Wild Action by Dawn Stewardson Read Free Book Online Page B

once more—feeling as if he were cramming for finals. In the past couple of hours, he’d learned enough about bears to fill an encyclopedia on them.
    The entire time he’d trooped along with Carly, helping her tend to the outdoor animals, she’d told him about bears’ behavior in general and Attila’s behavior in particular.
    Then, while they fed the dogs and cats, she’d drilled him on the commands Attila responded to. Or maybe was supposed to respond to would be a better way of putting it. He was still far from convinced the bear was going to obey him. And if he inadvertently did something that made Attila angry…
    Forcing that thought from his mind, he glanced at his watch—and then at the phone on the counter beside him.
    Before he’d left Edmonton, he’d told his ex-partner that he’d be home in a few days. But now that he wouldn’t be back for weeks, now that he was going to need Ben’s help getting his things moved out of his house, he wanted to let him know as soon as possible.
    He looked over at Carly once again, thinking how Ben always yelled into a phone, then thinking aboutthe extension he’d noticed when he’d glanced into her bedroom.
    But he’d feel funny asking if he could go use it. And since he never seemed to be in the kitchen when she wasn’t, he might just as well phone Ben right here and now. No matter how loudly he talked, Carly was hardly going to hear him from the other side of the room.
    “Carly? Would you mind if I made a long-distance call?”
    She smiled. “You don’t have to ask. It’s half your phone.”
    He reached for it, dialed and got Ben’s wife, Ida.
    “Nick!” she greeted him. “You’re back already?”
    “No, I’m calling from down East.”
    “Oh, well, it’s good to hear your voice. But you could have knocked me over with a feather when Ben told me you’d quit. I mean him putting in for early retirement is one thing, but you just walking away at your age…”
    “Yeah, I guess it surprised a lot of people.” He glanced uneasily at Carly, but she didn’t seem curious about what had surprised people.
    “That must have been some terrific inheritance you got”
    “Well, I’ll tell you all the details once I’m home. But right now I’m using someone else’s phone, so is Ben around?”
    “No, he had to go down to Lethbridge for a bit. Something came up there about a case he worked on years ago. Want me to give him a message?”
    “Yeah. Please. I’m going to be stuck here for a lot longer than I figured. And I don’t know if he mentionedI’ve got to move at the end of the month, but—”
    “He sure did. That sort of thing should be against the law, you know. Those landlords get away with murder.”
    “Maybe. At any rate, I need a huge favor. If he could get some of the guys to help move my stuff out and put it into temporary storage…”
    There was a silence at the other end, which probably meant Ida was wondering why he didn’t spend some of his terrific inheritance on hiring a moving company. But all she finally said, was, “Sure. I know he’d be glad to help out.”
    “Great. My next-door neighbor has a spare key. I’ll call and tell her what’s happening.”
    “Okay. And give me the number where you’re staying in case Ben needs to ask you about anything.”
    “Sure.”
    After he’d given it to her she said, “Now don’t, you go blowing your entire fortune on those fast eastern women, eh?”
    “No, I won’t. And thanks, Ida.”
    As he hung up, Carly said, “I couldn’t help overhearing.”
    “That’s okay. It was my partner’s wife I was talking to.”
    Ex-partner’s, an internal voice of truth corrected him. But the phrase had slipped out easily. He hadn’t really started thinking of Ben in those terms yet
    “But you have to move?” Carly said.
    “Uh-huh.”
    “And you said temporary storage. So you don’t have a place to move to?”
    “No. I was looking for another house, but I hadn’t found one yet.”
    “And