Read Online Behind His Blue Eyes by Kaki Warner - Free Book Online Page A

might make . . . before it was shoved or pried out of its resting place and sent crashing down the slope, gathering stones and brush along the way, until it finally slammed into the sluice and sent nine sections of it sliding into the ravine.
    Ethan hunkered beside a long pole that had probably been used to pry the boulder loose. Picking up a small stick, he carefully lifted aside a leafy twig and studied the loose dirt. “Tracks. Human and horse. One shod, one not, although the footprints could be from a moccasin. Indian, you think?”
    The sheriff bent beside him, studied the prints, then straightened. “I better get Thomas on this. If any redskins are moving through this canyon, he’ll soon know how many, which tribe, and what they ate for breakfast.”
    Scanning the ground for more prints, he left Ethan and walked over to where the other slide had originated.
    At a sound, Ethan looked across the ravine.
Speak of the devil,
he thought when he saw a man on a spotted pony heading back to Heartbreak Creek. Bouncing along behind him was a familiar boxy, black buggy.
    Audra and Redstone had been at the cabin all day? Alone?
    He tossed the stick aside and rose. “Let’s go,” he called over to the sheriff. “By the look of the sun, it’s almost five. And you know what that means.”
    Brodie gave him a questioning look.
    â€œYour wife?”
    â€œOh, hell.”

Six
    O n that first tour with Nurse Eckhart of the structure at Salty Point, Ethan had soon realized it was more like a prison than a hospital. Built in eighteen fifty to benefit sick, infirm, or elderly sailors who had nowhere else to go, it housed several wards of men from countries all over the world.
    Nurse Eckhart was right. It was a sad place. Ethan could almost feel the despair hanging over the long rows of beds.
    â€œIt must be intolerable,” she said in a soft voice as they walked through the wards. “Men who have spent most of their lives surrounded by a limitless horizon, now condemned to these four walls with barely a window to look out of.”
    Ethan had noticed that. The gloom was almost palpable. And whenever they could, men had left their beds to stand at the windows, staring blankly at the shimmering sea stretching below them.
    â€œDo you think more windows would help?” he asked.
    â€œImmeasurably. And more beds. And more storage. And a gathering place with a view of the ocean. Can you do all that?”
    Ethan nodded, plans and drawings already forming in his mind. “I can try.”
    â€œIndeed?” She had studied him for a moment, those remarkable eyes as full of secrets as the smile teasing her lips. “I appreciate a man with the courage to try new things. And I’ll do whatever I can to help. Come to my room this evening, and we’ll discuss it.” Then she had walked away, taking a small part of his heart with her.
    * * *
    The morning after her visit to the cabin, Audra was escorting her charges into the hotel dining room for breakfast when a voice called her name. Pausing in the doorway, one hand on Father’s arm, she glanced back to see a blond woman with lovely green eyes and a reserved smile walking toward her.
    â€œI’m the owner of the hotel,” the woman said, stopping beside her. “Yancey told me you had arrived.”
    Wondering if Curtis and Winnie were about to be refused service, Audra braced herself for a scene.
    Instead, the woman held out a slim hand. “Lucinda Rylander. Welcome to the hotel and to Heartbreak Creek.”
    Ah. That Rylander.
Warily, Audra gave the cool fingers a brief squeeze then released them. “Thank you.”
    â€œYou may have received our correspondence about the right-of-way across your land?”
    â€œI have. I also spoke to Mr. Hardesty about it yesterday.”
    â€œDid you reach an agreement?”
    â€œWe are in negotiations.”
    â€œI see.” The smile started to