“Come on,” Harper said, “I’ll show you.”

“All right.”

Harper took Presley’s elbow again and led her away from the river onto a cool, shadowy path through the trees. Twenty yards in she stopped, and Presley glanced around before giving her a questioning look.

“Do you think you can climb in those shoes?” Harper asked.

“Climb? As in a tree?” Presley’s voice rose as if Harper had suddenly lost her mind.

Harper grinned. “Sort of. More like a ladder. But if you don’t think you can handle it…”

Presley’s eyes sparked. Clearly turning down a challenge was not in her nature. “Can I do it without shoes?”

“I guess it depends on how tough you are.”

Presley immediately kicked off her shoes and stood barefoot on the soft mossy ground, her hands planted on her hips. “Ha. Show me this ladder of yours, Dr. Rivers.”

Chuckling, Harper guided her around the trunk of a huge oak tree that had to be hundreds of years old, given the width of the trunk. On the far side, wide thick boards had been nailed to the trunk, forming a ladder climbing into the thick branches overhead. Presley tilted her head back.

“All right,” she said slowly. “I think I should go first. If I fall, I’ll expect you to catch me.”

“I promise.”

Presley stepped onto the bottom rung and reached up for the one above her head. When she wavered, Harper grasped her waist. Presley looked over her shoulder, one eyebrow quirked.

“Where exactly am I going?”

“You’ll know when you get there. Grab the next one and step up.” Harper tried not to stare at the very shapely ass directly in her line of sight.

“I don’t generally set out on a journey without knowing exactly what my destination will be.”

“I think my mother just said the same thing about me. Maybe we should take an adventure.”

Presley stared down at her for a moment longer. “Perhaps we should.”

She turned back to the tree and started to climb. Harper waited until she’d gone up several rungs and then started after her. “Doing all right?”

“It’s not as hard as I thought it would be.”

“I’m right behind you.”

“And if I fall, we’re both going down.”

“You won’t fall.”

“I suppose at least I’ll have someone qualified to remove the splinters.”

Harper smiled to herself.

“Wait, there’s something up here. Oh!”

Harper scrambled up as Presley disappeared. She reached the hatch in the floor of the tree house and levered herself inside. Presley was already looking out the window toward the river. “Worth the splinters?”

“This is incredible!” Presley spun around, amazed by this hidden treasure in the trees. Harper grinned at her, her pleasure so obvious it was contagious. Presley’s stomach fluttered in the oddest way. Now she understood why Harper had hesitated to reveal it. This place was special. “You built this?”

“Flann and I started it as a lark when we were kids,” Harper said quietly. “But I’ve been working on it all my life.”

“Can I…” Presley gestured, wanting to explore.

“Sure. It’s totally safe.”

Presley slowly circled the room. More than a room. The tree house was really a cabin nestled in the branches of the huge oak that rose through the center of the room and out through the roof. The plank floor circled the trunk for ten feet on all sides, with windows on each of the four walls. A sofa with soft plum cushions took up part of one wall, bookshelves another, and a wood-burning stove the corner between the other two. The walls themselves were plain unfinished wood, gnarled and grained and obviously very old. The screened windows and a trap door over the hatch enclosed the space entirely.

She studied the books on the handmade shelves, expecting medical tomes or historical fiction with local settings. Instead she saw rows of numbered Tom Swifts and the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew—originals, from the look of them.

“Let me guess—Tom Swift for Flannery, the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew for you?”

Harper rocked on her heels, studying her with that intense probing gaze. “How do you conclude that, Sherlock?”

Presley laughed. “Well, my dear Watson, Swift is an adventurer, first and foremost, and that would appeal to the surgeon in Flannery. The others are detectives, who study clues and ferret out hidden secrets. Much more in keeping with a medical specialist.”

“You know a lot more about medicine than you let on,” Harper said.

“Thanks.” Unexpectedly pleased again, Presley settled on a window seat beneath an open window, stretched out her legs, and propped her elbow on the narrow sill. From this height she could see patches of water framed by sun-dappled leaves and bits of blue sky peeking through the branches overhead. The isolation appealed to her. But more than that, the peace was a refreshing breeze cleansing her soul.

“It’s sort of like a cocoon, isn’t it,” she murmured.

Harper came to stand beside her. “I always thought of it like a cave.”

Presley looked up at her. Her skin shone golden in the slanting late-afternoon light. They might have been anywhere, in any age, and the timeless moment called to Presley in some primal way. “Either way, it’s a place to rest, maybe hide, and perhaps emerge changed.”

“I always thought of it as a place to keep things from changing.” Harper’s smile was crooked, whimsical.

“And there is our difference.”

“One of them.”

“We don’t need to be on opposite sides of this, you know, Harper.”

“Maybe we aren’t. I guess time will tell.”

“Yes.”

“Where do you go?” Harper asked. “To hide?”

Presley didn’t have an answer Harper would understand. “There’s nothing I want to escape from.”

“You’re lucky, then.”

“Not really.” Presley sighed. “I just let go of some of the things I wanted a long time ago.”

“What kind of things?” Harper stepped back and leaned against the tree. In her faded denim, plain shirt, and scuffed boots, she looked completely at home in the rough, hand-built room. She could have been a frontiersman from two hundred years before. Perhaps she would have been happier then too—living simply where honest work received honest reward and a chicken sufficed as well as a silver coin in payment.

She was also waiting for Presley to say more, but she’d already said far too much. “I bet you’re good at getting your patients to reveal their secrets. You have a way of looking at someone that makes it seem like you’re really interested.”

“I am. But most of them want to tell.”

“I don’t.”

“I know.”

“Besides, there’s nothing much to tell. I enjoy my work.” Presley knew she sounded defensive. “So there’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”

“I enjoy my work too. But sometimes we have to step away from it in order to come back stronger.”

“You can’t step away until the battle is won.”

“What battle are you fighting?”

Presley felt heat rise to her face and waved her hand. “Figure of speech.”

Harper looked as if she didn’t believe her, but this time she didn’t press. “Okay.”

“What do you do when you don’t want to be alone?” Presley wanted to know as much as she wanted the conversation on safer ground.

“I play softball.”

“Of course you do.” Presley laughed and shook her head. “The all-American pastime.”

Harper grinned. “There’s a hospital team. We’re part of the local league. We could use another player or two. How about you and Carrie?”

“Me? No,” Presley said emphatically. “I have no idea if Carrie knows anything about softball. And we’re probably not going to be here long enough to really contribute.”

Harper stiffened. “Really? How long do you plan on staying?”

“I expect the initial phases will be done well before the summer is over.”

“And then you leave.”

“Yes. We’ll put a transition team in place and—”

“And you’ll move on to your next conquest.”

“No, I will go back to the head office in Phoenix.”

“And do what there?”

“Nothing that would interest you, I’m sure.” Presley didn’t know how Harper had suddenly turned the conversation around to her again, but she wanted to put an end to that right now.

“Try me.”

“I’m sorry?”

“You don’t know I won’t be interested unless you tell me.”

Harper’s tone held both challenge and invitation. How did she manage that? Presley said, “Just some business challenges that need my attention.”

“Is Preston your only sibling?”

“How do you know about Preston?”

Harper lifted a shoulder. “The Internet.”

“The Internet. You’ve been investigating us.”

“Wouldn’t you?”

“Absolutely,” Presley said quickly. “And yes, Preston is my only sibling. We’re twins, actually.”

“Like me and Flann.”

Presley frowned. “I didn’t realize you were twins.”

“We’re not really, not biologically, but we’re close to that in some ways. When we were growing up, Flann was actually much more verbal than me even though she’s the younger. Once she got started, people worried I was never going to talk. She did that for both of us.”

“I am not at all surprised.” Presley laughed. “I’m sure you were the quiet, thoughtful one and she was the adventurer, always the first one to try something new. You would’ve been much more cautious.”

Harper grimaced. “You make me sound boring.”

“Not at all. Simply careful.”

“Careful.” She nodded. “Maybe.”

“I’m glad you showed me this tree house. I think I can almost understand the pleasure of escaping.”

Harper smiled. “You really should try it sometime.”

“I think maybe it takes a tree house.”

“Then you should build one.”

“If I ever decide to, I’ll have you design it for me.”