Blake resisted the urge to pull her back against his chest. Despite the irritation tightening her shoulders at the man’s derogatory tone, she probably wouldn’t appreciate the gesture.
“Dad went to bed, so your question will have to wait until morning.” Her voice was clipped. “Good night, Zane.”
Turning on his heel, he stalked away as the dogs raced past him up onto the porch. Tongues hanging, they trotted into the house through the open doorway.
“Well, that certainly shot the mood all to hell.” Blake followed Eden inside.
She shut the door with a firm thump. “Good thing we didn’t have a reason to set one, isn’t it? Do you still want to finish watching the movie?”
He regarded her stormy eyes and high color. “You look pissed.”
“I am.”
Stepping closer, he tugged her up against his chest. She resisted at first, then slumped against him and let out a ragged breath.
“Go ahead and vent. I don’t mind.”
She pressed her forehead to his neck. “Every time I turn around, I feel like I’m disappointing someone with my choices.”
Tilting her head back, he looked into her eyes. “Don’t beat yourself up. You haven’t disappointed me in the least.”
“Even though I’m not going to sleep with you?”
“Even though.” He dropped a quick kiss on her upturned lips. “I think I’ll pass on the rest of the movie. I know how it ends.”
“Sailing down the street into their future.”
“Despite their differences.” He let her go and turned to open the door. “Think about that.”
Chapter 12
Dressed in a doeskin dress with her hair braided in two long plaits, Eden stood beside Flint, who pranced nervously while the director waved and argued with Blake a short distance away. Finally the two men turned in her direction. Neither looked happy.
She let out a sigh, wondering what the problem was now.
When one of the stage hands walked up to Blake, John Stafford made one final comment then strode toward her. He kept his distance from Flint and ran a hand through his hair. “Any chance you can ride one of your Pintos and still take a fall next to the fake snake we planted in the grass? I know you were going to use a mount that’s easier to control, but one of the wild horses would look better on film.”
Eden resisted the urge to swear and forced herself to consider his request. “Neither of the Pintos is trained well enough for a maneuver that precise. I might be able to manage it from Jezebel.”
A gray brow shot up. “Jezebel is…?”
“One of the Appaloosa mares. She has really pretty markings.”
“I’ll take what I can get.” He pointed toward Flint. “Blake will ride this gelding instead of the Gray we’d planned to put him on.”
Eden nodded. “Fine. I’ll go get Jezebel ready. I assume you’re in a rush?”
“We’re behind schedule already.”
“Got it.” She handed the reins to the director. “Hold Flint. With all the people milling around, he’s acting a little skittish.” When Stafford’s eyes widened behind his glasses, she grinned and walked away.
As she hurried past Pris on the way to the corral, the other woman stepped in front of her. “Where’re you going? I thought you were in the scene they’re shooting this morning.”
“I am, but we’re playing musical horses before they begin filming.”
She frowned. “Why would the director do that?”
“John decided I’ll look more authentic on one of my wild horses.” She grimaced. “Let’s hope I don’t break my neck because of this switch.”
“Well, good luck. I think I’ll walk out to get a good view of the action. Why are so many people on site today?”
“They’re all extras for a scene later this afternoon. They probably arrived early to get their costumes and makeup done.” Leaving Pris, Eden passed Kara and her husband involved in a heated conversation near the barn, detoured inside to grab a halter, then hurried out to the corral. Of course Jezebel was standing at the far end.
“Why are you in such a rush?”
Eden glanced over as Zane rode up to the fence. “I need Jezebel for the scene they’re shooting in a few minutes.”
“I’ll get her for you.” He held out his hand.
She laid the halter across his palm. “Thanks, Zane.”
With a nod, he nudged his horse into a canter and rode away. Reentering the barn, she passed the row of empty stalls to the tack room in the back, slung a bridle over her shoulder, then hefted a saddle to haul outside. By the time she reached the mounting block, she was winded.
Zane trotted back, leading the mare. At the sight of the saddle, Jezebel’s ears flattened. She snorted but stood still while Eden dropped the pad onto her back.
“I thought you were riding Flint today.”
She glanced up at Zane. “Change of plans. Now, Blake will ride him. I left the director holding Flint when I came to get Jezebel. Would you mind checking to make sure John didn’t just turn him loose?”
Zane nodded. “Any chance your dad is out there somewhere? I need to speak to him.”
“He should be waiting out on the open prairie. He volunteered to ride down Flint after I take my fall. But now that I’ve switched mounts, Jezebel will be a lot harder to catch. Maybe you could help him?”
“Sure.” His eyes narrowed. “Eden, I…”
Her stomach tightened as she let out a sigh. She didn’t want to get in another argument with Zane. “What?”
“Never mind.” Turning his horse, he galloped away.
She refused to worry about what was bothering the man. Especially since she was one hundred percent positive anything he had to say about the previous night would just make her furious. Right now she needed to focus on the job ahead.
She finished saddling the mare and gave both the horse and herself a pep talk while she cinched up the girth strap. “We’ve got this, Jezebel. You’re much calmer than you used to be. Hopefully you won’t freak out too much when you see the rubber snake.” She dropped the nearside stirrup into place. “Ready?”
The horse snorted.
With a smile, she swung up into the saddle. Thankfully, this scene came later in the movie, after Kimani was already living on Jeremiah Tucker’s homestead. So, at least she wasn’t expected to ride bareback. Leaving the corral, she bent to shut the gate then took a wide berth around a group of spectators, nodded when she passed Blake’s stunt double heading away from the commotion, then rode toward the staging area where Blake waited on Flint. He waved as she approached.
“She looks like she’s behaving well.”
Though it pleased her he’d remembered to lower his voice, Eden glanced at Jezebel’s twitching ears. “For now. Hopefully, we can do this before she gets too stressed out.”
“Flint’s nervous and jittery, too. I don’t know what his problem is. Maybe all these people.”
Eden frowned. “That’s odd. He’s usually fine in a crowd.”
“The good news is John just wants us to ride slowly for the first hundred yards without stopping. They’ll edit in close-ups of Kara and me arguing afterward. She might have to sit on a horse for some of those shots, but we’ll film them later.”
“I was told to ride beside you and keep my back to the cameras, maybe wave a hand once or twice like I’m mad, then kick Jezebel into a run and force her to rear when I reach the snake.”
He nodded. “You drop and roll then scream, and I assume Jezebel will take off like a bat out of hell at that point.”
“You think?” She made a face. “You ride in hard and lean down to scoop me up.” When the breeze fluttered the fringe on her dress, she smoothed it over her thigh. “Good thing for you I don’t weigh much.”
“At that angle, lifting you will still be awkward. Just make sure to keep your face hidden when you’re on the ground. I think they’re filming from a few an
gles to have plenty of footage to work with, but we only want to do this once.”
She scrunched up her nose. “You don’t have to tell me twice. I’m the one who’s going to have a bunch of new bruises tomorrow.”
“You should tell the producers you want a bonus check for hazard pay.”
“I know, right?” She pointed toward Stafford, who shouted directions at the film crew twenty yards away. “Looks like they’re about ready.”
He reined in Flint as the horse pranced and snorted. “You’ll be incredible. You’re a total pro on any horse.”
“We’ll both rock this scene.” Her brows lowered as Flint skittered sideways. Jezebel tugged against the bit and pranced in response. “I wonder what’s bothering him. Maybe we should have someone bring out Bramble for you to ride instead.”
“No time.”
“I don’t know—”
“Quiet on the set.” John’s shouted order cut her off. “Blake, are you and Eden ready to go?”
Beside her, Blake raised a hand and nodded.
“Okay, then. Action!”
They rode out through the tall prairie grass, both horses prancing and snorting. Eden did her best to keep Jezebel under control, while next to her, Blake’s lips tightened as he struggled with Flint. Hunching one shoulder, she flicked her braid back then waved a clenched fist in the air. Her arm was tanned to a deep bronze to match Kara’s natural skin tone thanks to a bottle of tinted lotion.
“Your mark is coming up. You ready?”
She met Blake’s gaze and grinned. “You bet. Don’t let Flint trample me.”
“I’m more worried about falling off when I bend down to grab you. If I blow this, Max is standing by to take over. John only agreed to give me one shot.”
“You’ll do great. Okay, I’m off.”
Giving Jezebel a kick, she galloped away. Leaning low over the mare’s neck, she kept her gaze trained on the grass until the snake came into view. The damn thing looked real, right down to the rattle on the tail quivering ominously in the breeze. Jezebel needed no prodding. When the horse spotted the fake snake, she reared and fought the bit. Eden let go of the reins, tumbled to the ground and rolled away from her sharp hooves in the direction of the phony rattler. A scream wrenched from her throat as a stone dug into her hip.
“Son of a bitch!” The words hissed between her lips as she covered her face with one arm and took a peek over her shoulder as hooves shook the ground.
Just as Blake leaned sideways, hand stretched out to grab her, Flint squealed and bucked, kicking like a prize rodeo bull. Blake hit the ground with a thud and tried to roll…but wasn’t fast enough. The horse’s back right hoof caught him in the head. Blood soaked his blond hair and ran down the side of his face as he lay still on the crushed grass.
“Blake!” Fear crawled up Eden’s spine as she pushed to her feet then ran the few yards to drop by his side. “Medic!” The shout died on her lips as she touched the bleeding gash in his head. “Oh, God. Oh, no.”
Seconds later, footsteps pounded closer, and a hand touched her shoulder.
“Move back, please. I need room to work.” The EMT who’d bandaged Blake’s thigh wound in the barn knelt down beside her.
John huffed to a stop opposite them, his eyes wide behind his glasses. “What the hell happened?”
“I don’t know.” Eden’s fingers trembled as she moved back slightly and grasped Blake’s hand, flung out on the grass. “Flint completely lost it. I’ve never seen him act like that.”
When Blake groaned, her gaze swung to his face as his lids fluttered. “Oh, thank heavens. He’s coming around.” Relief flooded through her with enough force to leave her breathless. She pressed her free hand to the ache in her chest. “I was so scared when he didn’t move.”
“The blow knocked him out for a minute, but his pulse is reasonably steady. Head wounds tend to bleed profusely.” The medic snapped on a pair of latex gloves she pulled from her bag and probed gently around the wound. “Not as bad as I originally thought. The horse’s hoof must have just nicked him.”
Eden tore her gaze away from Blake’s face to glance at the woman. “He’s going to be all right?”
“We’ll transport him to the clinic in town to be thoroughly checked out. He probably has a concussion.”
With another moan, Blake opened his eyes and blinked. Slowly, comprehension dawned in their blue depths. “What happened?” He winced and sucked in a shallow breath. “God, my head is killing me.”
“I imagine the pain is pretty severe after a kick to the skull.” The medic placed a hand on his shoulder when he tried to move. “Hold still, please. I want to clean out that cut and get the bleeding stopped.”
“Eden.”
She tightened her grip on his hand. “The doc is going to get you fixed up so we can move you.”
“All I remember is Flint squealing and then hitting the ground hard.” He drew in a hissing breath as the EMT poured something over his wound. “Shit, that hurts. After I went down, everything is a blank until I opened my eyes with you hovering over me.”
“You were unconscious for a minute or two.” The medic placed a gauze pad over the cut.
“Flint kicked you in the head.” Eden’s hand shook as she squeezed his. “I’ve no idea why he went crazy like that.”
“I do.” Her dad rode up, holding Flint’s reins as the horse stopped behind him. Zane followed with Jezebel. Her father dismounted and regarded her with sober eyes. “I noticed blood on Flint’s leg after I caught up with him. When I lifted the saddle blanket, I discovered a shard of glass stuck through it.”
“You’re kidding!” Eden straightened. “I don’t understand.”
He held up a clear piece of glass coated with blood. “Flint has a few nicks and one deep gouge. I’d say the glass cut him a time or two while Blake was riding slowly, but from the placement of the shard, when he leaned down to reach for you on the ground, the glass dug in deep.”
Anger sizzled through her, and the back of her neck heated. “Who would do something that vicious to an innocent animal?”
“Are you saying someone deliberately stuck a piece of glass under that horse’s saddle?” Stafford’s voice sliced through the sudden quiet.
Her dad nodded. “That’s exactly what I mean.”
“But, why?” Eden’s voice broke.
He glanced down at the man lying beside her in the grass, and his eyes hardened. “I’d say someone wanted to injure Blake in that fall. Or kill him.”
* * * *
Blake leaned back in the passenger seat, eyes closed against the glare as Eden drove into the setting sun.
“You doing okay?”
“Yes. Thanks to the painkillers, my headache is nothing more than a dull throb instead of feeling like a blacksmith is using my skull for an anvil.”
“The doctor said you should feel a lot better tomorrow.”
“And my thigh wound is healing nicely. Hip hip, hooray!”
She snorted. “Sarcasm doesn’t become you.”
“Sorry.” He let out a gusty breath and opened his eyes as the sun sank beneath the hills to the west, streaking the sky in reds and pinks. “Have I thanked you yet for spending your entire afternoon and most of your evening at the health clinic? If I’d known they were going to make me hang around so damn long for observation,”—he added air quotes to emphasize his point—“I would have told you to stay home instead of wasting your whole day.”
“Yes, you’ve thanked me. Christ, Blake, quit beating yourself up. None of this situation is your fault, and I would have come with you whether you wanted me to or not.” Her grip on the steering wheel tightened. “I don’t think you have a clue how worried I was when I saw you lying there, not moving, with your hair soaked in blood. I thought you were dead.”
“When I opened my eyes to you staring at me with a terrified look on your face, like you’d just seen a ghost, I thought maybe I was dead, to
o.”
“I guess it was a sucky day for everyone involved.”
“John was fuming that his schedule was thrown out of whack again.”
“Too bad for the almighty director and his timetable.” Eden grinned. “He was pretty pissed when I told him I wouldn’t stick around to finish the scene with Max, since you obviously won’t be able to complete it.”
A smile curved his lips in response. “I bet he went ballistic.”
“I did promise to be available tomorrow morning.”
Blake let out a sigh as his amusement faded. “The doc made it clear I’m not to do any more of my own stunts on this picture. And since he won’t clear me for action, John is going to insist Max double for me from here on out if there’s even a hint of danger.” He slammed his fist down on his thigh. “Damn it, those are the scenes I love doing the most.”
“The doctor doesn’t want you to risk another concussion. Blame whoever stuck the glass under Flint’s saddle, not the medical professional who cares about your wellbeing.”
“You’re right.” He shifted on the seat and winced when he bumped the gauze pad against the headrest. “I can’t believe someone would deliberately injure a horse.”
“Poor baby. Dad texted me that the vet had to stitch Flint’s deepest gash.”
Blake reached up to touch his bandage. “At least my cut was shallow, and the doc didn’t have to staple my head back together.”
“A concussion is bad enough.” She turned off the highway onto the gravel road leading to the ranch. “I’d love to know who’s responsible.”
“Let’s hope the authorities figure it out soon. What did the deputy who questioned you at the clinic want to know?”
“Apparently they’re trying to establish who had access to Flint from the time he was first saddled until you got bucked off. Unfortunately, that’s a lot of people.”
He turned to face her and frowned. “They don’t think you—”
“I’m a person of interest since I put the saddle on Flint to start with. But since I expected to be riding him when I did it, I got the feeling the cops don’t consider me a likely suspect.”
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