were modern enough, but Noah’s beard wasn’t like all the fashionable hipster ones she was used to. No, Noah’s beard was something of an old-fashioned shield.
She found herself pondering a little too deeply what he might be shielding himself from. Snapping herself out of that wonder, she picked up the knife. “You’re early,” she offered, trying to sound cheerful. “Dinner isn’t ready yet.”
It was another thing she’d surprisingly settled into with ease. They all three ate dinner together. Noah wasn’t exactly a talkative guy, but he listened. Sometimes he even entertained Seth while she cleaned up dinner.
He grunted, as he was so often wont to do, and slid his coat and hat off before hanging them on the pegs. She watched it all through her peripheral vision, forcing herself not to linger on the outline of his muscles in the thermal shirt he wore.
Yes, Noah had muscles, and they were not for her to ogle. Though she did on occasion. She was human, after all.
“Just need to call the vet,” he said.
“Is something wrong?”
“Horses aren’t right. Will there be enough for dinner if Ty comes over?”
“Of course.” Addie had gotten used to random Carsons showing up at the house at any time of day or night, or for any meal. She always made a little extra for dinner, as leftovers could easily be made into a lunch the next day.
Gotten used to. She smiled to herself as Noah grabbed the phone and punched in a number. It was almost unfathomable to have gotten used to a new life and think she might be able to stay in it.
Noah spoke in low tones to the vet and Addie worked on adding more lettuce to the salad so there would be enough for Ty. She watched out the window at the fading twilight. The days were getting shorter and colder. It was early fall yet, but the threat of snow seemed to be in the air.
She loved it here. She couldn’t deny it. The mountains in the distance, the ramshackle stables and barns. The animals she didn’t trust to approach but loved to watch. The way the sun gilded everything gold in the mornings and fiery red in the evenings. The air, so clear and different from anything she’d ever known before.
She felt at home here. More so than any point in her life. Maybe it was the circumstances, everything she was running from, how much she’d taken for granted before her sister had gotten mixed up with a mob boss. But she felt it, no matter how hard she tried to fight it.
She could easily see Seth growing up in this amazing place with Noah as something like a role model. Oh, it almost hurt to think of. It was a pipe dream. She couldn’t allow herself to believe Peter could never find them here. Could she?
Noah stopped talking and set the phone back in its cradle, looking far too grim. Addie’s stomach clenched. “Is everything okay?”
“Vet said it sounded like horses got into something chemical. Poison even,” Noah said gruffly with no preamble.
Any warmth or comfort or love of this place drained out of Addie in an instant. “Poison,” she repeated in a whisper.
Noah frowned at her, then softened that imperceptible amount she was beginning to recognize. “Carsons have some enemies in Bent. It isn’t unheard of.”
It was certainly possible. The Carsons were a rough-and-tumble bunch. Noah’s brother, Ty, could be gruff and abrasive when he was irritated. Grady was certainly charming, but he ran a bar and though she’d never spent any time there since the ranch and Seth took up most of her time, Laurel often spoke disparagingly of the clientele there.
Then there was Noah’s cousin Vanessa. Sharp, antagonistic Vanessa would likely have some enemies. Or Grady’s troublemaking stepbrother.
The problem was none of them lived at the ranch full-time. They came and went. Noah could be grumpy, but she truly couldn’t imagine him having enemies.
She, on the other hand, had a very real enemy.
“Are you sure?” she asked tentatively.
“Look, I know you’ve had some trouble in your past, but who would poison my horses to get at you?”
He had a point. A good point, even if he didn’t know the whole story. Peter would want her and Seth, not Noah or his horses. He’d never do something so small and piddly that wouldn’t hurt her directly.
“Trust me,” Noah said, dialing a new number into the phone. “This doesn’t have a thing to do with you, and the vet said if he gets over here soon and Ty helps out, we’ll be able to save them.” Noah turned away from her and started talking into the phone, presumably to his brother, without even a hi.
Addie stared hard at her salad preparations, willing her heart to steady, willing herself to believe Noah’s words. What would poisoned horses have to do with her?
Nothing. Absolutely nothing. She had to believe that, but everything that had felt like settling in and comfort and routine earlier now curdled in her gut.
Don’t ever get too used to this place. It’s not yours, and it never will be.
She’d do well to remember it.
October
NOAH FROWNED AT the fence. Someone had hacked it to pieces, and now half his herd was wandering the damn mountains as a winter storm threatened in the west.
He immediately thought of last month and the surprise poison a few of his horses had ingested. The vet had saved the horses, but Noah and Ty had never found the culprits. Noah liked to blame Laurel and her precious sheriff’s department for the crime still being unsolved, even though it wasn’t fair.
Whoever had poisoned the horses had done a well enough job being sneaky, but not in creating much damage. For all he knew it was some kids playing a dumb prank, or even an accident.
This right here was no accident. It was strange. Maybe it could be chalked up to a teenage prank, but something about all this felt wrong, like an itch he couldn’t reach.
But he had to fix the fence and get the cows before he could worry about wrong gut feelings. Noah mounted his horse and headed for the cabin. He’d have to start carrying his cell to call for help if these little problems kept cropping up.
What would Addie be up to? She’d been his housekeeper for two months now, and he had to admit in the quiet of his own mind, he’d gotten used to her presence. So used to it, he relied on it. She kept the cabin neat and clean, her cooking was better and better, and she and the boy... Well, he didn’t mind them underfoot as much as he’d thought he was going to.
Maybe, just maybe, he’d been a little lonely in that house by himself earlier in the summer, and maybe, just maybe, he appreciated some company. Because Addie didn’t intrude on his silence or poke at him for more. The boy was loud, and getting increasingly mobile, which sometimes meant he was crawling all over Noah if he tried to sit down, but that wasn’t the kind of intrusion that bothered him. He found he rather enjoyed the child’s drooly smiles and screeches of delight.
“What has happened to you?” he muttered to himself. He looked at the gray sky. A winter storm had been threatening for days, but it hadn’t let down its wrath yet. Noah had no
