Storming Whitehorn. Christine Scott

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ to pay their respects to a man who hardly deserved them. Even before they’d discovered the extent of Lyle’s evil, Jasmine had never felt comfortable around her cousin. He’d had such a dark aura, and there were always too many bad vibrations emanating from him.

      Jasmine frowned. Dark aura? Bad vibrations? Good grief, she was starting to sound like her mother. She sighed. Mystical nonsense, or not, Lyle Brooks was one man whose spirit she wanted to see settled, not roaming free to cause more heart ache.

      She scanned the group, looking for familiar faces. Her mother and her sister, Cleo, were nearby. As well as Aunt Yvette and Uncle Edward, with their daughter, Frannie, and her husband Austin, at their side. Noticeably absent, however, was their son, David, the man responsible for Lyle’s death, and his fiancée, Gretchen Neal, whom he intended to marry come spring.

      Garrett Kincaid, with his distinctive head of silver hair, stood tall and straight at the front of the group, supporting his grief-stricken daughter, Alice Brooks, Lyle’s mother. Alice’s husband, Henry, hovered at his wife’s side, helplessly patting her arm, trying to ease her sorrow. Henry looked pale and hollow-eyed, devastated by the loss of his only son.

      Across the way, Jasmine spotted her cousin, Summer Kincaid Night hawk. When Summer’s mother, Blanche Kincaid, had died, Yvette and Celeste had taken her under their wing, raising her as their own daughter. Inseparable since childhood, Jasmine and Summer were like sisters. Now, though Summer wore a somber expression and her long dark hair was gathered into a severe bun at the back of her head, Summer glowed with an internal happiness that couldn’t be dimmed even in the darkness that surrounded this day. Obviously marriage to Gavin Night hawk agreed with her.

      Some of the new cousins were in attendance also. These were the illegitimate sons of Larry Kincaid, Garrett’s only son, who’d recently been united on the Kincaid ranch. While Jasmine barely knew this new batch of relatives, it felt good to have them gathered around her. It gave her hope for a new beginning, the possibility of a familial closeness yet to come.

      The minister’s final blessing rose above the cry of the wind and Alice Brooks’s sobs of grief, signaling an end to the service. With a nod toward Garrett, the minister picked up a handful of newly spaded dirt and tossed it onto the bronze casket as it was lowered into the ground. In turn, Garrett and Henry Brooks followed suit, letting a fistful of dirt sift through each of their hands.

      When it was Alice Brooks’s turn to perform the ritual, she stood beside the gravesite, shaking uncontrollably. Then, with an ear-piercing scream of anguish, she threw herself onto the casket, wailing in consolably. The winches holding the coffin shuddered at the added weight. The grounds keeper operating the lift fumbled with the switch, cutting the power. A communal gasp of surprise arose from the crowd.

      “For God’s sake, Alice. What are you doing?” Garrett called, reaching for his daughter.

      At first Henry Brooks stood frozen to the spot, his eyes wide, his mouth dropping open in surprise. At the sound of his father-in-law’s gruff voice, he gave a visible shake, ridding himself of his stupor. Quickly he grabbed for his wife.

      Alice clung to the casket, stubbornly refusing to relinquish her death grip. Jasmine’s heart went out to the woman. Though Alice had a reputation for being shrewish, no one deserved to suffer such grief. After a few agonizingly discomfitting moments, the two men finally coaxed her to loosen her hold. They pulled her away, half carrying, half leading her from the gravesite.

      The crowd dispersed amid murmurs of shock at the dramatic scene they had just witnessed.

      Shaken by the unexpected events, Jasmine turned to leave. As she did so, she spotted a tall figure at the fringe of the gathering. He stood apart from the group, almost hidden beneath the shading branches of one of the many pine trees that stood sentry over the hallowed grounds. But she had no trouble recognizing him.

      It was Storm Hunter.

      Her heart skipped a beat as she stopped and stared at him, wondering why he’d come. Though he saw her, he didn’t move, nor did he look away. Instead he held her gaze without flinching.

      In deference to the day’s event, he wore a black, double-breasted suit. His starched-white shirt complemented the darkness of his skin. His long hair was slicked back GQ-style, emphasizing his high cheekbones and the sculpted line of his jaw. Despite his grim expression, he looked breath-stealingly handsome.

      Memories of the kiss they’d shared flooded her mind, warming her skin with a sensual flush of heat. She could still feel the pressure of his mouth against hers, could still taste his lips. Desire still pulsed through her body.

      Though her pride had taken a blow when he’d left her without a word of explanation, she found herself drawn to him like a willow branch to water. She stepped toward him, her mouth curving into a tentative smile of greeting.

      But the cold, prohibitive look in his eyes stopped her. Jasmine stumbled to a halt, shivering beneath his frosty glare. Holding her gaze for just a moment longer, he turned away, spurning her once again.

      She couldn’t move, couldn’t think what to do next. An unfamiliar chill of rejection enveloped her, stiffening her limbs, numbing her mind. Never before had she been rebuffed by a man twice in as many days. The experience was as humiliating as it was crushing to her ego.

      Until now she’d thought of herself as a desirable woman. At least, the men in town had certainly made her feel that way. She’d never wanted for a date, not since she’d turned a sweet sixteen. But with all their clumsy attempts to woo her, none of the local men had ever come close to arousing in her the earth-shattering sensations she’d experienced with Storm’s single kiss. What made his rejection even harder to understand was that she could have sworn Storm had felt the same way.

      “Jasmine?” Summer’s soft voice interrupted her pensive thoughts. She linked arms, pulling Jasmine close to her side. “You’re trembling. Are you all right?”

      Jasmine watched Storm’s departure through the cemetery while trying to focus on her cousin’s words. “It’s just the wind, the cold. I’m fine, really.”

      Summer frowned. “You don’t look fine. You look as though you’ve lost your best friend.”

      No, just a chance at something wonderful.

      Summer followed the direction of her distracted gaze, her frown deepening. “Do you know that man?”

      Jasmine bit her lip, hesitating before answering, uncertain what to say. Storm Hunter was Summer’s uncle. Though Storm had left Whitehorn long before her birth, and had never bothered to contact her since, he was still her closest living relative on her father’s side. She wasn’t sure what Summer’s reaction might be to his appearance.

      Unable to lie to her cousin, Jasmine said, “That man was Storm Hunter, your uncle.”

      Summer flinched at the words. Her gaze startled, she looked across the cemetery grounds to the chapel’s parking lot where Storm was climbing into his car. Pain and confusion filled her eyes. And Jasmine realized she wasn’t the only woman feeling rejected.

      Jasmine muttered an oath beneath her breath. Damn the man. Since arriving in Whitehorn, Storm Hunter had caused nothing but trouble for every single person his presence had touched.

      Hadn’t he done enough damage?

      For her sake, as well as her family’s, perhaps it would be best if he returned to where he’d come.

      One СКАЧАТЬ