Alice Sharpe by Cowboy Incognito

Author:Cowboy Incognito
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

After unsaddling the horses and calming down the dogs, Zane raised his hand to knock on the door Lily and Charlie had used to enter the house. Kinsey caught his fist before it connected. “This is your family home, remember?” she said.

He looked down at her and smiled. “No, as a matter of fact, I don’t.”

“Very funny.” She grabbed the knob and turned it. The dogs stayed on the porch as though they’d been trained to.

They entered a mudroom full of outerwear hanging on hooks. Racks below were stacked with boots, while a ledge above held a variety of hats. It appeared as orderly as the barn had. Judging from the size of the shoes and clothing, the space was used mainly by men.

Kinsey opened the connecting door, when once again Zane paused. Though his confidence had impressed her from the very first glance she’d had of him and had seemed to double once they got to the ranch, things had subtly shifted. Sometime earlier, back when they broke out of the woods and came across that beautiful old tree, he’d grown thoughtful and then hesitant. Even the ghost town, which she’d found fascinating, had seemed to creep him out, and if it wasn’t from conscious associations, then what was the explanation? Something subconscious?

They entered what turned out to be the kitchen, a large room with two gorgeous rock walls and a wide wooden island. Lily looked up from her task at a granite drain board. The tray beside her held a dozen hollowed-out potatoes. She paused from dicing chives. “Hey, where did you guys disappear to?”

“We went riding,” Zane said.

“Really? Where did you go?”

“Around.”

Lily’s brow furrowed and Kinsey leaped into the ensuing silence. “We rode up through the woods to a plateau and from there to a neat old ghost town.”

Lily stopped what she was doing as her gaze swiveled to Zane. “You took her there?”

“Yes,” he said. “Why?”

“No reason,” Lily said, dropping her gaze. She picked up a chunk of cheese and a grater. “Chance and Pike are in the library waiting for you. Frankie drove into town, some kind of emergency or other. You know him.”

“Where’s your son?” Kinsey asked.

“Charlie fell asleep right after his dinner. I feed him early in the summer.”

They left the kitchen without further comment. The next room was a dining room with a very long table running down the middle, set with plates and silverware at one end. Framed photographs above a sideboard caught both of their attention and they paused to look.

“That’s you,” Kinsey said, pointing at a dark-haired boy of about fifteen sitting astride a red horse. “And I bet that’s Rose back in the day. She has to be twenty-some-odd years old.”

“These other kids must be my brothers,” Zane said. He pointed at a lineup of boys that ended in a man of about forty. “That must be our father,” he added. “But where is our mother? There are no women on this wall.”

“Or signs of one living in the house, aside from Lily, that is,” Kinsey said.

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