Page 41 of The Duke's Surprise Heir

“I can see the horses running towards us! Are they hurrying to come say hi to you?” she cooed to Kyle, noticing that his arms and legs were bouncing harder and faster as her little darling saw the horses in the distance. He let out a shrill sound, one she’d never heard him make before, and every horse in the pasture turned to race towards him. One particularly huge brown horse was in the lead.

As soon as they were close enough, the horses slowed and lined up along the fence, one whinnying as the biggest horse reached out to snuffle at Kyle’s tummy. Kyle giggled, his little hands reaching out to touch the horse’s muzzle.

“Lady, I need you to come away from the fence.”

Macie heard the voice, but the words didn’t make sense. Turning, she squinted at the short man who…had a gun pointed at her.

“What’s going on?”

The man chuckled and waved his gun, indicating that Macie should move away. “Like I said, move away from the fence. I like horses and I don’t want to risk missing you and hitting one.”

Macie’s arms tightened around Kyle, but she wasn’t sure how to protect her son. “Why?”

“Because you wouldn’t leave things alone, from what I understand. You didn’t heed my last warning about snooping through the Linx stuff.” With an impatient huff, he shook his head. “I slashed your tires, bitch!” he exclaimed with a disgusted shake of his head. “When you didn’t stop, I burned your freaking house down! That was your final warning!”

“You…you’re the one that burned my house?” she demanded, anger overwhelming her fear of this putrid excuse for a human. “You destroyed everything in my life? Why? Because I was digging into company data? I didn’t even know what was going on until you forced me to leave my house and come here!” She was really angry now. “If you’d just left me alone, I never would have had the time to figure out what your cohorts were doing!”

There was a moment’s stunned surprise, but the man rallied quickly and shrugged. “Shut up, stupid cow! I told you, I warned you!”

Macie’s eyes narrowed, her anger at a full boil now. “And I’m telling you that you’re a stupid idiot!” The man stepped closer, flipping off the safety on the back of the pistol. That froze out all of the anger, shifting to terror at the sound.

“Are you seriously insulting me?”

Macie’s heart thudded now. “No. Not insulting you,” she replied, her voice barely a whisper as fear for Kyle threatened to choke her. “Just…can we talk about this?” It was such a stupid line, something that every actor in every movie used. Why did it sound just as trite now?

Carefully, Macie set Kyle down on the soft grass, thinking to step away from him, to lure the man away from her son. With Kyle on the ground, maybe the man with the gun would shoot her and leave Kyle here. If she were killed, Macie guessed that Ms. Kealy would eventually look outside and would see Kyle in the grass. Kyle would be fine. Kyle would be found and he’d be safe.

“What the hell are you doing?” he growled, looking at Kyle on the grass, then at Macie.

There were strange noises coming at her from all sides, but her focus remained on the gun. Kyle had to survive. That was the only thought that kept thrumming through her head. Get the man away from Kyle.

If she’d been less panicked, she might have realized the helicopter sounds were growing louder. Or maybe she’d have noticed someone driving hell bent up the driveway. But there was no chance she could have missed seeing the massive horse that came out of nowhere from behind her. Macie gasped with shock as Sanford, the giant brown gelding, leapt over the fence and reared, kicking the short man in the face. The man squealed with pain, then dropped to the ground, unconscious.

Macie stared at the man for a long time, then turned to look at the horse. He was standing protectively over Kyle, snorting at the man lying on the wet grass.

Sanford had kicked the killer to protect Kyle? Dear heaven!

Quickly, Macie rushed over and kicked the pistol out of the man’s reach. Then, she grabbed her phone and started to dial nine-nine-nine. The horse nuzzled her hand and, because she was shaking so badly, the phone fell to the ground.

Macie burst into tears, leaning her forehead against the soft muzzle of the giant horse. Kyle was happy to watch the show, but the horse, obviously understanding Macie’s terror, didn’t move. He supported Macie’s weight, and kept his large body between Kyle and the bad guy.

That’s when she heard shouting. Macie didn’t have the strength to lift her head up, so she simply turned, still leaning against Sanford. That’s when she watched Edward racing towards her, a panicked look in his eyes. Behind him were two other men that looked vaguely familiar, but Macie only had eyes for Edward as he pulled her into his arms.

“Damn it, Macie!You’re safe!You’re safe!”

“Kyle!” she sobbed, burying her face against Edward’s neck. “Sanford protected Kyle!”

Edward looked around and spotted Kyle, his eyes huge as he watched the tableau from the ground. Edward laughed softly, shaking his head. “You, my little man, are beyond adorable!” he exclaimed as he walked over to pick Kyle up. Then Edward leaned his forehead against Sanford. The big horse snuffled Kyle and the tickling began all over again.

“I thought I’d lost you,” Edward whispered to Macie, holding his family close. “Antonio recognized the hired killer from the airport. We weren’t sure we’d get here in time.”

Macie laughed, kissing Sanford’s nose. “Apparently, you didn’t need to. We have a hero right here at the house!”

Sanford lifted his head, shaking out his mane. That’s when he realized that the other horses, still behind the fence, had discovered the bag of apples and carrots. They were working together to tear open the bag.

Macie laughed. Edward groaned. Sanford bellowed his outrage. And Kyle wiggled. It was a perfect ending to an absolutely miserable scene.

The police were called and they took custody of Ricky Palmero. After a hearty meal, Antonio and Sean settled into their rooms for the night.

---