Fire Maiden Read Online Free Page A

do think something’s wrong.”
    â€œDon’t let this horse charmer idea take too tight a grip on you,” Jonah said carefully. “Reading equine minds? That’s something only another horse can do. We both know that.”
    Was she trying to read Navigator’s mind? Darby didn’t think so, but Jonah had been called a horsecharmer long before she had, so he probably knew what she was feeling.
    The way he’d talked to her about it had been, for Jonah, downright gentle. Because of that, Darby didn’t share Kimo’s remark that all the animals were acting weird. She wanted to get Jonah’s opinion on why, but she didn’t want him thinking that she believed something eerie was going on.
    Just then, Aunty Cathy and Megan came back into the kitchen, breathless and red-faced.
    â€œYou let that goat go off that way, she’s gonna run off all her fat,” Jonah observed.
    Aunty Cathy and Megan gave him tolerant glowers, probably because they’d had to work so hard to catch Francie. Darby sent her grandfather a look that said she’d caught his reference to Francie’s fat, and there was still no way she’d go along with his idea for a goat barbeque on the Fourth of July.
    After dinner, Darby couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d forgotten something. She walked from the kitchen to the living room, paused by Jonah’s library, then stood in the center of her bedroom, hoping something would trigger her memory.
    She was about to slip out of the house and see if she’d forgotten something out in the ranch yard when a dog began howling.
    Jonah gave a groan. He’d just tugged off his boots and didn’t want to put them back on again to go outside.
    â€œI’ll go see what’s wrong,” Darby said.
    â€œLucky for them,” Jonah told her, then added, “Thanks.”
    Perspiration prickled out on Darby’s forehead, and something in the atmosphere—maybe barometric pressure—made her feel as if she was trapped in a mummy case of hot air.
    As she closed the door behind her, the howling stopped, but Darby heard something else.
    Was someone digging over by the foreman’s house? She headed in that direction.
    When she reached the house, she realized she’d been picturing Kit or Cade at some ranch task, but the one doing the digging was Cade’s Appaloosa, Joker.
    The gelding’s gray-white coat looked as it always did, as if someone had sprinkled him, nose to tail, with licorice drops.
    Mischief wasn’t in Joker’s mood tonight. Head down, nose almost touching the lowest porch step, the gelding pawed the dirt.
    Hatless and barefoot, Cade leaned in the doorway with his arms crossed. Inside light poured past the teenage paniolo, spotlighting his horse.
    â€œWhat’s he doing?” Darby asked.
    Cade shook his head. “Can’t say.”
    Joker barely glanced at Darby when she clucked quietly, then walked near enough to touch his shoulder.
    â€œHe’s sweaty. Has he been running?” Darby pulled her hand away and shot Cade an inquiring look.
    â€œNope. He’s been at this awhile,” Cade said.
    Darby recalled Kimo’s remarks about the odd behavior of fish, chickens, and cattle, and then there’d been Navigator and Hoku. Now, Joker.
    She was pretty sure Cade wouldn’t scoff, so she said, “Kimo thinks the weather’s about to change, and that might be why the animals are acting up.”
    â€œHe could be right,” Cade said. “Kit and I took forever moving a few head of cattle.”
    Just then, Bart, the youngest of the Australian shepherds, came skittering across the yard. His tongue lolled from his mouth as he bounded up onto the porch.
    Darby jumped back as Joker clomped up the lowest stairs. He was trying to reach Cade, too.
    Darby heard heavy steps from inside the house.
    â€œWhat’s this, now?” Kit shouted at the racket of hooves and