Read Online Kate Sherwood - Dark Horse 02 - Out of the Darkness by Kate Sherwood - Free Book Online

from his shelf. “Some of them are pretty old, but they’re all good.”
    Tia accepts the bag with enthusiasm. “Oh, how sweet of you! I was just trying to think of ways to keep the little monkey still for a day or two.” She glances through the bag and gives Dan a crafty look. “Do you suppose you could pick one or two of them? I could help you make an assignment of some sort up. She really does better with a little direction.”
“An assignment?” Dan doesn’t really think he’s the one to be teaching anybody anything. Not from books, at least.
    “Well, the books alone are lovely, and they’ll keep her still as long as she’s hurting.” Tia sets the books on the table and bustles around the kitchen as she talks. “But I think it might be best if she stays still a little longer than that, gives herself a chance to really heal. And I don’t think Evan or I will have much luck convincing her to do that, but you….” She laughs a little. “Well, you could probably just tell her to sit still and she’d stop breathing until you told her differently. But it might be a bit more pleasant for her if she felt like there was a purpose to it.”
    “A purpose.” Dan is totally out of his depth. He can see Tia’s point, but he has no idea how to make up an assignment. He wishes he’d just left the damn books by the front door. They would have figured out who they were for. “Like….” He grabs the first book. Equine L ameness . An assignment? Okay, yeah, maybe…. “Like, I could describe some symptoms, and she could diagnose the problem?”
Tia looks up excitedly. “Yes, that would be excellent! Could you do that?”
     
“Uh, yeah, I guess.”
    “Let me just get you a pen and paper….” Tia scurries over to a little desk in the corner and finds a pad of paper and a pen. Then she catches herself. “Do you have time now?”
    “Uh, sure, yeah.” He sits down at the table and starts writing. He leaves a sheet of paper in each of the books, some with questions or projects, others just with suggested chapters or points about which horses to think about while reading. He barely notices when Tia brings him a cup of coffee, and he’s literally halfway through a bagel covered in cream cheese before he realizes he’s eating. He’s got a couple of books for which he can only say, “Read the whole thing—it’s excellent,” but for most of them he’s able to give some pretty concrete tips on how Tat should focus in. It’s kind of fun, really.
    When he’s done, he replaces the books in the bag and returns the pad and pen to the desk. Tia smiles at him. “Thank you. I think that will really help.”
“Well, I broke her, I guess I can help fix her.”
     
Tia raises her eyebrows at him. “Oh, you control gravity now? I had no idea I had such a powerful man in my kitchen!”
    There’s a shuffling sound in the doorway. “I had no idea you had any man in your kitchen, Tia. Are you giving away my breakfast?” They turn to see a groggy-looking Blaine, still in sleep pants and a Tshirt.
    “Early birds get the worms, Blaine,” Tia responds. The two are obviously comfortable with each other, but that makes sense if Blaine is Evan’s best friend. What doesn’t make sense is that Dan’s never heard about him before now.
Blaine smiles at Tia, but his eyes sharpen a bit when he turns to Dan. “Hey. I’m glad you’re here—it saves me a trip to the barn.”
    Dan tries to look like he cares about saving Blaine’s time. “Yeah? What’s up?” He prays it’s not going to be a request for a trail ride or something. Some people have trouble understanding the difference between a calm pleasure horse and a high-spirited eventer.
    Blaine glances over at Tia, then back at Dan. “Come outside with me for a second, all right?” He’s already on his way to the French doors. Dan’s tempted to figure out an excuse to stay, but he tells himself to stop being contrary. He was on his way out anyhow.
    “Thanks for