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When he started to walk by, I tried to hand him the envelope and he refused.

“You’re not going to read it?”

“Nope.” He walked past me heading to the house.

“Why not?”

“Because this is my house and I said so.”

The man was infuriating.

CHAPTER 24

Kage

“Did you give her water?” Juliette asked, following way too closely behind me.

“Yes.”

“And food?”

“That’s what the hay is for.” I headed into the kitchen, immediately jerking a beer from the fridge and popping the top.

“She needs supplements. You heard Tom. She’s still healing from a horrible ordeal.” She stood by the kitchen island, glaring at me. When she folded her arms, I half expected her to tap her foot on the floor.

“I’ll take care of that later.”

“Did you brush her? Did you make certain she had everything she needed? Did you spend any time with her?”

I took three pulls on the beer while staring at her. She was even feistier now that her strength had returned. “She’s fine.”

“She’s not fine. You saw that poor baby. She was abused by some horrible fucking person who set her on fire. On purpose. She’s frightened and you certainly didn’t give her the warm and fuzzies.”

Her obvious love of all furry creatures was admirable and I would be remiss if I didn’t admit she’d won over Tank with that saucy smile of hers. But I wasn’t so easily impressed.

“What are you, a horse whisperer now?”

Juliette narrowed her eyes. “What are you, an insufferable asshole now? Oh, that’s right,” she added, snapping the envelope onto the end of the island with enough force Tank whimpered. “You’ve always been an asshole.”

She stormed out of the room and I stared after her. Tank switched positions, peering up at me with soulful eyes. “I don’t get it either, buddy.”

Only I did.

As much as I didn’t want to admit it, Juliette was right. I was an insufferable ass. At least around her. Maybe around everyone. Seeing Sadie had allowed too many difficult thoughts to rise from the shadowed whispers of my mind. Touching her had brought back too many memories, images I had no business being reminded of.

Because I didn’t deserve them.

What in the hell had Henry been thinking? I allowed my gaze to drift to the envelope. After finishing off the bottle and tossing it into the trash, I grabbed another. The envelope remained whereit was. I snorted from the thought. What was I afraid of? And why was it that Juliette had a way of pushing every button, forcing self-examination?

I started to walk by, heading for my private retreat when I stopped at the end of the island. Hissing, I swallowed down a mouthful of the cold brew before thudding the bottle on the surface. As if in a frenzy, I ripped it open, yanking out the letter inside.

Kage,

Sadie is a special horse and I thought you two would be good for each other. I remembered how much you loved horses when you were a kid. Your daddy sent me a few pictures of you when you used to ride. Maybe you don’t remember, but you told me once that you wanted to be a horse trainer. Your daddy had no idea where you’d gotten that from. You have an innate love of animals, something I always remembered.

I pulled the letter away, staring off into space. Hell, I’d forgotten when I was small, maybe five or six, my dad had taken me to a horse farm near us. They’d offered pony rides. I’d fallen in love with one of them.

Shit. The colt had been in a fire. She’d been scarred and I was the only boy she’d allowed to ride her. What the fuck? How the hell did Henry know that? From what my father had told me, their hatred of each other had started long before I was born. Exhaling, I felt more anger than I had before.