Read A Dark & Stormy Knight: A McKnight Romance (McKnight Romances) for Free Online

then went to glance out the
open barn door before he put the tools away. No sign of Georgia and Eden yet.
    He went back and watched his brothers. He
could practically see the stars sparkling in their eyes as they pretended they
were big shots like Ty Murray or Chris Shivers.
    That dream had been hard to give up. No
high compared with getting on the back of a one-ton critter whose goal in life
was to throw you off as fast as he could. And if the bulls at the nearby rodeos
weren’t quite as challenging as those he’d ridden for the few weeks he’d made
it in the PBR, well, they could still surprise him once in a while. When they
did, his blood pumped faster, colors were brighter, and in those eight seconds,
he was alive and that hollow corner in his heart melted away.
    And yet there were moments when, for two
cents, he’d give it up altogether. In spite of the example set by three-time
PBR Champion Adriano Moraes, who’d ridden until he was thirty-eight, thirty was
old for bull rider. More often, though, Sol felt as though he was losing the
heart for riding.
    Maybe he just needed something outside
rodeoing to give him the push he needed to make the leap to retired bull rider.
Something to fill the gap. Something to give his life new meaning.
    His daughter was almost enough, except he
didn’t have her that often. Even if he had, she was growing up. Growing away.
He could see it already. Soon, she’d prefer hanging around with her friends
instead of her daddy. Then she’d be dating.
    Sol’s stomach clenched. He wasn’t looking
forward to that. Some young buck would come along far too soon, and she’d be
gone. And Sol’s already minor role in her life would shrink even more. He
pushed that away, determined not to worry about it yet.
    He went back to look out at the ranch
yard again. Dammit. What the hell was taking Georgia so long?
    He’d barely managed to sleep the night
before, thinking about her being back and wondering how long she’d stay. Lying
there, lonely in his bed—the same bed they’d shared in their all-too-brief
marriage—Sol knew she’d screwed up his life. Again.
    Just by appearing, she’d torpedoed any
chance of him finding another woman and settling down. And probably for six
months after she disappeared, if experience was anything to go by. It happened
any time he spent more than a few minutes around her, and thanks to Eden, it was a constantly recurring cycle.
    It was late afternoon when Georgia’s blue Kia Rio pulled in. Sol walked out of the barn as the car crunched to a stop
on the gravel. His daughter, a ten-year-old—ten? Or was she eleven? No, she
couldn’t be that eleven yet—pigtailed version of her blonde mother, bounced out
of the car, squealing, “Daddy!” in an octave almost too shrill for human ears.
    She’d grown again in the month since he’d
last seen her. All long legs and skinny arms, like a new colt, the last growth
spurt seemed to have stretched her, making her look as thin as a blade of
grass. Sol caught her in his arms, swinging her around once, her legs dangling
above the ground. Her sneaker-clad feet banged against his shins.
    “How’s my best girl?”
    “I’m great! Mama says I get to stay for
the summer.”
    “You can stay as long as you want. You
know that,” Sol said into his daughter’s smiling face. As soon as he heard his
words, he looked toward Georgia to see if he was in trouble for making such a
rash promise, but she was still in the car, gathering Eden’s things. Sol let go
of a relieved breath.
    “They’re here!” Sol’s eighteen-year-old
sister, Daisy, yelled into the house from the back porch, and Eden was off
again, racing to greet her aunt.
    Wishing he could keep his distance even
as he was drawn to the car to help Georgia with Eden’s things, Sol’s heart
skipped a couple of beats. Georgia leaned into the back hatch, her shorts
exposing her long, tanned legs. As though that wasn’t enough, the fabric pulled
tight across her