Читать книгу Agent Daddy - Alice Sharpe, Alice Sharpe - Страница 11

Faith glanced up at an overhead fixture to find snowflakes swirling through the stream of light. They melted the second they hit the ground. She bundled the large coat closer to her body, glad she’d worn boots to work that morning. Was it really possible only twelve hours had passed since she’d dressed for work?

The wind blew nearby branches against an outbuilding. A loose chain clattered against a metal post. She glanced around the well-lit yard but found little solace in the shadows creeping in from the vast pastures surrounding the house.

When she’d been attacked before, it had come out of nowhere with no provocation. She didn’t even remember the impact of the speeding car and when she’d learned the identity of her assailant it had meant little to her. She hadn’t experienced the same degree of fear she’d experienced tonight.

“Faith?”

She’d stopped walking—she was standing in the middle of the yard and Trip was almost to the horse barn. She trotted to his side, embarrassed by her lapse. He must think she was a nutcase.

“It looks like you’re building something over there,” she told him, pointing at some new construction she’d noticed near one of the outbuildings. She kind of hoped Trip might assume she’d been studying it.

“They started rebuilding the barn that burned down a few months ago, and then thought better of it,” Trip explained. “In the spring, we’ll tear down what’s there and plant the area.”

He was talking about the fire that had killed his sister and her husband. “It was so close to the house,” she said. “Where were Noelle and Colin?”

“With my brother-in-law’s family. You must be freezing, come on.”

The welcome shelter of the barn seemed to wrap her in its arms and she relaxed a little. “Who is Buttercup?”

“My sister’s horse.” At the sound of his voice, a gold horse with a buff-colored forelock and mane tossed her head over the half-open door of her stall and whinnied.

“Is she your horse now?”

He smiled as he looked down at Faith. He had a good face and a good smile. A great mouth. Hard not to speculate what that mouth would feel like against hers. Warmth spread inside at the thought of finding out.

A long pause was broken as he said, “How would it look for a manly guy like me to ride around on a cute little palomino named Buttercup?”

“Pretty silly,” she said softly.

“Exactly.” When his hand slid along the horse’s lovely neck, her own flesh quivered. Buttercup sniffed the brim of his hat as he added, “I’ll teach Noelle to ride her in the spring.”

Faith touched the horse’s velvety nose and was treated to an warm exhalation of breath that caught her off guard. She looked up at Trip again and found him studying her, and tensed as the silence between them stretched like a quivering thread.

He finally walked across the passage and entered an unoccupied stall, returning a second later with a cut of hay and a can filled with grain. He opened the gate and moved inside, the horse following him like a huge yellow puppy, deep rumbles of anticipation in her throat as Trip slid the hay into the rack and deposited the grain in a wall-mounted feeder.

A second later, he was fastening the gate behind him, his gaze once again on Faith. Her hand moved to her cheek, and then her hair, as she glanced down at the hay-strewn dirt floor.

“Aren’t there other horses, like for the cowhands?” she asked.

“They’re in a different horse barn down nearer to the ranch house. This barn houses the family’s animals, more like pets.” He touched Faith’s hand and added, “It’s getting late—we have to talk.”

At his touch, a quiver of recognition jumped through her skin. “Okay.”

He leaned against the nearest wall, crossing his arms. “Tell me about David Lee.”

Faith rubbed her forehead, closing her eyes for a second. The jolt of the crash hadn’t caused any specific injuries, but as time went on she felt increasingly stiff and sore. The last thing she wanted to do was talk about David Lee. “He’s my landlady’s son,” she finally said. “I went home today to find that his dear old mom gave him a key of his very own. He was inside my place, doing repairs.”