Page 7 of Riding High

His gaze dropped to her mouth and lingered.Desire rushed through her, pooling low in her belly.Right, hadn’t felt that for a while.He moved a fraction closer, his hand coming to rest next to hers on Rey’s neck, and the heated, silent suggestion of a kiss hovered between them.Who would make the first move?Him?Her?And in that quiet stable, it felt like the universe was holding its breath, waiting for one of them to move closer.

Atttttttchoooooo!

Eden whirled around and slapped her hands to her face, embarrassed by the force of her sneeze.Damn, had she lost a lung in the process?She wiped her nose with the now grubby handkerchief and discreetly lifted the hem of her skirt to wipe her streaming eyes.

Embarrassed, she changed the subject.‘You ride for the Elmsleigh Team, right?’

‘The Castle Kings.’

‘And the team is, like the estate, owned by Troyden Castle?’

His eyebrows pulled together, and Eden sensed he’d taken a few mental steps backwards.‘Why are you asking?’he demanded, his tone frosty.

There was now a whole polo field between them.Man, she was super talented at alienating hot men.Oh, well, she wasn’t going to see him again and now she had nothing to lose.‘What’s Troyden Castle like?’

She might as well ask, because, while the Bancrofts thought he walked on air, this guy worked for him and would have a more realistic view of her uncle.

His expression darkened and his mouth tightened.He placed himself between her and his horse, and she immediately noted his protective gesture.God, she wasn’t going to hurt his precious pony!

‘I don’t appreciate the question and you’re trespassing,’ he stated flatly.‘Leave now and I won’t have to toss you out on your pretty arse.’

Jeez!She’d just asked a question.

‘Sorry, I was just curious…’ Eden stated, her voice now thin and a little high.The ants were morphing into caterpillars and every inch of her skin felt hot.She desperately wanted to rake her fingernails over her body.Looking down, she watched welts appear on her arms.Shit.The same thing was happening on her legs.She instinctively knew that scratching would make it ten times worse.

She needed… God, she didn’t know what she needed…

She needed to go home, have a shower, and take this as Life’s warning that contacting Troyden Castle was a very bad idea.Did she need to be part of a family?She’d been on her own for more than a decade, since she was eighteen, and she’d managed.Families were overrated, right?They were full of drama and dysfunction, and she’d had enough of both to last her a few lifetimes.

Eden gripped the stable door and closed her eyes, conscious of her jelly-like legs and her hot-everywhere body.

Jed frowned at her, his expression now serious.‘You’re looking quite red,’ he stated.‘Are you overheating?’

She didn’t know.She didn’t think so; she’d been fine outside.Before she could answer, he whirled around and walked away from her.From swollen eyes, she watched him walk over to a fridge in the corner of the stable and remove two water bottles.In the sunlight streaming in through the cracked door, his hair was dark brown, not black, curling over the collar of his shirt.His name, Harris, was printed across his back, and a streak of dirt ran across his truly excellent butt.

He shoved one bottle under his muscled arm, cracked the other bottle’s lid and passed it to her.His eyes caught the light.They were true amber, a warm coppery hue she’d never seen before, enhanced by stubby, thick eyelashes.They were the perfect complement to his olive skin.He looked like… Damn, who did he look like?Right, a Caucasian version of the hero in one of her favourite K-dramas,Crash Landing on You.Stoic, implacable, unreadable… distant.

The cold bottle of water slipped from her grip.Trying to catch it, she smacked it instead, dousing her face and chest with water.Actually, that felt rather nice.

Eden ran her hand down her face and tried to wipe the water away, but her eyes kept streaming.And her top lip was growing fatter by the second.

‘I think I am…’ she replied, reaching out to steady herself by gripping his strong forearm.She didn’t feel well.Something was badly wrong…

‘Here, wipe your face,’ he shoved a rough fabric into her hands.‘It’s clean, I promise.’

Eden didn’t know what else to do, so she ran the horse blanket over her face.She hauled in some air, but as she breathed out, her chest tightened and contracted.There was no dismissing her symptoms now.This was bad.

‘Help,’ she wheezed before her knees buckled.

She was pretty sure that the sexy polo player had had more than a few women fall at his feet– looking like that, how could he not?– but none, she was certain, because they were about to slide into anaphylactic shock.

* * *

‘Hey, my name is Mick.I’m a GP, and you’re having an allergic reaction.’

Eden’s eyes fluttered open and she stared into the rich green eyes of a Priyanka Chopra lookalike.It was the woman from earlier, and she looked older than she’d first thought, in her early thirties perhaps.

Patting the ground next to her, Eden realised she was sitting on a shady patch of grass just outside the stable, protected from the sun by the thick foliage of an old oak tree.Two EMTs in yellow vests stood behind her, their expressions concerned.Right, she must look a fright.Glancing down at her red-welt-covered legs and arms she winced.Then forced herself to look back at Mick.‘My face?’