Kaki Warner by Miracle in New Hope Read Free Book Online Page B

connection there, ever since the man had come to the canyon right after Hannah had disappeared. Maybe he did know something. Or had seen something. She had no choice but to hear what he had to say.
    Two snow-dusted buildings came into view. A small barn, with a big bay gelding watching over a gnawed paddock rail as they drove by, and a smaller log cabin where the road ended before a deep stand of firs.
    It looked deserted. Barely a puff of smoke rose from the rock chimney. Yet it appeared well tended, and paths had been cleared from the house to the barn and woodshed near the trees. The snowshoes and shovel on the small covered porch indicated someone lived there, although not a single track broke the thin coating of snow that had fallen in the night.
    “You’re certain this is the place?” Lacy asked.
    “Last cabin on Wheeler Creek. This is it.”
    They sat for a moment to see if Mr. Hobart noticed them and came outside. When he didn’t, Lacy started to rise. “I’ll go knock.”
    “Not alone, you won’t.” Tom climbed down, tied the driving reins to a sturdy post rising out of the snow, then came to help Lacy down. “Let me do the talking.”
    “Absolutely not. You’ll start something. And it’s my daughter.”
    “But he—”
    “I mean it, Tom. You’ll let me handle this, or you can stay out here with the horse.” As her oldest brother, Tom had always been overly protective of her. But this wasn’t about Tom, or her, or Daniel Hobart. It was about Hannah.
    Putting a gloved hand on her brother’s arm, she looked up into his stern face. “Please, Tom. I need answers, not another fistfight.”
    Reluctantly, he nodded. He even let her do the knocking. But when there was no response, he reached around her and gave the door a good pounding before stepping back into his position behind her.
    From inside came the sound of a voice. Banging and cursing. Then, abruptly, the door flew open. “Damn it, Merlin, I told you—Jesus!”
    Lacy gaped at the half-dressed man filling the doorway.
    He gaped back, clearly expecting someone else. “I—it’s you,” he stammered.
    “Yes. Lacy Ellis.” Struggling to keep her gaze on Mr. Hobart’s face, rather than his unclothed torso—no wonder her brothers had taken such a beating—she motioned vaguely back at her brother. “You remember Tom?”
    He didn’t respond. Didn’t even look at her brother.
    She let her hand drop back to her side and cleared her throat. “I’ve come to ask you a few questions, if I may.”
    He continued to stare, his remarkable gray eyes fixed on her with such intensity that she doubted he was even aware of Tom, or the dog pushing past his leg to get out, or the fact that he was standing in the open doorway barefoot, shirtless, his trousers half-buttoned, and his hair sticking out every which way. Had the man never had a guest at his door? And who was Merlin?
    “Aren’t you cold?” she asked after a moment.
    With a start, Mr. Hobart looked down at his state of undress, then snapped back to life. “Damn—I mean, yes. Sorry. Come in—no, wait!”
    The door slammed in her face, almost catching the tail of the hound as the dog broke for freedom. The animal gave her a sniff, Tom a glare, then bounded off the porch and trotted over to anoint the runner of their sleigh.
    “I’m telling you, the guy’s a loon,” Tom muttered.
    “I’m not listening.”
    “Answering the door half-naked like that.”
    “It’s obvious we woke him.”
    “This late? Crazy
and
lazy.”
    The door opened again. By the look of relief on Mr. Hobart’s face, Lacy wondered if he had expected them to have disappeared while he dressed.
    Or partially dressed. He was buttoned all wrong, his braces were twisted over the bunched folds of his untucked shirt, and he was balanced on one foot, still wrestling with his boot. He had even made a halfhearted attempt to slick back his unruly black hair. Not a vast improvement, but at least he seemed marginally more aware of