A Dark & Stormy Knight: A McKnight Romance (McKnight Romances) (27 page)

God, how would he survive this? The pain
made him lash out. “Well, that’s just fine, Georgia. Are you going to tell your
friend
what you were doing that made you miss his call?”

Her eyes spit fire at him. Since he’d all
but called her a cheat, he had no doubt that, if he’d been within arm’s reach,
he’d be wearing her palm print on his face now. Instead, she kicked her horse
into a lope and left him behind.

It was just as well. He’d taken too long
to figure out he should court her, and the last thing he wanted was her to see
him grieving for what he’d lost.

Sol still hadn’t ridden in when Georgia
turned her horse out into the paddock. Normally, she’d have hunted Eden down to
say good-bye before she left, but that was a less-than-stellar idea when she
was so furious with Sol. She hadn’t meant to be brutal, but he’d made her feel
guilty.

No, that wasn’t true. In the heat of the
moment, she had meant it.

She didn’t like feeling guilty and had
let herself be too honest with him, but that was no excuse, she thought as she
got in her car and buckled up. Then again, his question had caught her off
guard. She’d expected him to ask again why she’d left him. Asking why she’d
cried? That only made it worse.

She stabbed the key into the ignition and
started her car.

And why did she feel as though she’d done
something wrong? She hadn’t promised him her future. If anyone deserved her
guilty thoughts, wouldn’t it be Daniel? Of course, they were still just
friends. They hadn’t made any promises yet, but still . . .

As she pulled onto the road, she tried to
let it go.

It was a shame the day had ended the way
it had. It would have been such a good memory. Why did Daniel have to call at
just the wrong moment and ruin it? They’d talked only yesterday and . . .
She stopped and double-checked her memory. Yes, they had talked yesterday. They
didn’t call each other every day. Their pattern was every two or three days.
Was something wrong? It might be something as simple as needing to take Tink to
the vet, but there was always the possibility something had happened to Deanne.
She hadn’t even looked to see if he’d left a message.

Georgia was coming up on The Lariat, so
she pulled into the parking lot and looked at her phone. He had left a message.

“Hi. Hoped I’d catch you, but I know you’re
busy. Give me a call when you can. Bye.”

That didn’t sound like bad news, but she
was curious now, so she hit the callback button.

“What’s up?” she asked when he answered.

“Oh, nothing really.”

Did he think she didn’t know him at all?
Daniel was a guy. He didn’t call just to chat. “Come on, Daniel. Talk to me.”

“I’ve just been missing you and our
heart-to-hearts. That’s all.”

Something was definitely up. With their
daughters being best friends, they’d had their share of heartfelt discussions,
but those usually occurred organically. Daniel initiated them only when he was
worried he was screwing up as a parent. “You can always talk to me. You know
that.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, I do.”

“So what’s on your mind?”

“Lots of things, actually.”

“Daniel.” She said his name with a
warning in her voice that he should stop pussy-footing around.

“Okay. I’ve been thinking I need to make
some changes in my life.”

“And?”

“And you know I’ve spent a couple of long
weekends with Tracy and Deanne.”

“Yes.”

“It’s been really good for me.”

Normally, that might have panicked her,
but Sol had worn her patience too thin for worry to get its foot in the door. “Daniel,
if you don’t stop dancing around whatever you want to say, I’m going to reach
through this phone and strangle you.”

He exhaled noisily. “You know, most of
the time, I think it’s really great, having a woman friend. Then there are
moments like this.” Before she could ask what she’d said wrong, he continued. “You
never let me hedge.” His sigh sounded like surrender. “So here’s the deal. I
see the changes Tracy’s made in her life, and I realized I’ve been stuck in one
place. I’ve been angry at her for so long, I haven’t been able to see past it
but, you know, someday Deanne’s going to be gone, and if I don’t want to be a
lonely, bitter, old man, I’ve got to do something different.”

Georgia’s heart started to pound. Could
they be on the same page at last? It sounded as though he’d finally gotten
closure with Tracy, and now he wanted something different. Something more. He
had said he was missing her; maybe this was the moment she’d been waiting for.

“You know, I don’t think this is
something I want to talk about on the phone,” Daniel said. “Would it be a
horrible intrusion if I drove over there this weekend?”

Georgia’s palms were suddenly sweaty. She
felt as nervous as a woman whose boyfriend had unexpectedly gone down on one
knee. She changed the phone to her other ear, so she could wipe her palm on her
jeans.

“I’d love to see you, but do you really
want to drive all that way?” It had to be serious if he wanted to make a three-hour
trip.

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

Georgia’s heartbeat jumped again. “This
can’t wait until I get home?” she asked, testing his resolve.

“Yeah, it could. But I don’t think
I
can wait that long.”

And then, she remembered. “Oh, damn. This
is the weekend Eden’s riding in her first rodeo.”
First and, God willing,
her last.
“So I’m sure it’s going to be a bit frantic.” She laughed
nervously. “Or maybe that’s me who’ll be frantic.”

What was she doing? In a week, he could
change his mind. She needed to get him on record as wanting a serious
relationship. “But you’re still welcome,” she said in a rush. “I’m sure Eden
would think it’s cool if you came, and as an added bonus, the rodeo’s only
about an hour from Dallas.”

Daniel sounded relieved. “If you think
you could carve out some time for us to talk, I’d love to be there to give Eden
moral support. You know how fond I am of her.”

It was really happening, Georgia thought.
And just when she’d almost given up. “Then you should definitely come.”

“Maybe I can even bring Deanne. I’ll talk
to Tracy.”

“Eden would love that.”

After they hung up, Georgia realized she’d
added a layer of complication to her life. Would Sol be too busy with Eden to
cause her any grief over Daniel? She could hope but she wouldn’t count on it.

At least she wouldn’t have to introduce
Daniel to her family. She and Daniel were good together, but they were no Romeo
and Juliet. She wasn’t sure Daniel wouldn’t take one look at her family, turn
tail, and run for the hills. The Capulets en masse might not have been enough
to scare Romeo off, but he’d probably have thought twice if he’d ever met
Juliet’s mother.

###

Sol hadn’t spoken to Georgia since their
ride, so he was surprised when she showed up Saturday morning and sought him
out. He’d expected her to hang out with Daisy and Eden as they prepped the
horse trailer, not come looking for him out at the corral where he and his
brothers were loading bulls into the stock limo, an eighteen-wheeler with a
stock trailer the McKnights shared with one of their neighbors.

A tip of her head had him following her
far enough from the others that they could expect some privacy. She took a deep
breath before starting.

Now what?
he thought, recognizing the signal that
this wasn’t going to be an easy conversation.

“You know Deanne is Eden’s best friend,
right?”

“Kinda hard to miss. They talk nearly
every day.”

“Daniel is Deanne’s father.” Georgia
watched him with cautious eyes. “He wants to show his support for Eden, so he’s
coming today.”

Great. Just fucking great.

“I’d really appreciate it if you could be
on your best behavior,” Georgia said. “If you won’t do that for me, do it for
Eden. She doesn’t need our drama distracting her today.”

Dammit. She was right. He’d been hanging
on to his anger because, if he let it go, he was afraid of what he’d feel.
Afraid he’d go down on his knees and beg Georgia not to marry some other bozo.
But as good as it would feel to let go on Daniel, it would only hurt Eden. He
worked his jaw, looking for a way to agree that didn’t make him feel like a
wuss. “All right. I’ll behave. As long as you don’t rub my nose in it.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me. I ain’t doing this for
you.”

Georgia nodded glumly. “Thank you anyway,”
she said before she turned and walked away.

He felt as if she were walking away
forever.

###

Georgia joined Daisy and Eden. She sat
back and watched, impressed with how Daisy included Eden in every step.
Together, they secured the pads on the walls of the trailer that would protect
the mare.

It was as if Georgia hadn’t seen her
daughter in months and now saw her through fresh eyes. Eden wasn’t just growing
up. She was maturing.

As proud as it made Georgia, she also
felt a twinge of the same emotion Sol had been suffering, that sense that her
time with Eden was running out. Was she too late to shape what her daughter
would expect from the boys she dated? If she’d only realized sooner what she
needed to do. But she couldn’t change the past. She’d do what she could now and
hope it made a difference.

As Zach pulled the stock limo out onto
the road, Sol and Gideon joined them at the horse trailer. Sol’s greeting was
brief, almost curt, but not so much that it caught either Eden’s or Daisy’s
attention. Of course, Georgia suspected a bomb blast might not have broken
their focus.

Sol and Gideon busied themselves double-checking
the pickup’s roadworthiness, but Georgia saw it as a convenient excuse for Sol
to ignore her.

She offered to help Daisy, but her
assistance was turned down. Sol’s sister was determined to handle as many of the
logistics for Spitfire’s debut as she could. Daisy even tried to convince her
brothers to let her drive the transport trailer to the rodeo. They said no—a
little too loudly, Georgia thought—but she was secretly relieved. She didn’t
think she was being sexist in doubting that Daisy could handle the
pickup-trailer combo. After all, the girl was only eighteen, and she looked too
fragile to manhandle anything bigger than a toy tractor.

When she discovered later that Daisy had
acquired the nickname Crash shortly after she’d gotten her driver’s license,
Georgia stopped feeling disloyal to her sex. Only one of Daisy’s “little
mishaps” had been a real accident, Gideon told her as they watched Sol pull the
trailer up to the horse barn where Eden waited with Spitfire, but they happened
with a regularity that worried the family. Georgia was glad she’d insisted Eden
ride with her.

Spitfire turned out to be an easy loader,
and before Georgia knew it, they were ready to go. Gideon waved a so-long as
they pulled out of the ranch with Daisy riding shotgun in the pickup next to
Sol. Georgia and Eden followed in her Kia.

“I’ve got a surprise for you,” Georgia
said when they were on the freeway.

“What?”

“Daniel’s coming to show his support.”

Eden lit up. “Is he bringing Deanne?”

“I don’t know. He said he’d try.”

Eden’s smile went neon.

“I said, ‘try,’“ Georgia cautioned. “If
she’s not there, don’t make Daniel feel bad because you’re disappointed. He’s
really excited for you. And we haven’t seen him all summer.”

Eden nodded. “Yes, Mama.” She spent a
thoughtful moment. “I’m glad he’ll be there to see me ride.”

“You’ve been talking to Deanne, haven’t
you?”

Eden nodded.

“How is she getting along with her
mother?”

“Good.”

Georgia reached across the console to
squeeze the ticklish spot on Eden’s knee. “Hey. You’re not a teenager yet. Talk
to me.”

Eden giggled and pushed Georgia’s hand
away.

“Tell me what your BFF’s been doing.”

Eden started chattering about Deanne’s
visit with her mother and how she was getting to know her maternal grandparents
better.

“Daniel’s been there a few times,”
Georgia said. “How’s that gone?”

“She said it was weird at first, but it’s
good now.”

Why was everyone so hard to get
information from?

Georgia let Eden plug in a CD. With a
start, she recognized the music as John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band, an
old, underappreciated, rock group Daniel liked and had introduced his
daughter—and by extension Eden—to.

So maybe it wasn’t something monumental
like Eden adopting high expectations of how a boy should treat her, but as her
daughter bebopped along to the music, Georgia realized Eden was paying
attention to this great guy and seeing value in the things he had to share.
Eden was lucky to have Daniel in her life. They both were.

And things were about to get so much
better. They would still have their friendship but with an added romantic
element. They’d date. Eew. She wrinkled her nose. Dating felt so . . .
high school. People dated to get to know each other. She and Daniel were
already past that.

So maybe they’d court. That was an
old-fashioned term, but she liked it better than dating. Plus, courting implied
marriage as the objective. Georgia liked that and she hoped, with Daniel’s
changed attitude, he’d like it, too. She felt a twinge at the thought of kissing
him in front of Eden and Deanne. How weird would that be? She shook off the
twinge. They’d get used to it.