Shades of Honor by Wendy Lindstrom Page A

I wouldn’t have understood that if you hadn’t challenged me to notice. Thank you for giving me some much-needed advice.” His expression softened. “You're the only one Rebecca has had anything to do with since I've been home. Ma is crushed that her own granddaughter won't let her cuddle her. Your father is just aching to get her on his knee.” Radford released Evelyn’s hand and leaned his elbows on the fence. “Rebecca seems to trust you. Even more than...” He cut himself off and glanced away.
    “I won’t hurt her, Radford.”
    His gaze returned to Evelyn’s and she saw him studying her, searching her eyes for something, lingering on her face until she felt the heat move up her neck. “I’m glad Rebecca has found someone to look up to.”
    The absurdity of the statement made Evelyn smile. “I'm hardly what you'd call a role model for a young girl. Believe me, I've been told as much by the ladies in Fredonia.”
    “Then they're fools.” His eyes held hers, communicating his sincerity.
    Warmth surged through Evelyn. That Radford would bother to look beyond her choice of clothing, past her feminine ineptness, deeper than the self-sufficient manner she wore like armor, was something no one else had ever done. Somehow, he saw beneath all that to the shy, vulnerable woman no one really knew. Not even Kyle.
    “When can we meet Tom and Martha’s little girl?” he asked.
    Evelyn’s chest expanded with hope. “You'll let me bring Helen home to play with Rebecca?” At Radford’s nod, Evelyn smiled. “I’ll go get her as soon as they return from visiting their relatives in Ohio.”
    “I hope it’s soon,” Radford said, watching Rebecca walk toward them. “I’ve got some making up to do.”
     

Chapter Nine
     
    Since the day in the paddock, Radford had accepted Evelyn’s help with his daughter, and Rebecca had trailed Evelyn like a puppy ever since. She was full of questions and quick to imitate. Rebecca was opening up to Radford’s mother, as well, and despite being unrelated to Evelyn’s father, she’d given him the honorary title of “Grandpa,” which pleased him immensely. Rebecca had even let him read her a story and was now sleeping beside Evelyn’s father on the sofa.
    Seeing the spark return to her father’s eyes and the wariness disappearing from Rebecca’s filled Evelyn with a new sense of contentment as she knelt on the porch to help Kyle and Radford finish painting.
    Other than a brief greeting, they had remained silent while they worked. Typical men, Evelyn thought, dipping her brush then finishing the railing spindles, which by some pact the men wouldn’t touch. Though Evelyn was used to working without conversation, she had hoped that Radford and Kyle would talk to each other, if only to share old memories or discuss business at the mill. They grunted, sweated, and slugged down liquids by the gallon, but neither of them spoke two words throughout the evening. Evelyn shook her head, wondering how brothers could work shoulder to shoulder and be miles apart.
      “Your sleeve is marking the paint,” Kyle said, drawing Evelyn’s attention to him. He laid down his brush and rolled her cuff to her elbow with paint-speckled, efficient hands, his eyes focused on his task as if he were sharpening a saw or honing an ax, not touching the arm of the woman he was going to marry.
    Unconsciously, Evelyn gazed over his shoulder at Radford, whose muscled arms were bared to the shoulder. Crisp black hair lightly sprinkled his forearms and the backs of his hands. As he swirled his brush inside the pail, gathering the last of the paint onto the bristles, he glanced up and gave Evelyn a tired smile that made her stomach cinch.
    She ducked her face. Lord, she'd been having a time trying not to inspect Radford. Just the weight of his hand on her back as he stepped around her or the brush of his shoulder against hers while working beside her brought her senses bursting to life. Evelyn wondered why