Free Sara's Surprise by Deborah Smith

shoes. Sara grabbed a package of crackers from the glove compartment, ripped it open, and flung the contents out the passenger side. The gander let go of Kyle's laces and went after the treat.
    Kyle swung the door shut and pushed himself upright, then glanced down at her thighs as if he were remembering how they had felt under his head and deciding how they would feel under his hands. "Thank you, m'lady, thank you. You saved me from the dragons." He looked startled when she climbed out and headed toward the back.
    "I'm just going to check on my rabbit." Her heart racing, Sara crawled into the truck bed and opened the picnic basket. Noelle chortled and smiled around her pacifier as Sara lifted her out and fastened her into the car seat. "Ride in here with Daisy for just a few minutes, sweetheart," Sara whispered. "Then I'll come get you." She patted Daisy and wearily returned to the cab. "The rabbit is fine."
    Kyle freed an object that had been wedged in the seat near his hip. "What's this?" he asked, holding it up. "A life preserver for a fairy?"
    Sara stared at the pink teething ring in horror. The ring had disappeared last month, after their last shopping trip. Now she knew where Noelle had dropped it.
    "It's a dog toy," she said weakly. She tossed the teething ring out the window.
    Kyle chuckled dryly. "I didn't think that Daisy was smart enough to play with toys. She's a low form of plant life with fur. That's why you call her 'Daisy.' "
    "She's just mellow. Very mellow." Sara cranked the truck hurriedly and drove down the cobblestone lane to the gate. She stopped, pulled a radio-control unit from her purse, and signaled a mechanism to roll the wide steel gate aside. Then she handed the unit to Kyle. "I have two. You keep this one as long as you're my guest."
    "I feel like Walt Disney just gave me the key to the Magic Kingdom. Thanks, Tinker Bell."
    After Sara drove through the gate he signaled it to close. As she put the truck in gear and started down the half-mile driveway to the road, she felt his gaze on her. "This remote control has your mother's initials written on it."
    Sara nodded and said softly, "I'm sure she'd be proud to have you use it."
    "Jep knew her a lot better than I did, since he was working on this end of the case. He was impressed with her."
    "You mean he was impressed with her after he was certain that she wasn't working for that she wasn't voluntarily involved in my herbicide research, that she was complying only for my sake."
    "You really don't want to say his name. Are the memories so bad, Sara?"
    "Yes." A very faint scratching noise made her glance toward the back. The window of the truck's cab looked directly into the front window of the camper. Only a few inches of space separated the two.
    Daisy was clawing at the taped-down curtains on the camper window. When she parted the curtains and peered out happily, Sara stiffened with shock. She'd forgotten how much Daisy loved to watch the scenery. "Dai" She caught herself. What if Kyle turned around to look? From his side he could see directly into the corner where she'd placed Noelle.
    I know it's an odd-looking rabbit, Kyle. She has my nose and mouth, don't you think? And I really think she has my eyes, though they're dark brown, not green. They don't have any of her father's cruelty in them.
    Sara could barely keep the truck centered in the driveway. She adjusted the rearview mirror so that she could stare into the camper window. Her mouth desert-dry, she watched Daisy disappear in Noelle's direction. Sara chewed her lip until it throbbed. Oh, no, not now , she begged. Daisy wasn't going to hurt Noelle, no. Daisy had an abiding love for Noelle's toys. She'd stolen more than a dozen of them already.
    Daisy came back to the window. Clenched in her front teeth was Noelle's big yellow pacifier.
    Kyle was saying, "So Brig McKay was put in the jail where Millie was working as a deputy. Here's this famous Australian country-western singer, used to having