Read Her Dearly Unintended for Free Online

Ellen to play along much longer, he’d better allow her some time away from their antagonist. “Seeing how you’re stuck here, you want to help me feed the animals?”
    Silas’s eyes slid closed. “Naw. I’ve been in this rain for three days straight. I need some sleep.” He loosened his hat from his long, stringy hair and settled it over his eyes.
    Katie Ellen hurried to sweep the glass into the dustpan and silently glided to Josiah. “I’ll go look after the animals. You stay with him.”
    â€œHe’s not going anywhere, and I need to find something to patch up the window.”
    Josiah followed her outside. Katie Ellen put on her boots first, and then her gloves, her coat, and her hat. Each step was measured, planned, and done with beautiful efficiency. She tugged her coat tight, then with nimble fingers worked the buttons closed from her neck down. And despite his fervent wishes, she didn’t seem to need any help, so he watched the rain running off the roof like a curtain of water.
    She looked through the broken window at Silas lying on the sofa. “You don’t have a coat, do you?” she whispered.
    â€œI’m not made of sugar, so I won’t melt, but I am rather sweet,” he said.
    Her gloves slipped on the button. He smiled. She glared. They took out toward the barn, dodging beneath the trees as they went. The afternoon was getting cooler than it was when he’d first gotten there. Once they reached the barn, Katie Ellen made quick work of the lock. Josiah didn’t even have to ask. Since before he was old enough to remember, it hadn’t been safe to leave your cattle unlocked in these hills. Although strangersno longer roved the hills in the numbers they did after the war, some downright mean men had settled here and there. In fact, one had settled right in her cabin.
    She pointed out her father’s carpentry tools and the lumber where he might could find a board for the window. He was just riffling through the scraps when the long squawk of an un-oiled pulley slapped his eardrums. He turned to see Katie Ellen holding on to a rope that stretched through two pulleys on a high beam, then down to a sling that held a bundle of hay swinging midair.
    â€œYou’ve plumb outdone yourself, haven’t you, Katie Ellen?”
    Walking opposite of the suspended sling, Katie Ellen maneuvered it over the wall of the cow pen, then hand-over-hand lowered it. “I’ve gotten better over the years. That drawbridge on my tree house was just the beginning.” Once the rope went slack, she strode with that determined walk of hers to the stall and tilted the sling until the hay slid out. With the sling hanging empty, she once against found her spot at the end of the rope.
    Forgetting the board, Josiah moseyed over to inspect this new piece of equipment. With ease, Katie Ellen pulled the rope down, which lifted the empty sling out of the cow pen. “How are those pulleys moving around?” he asked. “Are they welded to that brace?”
    â€œYep.” She grunted between pulls. “The brace spins around where we can lower the hay and feed anywhere along the perimeter of the barn, and they’re double pulleys so the weight is split in half. I drew up the plans myself and Pa took them to the blacksmith. Pa’s back always had a crick in it. Now it doesn’t.”
    Josiah wiped away the rainwater that streaked into his face as he tilted his head back to watch the pulleys work. “You amaze me,” he said.
    The empty sling lowered quickly and melted flat on the barn floor. “You didn’t think I was smart enough to figure out something like this?” she asked.
    â€œAre you kidding? I spent half my summers in your hideout to see what you’d make next. From that first slingshot—”
    She turned, her eyes wide. “Are you the one who stole my slingshot? I should have guessed it.”
    Was he?