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We’d done it. I should be thrilled.
But that gnawing ache in my chest wouldn’t let up. I couldn’t ignore the fact that Kirk was sniffing around, looking for me. Looking for Day.
He’d found us, or at least gotten some intel on us that led him to Hot Springs.
King came up behind me, nuzzling the back of my head with his long nose.
“You’re getting grass in my hair,” I protested, swatting him away. He blew out his breath in a huff, whinnying and stomping his front feet. “I don’t want to play right now, you big oof. Go bother someone else,” I argued as he nudged me with his nose, damn near knocking me over.
King was tall and strong, and he could probably end my life with one swift kick, but he was really just a playful little puppy, even if George and Grant thought he was a demon sent from hell to plague them day in and day out.
I’d been riding him daily, mostly in the mornings before it got too hot, but he’d started to demand those daily rides. He’d follow me around if I were outside, leaning his weight against me in a physical demand for attention while I was inspecting the creek or out for a walk on my own.
It was like having a big, furry, ill-behaved shadow following me around everywhere.
“Fine!” I hollered, throwing my hands in the air. King bobbed his head up and down, huffing with excitement as I struggled to climb on his back.
I’d ridden him bareback only once before and was still sore from it, but I gritted my teeth and roped his mane around my hands, clicking my tongue.
“Go on then, show me where you want to go,” I urged, and he broke into a trot, the landscape billowing past us in a blur of deep green and gold.
We rode along the fence line overlooking the sweeping plains of Grant’s neighbor’s property. We rode over the rolling hills toward the far side of the property, then back again, and up to the house. I took him out on the private dirt road leading to Grant’s property, letting him run as fast as he wanted to the whole way to the paved highway leading into Hot Springs.
His speed made my adrenaline spike, my heart beating in rhythm with his pounding hooves as we neared the highway. I guided him, turning him around and commanding him to leap over the fence back into the pasture. He did, and without hesitation, every muscle in his body was rigid and flexing with the movement.
I’d never felt more free.
But just as we’d landed the jump, I heard a car rolling down the driveway, and I turned my head as a truck pulled up behind us and slowed.
Fight or flight mode initiated as the window began to roll down, and I was just about to give King a swift nudge in the ribs to run for all he was worth, when Pete leaned out of the truck window, giving me a soft wave.
“You scared the hell out of me,” I hissed, turning King around so we were facing the truck on the other side of the fence.
“You scared the hell out of us too, jumping over the fence like that.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, then noticed the man sitting next to him and the three men squeezed into the backseat of his truck.
The man in front seat was tall enough that the top of his head brushed against the roof, and his eyes were fixed on my face in a way that had me on edge.
His gaze was cool, calculating, and merciless.
“These must be my new bodyguards,” I said tartly, tilting my chin.
The man in the front seat gave me a smooth nod, not breaking my gaze. That must be Henry, and just one look at him told me that guy was pure, walking death when provoked.
“I’ll see you later, Moira. Keely and I will be at the barbeque this weekend,” Pete said before rolling up his window and driving toward the house.
King, unbothered, was grazing along the fence line now, and I took a few minutes to gather my thoughts before nudging him back into movement.
We thundered back to the paddock and stables as the sun began to set. I wasn’t sure how much time passed by during the ride, but it was probably enough to say I was done with the list of things Grant wanted to do during the day. I was starving, and ready for a cold shower to wash away the dust, heat, and sweat clinging to my body.
Even King seemed ready to tuck in for the night and didn’t fight me tooth and nail like he usually did. He went right into the paddock and mingled with the other horses while George tended to one horse in particular, its hoof balanced in his lap as he crouched to fix its shoe.
George looked up at me, shocked, as I climbed off King’s back.
“I was wondering where he was. I thought he finally took the hint and jumped the fence.”
I gave George a look and adjusted my shorts, the skin beneath my thighs slightly raw to the touch are riding bareback for so long.
