Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 113272 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 566(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113272 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 566(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
Ravina’s eyes widened and she stepped back. Turning, Arabella saw the dog standing behind her.
Wow. Somehow, she hadn’t quite taken in how big he was. Maybe because she’d been so worried about him biting her. Or that he might be hurt. But he was huge. Skinny, though.
Poor baby, she could see every one of his ribs.
“What . . . what is that?” Ravina asked.
“Um, it’s a dog.”
“It’s enormous. Is it yours?” the woman demanded.
“Well, no, not exactly.”
“You never said that you were going to bring a dog. Dogs aren’t allowed on the property. My aunt would never allow it.”
“Your aunt?” Arabella asked.
“Yes, my aunt that owns this place.”
Oh, right. Arabella had only dealt with this woman, but the owner had signed the rental agreement.
“Listen, I’ve got other places to be. That thing can’t live here with you.”
“He’s not a thing.” Arabella moved back to pat the small horse’s head.
Hmm. Horse.
Well, that would work for a name for the moment.
“Whatever he is, there’s a strict no pet policy,” Ravina told her.
Why did she look happy about that?
“It would only be for a few days. A week at most while I try to find his owners.”
Ravina sneered down at Horse. “No. It’s the house or the . . . dog.”
And that was how Arabella found herself parked on the side of the road in the town that she thought would be the answer to all of her prayers, trying to find somewhere to stay for a few nights.
The only hotel in town was pet-friendly, but they had no availability all weekend. Apparently there was a rodeo in the next town over and everything was booked up.
“What am I going to do, Horse? I’m really sorry. Don’t be upset with me. But you can’t live with me. And I really want that house.”
She searched online for an animal shelter and let out a groan of frustration. “Of course it’s shut until Monday. Shit. I’m an idiot.” She sighed. “All right, let’s grab a bite to eat and have a think. You hungry?”
Horse let out a small woof that she was going to take as a yes.
Perfect.
2
Kellan pulled on his sneakers.
“I’ll come with you,” Eli said as he walked through from his hotel room.
They could have stayed with Duncan. But the two of them liked their space. It didn’t make Laken happy, though. For some reason she wanted them all under the same roof. Which meant that Duncan was very unhappy. Since his emotions now seemed to be tied to his wife’s.
But they wouldn’t be here for long. They just wanted to check up on Shaw and then they would likely head back to Houston tomorrow or the day after.
“You want to come for a run? You never run.”
“Yeah, well, I need to work off some steam,” Eli said as he finished pulling on his sneakers.
“Steam? At ten at night?”
Eli shrugged.
“This got anything to do with that woman you told off earlier?”
“She shouldn’t have pulled off the road like that and she had no idea that we’d stopped and turned around. We could have been kidnappers, rapists, murderers.”
Kellan nodded. He understood better than anyone where Eli was coming from. When you were an FBI field agent you saw some of the worst of humanity.
He spent most of his life waiting for people to fuck up and show their true colors.
The only people he trusted were his brothers. Eli, in particular.
Sometimes he thought that Eli was the only reason he kept on going.
His gaze was caught by something on the television and he quickly read the subtitles.
“Is that about Governor Bridges’ death?” Eli said, coming up beside him to watch as the footage moved to the bridge the governor had jumped off. His body had turned up down river.
“Yeah.”
“They’re still saying it was suicide?” Eli asked.
“He just doesn’t seem the type to take his own life,” Kellan murmured, staring at the photo of the governor.
His blotchy complexion, the broken capillaries on his skin, and his bulging eyes all indicated that he wasn’t the healthiest individual.
“Looks to me like he was more likely to have had a heart attack and fallen into the river,” Kellan added.
“Witnesses said he jumped,” Eli told him.
Hmm. Maybe. Kellan wasn’t so sure.
“Don’t you think it’s weird that first Governor Raynor died of a heart attack and then the lieutenant governor committed suicide. Within what? A year of each other?” Kellan said.
“Well, yeah. But it’s politics, right? Stranger things have happened.”
That was true.
Suddenly, the news report showed older video footage of Bridges with a far younger woman.
“Wait . . . is that the same girl that was taking a photo in front of the Haven sign earlier?” Eli asked.
“It definitely looks like her,” Kellan replied. Although the girl on the television looked more polished and . . . removed.
Her face was expressionless. As though she was moving through the motions. She barely looked around her. And she seemed to keep a distance between herself and her father.