Damned and Defiant by Kathy Kulig Read Free Book Online

eating. Mind if I took off?” Haley asked Sakari. “I’d like to get settled into Dante’s place and get an early start in the morning. I’ll be to work regular time at the bar.”
    “Sure, Haley. See you tomorrow.”
    “Thanks. I’ll be right out.” Haley grinned and ran off to the back room.
    Sakari was giving him that look.
    “Don’t worry. I’ll protect her. In two weeks I’ll be gone and everyone will be safe from the Drones. All the Drones are too busy getting the temple ready. Nothing can happen to her in two weeks.”

Chapter Four
     
    Dark, so dark and so quiet. Haley’s car rattled and bounced along the deeply rutted road well past midnight. A cabin, barn and split-rail fence came into view and her heart skipped a couple extra beats. What was she getting all excited about? This was a temporary arrangement. She parked the car in front of his house next to his pickup truck and got out.
    “Lordy, when you said this was out a ways, you weren’t kidding. What’s it like being out here alone? I didn’t see one house along your road.”
    “I prefer the isolation,” Dante said, grabbing her duffle bag out of her trunk.
    She could understand that. Maybe he was running away from a past just as she was. For as far as she could see, desert and scrub brush stretched out in all directions. Silhouettes of red rock formations jutted out along the starlit horizon toward Sedona.
    Haley followed Dante up wooden steps to his cabin. Across the driveway from the house was the corral with a small barn. “Can’t see much in the dark, but I bet you have a fine view of the desert and mountains from this porch during the day.” All these months she dreamed of seeing Dante again, being alone with him. What if she couldn’t help him?
    “I like the view any time.”
    “I can see why. All those stars.”
    “It’s late,” he said. “I can show you to your room.”
    “Can I get a quick look at the horses? I’ll get an early start with them in the morning.”
    He shrugged. “Sure, why not?”
    The barn was old but neat and organized. Water troughs were filled with fresh water, clean straw lined the stalls and a salt block was available. She checked the feed grain and the bales of hay in the loft. In the tack room, tack and saddles were clean and hung with care. Haley could tell Dante was a man who knew horses, or whoever was caring for them did.
    She took in the smell of horse, hay and manure and smiled. “I miss ranch work. I worked on one when I was a kid and when I went to college.” It had kept her away from her parents too.
    “What did you go to school for?”
    “Veterinary school.”
    “You like working in a bar better?” He tied a length of rope he’d found on a table in a neat coil and hung it on a wall hook.
    “I didn’t finish. I liked working better than school anyway.” Her grades weren’t the best, she always froze during tests. People respected her at the ranch. At school they called her dirt-road trailer-park trash. Not here in Arizona. People didn’t know about her father or what he’d done, or that he was in prison. Here she was known for her skills, not for the horrible things her family had done. “I can handle this. Two horses are nothing. I’ve worked on much larger ranches when I was a kid.”
    “Your parents owned a ranch?”
    Her body stiffened. “No, I said, I worked on them.” She pushed past him and went inside the barn. The horses raised their heads when Dante turned on the lights and then came into the barn.
    “What are their names?”
    “D.A. and Siren.” He stood beside her. A worried frown crossed his face. Did he think she’d change her mind?
    “I like those names.” She didn’t know what his problem was—her being there or his horses—but she decided to go introduce herself. “Beautiful horses. Appaloosas.”
    “Thanks.”
    She gave a little whistle and their ears perked up. Good, not pinned back, though they snorted and pawed the ground, a little