Bound by Danger (The Alliance #6) - Brenda K. Davies Page 0,83

printer was tucked under it. Wooden shelves lined the room. Books on animal anatomy with a focus on horses filled the shelves, but others were for fun.

He followed her through another doorway and into her bedroom. There, he discovered a queen-sized bed with a yellow bedspread pulled neatly over the top of it and some fluffy pillows on top of it. Hanging over the bed was a painting of a horse running toward them. Across from the bed was another entertainment center with a small TV on top.

The walls were pale yellow, and the curtains an emerald green. Callie walked around, opening the windows while he studied the shelves. One of them held an assortment of mystery books while the other was dedicated solely to various carved, wooden horses.

He crossed the room and lifted one of the horses to inspect it more closely. His fingers ran over the smooth lines of the statue as he traced the mane and tail flying behind it as if the horse were racing across an open plain.

The one he held was painted black, but the others were an assortment of colors and in a different array of positions. Some were rearing, others were bucking, some were lying down, and one was a mother with its foal tucked against her side as they lay together.

“My father made those for me,” Callie said as she came to stand beside him.

Lucien turned his attention to her as she lifted another horse from the shelf. The one she held had its chin tucked into its chest and its front legs high as if it were prancing across the ground. It was brown with a black mane, tail, and legs. She turned it over and pointed to a small, red stain on its belly.

“This is the first one he ever made me, and he cut his finger while doing it. The cut required six stitches. I didn’t know he was making it until he gave it to me for my eighth birthday. I remember asking him how he injured his hand and him telling me that he cut it on a piece of glass. I figured it out after he gave it to me and I discovered his blood had seeped through the paint.” She set it carefully back on the shelf. “It’s priceless to me.”

Her expression was stoic, but the love in her words was palpable. He should have brought her here sooner. “You should have told me about these.”

“Was I supposed to say that I want to risk my life for my horse statues?”

“Yes, because they’re more than that to you.”

“I wasn’t sure you’d understand.”

He rested his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it. “I do. But you have to understand that you are priceless to me.”

Callie couldn’t stop her lower lip from trembling, and a single tear slid free. She hadn’t considered it possible, but she fell more in love with him. When Lucien hugged her, she clung to him while she regained control of her emotions.

Lucien rested his chin on her head and held her close as he studied the room. There were more pictures of her with her father, along with photos of her riding horses and her friends at concerts and the beach. There was one of them dressed in matching, yellow dresses while holding bouquets and standing beside a pretty woman in her wedding dress.

There was also one of her sitting on the lap of a woman who could only be her mother as the resemblance was striking. He suspected it might be the only photo she had of her mother. Yes, she definitely needed to come back here to get her things, but he had to keep her protected.

“We should get moving,” he said.

Callie reluctantly released him, and stepping back, she wiped away the tears still filling her eyes. Nodding, she glanced around the room. It wouldn’t take her long to pack.

Chapter Thirty-Five

“I have some containers in my shed out back,” she said.

“I’ll go get them.”

“It’s shed number three. The key to the padlock is in the kitchen.”

She left the bedroom through the door to the living room and walked into the kitchen, where she opened a drawer and removed the key. She handed the key to him, and he kissed her forehead before slipping out the back door and descending the stairs to the backyard.

Callie watched him stride across the grass toward her shed. She turned away when he slid the key into the lock and entered the bathroom connected