Untamed by Ciana Stone Page B

television set that had a smaller television sitting on top of it.
    But that was not the surprise. It was what made it almost impossible to walk through the room. Stacks of paintings, three and four deep, lined the perimeter of the room. The walls were just as packed with paintings.
    And every painting was of one of the same subject, a magnificent white horse with a long flowing mane and tail.
    Ellie was agog as she looked around. Where did all of this come from? Had her father done this?
    “Wow.” Cam said as he looked around.
    “Yeah,” Ellie agreed. “Do you know if he was an artist? Did he do these?”
    Cam shook his head. “To be honest, I didn’t really know him. He wasn’t what you call sociable and… well…”
    “I understand.” Ellie could tell Cam felt uncomfortable. “I didn’t know him either.”
    “Yeah, I remember. So you want to check out the rest of the house?”
    “Yeah.”
    Aside from every room having more of the same, the place was tidy. There was a layer of dust on everything, probably from having been vacant for a while, but aside from that, it was not bad.
    Well, bad in terms of being full of rats and snakes. There was not much in it. Of the three small bedrooms, only one had furniture and that was an old-fashioned double bed with a sagging frame, and an equally old bureau.
    The bathroom boasted a horrible peach colored tile and a shower curtain that was hanging by only three hooks.
    She walked back down the hall to the kitchen. It pretty much matched the rest of the house, with appliances that belonged in the seventies and a small two-seat table with salt and pepper shakers on it.
    A door led outside. She opened it and walked out onto a small concrete patio that had a tin roof covering it.
    The inside of the house and even the front yard might have been depressing, but the back yard was even worse. The ground was bare, with patches of scraggly grass, trees overladen with moss and an old rusted out lawnmower with no wheels.
    “Oh man.” Cam’s voice came from behind her.
    “Yeah, really.” She couldn’t stop looking or wondering. She’d never given much thought to who her father was. She just accepted what she had been told by her grandmother and tried to dismiss him from her mind the way he had dismissed her from his life.
    But now curiosity rose. What kind of man created art like she’d seen and lived in a place that looked like no one cared about it? She turned to face Cam. “Do you know anyone who knew him?”
    Cam’s mouth twitched to one side. “Let me ask my brother, Clint. He deals more with the ranch business than I do, and he might know someone.”
    “Thanks, I appreciate that.”
    “You wanna give me your phone number so I can let you know if I find out anything?”
    “Oh sure.” She hoped she didn’t sound as unsure as she felt. Seeing Cam was a shock. She’d thought a lot about him over the years but never thought she’d see him again. Now that she had, she was fighting residual feelings from long ago that were trying to rise.
    Cam pulled out his cell phone and entered the number she recited then tucked it back in his pocket. “You know, maybe I should give you my number and the number at the ranch. Just in case.”
    “Let me grab my phone out of the truck.”
    They fell in step and wandered around the side of the house to the driveway. Ellie got her phone from the truck and added Cam’s cell phone number and the number for his ranch.
    “That’s the house number, so if you call, chances are you’ll get Clint or his wife, Lily. But you can always reach me on my cell.”
    “So Clint’s married? Any kids?”
    “Yes and no. He got married last year. Hell of a woman, Lily. She’s a breeder and trainer.”
    “Breeder?”
    “Horses. Our spread adjoins yours.”
    “So you’re a—what— rancher?”
    “Yeah, and detective with the Sheriff’s department.”
    “Funny, I never would have guessed that was in your future. Oh, well, thanks Cam. I really