Read The Lonely Heart for Free Online Page A

over some business stuff with you later. Got a couple of invoices that have me tied up in knots. Maybe after dinner tonight?”
    Isaiah nodded. “Sure thing, boss.”
    Isaiah turned his back to Grady, thankfully missing Grady’s slight wince at the title. He paused briefly to ruffle his little brother’s already messy hair.
    “Be good for Grady,” Isaiah admonished gently. “If you need anything I’ll be around.”
    “We’ll be fine,” Grady assured Isaiah. “I’ll call you around lunch time, bring something out to you guys. No sense hauling your asses all the way back.”
    “That would be great.” Isaiah ruffled Josh’s hair again and said his goodbyes, his long legs quickly taking him out of sight.
    Josh put his spoon down next to his empty bowl, folded his hands on the table, and looked expectantly at Grady. Grady laughed and stuck his cup in the sink.
    “All right, kid. Rinse out your bowl and we’ll go see about getting you up on a horse.”
    They left the house a few minutes later, Josh holding onto Grady’s hand while they walked across the yard. Pint-sized legs had to make three steps to every one of Grady’s, even though Grady was walking slower than usual. He smiled down at the tyke, feeling a rush of www.total-e-bound.com

    THE LONELY HEART K.M. Mahoney 31
    affection welling up. He might not have known the kid long, but Josh was already worming his way into Grady’s heart. Part of that, Grady knew, was Josh’s connection to Isaiah. He’d already turned most of his heart over to Isaiah—it wasn’t hard to extend that to the little mini-Isaiah at his side.
    But a lot of the growing affection was all for Josh. A cute, stubborn, energetic little kid who looked at life with an excitement that Grady envied. Most of the time, Josh didn’t even seem to think about the fact that, according to the rest of the world, he was ‘disabled’. Like Isaiah, Grady was determined to do everything in his power to keep Josh thinking that way.
    Grady called out greetings to his men as they walked into the dim interior of the stable.
    Micah and Tommy looked up from where they were tightening girths and gave him nods of welcome and a low greeting in Micah’s case. Tommy stayed quiet, but Grady didn’t take offence. It took the large man a good two hours after waking for his brain to start working.
    Although, according to Joseph, Tommy’s brain never started working and the sleepies had absolutely nothing to do with it.
    Grady had spent the last year trying to figure out if the guys should just kiss and get over it, or if they simply fought like brothers, all argument and little heat. He was never very good at picking up on those kinds of non-verbal signals.
    Isaiah and Joseph weren’t in sight, but Grady hadn’t expected them to be. Their first job of the day usually involved checking on the broodmares in the breeding stables on the other side of the bunkhouse. Cameras were set up in there, the pregnant mares watched closely, but Isaiah still liked the hands-on approach—he always preferred to check out the mares himself, pregnant or not. The first job of the day was making sure the girls close to delivery were comfortable before letting the mares out into their small paddocks to get some fresh air.
    There were usually treats involved somewhere, too. They bought carrots in the jumbo-sized bags at least twice a month.
    Grady headed for the back of the stable and grabbed a halter off the wall next to one of the stalls.
    “First lesson,” he told Josh. Big green eyes looked up at him, Josh’s face a study in concentration as he absorbed every word. It was nice, having such an attentive student.
    Grady slipped the bolt on the sliding door and shoved it aside. “Always enter carefully.
    Jackson here is a gentle guy, but horses don’t act rationally when they’re startled.”
    www.total-e-bound.com

    THE LONELY HEART K.M. Mahoney 32
    He showed Josh how to slip the halter on and let the boy lead the horse