Bluegrass State of Mind (27 page)

“
I can understand that.
Will tried to explain what the name meant, but I just did the smile
and nod thing.”

“
Go on down to the barn
and I will see you next week for the party.” Betsy pointed down to
the road beside the house that led to the stallion barn.

Kenna walked to her car and was
putting the covered dish in the back seat when she heard the front
door open again.

“
Kenna!”

Kenna raised her head and smiled at
William. “Hi, Mr. Ashton.”

“
It’s William, and I
wanted to tell you to honk your horn when you are approaching the
barn. Normally we don’t want to disturb the horses. But since it is
dark out, we started this so Will knows it’s someone friendly
coming towards him. I wouldn’t want him to accidentally shoot
you.”

“
Shoot me?”

“
Yes, Will is sitting down
there with a loaded rifle, so make sure you announce
yourself.”

“
Is the rifle really
necessary?”

“
Well, Spires Landing is
insured for over thirty million dollars and Boots has the same
potential. Wouldn’t you use a gun to guard a barn with the combined
worth of sixty million dollars?”

“
I didn’t think about it
that way. I guess I would.”

“
Just be careful and make
sure you honk. Good night, hon.”

“
Good night, William.”
Kenna got into the driver’s seat and started down the small paved
road. She passed the some barns and followed the arrows pointing to
the stallion barn. When it finally came into view, she honked her
horn and saw the barn door open. Will stood there with a rifle
leaning against the open door.

She smiled and waved, though she knew
Will would have a hard time seeing the smile in the dim light. She
looked around for a place to park and saw Will’s truck in a small
parking lot on the far side of the circled driveway.

She parked and reached around to
retrieve Will’s dinner when she heard him open her door. “This is a
pleasant surprise. You’re right in time. I was just starting to
tell the horses about you.”

“
Good thing I decided to
come see you then.” She handed him the covered dish that had a big
BLT sandwich and chips on it to him. “I thought you might want a
snack.”

“
Thank you.” He put the
dish on top of the car and pulled her toward him for a searing
kiss. “Come on, I’ll show you around the barn and introduce you to
the boys.” He put his arm around her waist and led her to the
barn.

She got to meet Spires Landing first
and was shocked by how large he was. He seemed so imposing. But as
Will had mentioned, seemed only interested in the sugar cube she
had in her hand. He nuzzled her with approval when she opened her
palm to him.

Boots was just the opposite. He was
smaller and more compact. He wasn’t bought over by the sugar cube.
It took an apple to get him over on her side. “They’re incredible!
I can’t believe how much personality they have.”

“
Yeah, they’re something
alright. Boots has a sense of humor and likes to play with his
jockey before the race. Boots refuses to allow him to mount until
the jockey scratches him behind the ears. As soon as he does, Boots
lets him up. If he doesn’t, Boots dances around and will try to
buck him off. Spires, on the other hand, is nothing but a
sweetheart. He would be perfectly happy just letting people feed
and pet him.”

She went back to the hay bales set up
as a table to snack on some of the chips. “What is this floor made
out of? It kinda bounces.”

“
It’s made from old tires.
The rubber is easy on the horses and also very easy to
clean.”

Kenna sat down and grabbed a chip,
“You want some?”

“
If you’re
offering.”

She was about to reach for another
chip when she noticed he wasn’t going for the plate, but was
leaning down toward her. She lifted her face to his and melted into
his kiss. With his lips never leaving hers, he laid her back on a
bale of hay. She wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him
closer to her. She was rewarded when she felt his groan vibrate
through his chest and felt his erection through his jeans. He ran
one hand up and down her side, gently caressing the side of her
breast. She arched forward and moved his hand to cover her breast.
She sucked in a breath as she felt her breasts swell with
anticipation. He cupped her breast and traced his thumb around her
nipple until it was a rigid peak.

“
As much as I would like
to continue, I am expecting Jose to stay with me tonight. He should
be here in the next couple of minutes and I am not too partial to
the thought of anyone seeing you naked but me,” he groaned into her
neck before pushing away. “Besides, I have to get all this hay out
of your hair.”

Kenna bolted up, “Oh, I forgot! I
wanted to show you these works of art that Paige created for me to
wear to the Derby. I left them in the car. I’ll be right back.”
Kenna stood up and brushed some of the hay off of her pants and
tried to take a couple of pieces out from her hair before giving
up. She figured it would be easier to brush them out when she got
her purse from the car.

She heard Will take a bite of his
sandwich as she walked toward the open barn door. The sandwich had
been a good idea. She was halfway to her car when she heard the
first rumble in the night. She listened and decided it was
definitely from a truck. She started walking toward her car again
and smiled. It was a good thing she and Will stopped when they did
or Jose would have driven up at a very inopportune time.

She took another couple of steps
before she saw the truck lights break the hilltop just a ways from
her. Nothing seemed strange until the high beams were thrown.
Blinded, she heard the engine gun. The truck rocketed forward and
it took her only a minute to process that this wasn’t
Jose.

“
Shit!” Kenna turned back
toward the barn and took off at a dead run as fast as she could.
But she was too far away from the barn. The truck was going to be
able to cut her off. She looked up at the truck and decided to try
something new. She turned sharply away from the barn and ran
parallel to it a short distance to a four plank fence. She could
not make out any animals in the pasture through the darkness and
scrambled over the fence. With a bone-jarring thud her feet hit the
ground. “Oh, this is going to hurt in the morning,” she said to
herself through gritted teeth and she pushed off again into a
run.

“
Kenna!” She heard Will
yell before the first gun shot rang out. She wasn’t sure if it came
from the truck or if it came from Will. Since the truck was still
coming on fast, she wasn’t going to take the time to turn around to
find out.

She heard tires skidding and another
gun shot ring out. This time it was followed by the sound of
breaking glass and she was pretty sure Will had hit the truck. She
was in the dark now, stumbling over the uneven ground. She decided
to risk a quick peek. Turning her head, she saw the truck fishtail
and then break through the four plank fence. Boards went flying and
a horse cried out in front of her. She turned her head around right
before running into the horse. The headlights from the truck were
creeping towards her and she could see there were at least five
horses running away from the truck as it sped toward
her.

Her lungs were starting to burn and
her legs were going numb. She was taking deep, gulping breaths. She
couldn’t outrun a truck, but she could make tighter turns. She
immediately turned at a ninety degree angle and continued to do so
multiple times. She slowly worked her way back toward Will. The
truck had to slow to keep up with her constant changes in
direction. She was only a couple hundred yards away when she tried
to make the last push towards Will. But that was when the truck
circled around and cut off her path.

Blinded by the light, Kenna tried to
make a sharp turn. The truck was gaining fast. She saw Will rest
the rifle on the fence and take aim. She turned and ran as fast as
she could. She could feel the rumbling of the engine in the ground
when her feet pounded the earth as fast and hard as they could. The
truck was almost on top of her. She saw the bright lights become
more focused and finally the truck drew even with her. She tried to
look in the window, but the uneven ground made it hard to get a
good view. Shots rang out and pinged off the metal of the truck
until she heard a hiss of air. She prepared herself for another
ninety degree turn, when in her peripheral vision, she saw the
truck fishtail out of control. She gathered all her energy and
jumped away from the truck a second before the tail of the truck
whipped around at her.

She felt nothing but air for a second
before she landed. Pain ripped through her hip as she landed and
her head snapped upwards before slamming against the ground. She
heard Will call her name as blackness started to close
in.

“
Kenna! Kenna! Answer me,
are you okay? Kenna?” She felt Will touch her head but the
blackness was closing in.

Oh god, was she dying? She couldn’t
die without Will knowing how much he had come to mean to her.
Pushing back the darkness, she tried to focus on the blurry image
of Will leaning over her. “I love you, Will.” And then her world
went black.

Chapter
Fourteen

Kenna was with her parents. She was
sitting on their favorite bench in Central Park smiling and
laughing. “I have missed you so much.” Her heart felt swollen with
grief and happiness all at the same time.

She felt her mother squeeze her hand.
“Come back to us, dear. Come on now, it’s time to come back to us.”
Kenna shook her head. That wasn’t her mother’s voice.

“
Kenna, I know you can
hear me. Open your eyes. Come on, honey, you can do it.”

That was Will’s voice. What was he
doing with her parents in New York? But as she tried to reach for
her mother the image was torn apart by a bright white
light.

“
That’s right, dear. Open
those eyes.”

Miss Lily? Was that Miss Lily? Kenna
struggled to pry open her eyes. She shut them instantly against the
harsh light. She let out a groan when she saw stars behind her
eyelids.

“
Turn down the overhead
light a little,” she heard Will order to someone. Instantly, the
bright light dimmed and the throbbing lessened. She opened one eye
and then the other.

“
Oh thank God!” She turned
toward the prayer and saw the Rose sisters at her side. Miss Lily
held on to her hand for dear life.

“
Hi ladies,” she coughed.
It felt like she had swallowed half the pasture. Miss Violet turned
and poured her some water.

“
Thank you.”

“
Nonsense. Just drink
up.”

Kenna took the cup and gulped it down.
She turned to the other side of her hospital bed and saw Will
standing there looking pale and worn out.

“
It’s okay, Will. I’m
alright. I just hurt a lot. Nothing some Rose Family Sweet Tea
won’t take care of,” she tried to joke.

She heard a snort and looked at the
foot of the bed and saw Paige and Mo. Behind them was Betsy and
William.

“
Hi everyone.” She saw
some smiles and knew the worst was over. “Can someone fill me in on
what happened after I was apparently knocked out?”

Will sat on the side of her bed and
took her hand in his. “I managed to shoot a tire and it exploded.
They were forced to drive off. My parents heard the gun fire and
called 9-1-1. You were unconscious for almost four
hours.”

Kenna looked around the room, “Where’s
Ahmed?”

Mo stepped forward a bit, “He’s
looking into some things with Agent Parker. They should be here
soon.”

“
Who’s Agent Parker?” She
asked, looking around at the group.

“
He’s an FBI agent from
the Lexington branch that we’ve called in to help us out. Red was
more than happy to have his assistance when he saw that the problem
was escalating,” Will explained to her.

Betsy stood up and William followed.
“It’s late and we should let Kenna get some rest. They will
discharge you tomorrow, so long as all your scans come back clear.”
Betsy approached the bed bent down to give Kenna a motherly kiss on
the forehead. “We are so happy you are okay. You let us know if you
want to stay with us or if you need anything, okay?”

“
Thanks, Betsy. I
will.”

William followed suit and gave her a
kiss on the forehead and a pat on the hand before turned and
leaving. The Rose sisters were next, leaving just Will, Mo and
Paige with her.

“
I want you to know I am
using all of my resources to find out what is going on. It is one
thing to break down some fences, but quite another to injure my
friend,” Mo gently squeezed her hand.

“
Ah, don’t take too much
time away from your lovely bride,” Kenna joked.

“
Bride?” Will and Paige
said at the same time.

Kenna tried to laugh, but it hurt too
much.

“
See what rumors you have
started. There is no bride, unless Paige changes her mind and
decides to marry me.” Mo winked at her and the tension in the room
finally fell away.