Page 70 of Riding High

She gripped Henry’s hand so hard he gasped.

Henry tugged his hand from hers and shook out his fingers.‘Jeez, Eden, you nearly broke my fingers.’

To hell with his fingers, he’d recover.The Bancrofts were here.This party wasn’t big enough for her to hide from them, so she needed to leavenow, before they saw her.And because Henry was the Duke and a drawcard, she needed to get away from him as soon as possible.Putting her back to where they stood, she looked up at Henry.‘I’ve got to go,’ she told him.‘I need to leave.Right now.’

He threw up his hands.‘But why?What’s wrong?’

‘I can’t be—’ She pulled back her words and shook her head.She touched her temple with the tips of her fingers.‘I have a headache and need to go.’

‘A headache?It came on so quickly?’Henry asked, sounding sceptical.

Eden thought fast.‘I think it might be the start of an allergic reaction,’ she lied.She hated lying but it was the only valid excuse she had for leaving the party so abruptly.‘I’m going to have to take an allergy pill, but I didn’t bring any with me.’

‘I’m sure I have some?—’

She shook her head, quite violently.‘No, Mick told me I have to be quite careful about what I take.’Now she was dragging Mick into her subterfuge.She laid a hand on Henry’s arm.‘Do me a favour, please?’When he nodded, still looking unconvinced, she continued, her words coming fast.‘Please tell Jed that I’ve taken his car home and ask him to hitch a lift with one of his sibs or Troyden.’

Henry grimaced.‘EvenIknow that Jed hates anyone driving his E-type.’

Right, that.Eden winced.She’d been surprised when, instead of leading her to his Land Rover, Jed steered her toward a garage behind his workshop and lifted the door to reveal a stunning cream, vintage Jaguar.

It was a sexy car, perfect for a guy wearing designer threads to drive a post-orgasmic woman to a fancy garden party.And she’d noticed the way his hand drifted over the bonnet, it was the same way he touched her.

‘I don’t think that’s a good idea, Eden,’ Henry told her, heart attack serious.

Well, running into the Bancrofts would be worse and she was out of options.She stood on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek.‘It’ll be fine, Henry,’ she assured him.‘And if he kills me, say nice things at my funeral, ’kay?’

Not giving him a chance to respond, she spun around and sped off toward the car park to put herself behind the wheel of Jed’s treasured car.She hadn’t driven in four years, and it had been a decade since she’d last driven manual.

She could either stay and have a confrontation with Tara and Vince, after the police raid, or take her chances with Jed’s car.The choice was really easy to make.

* * *

Jed made it to the car park just in time to see his beloved car– and the woman he was beginning to realise he was crazy about– passing through the ornate gates of Bythesea Hall.She took the corner too fast, the car had a lot of power, and even from a distance, he knew she was in the wrong gear.

Fuck.Fu-uck.

He pulled his phone from his pocket and dialled, his temper heating rapidly.He loved his car, but Eden’s safety was his priority.If anything happened to her, if she so much as broke as nail…

Her phone rang and rang, and eventually went to voicemail.He had enough sanity left to be happy that she had both hands on the wheel and wasn’t trying to handle the car and answer her phone.‘You’d better have a damn good explanation for this, Eden,’ he said, when her bog-standard ‘leave a message’ voicemail ended.

‘And you’d bloody well better text or call me when you get home.I want to know that you are in one piece.’

He rammed his phone into the inside pocket of his jacket and linked his hands behind his head, staring at the long driveway leading to the road.Should he call a taxi?Ask one of his sibs to run him home?But that would raise their curiosity, and he’d have to answer questions about what was wrong with Eden and why she’d bolted.

Whatwaswrong with Eden, and whydidshe bolt?

He’d been on his way to join her and Henry, unhappy at their hand-holding.But because he’d been caught in a conversation with a wealthy team owner who’d just pledged a significant amount to Hope Harbour, he couldn’t immediately disengage and plant his fist in Henry’s face.

Metaphorically.

Maybe.

It had taken him ten minutes to cross the garden and when he did, he hadn’t bought Henry’s explanation of Eden’s sudden disappearance due to an allergy attack.He’d been sleeping with her for a few weeks now, and brief contact and a kiss with his horse-dander-covered self wasn’t enough to bring on an allergic reaction.

She was a lot better than she’d been initially, and he knew she took a daily dose of antihistamines and that her allergy was under control.No, whatever had sent her bolting wasn’t an allergic reaction.But what?

Henry came to stand next to him and Jed whirled around, happy they were alone and that he had a target for his anger.‘What the fuck did you say to upset her?’