Chapter 38
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Thunder had never ridden so fast. It was as if she could sense the urgency.
She was in her element. Dylan put his head down and just let her fly.
They hurtled over the landscape in the direction of the Silver H Polo Club—somewhere Dylan had never been and had never had any intention of going.
Cutting across the wide expanse of grass, Thunder rode like she had wings on her heels.
Before he knew it, Dylan could see the pillars of the goalposts and crowded grandstand.
Flags flying. Rows of cars, windshields glistening in the sunshine.
Getting closer, he felt a strange apprehension at facing the Carter brothers en masse. He thought about his run-in with Brodie at the football and the way it had left him feeling—vulnerable, like a layer of his skin had disappeared. If those brothers chose to, they could take him down easy.
The match was in full swing. Dylan could see the ponies charging down the pitch, hear the crack of the stick on the ball. It was impossible to discern the different players until he got closer and even then, he didn’t know what color Logan’s team was wearing.
The only way was to charge Thunder right up to the goal line.
Seeing a loan black horse approach the pitch at speed, the umpire immediately blew the whistle to stop play. Spectators stood up from the stands in surprise. The players pulled their ponies up short.
Suddenly Brodie Carter was charging over, whipping his sunglasses off and shouting, “What the heck do you think you’re doing? Are you crazy?”
Dylan wasn’t listening, he was scouring the players for Logan.
Brodie got closer, sweat beading his irate face. “You trying to sabotage this on purpose, Hawkins? Is that what you’re doing?”
Up ahead, Logan was coming fast down the pitch on a gray dappled horse.
Ignoring Brodie and the fierce whistles of the umpire, Dylan urged Thunder through the players and cupping his mouth so Logan, who was steaming at the interruption, could hear, shouted, “Your wife’s having her baby!”
Brodie cursed behind him. Dylan allowed himself a childish prickle of pleasure at having caught him out.
Then Logan pulled up sharply alongside him, stricken-faced. “She can’t be!”
“Well, she is, and she wants you.” With a click of his tongue Dylan started Thunder back the way they’d come.
Logan caught up quick. “Is she all right?”
“As all right as someone in premature labor in an old farmhouse can be,” Dylan replied, then he saw how ashen Logan looked and added, “Maeve’s with her. And Willow.”
He could see Logan trying to rationalize, but his brain clearly wasn’t working and his hands were shaking.
Dylan took pity on him. “She’s okay, Logan. Come on, let’s go.”
Logan looked at him, eyes bewildered, and nodded. Dylan raised his chin in response and they set off together, Dylan knowing the quickest route back to his land.
It was only when he heard the extra hoofbeats that he glanced behind him and saw Brodie and Noah were coming up alongside him as well.
He wondered what it must have looked like to the crowd. All four of them—Carters and a Hawkins—abandoning the match to ride away together across the plains.