Water Lily Read Online Free PDF Page B

slowed. Darby rested her forehead on Hoku’s neck. Could she really feel the mustang’s coursing blood begin to slow? Were they both hypnotized by the melody?
    Hoku sniffed the feathery top of the carrot in Darby’s pocket, then nudged it.
    Darby broke off a piece and let the filly eat. Then Darby walked and Hoku followed. Smiling, Darby stopped and gave Hoku a second piece of carrot. They moved together until they reached the gate.
    â€œOne more.” Darby balanced the last piece of carrot on her flattened palm.
    Hoku drooled carrot juice on Darby’s arm, took the final offering, and chewed calmly, watching asDarby slipped outside the corral to rejoin Megan.
    â€œNice work,” she praised Darby, giving her a little shove to urge her into a jog. “You really settled her down.”
    Darby glanced back over her shoulder. “Will she worry if I’m out of sight and there’s more thunder?”
    â€œI’m not sure,” Megan admitted. “But I doubt you’ll have such an easy time settling Jonah down, if we don’t get to work.”
    The next clap of thunder came when Darby was halfway to the pigpen. She heard Hoku bolt around her corral and called back, “It’s okay, girl. No big deal.”
    She tried to keep her voice reassuring despite Megan’s impatience. Without speaking, Megan made a quick jerk of her chin, hinting they should keep creeping away, and they did.
    Darby recalled seeing her dad’s new wife, Angel, slowly easing out of the room when one of her fussy babies was finally starting to fall asleep. Something in this silent departure reminded her of that.
    Â 
    The rainstorm arrived just as Megan and Darby rolled the last of the large barrels into position near the tack room and stood it up.
    Since they hadn’t asked for details on how they’d get the water from the barrels to the troughs, they set them near the dog kennel, Hoku’s corral, and the tack room, figuring they could siphon the water into the troughs.
    â€œThis ought to do it,” Megan shouted to be heard over the drumming rain.
    The downpour took only seconds to soak Darby’s hair. Streams coursed down her ponytail and into the neck of her shirt while rain dripped daintily off Megan’s yellow hood.
    Darby’s jeans clung like a coarse second skin, making her step stiff-legged as she and Megan walked past the bunkhouse.
    Kit and Cade must have been inside, because lamplight and the sound of Kit strumming a guitar floated into the night, making the bunkhouse feel warm and cozy.
    Darby was shivering, hoping she could commandeer Sun House’s only bathroom for a warm, deep bath, when she heard Sass barking in the lower pasture.
    The bunkhouse door opened. A rectangle of light turned the raindrops gold and made Darby and Megan squint up at Cade.
    â€œSounds like Sass has something cornered,” he said.
    â€œCan you hear in the dark, too?” Megan teased Cade, since he was known for his ability to see in almost nonexistent light.
    â€œWhen it goes on without letup like that, who couldn’t?” Cade asked.
    He’d already pulled on his dark green poncho and tugged his hala hat down to cover his hair by the timeDarby realized he planned to go see what had the dog so excited.
    He stepped outside into the darkness and rain, then whistled.

Chapter Four
    â€œY ou’re not really going down there, are you?” Megan asked.
    Cade’s smile said he planned to do just that.
    â€œKit ’n’ me drew lots and I lost,” Cade said, “but I’m hopin’ Sass comes to me with the rest of the dogs, so I don’t have to go down there.”
    â€œI know Sass is good with horses,” Megan said, “but he’ll also hunt anything that lives in a burrow.”
    Whatever Sass was after didn’t fascinate the other dogs. His barking went on in the lower pasture, as three other Australian shepherds—Peach, Jack,