Read Blackthorne (The Brotherhood of the Gate Book 1) for Free Online

empty plate in front of Rhi’s nose.
    “Okay, okay. No wonder you’ve been divorced twice, demanding little creature.” Rhi turned back to the stove with the plate and filled it with food. “Who is this old fart who hates gaming?”
    Pam grinned wickedly.
    “I haven’t heard him called that before. It’s not what I think of when I look at Nicholas.”
    “Nicholas? Is he some old miner turned cop?”
    “No and quit saying old. He’s thirty-nine if he’s a day and all I think of when I see this cop is him naked.”
    Rhi dished out lumberjack-sized portions of food for her guests and sat her creations down on the breakfast table with the coffee pot, orange juice, butter, and syrup.
    “Come and get it while it’s hot,” she grumbled as Pam and Katie both rushed up to stuff themselves. Rhi was in the act of taking her own place when Ellie jumped up, voicing the bloodhound’s bass howl at the sound of a knock at the door.
    Pam looked up at Rhi knowingly as her hostess went to the door.
    “The testosterone level in here is about to go up a few notches.”
    Rhi ignored her friend and opened the door to welcome the local representative of the law into her home. She was greeted by a six-foot-four-inch bundle of nylon and down, which topped off a nicely filled pair of Levis and hiking boots. Her guest lowered his hood to reveal a craggy bronzed face covered in a neatly trimmed brown beard. Hard gray eyes narrowed at the sight of Rhi, whose body was lost in giant woolen socks and baggy sweats, her black hair gathered into a heavy braid which hung over one shoulder. Her eyes were probably bloodshot from her restless night in front of the television.
    “Looks like we’ve got us another eastern carpetbagger moving in to suck us dry,” his deep voice rumbled.
    Rhi stepped back when he pushed forward into the house without an invitation. His eyes took in everything, she noticed. Perhaps he should take a picture of my belongings , she thought, as her newest guest examined the well-furnished little home.
    “I happen to be from the South. Where I come from those are fighting words,” she snapped and turned her back on him and sat down to her breakfast.
    “Ms. Douglas found someone to feed her child something besides frozen entrees?”
    “She can clean too,” Pam said around a mouthful of pancakes. “Sheriff Nicholas Boyd, Rhi Brennan. Rhi Brennan, Nicholas Boyd.”
    Katie looked up at her mother then dug back into her quickly emptying plate of food, ignoring all stimuli in the room but the syrup coated plate in front of her.
    Good-looking men made Rhi jumpy. She often wondered if she would ever get to a point when she didn’t wonder about the monster potential in every man she met. She had no idea why she felt this way. Dating for her had been a disaster over the years with her inability to give her heart or her trust.
    Ellie Mae ambled over to the new visitor and gave his jeans the once over with her nose. He kneeled down to scratch her ten-inch long ears.
    “Well, someone who has a dog like this can’t be all bad,” he said with a smile, the crows’ feet in the corners of his eyes making him look all the more rugged. He then stood and took a small notebook from his jacket pocket and turned his attention to Pam, who looked nervously over at her daughter.
    “Katie, since you are done eating, why don’t you go up to my bedroom with Ellie Mae to watch cartoons,” Rhi suggested knowingly. “You guys can lie on the comforter and not have to hear us interrupt your show.”
    “Okay Rhi. Come on Ellie,” the child chirped and jumped up to head for the stairs, the dog following obediently behind.
    Rhi offered up another coffee mug to the invader, who accepted it with a bear-sized paw.
    “Cream and sugar?”
    He suddenly grinned at her sunnily. “Naw, I don’t like my coffee scared.” He leaned back to focus his attention on Pam. “I’m sure you know the details of what happened last night, Pam. Telephone,