Read Online Betrayal by Robin Lee Hatcher - Free Book Online Page B

she’d often felt for her husband, she’d wanted a child. Three times she’d almost had her heart’s desire. First there had been a daughter, stillborn at eight months. Then there had been a son, also stillborn. And finally there was the baby she’d lost when only three months gone. She’d nearly died too. The bed had turned crimson with her blood.
    Had she lost that baby because Angus hit her? Or had he hit her because she’d lost the baby? It was hard to remember which was cause and which was effect. All she remembered for certain was the doctor’s grim expression as he’d told her it was unlikely she would ever carry a child to term, that it would be best if she didn’t try.
    Julia hid her face in her arms and wept for the babies she would never hold.
    The barnyard was empty and too quiet without Julia and Banditaround. It surprised Hugh that he found it so. He was a man who’d learned to be comfortable with his own company and with silence. Solitude suited him. Only it didn’t suit him today.
    He’d seen Julia ride out earlier, a rolled blanket secured behind her saddle, Bandit running on ahead of horse and rider as usual. Hugh had wanted to call after her, to ask where she was going, but he’d stopped himself. It wasn’t his business. If she’d wanted him to know, she would have told him.
    As morning became midday and Julia hadn’t returned, hunger drew Hugh into the house to find something to eat. With a sharp knife, he cut himself a couple of slices of bread and several more of cheese. As he nibbled on the latter, he allowed his gaze to roam over the living area until it rested on the chair near the window. He pictured her seated there, sunlight gilding her hair, as he’d seen her a few days before. A different kind of hunger stirred inside of him, a desire to be the kind of man a woman like Julia Grace could look up to.
    He might as well wish for the moon.
    With a slow shake of his head, he moved toward the open front door. He was stepping onto the porch when a man rode into the barnyard.
    The newcomer looked surprised when he saw Hugh. “Mrs. Grace around?” he asked, a note of suspicion in his tone.
    “No, she’s not.”
    Who’re you? the other man’s eyes demanded.
    Hugh answered the unspoken question. “I work for Mrs. Grace. Can I help you?”
    “My name’s Peter Collins. We’re her neighbors.”
    “That’s my nearest neighbor’s place,” Hugh remembered Julia saying. “The Collins’ family. They’ve got ten children. All girls.”
    Ten daughters, huh? No wonder the man had a slightly harried look about him.
    “My wife sent me to ask Mrs. Grace to join us for dinner next Sunday. My brother-in-law’s coming to visit for a week or two, and Rose would like the two of them to meet. I’d be obliged if you’d tell her when she gets back.”
    Before Hugh could respond, Bandit ran into the barnyard. The two men looked beyond the corral and paddock and watched as Julia loped her horse toward them. A minute later, she slowed the gelding to a walk and then came to a halt.
    “Peter!” A smile of welcome brightened her face. “What brings you to Sage-hen? How’re Rose and the girls?”
    “They’re all fine.”
    “And the baby?”
    “Growing like a weed. Prettiest baby in the world.”
    Hugh saw a shadow flit across Julia’s face.
    “Care for a cup of coffee?” She slipped from the saddle and looped the reins around the top rail of the corral.
    “Don’t mind if I do.”
    Julia looked at Hugh, her eyes sliding to the remainder of the bread and cheese in his right hand.
    “Hope you don’t mind that I helped myself,” he said. “I got hungry and wasn’t sure when you’d be back.”
    “I don’t mind. Only I promised good vittles when I offered you the job, and I don’t think bread and cheese measures up.”
    There were times in his life when the food he held in his hand would have been considered a feast, but she didn’t need to know that.
    “Come on,” she said.