Nodding Hendrixx kissed me again, this time on the lips. “Come on baby, you are going to the hospital, and I am not arguing with you about it, so don’t even bother,” he commanded when he saw I was about to protest. I hated hospitals, hated the waiting, and the poking and the prodding, then more waiting. I didn’t have time to wait, I had two horses waiting to have their healing sessions, not to mention, we had a load of new cattle arriving this afternoon. Fenixx was over at Waterford for the day overseeing castration there, so the last thing we needed was to be two more workers down here.
Hendrixx stood up, then leaned down and carefully slipped one arm under my knees and the other around my back on my uninjured side, easily lifting me from the ground.
“You okay, Blake?” he asked quickly.
“Yeah honey, just worried about Lancelot,” I admitted, deliberately keeping to myself that the pain was getting worse now my adrenaline was wearing off. When it first happened, I had been so worried about Lance, the pain had been tolerable, it hurt like a bitch, but not like it was now.
“I’ll call Fenixx and get him to come back as soon as possible to look him over, now can you worry about yourself for a second please, baby?”
Settling as comfortably as I could against his chest, I sighed.
“Anything you say, Hendrixx,” I allowed, telling him what he wanted to hear.
“Ha! That will be the day,” he chortled, starting up the hill towards where the utes were parked.
“Um, excuse me, can you not see me standing here?” Mr idiot Roberts sneered, his narky tone stopping Hendrixx mid-stride.
“You are lucky my girl is in my arms mate, if she wasn’t, then you would be eating your own teeth about now,” Hendrixx threatened, his arms around me tensing.
“I am buying a horse from the owners of this establishment, such as it is. It is appalling to me that instead, this woman,” he spat out the word like it was an insult, “would show me a horse worth the money I am prepared to pay. Where exactly are the owners? I expected to be shown the colt by someone who knows what they are doing. Not that she isn’t easy on the eyes, a bit dirty and rough around the edges, but fair breasts and a decent face for a country girl that is.”
I gaped open-mouthed at the audacity of him, Fenixx might have spoken to him on the phone to set up the appointment, but I am the one that meets with them, walks them through the procedure, and initiates the meet and greet between buyer and horse. Friggin’ all of it!
I was about to tell him this when Hendrixx’s whole body stiffened, turning us around, Drixx gently lowered me to the ground.
“Stand here for a minute baby, don’t move from this spot,” he murmured softly, but his blue eyes were firing, his jaw ticked, and his face was like a thunder cloud, but I didn’t feel even an ounce of fear. Hendrixx was mad and was about to live up to his last name.
Nodding once, he took my hand on my good side, he turned back to face Mr Roberts, then hooked my fingers in the back of his belt. “Close,” he muttered, and my heart melted on the spot. Being loved by this sweet man is going to be a real good ride, I had no doubts about that.
Curling my fingers tighter around the leather belt, I followed Hendrixx as he stalked two steps forward, getting right up in Roberts’ personal space.
“Your name, what is it?” Hendrixx demanded, his tone demanding compliance.
“Liam Roberts, a friend of mine, Arabella Conger bought a horse from the Triple H last year and referred me to the Hott brothers. Who are you?” Roberts sniffed, giving Hendrixx the once over with narrowed eyes. Obviously, the idiot had never done a hard day’s work in his well-manicured life, nor seen anyone in jeans and boots that didn’t have a fancy designer label with the designer price tag.
“Well, Liam Roberts, my name is Hendrixx Hott, COO of HBC and co-owner of the Triple H. The lady behind me is the head horse-breaker and stables manager. She says if a horse can be sold and to whom, and guess what mate?” Hendrixx leaned forward, grabbing Roberts by the scruff of his silk necktie. “You won’t be getting squat. I will be ringing Bella to let her know the Triple H won’t be doing business with you.”
I would have jumped with glee if my butt didn’t hurt so much from falling on it and if I didn’t have a hoof imprint on my collar bone, instead, I did the next best thing and looked around Hendrixx and gave the idiot my middle finger in a gesture he probably didn’t understand but deserved.
“You are Hendrixx Hott? But you look like a common stable hand!” The spluttered reply came out in a rasped and scared voice, most likely because Hendrixx still had his tie in a choke hold.
“It’s called work mate, you might want to try it one day. Oh, by the way, for future reference, when addressing a woman the way you just did Blake, I suggest you don’t talk that way about a woman ever again. And that goes especially for the love of my life.”
Just as I was about to voice my agreement with another finger gesture, Liam inexplicably crumbled to the ground.
What the hell? Did he faint?
“What happened to him?” I asked surprised, leaving my position behind Hendrixx to gape at the sight of the crumpled unconscious man, momentarily forgetting the pain to prod Roberts with the toe of my boot.
“Glass jaw, typical suit,” Hendrixx grunted, taking me in his arms again, dismissing the form on the ground to give me his attention.
“You hit him! When?”
