Accidental Knight: A Marriage Mistake Romance(109)

I shake my head, shake it furiously, but his grip just gets tighter.

“Something was bound to happen, but I’d let my guard down. And I lied to you. I left Montana looking for Winnie’s killer, but the trail ran cold. Then a bad storm happened, I drove into it not thinking because I was done with life, and I met Jonah. Found out fast he hated Jupiter Oil as much as I did. He shared the intel he had, I shared mine, and we found out more together. When he took ill, he knew he’d never bring an end to Jupiter and Avery’s corruption. Not by ourselves. His time was up and I swore I’d see it through. I promised him I’d do right, protecting you.”

“By marrying me.”

He grins. “That was the only part that scared me.”

“Scared you?” I laugh, loving how he says it.

“Damn straight. Think sometimes I was already half in love with you before we even met. He had your pictures all over the house. Hands down the prettiest woman I’d ever seen. Didn’t know what you were like, not till we met, but fuck...I knew you were someone I wanted to meet, and not just for Jonah’s sake.”

My heart does a somersault, even as I tell myself I’d misheard. “Come on. That’s like something that’d happen in a book. You didn’t even know me.”

“I didn’t, but I did, darlin’. Knew you through Jonah’s eyes. Then I met you, and got to know you through mine, and got scared all over again because from the minute you walked into the house, I wanted you bad.”

“You did, huh?”

He kisses my nose. “Already told you. Yeah, darlin’, yeah.”

This man. This crazy, gorgeous, too sweet storm of a man. If I let him go on, I’m afraid he’ll ruin me forever.

“Truth be told...maybe I started falling in love with you that first day, too,” I admit. “That’s why I was psycho jealous this morning.” My foolishness shrouds me again. “How did you find me, anyway?”

He shakes his head. “I didn’t. I was driving around town like a lunatic, no clue where you’d gone, till I spotted Edison walking across the highway. I followed him all the way to the storage yard.” He looks at Edison. “It was like he had a homing device on you.”

It isn’t fair. Hearts aren’t made to break this much in one freaking day, over and over, as the best and worst of everything I’ve ever lived and loved busts up and comes together again.

I look at Edison, tearing up all over again. “He might. He found me when I was little once, after I’d wandered off while Gramps was meeting with some people. From then on, whenever Gramps was busy, Edison became my backup babysitter. Gramps would put me on his back, and Edison would walk around and around the house.” My voice cracks.

Drake presses his forehead against mine, just holding me, holding me up as sure as that horse.

I lean against him as my throat swells. “He has to be okay.”

“Give it time, darlin’. That’s all we ever need.”





Later, at the ranch, Drake uses the bucket on the tractor to help get Edison out of the trailer and into the barn. The sling connects to the ceiling above the largest stall in the barn so the doctor and his assistant have ample room to insert an IV in Edison’s neck for electrolytes.

Liver failure, caused by dehydration, is our greatest fear right now. It could end him.

This is the birthing stall. That’s what Gramps called it, though it hasn’t been used for that in decades.

Edison had been born in this stall, and many horses before him.

Like upstairs in the hayloft, where I’d penned stories, I used to sit in this stall for hours on end, dreaming about all the horses I’d see born in this stall someday.

When had I stopped dreaming those dreams? Why?

Why had I stayed away for so many years?

Because I’d been told to.

Told it was time to grow up, go to college, and decide what I wanted to be.

I step back to make room for Dr. Little’s assistant to wheel the IV pedestal to the wall so they can secure it there, right next to the calendar that’s hung there for ages, probably one from the sixties.

I used to flip through the yellowed pages, looking at the pictures of all the different types of horses that I’d dream about being born here one day.

Drawn to do that again, I flip the page up. My heart takes a tumble as I see another Post-it note.



Welcome home, Bella.

They say that’s where the heart is, and your heart’s always been here. Right here in this old barn where you always wanted to spend the night.

It’s always been your choice to follow what’s in your heart, your dreams.

Maybe I just reminded you.



Love, your wise old Gramps

Drake’s hand squeezes my shoulder, and I glance at him, knowing he’s read it over my shoulder.

I close my eyes as he kisses my temple. Drake Larkin hadn’t been in my heart, my dreams, all those years ago, but he is now.

“Now we wait,” Dr. Little says. “I’ll draw blood again in a couple hours, see how he’s reacting to the IV.”

The barn is silent, yet it shouldn’t be.

It’s full of people. Staff from Dr. Little’s office, Sheriff Wallace and other officers, my parents, people from Earhart and Dallas. Plus Angie and Sherry and Terry.