Page 8 of Darla's Christmas Knight
“Nooo! I fink the ’nado took him.”
“Hmm. Tornadoes are real nasty, aren’t they?”
“Uh-huh. It smashed our house.”
“I know. That is very sad. Honey, can you be a very brave girl for me while I clean your leg?”
Big brown watery eyes gave her a serious look. “I fink so,” Mia whispered. “Mr. Bobby said you’ll fix my leg lickety-split. He said you’re the bestest ever.”
Bestest ever?Taken aback, it took Darla a moment to speak again. “Well, then, best I get right to it.”
*
It was later that afternoon when Darla saw Bobby again. He caught her off guard once more, even though she had been actively searching for him, if only to steer clear of him.
“How is Mia?” he asked.
Bestest ever.Mia’s words blasted into her mind.But not enough to love,Darla tagged on. “She’ll be fine. No stitches required.”
“Good.”
She wanted him gone. Out of her space. As far away as needed to stop her stomach fluttering and her heart pounding.
Yet he stood there, watching her watch him, the brim of his hat casting shadows across the cut angles and sharp lines of his too handsome face.
She stepped back, intent on turning. Running.
His hand closed around her forearm.
She hadn’t felt his touch in years. Her skin burned beneath his grip.
A dark, urgent,unwantedhunger tore through her.
A hunger for more of his touch.
More ofhim.
He stepped closer. A hint of citrus mixed with the smell of sweat and dust emanated from him. “Do you know where they went?”
“Huh?” She battled out from under the haze of desire and stared at him, confused. “What?”
He dropped his arm. She felt the loss keenly.
“Mia and her mum,” he articulated. “Do you know where they are?”
She thought hard. “Um … they were looking for … uh, their friends who arrived to fetch them.”
Shit, Darla Miller. Get a grip.
“Do you know who?”
Mentally shaking off the fog courtesy of Bobby Bell, she narrowed her eyes. “Why?”
He held out a very dirty knitted toy. It was a faded pink, with long floppy ears, dangly legs and arms, and three large white buttons on the torso. “I found Buttons. Well, Ithinkit’s Buttons. It was sticking out from under a broken drawer not far from where Mia injured herself.”
Incredulous, she looked from the toy to the man. “You went looking for her toy?”
“Figured it would help her accept” — his gaze took in the devastation around them — “this.”
