And suddenly the door to her trailer opened with a bang, sending the monkey screaming for higher ground.