Read Online Reaper's Vow by Sarah McCarty - Free Book Online Page A

the back end as he swallowed, reminding him that with all things in life, you had to take the good with the bad.
    He stared through the crack in the boards at the falling night beyond. Addy had found happiness with a monster. How the hell was he supposed to make peace with that?
    They’ll hunt her.
    They
could hunt all they wanted. They’d never get her. Even as he thought it, he knew that was a promise he couldn’t keep. He’d fought Isaiah and lost. If ten Isaiahs came after her? They’d get her. Of all the unknowns, that was the one truth.
    â€œShit.” The word echoed softly. Outside raindrops fell harder, thundering on the roof, almost, but not quite, covering up the sound of a gasp. His senses snapped to attention. He wasn’t alone. Somebody was hiding behind him, tucked away in the corner between the post and the building. There was a certain pitch to the exclamation and a shortness to the breath that made him suspect he was dealing with a child. He pretended to take another sip of the whiskey.
    As a test, he said “shit” again. There was a rustling as if the person moved. He smiled.
    â€œI shot an eavesdropper once. Bullet went in one ear and out the other.” He pretended to take another pull on his whiskey, listening for the response. “Can’t abide people that sneak up on me to listen to what I say.”
    There was a little thud as if something soft hit wood, another gasp, and he could feel the panic coming out of the corner. It served the kid right. The only reason he’d be out in the barn at suppertime would be because he’d been up to no good earlier. Cole smiled, remembering the few times he’d hidden out in the barn in the hope of escaping his father’s wrath. Barns were friendly places with lots of hiding places. A good place to wait out a parent’s anger. As long as the offense wasn’t that bad.
    Cole took another sip of his whiskey. The time he’d dipped little Tilly Taylor’s pigtail in the inkwell, he’d gotten a licking all right, but it hadn’t had much heat, and the lecture afterward about how to properly seduce a woman had been invaluable. Well, to be fair, at the time he hadn’t realized his father was teaching him how to seduce a woman. He’d just been talking about how to treat her properly. But Cole had figured it out eventually. That had been the thing about his pa. Everything he said had layers. He’d been a good man, a good husband, and a good father. He’d taught Cole everything he knew. He’d died trying to protect his family. Cole drained the cup. That’s how he wanted to go. Making a difference.
    An “I was here first” cut through his reverie.
    He arched his brow. Someone was packing a hell of a lot of belligerence.
    â€œSo?”
    â€œYou can’t say bad words around me.”
    Cole smiled a bit at that reprimand delivered in a high, sweet voice. His eavesdropper was a little girl. One that brought back memories of the days of sparring with Addy when she was little. She’d packed a lot of the same attitude.
    â€œI can’t?”
    â€œNo,” the voice said, and he could just imagine little arms folded across a small chest. He wondered if the girl was a blonde or brunette. For some reason his mind flashed back to Miranda. He’d bet she’d been a beautiful child. She was a stunning woman, mesmerizing in a way he still didn’t understand. He added finding out about her to his list of things to do—right after he took care of his eavesdropper.
    â€œWho’s going to make me?”
    â€œMister Isaiah will.”
    That was said with a great deal of satisfaction and confidence. “I don’t see Mister Isaiah here.”
    â€œHe’ll come if I tell him to.”
    Cole bet he would. The big Reaper seemed to have some soft spots.
    He decided to call her bluff. “Why don’t we go get him?”
    There was