Page 9 of Riding High

‘What’s Plan B?’Eden asked, taking the hand Mick held out and allowing her to help her to her feet.She liked Mick and wondered what it would be like to have her as a friend.At the Bancroft Foundation, she’d had co-workers but she’d kept her distance.Probably a good thing now.At some point, when the police finished their investigation, they’d probably lose their jobs because of her.

No!Crap.Why did she keep blaming herself?She wasn’t the one who misappropriated funds for expensive cars, luxurious trips and to pay for renovations on their house, who stole money meant for various charities, including Hope Harbour, her favourite: a house for kids, run by four single mums, who supplied emergency protective care to vulnerable children.

She’d lived with children like that; she’d witnessed their pain and seen them trembling in fear.The women who took them in, who made them feel safe, deserved, at the very least, financial support.That was why she’d originally brought Hope Harbour, by then on its knees, to Vince and Tara’s notice and persuaded them to ask their rich patrons to save the house from being disbanded.When she discovered the embezzlement, Eden had selfishly prayed that Vince and Tara had kept their sticky fingers off their funds.

But no, if anything, they stole a higher percentage from Hope Harbour than they did from other charities.After she’d tallied up the total amount– more than thirty thousand pounds over two years– and stopped crying, she’d gone to the police.

Eden pulled her scattered thoughts back to a still-serious Mick.

‘You’re going to feel a little weird’—roger that—‘and you’re going to feel sleepy for a while.And that means you need a place to sleep.I would take you back to my place, but I have two kids under the age of six.Mm, Justin is away and Jed is playing polo.’

Mick wrapped her arm around Eden’s waist and steered her toward the big house.‘You also need to be away from horses, and anyone who has had contact with horses.So that means staying in the big house.’

Eden pointed to the house in front of them.‘There?’

‘There,’ Mick firmly stated.‘Troyden is a sweetheart and won’t mind you sleeping in one of the guest rooms until you feel better.’

Eden shook her head.‘I don’t think… I can’t…’ She wasn’t ready to step into his world, not like this, not looking like a zombie with a contagious disease, and so sleepy she could barely form sentences.

‘Eden, all you need to do right now is to walk to the house and up one flight of stairs,’ Mick told her, in what Eden recognised as a ‘Scary Mummy, don’t test me’ voice.It had been her mum’s default setting.

She didn’t want to.Walk, that is.Sleep she could do, right here and right now.

Eden felt a warm, big hand on her back and turned too fast, her feet half left the ground as her body went one way and her balance the other.She caught a glimpse of a wide chest covered in a white shirt, and a strong tanned neck, before being swept off her feet by a solid arm under her legs and another around her back.

‘I’ll carry her back to the house, Mick.’His voice, deep and delicious, rumbled through her, and Eden, exhausted, rested her cheek against his pec as every muscle in her body lengthened and stretched.Maybe it was the medication, maybe it was him, but she instantly relaxed.Was this what safety felt like?

She liked it.She shouldn’t, but she did.

‘Dammit, Jed, you can’t!’Mick half-yelled.

Jed’s grip tightened.‘Why not?’

‘You are covered in horse dander and hair,’ Mick retorted.

Jed put her down and told her to stand.Off balance, she locked her knees and watched him whip off his shirt and shove it into the back of his jodhpurs.Eden watched, mouth open, as he strode over to the hose attached to the outside tap, and doused his head with water, then his chest, and back of his neck.His muscles bunched and rippled as he stroked water off his body with a broad hand, and droplets flew as he shook his head.

She felt off balance and woozy, tired but wired.And so turned on that she expected her panties to burst into flames at any moment.Hot, hot, hot… or was that from the allergic reaction?A bit of both?

Jed returned and scooped her up, cradling her against his now cool, damp, bare, wide-as-Australia chest.‘Whatever I have left on me isn’t going to make a difference, Mick,’ he snapped.He looked down, and their eyes connected.The fuzzy edges of sleep and the narcotic efforts of the antihistamine distorted his image, but he was still ridiculously, stupendously sexy.

‘Put her down, and I’ll walk her up,’ Mick sounded annoyed, but from very far away.

‘She’s woozy, and besides, we need you down at the field,’ Jed said.‘Kit fell off and has dislocated his shoulder again.You need to go shove it back in.’

Mick dropped an F-bomb.‘That’s the third time in two years.That man is a lunatic.’

‘You go attend to him; I’ll take her up to the house,’ he said and tightened his grip as he started to walk, his stride steady and sure.Eden curled up in his arms, put both her hands between her cheek and his chest and allowed sleep to claim her.

She’d deal with whatever madness life had handed her later.

* * *

‘Jungkook!’

‘Jin!’

‘Seriously?Jungkook for the win.’