Something broke through the evergreen of the land. Flushing with excitement, I guided Rosel toward the mark on the horizon. Seconds before I couldn’t turn away, I saw it was a fence. A large, black iron fence that stretched for miles.
No, there has to be a way around it!
Kain yelled again; he was much closer. Wildly I forced the mare to run, leading her along the fence without slowing down. The longer that my body shook with the force of Rosel’s stride, the deeper my realization of my mistake sank in.
This family . . . they weren’t stupid. They didn’t care if I tried to run away on a damn horse. Their property was fenced in, it kept them . . . me . . . safe.
Dirt spat up, Kain’s horse pulling up near mine. I shot him a look, wondering if my eyes were rolling as madly as my steed’s. I was pushing Rosel too hard.
“Sammy!” he yelled again, his hair dancing over his cheekbones. “Stop this! Stop running from me!”
His words tangled in my chest. Running from him? Is that what he thought? Frantically, I scanned the fields, wishing something would appear—some escape, some rescue. I was part of some insane high-speed horse chase, and there was no way out.
Rosel reared, bucking so suddenly I wasn’t ready for it. My body remembered how to ride, but as a kid, I’d never dealt with a panicked horse. The world spun, all clouds and grass and crisp blue.
The sky? I wondered from far away. No. A different blue.
Kain’s terrified eyes.
Tumbling from the saddle, I rolled hard in the grass. I’d have to thank my mother for her blessed genetics; my thickly padded ass took the brunt of the impact. Gasping, I spun in the dust, landing on my back with my eyes still shaking in my skull.
So this is how I die. Thrown from a horse while wearing another woman’s underwear.
No psychic would have ever guessed that.
“Sammy! Fuck, Sammy.” He dropped down beside me, fingers hovering uncertainly—then catching me by my shoulders. Fear turned his healthy tan a sickly yellow, kissable lips pulled back over a grimace.
Looking at him, I said slowly, “You’re making the ugly cry face, and you still look amazing. That seriously sucks.”
Tension melted from his face. Grabbing me, he pulled me into his lap, his chin rubbing the top of my head. “Idiot,” he growled. “What the hell were you thinking?”
Closing my eyes, I didn’t speak. It was a miracle I had no broken bones, let alone that I wasn’t dead. I’d done something so rash that I didn’t doubt there’d be consequences. If pain wasn’t one of them, it’d be something even worse.
But here . . . just for a little bit . . .
I wanted to forget about all of that.
Kain Badd—and I was starting to question if his last name even fit him—was holding me as if he’d been truly worried he’d almost lost me. Again and again, no matter how frustrated I was with my situation, this man came to the rescue.
He’d helped me at the jail, he’d driven me from my house when I’d been attacked, he’d bandaged my cut-up foot. Why had I been so angry with him this morning? It was hard to remember. So for a little bit, I didn’t try. In ignorance, I could enjoy a moment with the man who kept breaking into my world like he belonged.
He breathed in deeply. “You’re insane for running away.”
The moment broke like a daisy in a storm.
Sitting up, I pulled out of his arms. I saw the horses milling nearby, neither of them seeming to be worse for wear. Gripping the grass by my thighs, I looked at him and smiled sadly. “How did you come after me so fast?”
“The second we pulled in, Matilda ran up and yanked me toward the stables, telling me what had happened.”
My heart sank. “Is she going to get in trouble? It wasn’t her fault, I just—”
“You didn’t need to go this far, Sammy!”
“What else was I supposed to do? Let your father keep me trapped here? Let you keep me trapped here?”
“It’s only temporary until we figure everything out!”
Studying his face—the hard lines that crossed his cheeks, the hollow indents beneath his eyes—I paused. “And did you figure everything out?”
Scraping fingers through his wind-tossed hair, Kain shut his eyes. “I know who did it, yes.”
Prickling with surprise, I leaned toward him. “Please tell me he’ll be taken care of so I can get out of here.” Kain kept his head down, and my spirit joined him. “You’re about to give me bad news.”
“Sammy . . .” Filling his chest, he breathed out, meeting my wary stare. “The people who organized the raid? They’re a gang that goes by the name of the Deep Shots. They’re . . . not as powerful as my family, but they still have pull.”
“What does that even mean?”
“It means we confronted them, and they denied everything.”
“So what?” I dug my nails into the dirt. “I saw his face, I know who did it!”
“That’s not enough!”
“Why?” Throwing up my arms, I shouted, “Bring me to them, let me call him out! That’s what they do on TV, right? A lineup, a—”
“It doesn’t work like that!” he snapped, two fingers massaging his temples. “Listen. Please. I want to get this fucker out of the way, to make sure he’ll leave you alone, but it’s your word against his . . . and to them, you’re no one.”
Barking out a sour laugh, I shook my head. “I’m not no one. Dammit, this is stupid. Maybe the cops really do need to take care of this if you guys can’t.”
“I am taking care of it,” he hissed. His intensity made me sit back; he saw me move, and his next words came out so very, very tired. “Sammy, I don’t want anything to happen to you. Not just you, but anyone you care about. I promise that I won’t even sleep until I’m sure everything is under control.”
Baffled, I tuned in to his promise.
Kain said, “The man who attacked you is the son of the Deep Shots’ leader, a guy named Brick. I wanted to bust his face in when I recognized him from the photo, but . . .”
Brick? Not Jameson? Of course he’d use a fake name.
His fist was so tight I heard his tendons creak. That wasn’t what I was focused on. Kain’s exhaustion had felt out of place to me this morning. All day, I’d wondered about what he’d done that had made him so tired.
When he’d said he wouldn’t sleep, it had clicked.
“Last night,” I whispered, “I asked you to check in on my mother. I never got to ask you if you had.” My fingertips swayed forward, gently brushing the bruises under his eyes. “You watched her all night, just to make sure she’d be safe. Didn’t you?”
Kain’s shoulders hunched. “Yes.”
The snow that had started to crust on my heart melted away. I didn’t move my palm from his cheek. “Why didn’t you tell me you were a prince?”
There—that made his eyes flash to me. His surprise shifted, a smirk growing as he chuckled. “Who told you?” Before I answered, he said, “I don’t know. It didn’t come up.”