Accidental Knight: A Marriage Mistake Romance(73)

The barn camera catches Edison again, and I click on it, making it stop its slow surveillance and zoom in. He’s still in the same spot, but this time rather than just staring back at me, he lifts his head and nickers.

Crazy beast. I unfreeze the camera so it starts moving again. Then, just as I’m about to close out, I notice something else.

The fence. I zoom in. It’s down.

What the hell? I haven’t checked it this past week, but it’s down.

The same section I’d patched up before winter, after the incursions that got the first run of cameras installed. Frowning, I look it over, knowing there haven’t been any big storms that could’ve done it. This doesn’t happen accidentally.

I walk to the pole shed and climb in the ATV. Using the gate next to the barn, I head into the pasture.

As I start driving toward the fence, Edison rears up on his hind legs and kicks the air.

If Bella wasn’t here, I swear he’d have escaped again long ago, and I’d have had to chase him down.

He rears up again, almost like he wants me to drive to him and not the fence.

Curious if that is what he wants, I divert off toward him. He nickers and tosses his head, as if to say, get your ass out here, man.

My shoulders tense. Whatever’s going on here, I don’t like it one bit.

I scan the area around him. Can’t see anything out of the ordinary.

I wonder if it’s a snake or a gopher that’s startled him and he’s not wanting to move now, but that would be unusual for him.

“What’re you doing out here?” I ask as I pull the ATV up next to him.

He paws one hoof at the ground, lowering his head, snorting loudly.

I get off to search the grass. It takes me a few seconds before I hit something hard. Something that shouldn’t be there.

Two small, dark circles. A set of black rubber caps for binoculars, I realize. They aren’t mine, or Jonah’s.

Fuck.

Edison nudges my shoulder with his nose, and then, with a toss of his head, runs off, galloping to the barn.

No mistaking it, that horse wanted me to find these, and now that I have, he’s off to greener pastures.

Shoving the covers deep into my back pocket, an idea hits me as I watch Edison enter the corral through the open gate from the pasture.

Right here, where I found the covers, there’s a mighty clear view of the entire ranch, including where those men tried to take Edison and the front door of the house.

I get down in the grass and search again, but nothing else turns up. There’s got to be more.

So I climb in the ATV and head for the downed fence. Grass grows fast this time of year, but within a few yards, I find tire tracks.

Wide tracks, more like the kind left by a truck. They lead straight through the opening in the fence, and beyond.

I push through the growth and follow them all the way to the highway, to a spot on the other side where the ditch isn’t deep.

Here, a vehicle could cross without too much trouble, drive right into the pasture – after cutting a section of fence. I frown.

Whoever did this doesn’t know the place well, or they’d have just used the gates that are less than a quarter of a mile away from both sections they cut.

Retrieving tools and wire from the box on the back of the ATV, I repair this section before heading back to the barn.

As I’m driving away, I can’t help thinking we’ve got a bigger problem than I feared. These intruders came with tools and a plan. It wasn’t some damn sloppy scouting mission meant to sniff out our weaknesses.

Suddenly, I worry high-grade cameras might not be enough to secure the fort, whenever these bastards decide to return – and they will.





I find Bella by the barn after parking in the pole shed. She’s feeding Edison a candy cane, his big chops crunching loudly.

“I’m thinking about getting another horse,” she says.

I blink. Thinking of the trouble Edison caused over the past few years, I ask, “You sure you’re ready for two? Why?”

“To ride, silly,” she says, turning with a soft smile. “Edison’s getting too old.”

As if he gets what she said, Edison lets out a loud snort of protest, showing his teeth the entire time.

“Don’t think he likes that idea,” I say. “This is his little kingdom.”

She laughs and hugs his neck. “Oh, bud, you’d love it if I found you a cute little filly.”

I hate how she leans and wags. It’s too damn nice a view of that ass in her jeans, calling to me so fierce my palms burn.

That’s all it takes for my cock to rise, too.

So this is my fate. Doomed to wander around this place for the next six months with a hard-on that could pound nails.

I tear myself away, grabbing a pair of gloves before I walk to the ladder going up into the hay loft.

Once up there, I open the door in the floor over the hay stall so I can toss down some bales to keep Edison happy for the next several days.

“How’s it looking? I haven’t been up here in years.” Bella’s voice echoes behind me.

I toss down the bale in my hands and turn, fully prepared to tell her she shouldn’t be up here now, but my throat locks up.

The sunlight shining through the end window falls right on her, casting an illusion like magic. The dust motes floating in the air twinkle around her like stars on a dark night.