Page 104 of On the Wild Side

My daughter is the most important thing.

So, I send a text to my crew to fill them in on what’s happening, and then I lock the door behind me and drive out to the ranch, straight to the barn.

“I think she’s fine,” Erin assures me as I get out of the car. “But she’s favoring her wrist a bit. Scared her more than anything.”

“I bet. It would scare me, too.” I smile at her and then look over to where my baby is sitting with Holly and Johnny. “Hey, baby. I hear you took a fall.”

She nods and then starts to cry again, and I inwardly roll my eyes. She’d already calmed down, but now she has to turn the tears back on for my benefit.

Which is fine.

“Come on, pretty girl. We’re going to the doctor.”

“She wasn’t going too fast or anything,” Johnny says as he and his sister walk with Daisy. “It happened so fast. I don’t know what went wrong.”

“Sometimes, people just fall,” I tell him and pat him on the shoulder. “There wasn’t anything you could have done.”

He’s just like his dad and uncles, wanting to protect everyone. He’s the cutest kid, and I’m so glad that Daisy is growing up with him and Holly.

I get Daisy buckled into her seat and then wave as I leave the ranch.

“Does it hurt, babes?”

She nods, holding the wrist against her chest, and that makes me frown. Maybe shedidbreak it.

I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

The emergency room isn’t busy when we walk in, and to my surprise, we’re whisked right back to a little room where a nurse takes Daisy’s vitals and then asks her what happened.

“I was riding a horse, and I fell off.”

“Well, that’ll do it, won’t it?” The nurse smiles up at me. “Dr. Blackwell will be in very soon.”

That’s right. I remember the girls saying that one of the Blackwell brothers is a doctor. If he looks anything like Brooks or Bridger, he’s hot with a capital H.

Wasthiswhat put the pit in my stomach all day? It’s not gone, but then, I’m sitting at the hospital with my injured daughter, so it makes sense that I’m still a little off.

“Did you tell Brady that I fell?” Daisy asks me.

“Not yet.” I don’t know if I should. He rides in just a couple of hours, and I don’t want to take his focus away from that bull and doing what he needs to do. “I think we’ll wait until we know for sure what’s wrong, okay?”

Daisy nods. “I miss him.”

“I know, baby. He’ll be home tomorrow night.”

“Hello, I’m Dr. Blackwell.”

Yep. Hot with a capital H. Jesus, do they just breed hot men in Montana? Is it in the water?

“Hi, I’m Abbi Kastella,” I reply, shaking his hand. “And this is Daisy.”

“Abbi,” he says with a smile. “You help run the Iconic Women’s Collective.”

“Yes, I do. I know your sister, Billie.”

“Billie loves what you’re doing. She talks about it all the time. Now, let’s focus on Daisy, shall we? What happened?”

We tell him the story of Daisy falling off the horse, and he nods as he gently takes Daisy’s arm in his hands.

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