Page 43 of Doubting Hearts

“What the fuck’s his problem?” The thief’s voice sounded a little worried. He probably thought I was some sort of psycho.

“He has a thing about sheep,” explained Toby. “He really doesn’t like them.” He shouted loudly. “Rain, hold on there. Let me sort this chap out, and I’ll be out in a little while.”

I took a couple of deep breaths.

Christ, I’d left Toby back there with someone who could be dangerous. What kind of boyfriend was I? But nothing could induce me to go through that hedge yet. Not after seeing that sheep coming toward me with a sort of demonic purpose. In my mind, anyway. I waited with trembling hands, willing my heart to slow down. I heard muttered conversation on the other side, a few murmured phrases, an exclamation of surprise, and then more conversation. Finally, after what seemed like ages, I heard the sputter of the motorbike starting up. It moved away, the sound growing fainter. The bushes rustled as Toby came clambering through.

His eyes were full of concern. “Rain, are you okay? Jeez, sweetheart, I’ve never seen anyone bolt like that before. How are you holding up?” He reached over and drew me to his warm body, and I relaxed against him, feeling stupid and useless.

“Yeah, I’m fine. It just got a bit much, that’s all. I’m sorry, Toby. I shouldn’t have left you with that nutter. I promise if anything had happened, I’d have gotten over my phobia and been there like a shot—” I was lying through my teeth. I’d no idea whether I’d have managed it. I’d like to think that if some psychopath had started to carve my lover into bloody little pieces that I would have done something.

Toby leaned forward and pressed sweet chocolate lips to mine, stifling my protest. Like said chocolate, I melted into his mouth. For a while I simply relished the taste and the feel of him, and then he moved away. “Don’t apologize. You can’t help it. I’d no idea it was so bad. I feel like a heel now for teasing you about it.”

“Bugger me… what about the bloody sheep thief? You let him get away?”

He looked at me in surprise. “Of course I did. We said we’d find out who it was, not that we’d haul his arse kicking and screaming back to Dave.” He sighed. “It’s a bit of a sad story, really.”

I gazed at him in disbelief. “You feel sorry for the thief?” Only Toby could end up with a reaction like that.

He nodded. “I know him. It’s young Mark Hampton from the town. He’s only sixteen, Rain. His little sister, Megan, is only seven. She has a heart condition and had a major operation recently. Everyone in town knows about her story. He was stealing the sheep to sell to an abattoir in Lincoln to try and raise money. His folks want to take the whole family away on holiday, so Megan can recover in the sun. They were thinking of re-mortgaging so they could afford to go somewhere abroad. Mark thought he’d do his bit to find it by stealing poor Dave’s sheep, rather than them remortgage the family home.”

His voice was sad. “The lad is at the end of his tether. I gathered things have been a bit rough at home, money has always been tight. They’ve been living on bloody baked beans for two weeks to try and save money so Megan can recuperate.” His tone was regretful. “I think he’s been stealing more than sheep, from what I can read between the lines. He’s been trying to scrape money together wherever he can.”

I was aghast. “I can’t believe you got all that out of him. You’re a regular emotion-Svengali, you know that? You’re amazing.”

He preened at my words. “You just have to know how to talk to people, Rain. Let them get their emotional side out. Listen to them.” His voice was wry, and I knew he was probably having a dig at me and my lack of emotional response. “Anyway, I told him I’ll have to tell Dave about him. He at least left without a sheep, and he promised me he’d leave them alone from now on.” Toby grinned proudly. “Dave will be happy at that.” He yawned. “Hell, we’d better get home and get some sleep. We can sort all this out later. It’s half past bloody one. I have work in a few hours. I think we should go back to my room at the hotel so you don’t have to bring me in later.”

He marched away round the side of the hedge, no doubt back to his spot where the picnic basket and his other investigative paraphernalia had been secreted. God forbid we left the tools of his detective trade behind.

I followed him, and we collected all the gear and trudged tiredly back to my car, parked in a lay-by not far away. Luckily, we didn’t have far to go. Twenty minutes later we were curled up in Toby’s bed together, half asleep, both horny but not having the energy to do anything about it.

“Rain check?” Toby asked sleepily as he spooned into my back.

I nodded at the old joke. “Uh-huh. Sleep now, nooky later.”

I felt a light kiss on the back of my head as Toby settled in. The room went dark, and within minutes I was asleep.

* * *

THE FOLLOWING morning we awoke bleary-eyed and fractious from lack of sleep. We showered, dressed, and dragged ourselves down to the hotel lobby. I needed to go home and get ready for the day ahead.

Toby called me a few hours later. I answered my phone as I was busy with Lucas, off-loading a consignment of timber onto the street, then into the basement of the customer’s house for the wine rack we were building. The sun was warm, I was sweaty, and a small respite was definitely needed.

I sank down gratefully onto the pavement as Lucas carried on working with a mutter that sounded suspiciously like “Bloody slacker.” My partner had been very amused at the sheep story but had no sympathy at all for the late night I’d had.

I took a sip of water from my bottle. “Hey, you. Did you manage to tell Dave about our success last night in finding his sheep thief?”

Toby sounded very pleased with himself. “Yup. He threw a wobbly at first and was about to storm into town and confront the youngster. But I managed to calm him down when he heard why Mark was doing what he was. So, it turns out he’s actually quite understanding about the whole thing. He still wants to give Mark a piece of his mind, but at least it won’t be with his fist.”

“That’s good news.” I rubbed the back of my neck tiredly. “So no more late nights watching bloody sheep, then?”

“Err, no. The sheep thing is over. But there’s one other thing….” There was silence from the other side, and I felt a prickle of unease.

“Toby, what the hell have you gotten us into now? I swear, I refuse to go into any more fields with livestock. You can definitely do that one by yourself.”

“It’s not that. I’ll talk to you when you get home. I don’t want to tell you on the phone.” His voice was hesitant.

I huffed. “Toby, you sod, don’t leave it there. It’ll worry me all afternoon. What the hell have you done?” I rolled my eyes at Lucas, who was glaring at me as he lifted the timber off the truck by himself. I mouthed at him, “Be there in a minute.” He scowled.