Riordan by Kathi S. Barton Read Free Book Online

never occurred to me that she was asleep, so I
    touched her arm. Just as a warning that I was there so as not to startle her from her work.”
    “And she tried to kill you.” Riordan got up to pace. “She’s a vet, I get that, but what the hell
    was she doing with a gun? I mean, really?”
    “Here. I was given this to read.” His mom handed him a sheaf of papers. “Read this. It
    doesn’t say her name because of her ranking in the service or something like that, her aunt told
    me. But it does tell what happened over the two days that left her in the pain that she’s in. And
    I’m talking real pain, the kind that would cripple most people.”
    Riordan held the papers and looked around the room at his parents’ home before speaking.
    Having them defend her was beyond anything he would have thought they’d do. And the fact
    that they were blowing off this thing with the gun so casually pissed him off, too. Riordan stood
    to leave. “You do know that this means nothing to me. She hurt you and she’s going to—”
    “Shut up and sit down.” His father never raised his voice. Not when they were children and
    not since Riordan had been an adult. But he did now, and Riordan sat down. He watched as his
    dad paced the room much the same as he had. “When did you become so cold, son? And you are.
    Cold as a stone. And why? This girl has done nothing to you. She’s been telling us to keep you
    away from her since we been helping her. And yes, before you get yourself all pissed off again,
    we have been helping her. We’ve been running the shop with her aunts. Your mom has been
    baking a little. And we’ve had fun getting to know her aunts. Her great aunts, as a matter of fact.
    I was called a young man. Imagine that…someone thinking of me as a young man. And I had
    fun. We both did. Now read the damned papers. This isn’t like you to be so…so halfcocked
    about something.”
    He was left in the room alone. The ticking of the grandfather clock near the fireplace was
    the only sound in the big room. Riordan didn’t want to read about some phantom person who
    may or may not be the woman who had pulled a gun on his dad. But he knew that he’d better or
    he’d face the wrath of his parents again.
    Starting at the headline, Riordan laughed. Someone had made this shit up, he thought.
    Humvee Massacre Results in Best Intel. But by the second paragraph he was trying to fit the girl
    that he’d met briefly to the story that was being told. And by the time he was on the third page of
    the long article, Riordan knew that not only had he been wrong about the woman, but about
    nearly everything he’d been thinking about her as his mate, too. She was a bigger and better
    person than he was or ever would be. By the time he read the last line, where the person who
    wrote it explained why there was no mention of a name because of security reasons, he felt like a
    real shit. Riordan went to find his mom in the kitchen.
    “Your dad was called away. He wanted to be here when you finished, but something has
    come up. Did you read it?” He nodded and sat down with her. “And do you still think she’s this
    horrible person only out to harm us?”
    “I honestly don’t know what to think now. How do you know this is her? I mean, it’s a
    horrific story, but how do you know this is her and not someone else? As you’ve said, there is no
    mention of her name.”
    His mom got up and poured him a cup of hot tea. He watched her, knowing that she was
    working out in her head how to answer him. Riordan wanted to ask her to just say it, but he knew
    that she’d not be able to do that anymore than he could have.
    “The article came to me from Mac. He said he pulled some strings when he figured out who
    she was. Mac said that he’d heard her name, a while ago, in a conversation he’d been having
    with his friend, that guy in the service, Blackson. He’s high up on the ranking order, I think. He
    went to talk to him.” She sat down