To her frustration, silence reigned. Hank did not reappear.
Which could not be good, since she had definitely seen something dash furtively through those wide doors.
When yet another minute passed and he hadn’t reemerged, she decided to head over to the barn herself. There was no need to worry, Ally told herself. Hank was probably fine. Had there been any kind of trouble, he would have let out a yell.
He probably had whatever it was cornered already-or was trying to figure out how to prompt it to run out the back doors, assuming he could get them open…
Her heart racing, Ally reached the portal. Looked inside. Hank was twenty feet to her right, hunkered down, the shovel lying by his side. With his hat cocked back on his head, he was peering silently into the corner.
“What is it?” Ally strode swiftly toward him, her heels making a purposeful rat-a-tat-tat on the concrete barn floor. And that was when all hell broke loose.
Chapter Two
Hank had seen his fair share of startled animals in the midst of a fight-or-flight response. So the commotion that followed Ally’s rapid entry into the shadowy barn was no surprise.
Her reaction to the cornered creature’s bounding, snarling brouhaha was.
She stumbled sideways, knocking into Hank, and screaming loudly enough to alert the entire county. An action that caused their unexpected intruder to lunge forward and frantically defend its temporary refuge.
In the resulting cacophony, Hank half expected Ally to scream again. Instead, like a combat soldier in the midst of a panic attack, she went pale as a ghost. Pulse leaping in her throat, she seemed frozen in place, and so overcome with fear she was unable to breathe.
Afraid she might faint on him-if she didn’t have a heart attack, that was-Hank gave up on trying to soothe the startled stray. He vaulted to his feet and grabbed hold of Ally. “It’s all right. I’ve got it under control.”