Page 59 of Apple of My Eye

Knox’s eyes held steady on mine. He slanted his mouth to me and kissed me. Right there. In the middle of the pavilion. In front of all of Forest Grove. I kissed him back, my heart pounding out of my chest at the warmth and taste of him that I’d become more and more addicted to.

When we pulled apart, I smiled in the way I could not entirely control. He straightened his hat on my head with one finger, expression cocky and satisfied all the way to his eyes.

“There,” he said quietly. “Was that so hard?”

“Quiet, cowboy.”

He laughed. “That’s right. You wear the hat, you take a nice ride on your cowboy.”

“Later.” I fluttered my eyelashes at him.

“Promise?”

“Guess you’ll find out when you come over tonight.” I winked at him.

“Be waiting for me, naked in your bed,” he growled.

I bit my lip and pulled back enough to join the crowd, clapping for the end of Nicoletta’s song.

Ash grabbed Knox and said something to him I couldn’t hear above the applause.

His face fell. “Sweetheart, I have to go check on something.”

“That’s fine. I need a drink and the restroom,” I said.

“I’ll find you,” he promised.

I handed him back his hat, rose on my tiptoes and pecked his cheek. “You better.”

The portable restrooms were beside the main barn, which took me away from the pavilion and the lights and the crowd. I did my business quickly, thinking about nothing in particular, still warm and fuzzy from the dance and the kiss with Knox. Sage’s words played through my head. I walked lighter than I had in longer than I could honestly account for.

I headed back to the pavilion when a deputy stepped into my path. Young. Unfamiliar face. His name tag read DEPUTY SUEZ.

“Excuse me, are you Daisy Wylde? The farrier?”

“I am.”

He gave me a sheepish, shy grin. “I hate to bother you at an event, ma’am. The horse I was posted with tonight started limping. I tied him up in the stable, and someone said I shouldcome find you or the vet and ask if you’d have a look at it. Well, I found you first.”

“Of course, I’ll help.” Anything to do with horses and I was there. “Which leg?”

“Uh, the front right, I think. Yeah, I’ve got him just around in the back of the stable.”

I followed him further away from the music and the noise, to the back side of the barn and then over to the rear of the stable. It was darker than it should have been there; the light above the main door must have burnt out. An ATV was parked nearby.

When we entered, he held the door open for me, and I proceeded in ahead of him. I could barely see by moonlight. But I knew by heart which stall belonged to which horse. Juniper was first on the right, and pawing the ground, grunting with her ears back, which wasn’t like her. Scarlett and Rhett stood in the far stall, moving about, restless. Tank, on the left, reared up, the big horse almost knocking down his door.

“Hey, it’s just me,” I called out to them. I turned to the deputy. “Where’s your horse?” Only the behavior of those animals sent a signal up my spine half a second too late.

Something hard connected with the back of my head.

The stable faded as I fell, blacking out by the time I hit the ground. My last thought was of Knox’s words:“I’ll find you…”

Chapter Eighteen

Knox

Operation Daisy had been runningsince six this evening.