Page 11 of Riding High

Although they weren’t related, something about him– his sheer masculinity, his no-bullshit stare, his wide shoulders– reminded her of Number Three.

‘I worry about him and am terrified we’re going to get a call saying that he’s been kidnapped by Somalian pirates, or by those scary dudes in Indonesia.’

He looked like he could handle himself.Eden passed Mick her phone, her eyes feeling like they were weighted down with concrete blocks.‘And Number Three?’

‘Jed’s cottage is at the end of the row and is attached to his equally big workshop.’

A workshop for what?Eden yawned and pushed her cheek deeper into the softly scented pillow.She was so tired, she’d just close her eyes for a minute…

* * *

Jed knocked and poked his head around the door.Mick stood between him and the bed, but he could read his sister’s face and didn’t pick up any worry in the green eyes he knew so well.She held up a hand, halting his progress into the room.

‘Have you showered?’Mick demanded, in her bossy doctor voice.She placed her hands on her lower back and arched her spine.Dressed for a day spent with her kids, Mick did not look like the shit-hot doctor he knew her to be.She looked like what she was, a tired single mum trying to cope with two kids under the age of six and a busy job.He nodded.

‘Washed your hair?’

Jeez, Mick never took this much interest in his hygiene.‘Yes, Mum,’ he muttered, pushing his hand through his wet hair.

‘Okay, then you can come in.’

Jed walked to the bed, looked down at the sleeping woman, and his heart bounced off his chest.He could see the tiny veins in the thin skin hiding her blue-green eyes and took in the length of her thick eyelashes.Her strawberry blonde hair was half in and half out of a complicated plait, and the freckles on her nose and cheekbones were flecks of cinnamon on her pale skin.Her lips looked a little bloodless.

‘How is she?’he asked Mick, placing his hands on the bed next to her calves, unable to look away from the woman who’d collapsed at his feet and scared the shit out of him.

‘She’s okay.She had an allergic reaction, but she didn’t go into anaphylactic shock.’Mick patted his arm.‘I didn’t need to use adrenalin and that’s a good thing.’

Why did he care?And why, for the love of God, did his voice sound like it was trembling?God, he hoped Mick didn’t hear it; she’d never let him live it down.‘Should she have gone to A&E?’

Mick shook her head.‘They probably would’ve just sent her home with instructions to ride it out.’

‘But she fainted.’

‘Her blood pressure probably dropped.Her throat didn’t close, and her airways were clear.I gave her an antihistamine injection– you know I keep them on hand for Gemma– and I’ve been monitoring her flare-up.’

Gemma, his goddaughter, was fatally allergic to bees and everyone in Mick’s life knew what to do if she collided with one.Jed winced as he took in the welts on her arms and chest.‘Shit.They look damn itchy.’

Mick nodded.‘She’s definitely allergic to horses.That’s why I asked whether you’d showered and washed your hair.’

‘Come on, I’m not a horse,’ he protested.

‘A horse’s arse, maybe.’Okay, he’d walked straight into that one.

‘So she’ll react like this whenever she comes into contact with someone who’s into horses?’

Mick wrinkled her nose.‘I wouldn’t expect her to have such a bad reaction by just being around people who have horse dander on their clothes.She was in the stables; she stroked Rey; she wiped her face with a horse blanket.She got a megadose.’

Jed stood up and pushed his hands through his hair.‘Shit.’

If he’d had any ideas of making a move on her, her allergy to horses blew that notion straight out of the water.He sometimes spent the best part of the day either on or around horses and wasalwayscovered in horse dander.

Jed resisted the urge to push a long tendril of rose-coloured hair off Eden’s cheek and behind her ear.Not wanting to do anything stupid, he folded his arms and tucked his hands under his armpits.He was a guy who knew how to keep his distance, fully in control of his body and actions, so why did he want to put himself between her and the world?He had enough people in his life he was responsible for, enough people to protect, why would he want to add one more?

He stared at her, annoyed by his fast heart rate and prickling skin.She was so gorgeous, in a woodland sprite,Midsummer’s Night’s Dream, type of way.But he wouldn’t allow his out-of-the-norm fascination to blunt his cynicism.

He’d seen it all before.He just needed to find out what her story was, what she was up to?Why was she interested in his stepfather?Was she really allergic to horses or did she take something to make her break out in hives?Okay, drastic, but it wouldn’t be the first time a woman did something extreme to catch the attention of an older, exceedingly rich man.Rubbing his forehead, Jed felt exhausted.Jesus, keeping an eye out on Troyden, a silver fox with more money than common sense, was an exhausting job.

Mick picked up her backpack, no black doctor’s bag for her, and slung it over her shoulder.‘The meds have knocked her out, and her urticaria has settled down.We can leave her to sleep.’

He nodded, as always amused when Mick went into doctor mode.She stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek.‘I’ll see you in the morning,’ she told him.‘Wish me luck, Gem’s decided that she wants dreadlocks, and Liam thinks bathing will rub his skin away.’

He smiled, remembering how revolting Mick had been when he’d met her as children.She often blamed Xavier for their kids being out of control, but Mick frequently forgot there were years when they were all convinced she was one breath away from turning feral.

Turning his attention back to Eden, Jed’s throat tightened.She looked much younger than earlier, more vulnerable.He picked up a long, loose curl to see if her hair was as soft as it looked.It was.He rubbed the strands between his fingers and frowned.As pretty as Eden was, something about her felt off.Very off.

What brought her to Elmsleigh?

It sure as hell wasn’t an interest in polo.

On the plus side, he’d pushed all thoughts about the Duke dying to the back of his mind.