Page 40 of Hunted Hearts
“Yeah…sorry. It’s the first of what will undoubtedly be a string of jokes we’ll have to endure.”
“I’m a little surprised a ranch family is so familiar with Shakespeare.” The wind cut across the field, whipping at Juliette’s robe. She hugged herself.
Theo clasped her hand and pulled her across the porch to the front door. A quick look around showed him that his sister was nowhere in sight. But he wasn’t taking any chances that she wouldn’t overhear their conversation.
“Come with me.” He waited only a beat before Juliette nodded. He led her through the living room to a sunlit space tucked into the corner of the ranch home. The library was a place all of the Malones had spent a lot of time in as kids. He had few memories of his mother, but one was sitting on the floor playing with toy army men while his mother folded a basket of clean towels. He even remembered the record album she’d been playing.
Juliette came to a stop in the middle of the room, looking around. “What a lovely space.”
He gave a cursory nod and gave her a long look. “Next time, maybementionyou’re having something shipped so I don’t tackle the mail carrier and shut down the whole ranch.”
Her lips curved up, and he caught the faintest glint in her eye, the kind that said she might enjoy pushing his buttons just to see him twitch. “Noted.”
He carefully pocketed the earbuds and closed the door so they wouldn’t be interrupted. From what, he had no damn idea. Oh, his body had a few, but he was ignoring that.
Juliette tilted her head, studying him. “Youaresevere, you know that?”
Without waiting for a reply, she drifted to the wall of books. So many books. Most of them he’d read during rainy summer days when there was nothing better to do.
He watched Juliette taking it all in, skimming the titles and collections, from Shakespeare to dime-store cowboy novels and everything in between. When she approached the low wooden cabinet that held a turntable and stereo system, she reached out and trailed a finger over a few of the albums in the extensive collection.
She twisted to pierce Theo in her gaze. “Mind if I…?”
He shook his head. Watching her with what could only be called intensity, he felt like he stood on more uneven ground than ever.
He wasn’t just intense—he was unmoored, his sense of who he was slipping further from his grasp by the second. The strains of a piano suite trickled from the speakers, low and vibrant.
“Mussorgsky. ‘Pictures at an Exhibition,’” he said.
Juliette gave herself a little shake of surprise. “You know Mussorgsky too?”
He waved at the four walls. “Mom wanted to make sure we were educated. She filled us with all the culture we could take so that we weren’t like our father.”
“Ah.”
He didn’t see a trace of sadness on her face for what he said. Only a tightening of her lips revealed that she understood more about his family than he’d ever told anybody.
The woman stared at him like she wanted to know what was behind the rigid lines and sharp edges of armor he kept in place.
“Thank you again for the earbuds.”
She gave him a soft smile. “I wanted to do something nice for you.”
“Why?”
She blinked at his question. “Because you saved my violin. And on top of that, you gave me a present first. The pill dispenser.”
“I think waking you up with my loud music cancels that out.”
She chuckled, tossing her head so her silky hair swished over her shoulders.
His hands clenched, and he battled the urge to sink his hands into the length and capture her sweet lips like he did only hours before.
He took her by the hand instead and led her to the long, cozy sofa. She curled up beside him, legs crossed elegantly as she closed her eyes to listen to the music filling the air.
Theo raked his gaze over her beautiful face. And for the first time since he’d left the military, he wondered if maybe—just maybe—she might be the reason he would start to figure his life out.
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