Page 50 of Royally Bad

Unless that guy Jameson robbed me.Gritting my teeth, I decided to worry about that when it came up.

Rosel jumped some short bushes, my teeth rattling on the landing. Beyond the wall of green hedges surrounding us, I looked for a hint of pavement. Ahead of me, miles and miles of fields waved.Keep going,I told myself firmly.It’ll become a road eventually!

The wind whipped, lightening my spirit. Years since I’d ridden ... and it still made me feel so free. I was lightning, a leaf, the sun and the sky. I felt and tasted everything, Mother Nature calling my name.

It was kind of serene, when you thought about it.

“Sammy!”

That wasn’t fucking Mother Nature at all. Twisting, I gawked back in disbelief at the figure in the distance. Like a knight out on patrol, Kain burst across the field upon a glossy, black stallion. I’d expected to be pursued, but I thought it would happen much later—and by someone else.

How was he already on my tail?

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 fromhim?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.

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