The Falcon in the Barn (Book 4 Forest at the Edge series) Read Online Free Page A

“Just to make sure he’s all right during the night. Your sofa
and I are well acquainted. Good night, Mahrree.” He nearly ran over
Jaytsy in his haste to get down the stairs.
    That was only part of the reason why Jaytsy sat
up late at night, hugging her knees and dreading to go to sleep.
She was exceptionally preoccupied, more so than the average
fifteen-year-old. Maybe her father needed only one or two nights to
get back to normal again. Maybe all of his anger and odd behaviors
would blow over quickly, then she could tell them her other concern.
    She had planned to do so in the morning,
until she heard Uncle Shem say, “Don’t give him anything else to
worry about.”
    She couldn’t even confide in her mother, she
realized, until things got better with her father. Nor was her
grandmother a possibility. Hycymum Peto wasn’t exactly the most
discreet woman in the village.
    Jaytsy would have to take care of this
herself.
    Not even Uncle Shem, who was now flopped
wearily on the sofa, should be troubled by her news that Captain
Lemuel Thorne, seven years older, was trying to court her.
    The odd ritual began some weeks ago. School
had resumed on the 56 th Day of Planting, the day after
Perrin’s first bad night. By the end of that worrying week, Jaytsy
struggled to stay awake in class. That is, until Captain Thorne
appeared in the room.
    “ Please, do forgive the
interruption,” he said genially to the teacher as he took off his
cap. He ran his hand unnecessarily through this short-cropped
blonde hair to smooth it. Every girl in the room stopped whatever
unimportant thing she was doing and stared.
    But Jaytsy closed her eyes briefly and held
her breath.
    “ I’m Captain Thorne, new to
Edge and second in command. You see, ma’am, girls—” he nodded to
the class and flashed a grin.
    There was audible sighing. But not from
Jaytsy.
    “— there’s concern about the
stability of the building. I’m here to do one last check to make
sure the reinforcements are holding.”
    It took their teacher long enough to blink
herself back into comprehension of what the captain was saying to
be embarrassing. “Oh. Oh! But I thought the major cleared it
a couple of weeks ago?”
    “ Oh, he did,” Thorne
assured her, but turned his gaze intently to Jaytsy.
    Somehow it made her skin crawl, and not in a
good way.
    “ But now that there’s
weight on every level, we just wanted to make one last
inspection.”
    Jaytsy was sure no one at the fort had
ordered that. The next thing Captain Thorne said to the teacher
solidified her suspicions.
    “ If you or any of the other
teachers see anything worrisome, notify Miss Jaytsy. She knows
where she can find me.” He shifted his gaze back to Jaytsy. “I’m always available.” He bowed briefly to her as he had done at
The Dinner, then bowed at the teacher before he left.
    Jaytsy barely had time to exhale before one
of her classmates giggled. “Ooh, I’d love to know where to
find the captain, and always available! ”
    The entire class laughed as Jaytsy blushed.
She noticed that even her teacher’s gaze lingered at the door where
the captain had stood.
    For the rest of the morning she thought about
him, since everyone else was. But something about the way he looked
at her had left Jaytsy uneasy. Perhaps it was because she was
preoccupied by other concerns, but something about Captain Thorne
sent a shiver up her spine. While she’d spent a couple of hours
with Thorne at the dance after The Dinner, she didn’t know much
more about him except that he loved horses.
    He certainly had seemed intelligent when they
spoke, but it wasn’t his intelligence that the girls in her class
nattered about at midday meal. They gossiped about his
sandy-colored hair, his blue eyes, his muscular build, and anything
else they could imagine from the brief minute he was in their
classroom. Jaytsy had to admit he was handsome, but—and it was
silly, she knew—Captain Thorne just didn’t look like the