Free When You Wish (Contemporary Romance) by Lori Handeland

don’t” —she said you like she might say naïve fools — “you’re in big trouble.”
    “What about the stars, the moon, the sun?”
    “If they’re out, and you’re in a part of the forest where you can see them, would you know how to guide from them?”
    Dan shrugged. “Maybe.”
    “Exactly. And you’re Dan, the Wonder Doctor— think about some regular Joe out here. They’d be toast within a few days.”
    “Don’t you have trackers, dogs, cops?”
    “Sure. We’ve even got Indian guides. But if they don’t know you’re missing, or where you went in, it makes things kind of tough.”
    Dan stared at the woods, while Grace took his hand once more. He didn’t want her to let go, so he held her fingers loosely, and didn’t move a single iota. “What should I do then, if I get lost again?”
    “Hug a tree.”
    “What?” He glan ced at her but she wasn’t laughing. At least not so he could tell. “I thought you said hug a tree.”
    “That’s right. Haven’t you ever seen Barney? He gives good advice.”
    “Barney? Is he some north woods survivalist?”
    “He’s a giant purple dinosaur.”
    Had she been smoking funny-smelling weed while he wandered in circles? Dan moved closer and peered into her face to observe how big her pupils were. From what he could see in the shadows, she looked fine. She still smelled like Grace and nothing else—sexy, sinful, scrumptious. Maybe he’d taken in too much night magic himself.
    Grace grinned. “ Barney is a kid’s television show.”
    “You watch kid’s television a lot?”
    Her grin faded. “At hospitals. Yes.”
    Dan cursed himself for wiping the smile from her face. He suspected she’d watched television with some very sick kids while they held blankets from Project Hope. A twinge of guilt came over Dan, but he refused to allow it to take root. He needed that grant. He was too close to a cure to give up now.
    “And this amazing dinosaur says to hug a tree if you’re lost in the woods.”
    “Yes. Stay where you are. Don’t wander. Then someone can find yo u more easily. If you go in circles” —she raised an eyebrow at him— “you end up deeper in the forest and it’s harder to find you when you cross your own trail again and again.”
    Slowly, Dan nodded. “Easy enough and it makes sense. So did you learn all this from Barney? Or did you learn some from your dad?”
    “My dad?” Her voice rose in amazement. “Why would my dad know anything about the forest?”
    “He’s Ojibwe.”
    “So? I don’t think he stepped foot in the woods after he stepped into college.”
    The way she said that made Dan think she didn’t approve, and he had to wonder why. But before he could ask, the sky opened and poured rain on them as if it had been holding a bucket over their heads all along. Grace’s white dress plastered to her body and made Dan forg et all about her dad, the attorney.
    He took one step toward the house, but Grace held back, turning her face up to the sky and letting the rain tumble down her cheeks. He’d have thought the droplets were tears if he hadn’t heard her laugh out loud.
    She let go of his hand and turned her palms up toward the raging sky, raising her arms until she stood like a sacrifice to the hidden moon. Slowly, she turned, a single, graceful revolution—a dance with the music of the night.
    Dan couldn’t move; he could only stare at her in wonder as his body clamored for hers.
    The lack of moisture all summer had made the ground hard everywhere but in the forest, and the sudden, unexpected abundance of water ran in rivulets along the dusty yard. Dan hadn’t seen the point in watering grass that was already dead. So he possessed a yard full of dirt that would soon be mud, if the rain continued to fall.
    Grace lowered her hands, lowered her head, kicked off her shoes, and wiggled her toes in the tiny river that ran by . Joy spread over her face, capturing him once again. “Ah, that feels so good after walking so