She Can Hide (She Can #4)(43)

“I hate to bug you, but I could use you back home.” A loud thud sounded over the connection. “Like now.”

“What was that?” Ethan asked.

“That was Bryce trying to get a rope on the bay horse,” Cam explained. “He’s sick. We called the vet, but neither of us has been able to even get in the stall with him.”

Ethan rapped the phone against his temple. He did not need this. He was spread as thin as a sheet of paper over his responsibilities. Cam and Bryce were going back to school the next day, and Mom was headed to her sister’s house. Normally, Ethan would be looking forward to a few weeks of post-holiday alone time, but not this week. “I’m on my way.”

He hung up and turned to Abby. “There’s a small emergency at home. Do you mind if we stop at my place?”

Abby shook her head. “Of course not.”

Ethan looked at Derek in the mirror. “Derek?”

“Nope.” The kid draped a companionable arm around Zeus’s neck.

“Do you need to call your mom?” Ethan held his cell over his shoulder in offer.

“Nah. She’s at work.” Derek turned his attention to the dog.

“OK. Thanks.” Ethan made a U-turn toward home. Tomorrow he was calling Ronnie and pressuring her to find a foster home for those horses.




Abby sat up straighter. Nerves quivered fresh. She was going to see Ethan’s house and meet his family. The truck turned into a gravel driveway next to a weather-beaten mailbox. There were no other houses in sight. A football field away, a white farmhouse sprawled in front of a small compound of outbuildings. Behind the barn, a snow-covered corral and pasture spread out to woods in the distance.

She got out of the truck. She folded the front seat to give Derek and Zeus more room to climb out. Abby looked up at the house. Three wide steps led to a front porch. Despite the fact that Christmas had passed three weeks before, an evergreen wreath decorated with a huge red velvet ribbon hung on the door.

She glanced over at Derek, who chewed a bit of skin from the side of his thumbnail. He looked as nervous as she felt.

What had it been like to be raised in the country? Abby’s ears prickled at the lonely sound of wind whistling across the open land. She imagined you could sit on your deck in complete silence in the middle of the day, quite unlike the suburbs, where the sounds of lawn equipment and kids punctuated the weekends.

“Oh good, the vet’s here.” A MINI Cooper, a midsize SUV, and a large white van were lined up in the yard. Ethan led the way into the barn. Abby and Derek hesitated at the door.

“It’s OK. You can come in.” Ethan wiggled his fingers in a come along gesture. The most trusting of them, Zeus, followed him first.

Three men and a woman were gathered around a half door. The woman was striking. Even in her bulky winter gear, she was tall and thin, her long black hair partially covered with a watch cap. She turned to Ethan, and her mouth opened in a warm smile. An unexpected shaft of jealousy speared Abby. She tamped it down. She and Ethan had shared one kiss, one desperate embrace born as much from her loneliness and raging emotions as her desire. She had no claims to him.

Abby blinked away to study the two younger men, also tall and slim, with the same black hair and bright blue eyes as Ethan. His brothers. Which made the remaining man the vet.

“Abby, Derek, these are my brothers, Bryce and Cam.” Ethan gestured. Cam was clean-cut, while Bryce wore his long hair in a ponytail. Other than their hairstyles, their features were identical. Twins?

“This is Doc White.” The vet was to people what Zeus was to dogs. The huge white-haired man, dressed in winter coveralls, nodded at them.

Ethan’s open hand shifted to the gorgeous woman. “And my cousin, Ronnie.”

Cousin? Abby perked up. The relief that swept through her was as unexpected as her earlier prick of jealousy. One kiss. That’s all it had been, and it likely meant more to her than Ethan, since she’d been the one melting down.

“Nice to meet you.” Ronnie walked over and shook their hands. A patch on her jacket identified her as a humane society police officer.

Next to Derek’s shoulder, a reddish nose poked over the nearest stall and snorted. A pony head followed, barely reaching over the half door.

Derek’s eyes brightened. “Can I pet him?”

“Sure.” Ethan rubbed the pony’s nose. “This little guy is as friendly as a puppy.”

“What’s his name?” Derek mimicked Ethan, stroking the pony between its soft brown eyes. Zeus put his front paws on the stall door. Mutual sniffs were exchanged. The dog wagged his tail. The pony pricked its ears.

Ethan frowned. “He doesn’t have a name. These horses aren’t ours. We’re fostering them for the humane society.”

Abby glanced over the stall door. The blanket didn’t cover the bony neck. She didn’t know much, OK anything, about horses, but she recognized a starving animal when she saw it.

The vet cleared his throat, and Ethan’s attention moved to the next stall, where Abby assumed the sick horse was kept.

“Bryce, why don’t you take Abby and Derek into the house? It’s cold out here,” Ethan said.

Bryce raised a brow and pointedly looked at Abby. “Really? With Mom?”

Ethan sighed. “Just tell her they’re hungry. That ought to keep her busy.”