Bounty (Walk the Right Road) by Lorhainne Eckhart Read Free Book Online

said.
    “Wow, looks like you’ve done a lot. I walked past here about a year ago and it still had a tarp over the roof, boards up for the windows. Were the wiring and plumbing done?” she asked as she stared out at the mountains of backbreaking work this man had ahead him if he was doing this alone. She turned off her vehicle and stepped out. “I guess this makes us neighbors.”
    He never cracked a smile. “Come in. I’ll get this bullet hole cleaned up. You want a beer?”
    She wanted something, all right. She didn’t know what she needed, exactly, but she didn’t want to leave Zac right now. He looked a little pale even though he acted as if nothing was wrong. He was a different kind of strong from what she was used to. Diane didn’t have to say much of anything, and he seemed to understand her as if reading her needs. Something so intimate unnerved her, but she also sensed in a strange way that he wouldn’t breathe a word of her secrets to anyone.
    “I would like a beer.” She followed him inside.
    “Leave your shoes on. Still haven’t put the floor down yet.”
    There was nothing but plywood, with power tools and sawhorses scattered everywhere. He led her into an open kitchen with dark wood cabinets, new appliances. It opened into a large family room, where the walls were made of sheet rock. The fireplace was an insert against the wall. The rockwork and mantle were nonexistent, just two-by-fours in place surrounding the wood stove.
    “You’ve got no furniture,” she said. “Lots of work yet. So you were in the military, and you’re a doctor, coroner, and part-time carpenter? That’s quite a list for your resume.” Diane crossed her arms to stop her babbling and watched him as he pulled out a kit from one of the cupboards. He injected something just below his hip and then proceeded to stitch his side up. She blinked because he did it without flinching or saying one word.
    “I hope you gave yourself a shot for the pain.” She couldn’t get over his confidence as he quickly doctored himself, bandaged the wound, and disposed of the soiled dressing and syringe in the trash.
    “Antibiotic. Done.” He tucked the kit back in the cupboard, washed his hands in the sink, and then pulled out two beers from the fridge. He handed one to Diane. His fingers brushed hers as she accepted the can.
    “So how long were you in the army?” she asked, taking a swig of the dark beer that now lingered with something bitter on her tongue. She must have pulled a face.
    “Don’t like beer?” he asked, watching her every move. His eyes were on her, not wavering for an instant. It was unnerving.
    “No, I had a couple this morning,” she said, realizing he kept diverting any talk about him and the military.
    He nodded and didn’t seem surprised that she’d drunk this morning, as he gestured to a sliding glass door. “Let’s go out on the deck. I have a couple of chairs out there.”
    She stepped outside and took the first one, a straight-backed wooden chair, an obvious castoff from someone’s yard sale. “I don’t normally drink, the occasional beer only. It was just this morning…”
    “You were rattled, being called in to a murder that hit way too close to home. And no one knows about where you come from. I take it your friend…”
    She let out a sigh of relief. “Sam, my former partner.” Diane swallowed the sick, dry feeling in her stomach.
    “Sam knows about your past, and you weren’t expecting Casey to call you in. Am I close?” He scraped back the other rickety wood chair, and she watched as he lowered his large frame as if he hadn’t even been shot.
    “You’re good at reading people. Is this like some special training you had or something?”
    What would he say now, and how would he respond to all her prying? Instead of reacting, all he did was smile, and she stared at the scars on the side of his face and wondered if they hurt. The way the skin puckered close to his ear told its own story of