Seeing Red by Susan Crandall Read Free Book Online Page A

that dashed for cover and every bird she startled into flight.
    And all of those thoughts she’d been running from caught up with a vengeance.
    She had to ask herself, Had she truly run this way by happenstance? Or had her inner voice guided her feet when she’d been ignoring it in her head?
    Everything about that place—the smells, the sounds of the horses’ gentle nickers and their hooves against soft earth and wood chips, the very feel of the air on her skin—made her acutely aware of all she had lost.
    Nate Vance had been as much a part of the stable as Paco and General Lee. More than that, he’d been her and Laura’s friend.
    But late that spring, Nate had become more than a friend to Laura. At first, Ellis had had to stamp out a little spark of jealousy. She’d known that she was too young for Nate to think of her that way. And no one could blame any guy for going after Laura; she was perfect. But still Ellis had harbored a little ember of hope that someday . . .
    In the aftermath of Laura’s ordeal, Ellis remembered wishing that Laura and Nate had never started hanging out. That way she wouldn’t have lost them both in a single year.
    Finally, she rounded the corner onto her street and saw Rory’s Mini Cooper parked in her drive. Damn. She was looking forward to a shower and a long nap. After a day like today, there would be no sleep once darkness fell.
    She took a deep breath and walked on.
    Rory sat in the shade, on the steps that went up the side of her building to the entrance of her third-floor condo. He stood when she approached. She studied him as she would a stranger, trying to view him with fresh eyes.
    He was tan and athletic, his smile wide, his light brown hair boyishly tousled. A desirable man by anyone’s standards. And kind. And intelligent.
    Her stomach sank, landing in her lower regions with the grace of a deflated balloon. If a man this good and this attractive couldn’t start a fire inside her belly, maybe she didn’t have the fuel.
    He stood, sticking his hands casually into the pockets of his cargo shorts; but the set of his face was far from relaxed.
    “I was getting worried,” he said, just a little sharply. “You didn’t answer your cell.”
    Ellis patted her pockets. “Oh! I must have forgotten it.” It startled her to realize how dangerously distracted she’d been when she’d left.
    “With all that’s going on? Ellis!”
    “So Dad’s called you.”
    “He’s worried.” Rory stepped closer. The hands came out of the pockets and settled on her shoulders. “
I’m
worried.”
    “You’re sweet and I appreciate the concern, but I’m perfectly fine.”
    “We think you should go up north with me.”
    She tilted her head and raised a brow. “We?” She thought she’d made it clear to her dad she wasn’t going.
    “It makes sense, Ellis. Come with me. We can stay in separate rooms if you want. If you aren’t going, I’m not either.”
    She felt as if she’d just heard a discordant squeal of violin strings.
    He’s trying to be thoughtful.
    “You know as well as anyone, I can take care of myself,” she said more harshly than she should have. But seriously, she held a brown belt; Rory was a science teacher who couldn’t bring himself to have his students dissect frogs. The thought of him offering protection seemed absurd.
    For some odd reason—probably because of her unexpected visit to the stables—Nate Vance shot into her mind again. Even at her most vulnerable, she’d felt safe with him, but in an exhilarating passenger-on-a-high-speedwave-runner kind of way.
    And you were fourteen years old. Grow up.
    She said, “You have to go. Your grandmother lives for your visits.”
    “She’ll understand. I’m not leaving you, not now.” His voice carried a force she rarely heard. He cradled her face and leaned down, kissing her.
    It had been weeks since they’d been close. She felt the tremor in his touch, heard the longing desperation in his breathing. Leaning