Robin Lee Hatcher by When Love Blooms Read Free Book Online

dishes to the washbasin. “I guess I can take the time for that.” He grabbed his hat from a peg near the door. “Let’s go.”
    Sabrina, her father, and the other men went outside, trailed by Petula who stopped at the door and asked, “Are you coming, Ma?”
    “Not right now, Pet. I need to do the dishes first. But why don’t you take Miss Harris? I’m sure she’d love to see Brina’s calf.”
    “Shouldn’t I stay and help you?”
    “No.” Dru shook her head. “I think you should go with the children.”
    Petula smiled, showing her missing tooth, as she returned to the table and held out her hand to Emily. “There’s kittens in the barn too, but we don’t want Duke and Duchess to know.”
    “I should think not.” She took hold of Petula’s hand and allowed herself to be led from the house.
    The barn was warm and filled with earthy scents — hay and straw, dung and sweat. Sunlight streamed through the open hay door in the loft, creating a swirl of light below.
    “Over here,” Sabrina called.
    They moved toward the stall where Gavin and Sabrina stood.Inside was a reddish-brown calf with a white-blazed face and enormous brown eyes. It was lying down, its legs curled underneath its body.
    “He’s an orphan.” Sabrina’s gaze shifted to Gavin. “He won’t have to be sold yet, will he?”
    Her father shook his head. “He’s a bit young.”
    “May I . . . may I keep him, Pa?”
    Gavin knelt in the straw, one hand on Sabrina’s shoulder. “Cows aren’t pets, Brina. We raise them to sell. You know that.”
    Emily heard the tenderness in his words. He loved this child. There was no mistaking it. Sabrina and Petula might not be his by blood, but they were certainly his by heart.
    “But if you’ll promise to take good care of him through the winter, see that he’s fed and kept clean and stays healthy, whatever money he brings when he does go to market will be yours.”
    Emily half-expected the girl to burst into tears, but she didn’t. “I’ll take real good care of him. I promise. And I’ll share the money with Pet.”
    Gavin patted her shoulder as he stood. “That’s a good plan, Brina. Sharing’s always a good thing.”
    He seemed a different man from the one who had escorted Emily from the hotel a week earlier. Less gruff. Less disagreeable. More prone to smile.
    Petula tugged on her hand. “Now come see what I got.”
    Emily was pulled across the barn to a ladder that led to the loft. She looked at it with misgiving. She was terrified of heights. Had been since she was a child. Could she climb to the loft without falling?
    Petula obviously didn’t share her fear. She scampered up the ladder like a monkey up a tree. No hesitation. No doubt.
    “You don’t have to go up, Miss Harris,” Gavin said. “You’d probably get your dress dirty.”
    Ah, there was the Gavin she knew. She heard the challenge in his voice, knew he still thought his wife had made a mistake in her choice of governess. It was unfair of him and it made her angry.
    “My dress will wash, Mr. Blake.” She grasped a rung on the ladder. “It certainly won’t keep me from seeing whatever it is Pet wants to show me.”
    She began to climb. Don’t look down. Don’t look down. As soon as she reached the loft, she whispered a prayer of thanks to God for her safe ascent.
    “Over here. Come look.”
    She joined Petula in the corner near the hay door. There, nearly hidden in a nest of straw, a gray-striped cat bathed a kitten with her tongue while three more nursed at her belly.
    “That’s Countess,” Petula said, pointing to the cat. “Ma thought up her name. Says it’s next best to Duchess.”
    Emily leaned forward for a better look. “Duke, Duchess, Countess. Such fancy names for all your pets.”
    “Dru’s always wanted to visit England.”
    She looked behind her to see Gavin standing on the ladder, his head and shoulders above the loft floor.
    “She’s got a fascination for royalty,” he finished.
    Petula