An Unlikely Match

you okay?” He raised a bushy eyebrow that hovered above eyes as dark brown as a moonless night, obscure and intense.
Evelyn felt a shiver run the length of her spine, despite the warm weather. She opened her mouth to say something, but a warningbell sounded in her mind.
“Are you staying at The Peony Inn?” Her voice wavered, but if he was a guest of Lizzie and Esther’s, maybe she could shedthis unexpected fear. He was a tall English man, muscular with unruly long dark hair. Evelyn was small, weighing in at abouta hundred and twenty pounds and only five foot two.
The man nodded, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a phone. “Do you need to call someone?” He glanced at Millie,whose leg was still bent at the knee.
“Um . . .” Evelyn began to tremble, but the man smiled, and everything changed, softened. Even his eye color seemed less intense.
“Ya, I might need to borrow your phone, but mei horse . . . She, uh, has something in her hoof.” She nodded at Millie but quickly looked back at the man as she tried to figure out why she was so unnerved by his presence. She didn’t know him. He was a stranger. It’s normal to be cautious around a man I don’t know.
“Want me to have a look?” He stuck his phone in his back pocket, then tucked his dark hair behind his ears—hair much too longfor a man. Before she could answer, he made his way to the horse and began rubbing her neck. “What’s her name?”
“Millie.” Evelyn didn’t move as she tried to calm her erratic pulse. What is wrong with me?
“Hey, Millie. Did you step on something?” He moved his hand to Millie’s nose, and Evelyn was about to tell him the mare didn’tlike her face touched, but Millie leaned into him and nudged him with an acceptance Evelyn hadn’t seen before. She believedanimals had a sense about people. If Millie trusted him, then Evelyn would try to do the same.
“I was on mei way to work, but Millie stopped abruptly and has been holding her leg like that for about fifteen minutes, refusing to budge.”Evelyn eyed the blood that had pooled below Millie’s hoof. “Not that I blame her. But every time I try to see what’s wrong,she pulls away from me.”
“Hey, girl. Are you going to let me have a look?” He alternated between stroking Millie’s nose and scratching behind her ears.Then he ran his hands down her sides, talking softly near her ear. “Please don’t kick me in the face.”
Evelyn squeezed her eyes shut when he leaned over, sure that he was indeed going to get kicked in the face. But when she openedone eye, he was standing with a sliver of glass in the palm of his hand.
“It’s not very big, but it was keeping her from putting pressure on it.” He offered the glass to Evelyn, and she slipped it in her apron pocket. She’d put it in the trash at work. “Do you have anything to wrap around her foot, like to stop the bleeding?”
Evelyn thought for a few seconds. “I-I don’t have anything in the buggy.” She wished her pulse would slow down.
“What about that thing on your head?” He pointed to her prayer covering.
“Nee!” She gasped as she raised a hand to the top of her head. “I mean, no. I can’t take this off.” Not even for Millie, and especially not in front of a man I don’t know.
“Okay, sorry. I didn’t know. This is an old T-shirt I’m not terribly attached to.” He lifted the yellow shirt, revealing whatshe’d heard her brothers refer to as a six-pack.
“No, no, no!” She turned away and quickly untied her black apron. “Here, use this.” She pushed the apron toward him.
“Really? It’ll get blood on it.” He eyed the garment, frowning.
“It’s fine. I have plenty more at home.” There was probably an extra at work she could use for the day.
He shrugged and folded the apron into a small square with the ties hanging out, then tenderly lifted Millie’s hoof, placedthe square cloth on it, and gingerly wrapped the thick strings around her hoof and leg to hold it in place. When he was done,he stood.
“How far do you have to go?” He lifted a hand to his forehead, blocking the sun.
“Not far. A few miles up the road to the Bargain Center.” She paused and leaned over to run her hand down Millie’s side. “I’llcall a vet when I get there.” She gave the animal another long stroke down her flank. “We recently had a farrier out to shoeall the horses, so I’m surprised this happened.”
“The glass was stuck at an angle inside the shoe, but it won’t hurt to have it checked out. You don’t want it to get infected.” He took his phone from his pocket again. “Do you need to call anyone now?”
Evelyn studied the man for a few moments. He was handsome. In an English sort of way. She tried to picture him without allthe long dark hair he seemed to be hiding behind. Yet there was no hiding the intensity in his dark eyes.
“Nee. I’ll use the phone at work to call the vet.” She took a deep breath and forced a smile, anxious to get on her way, but alsocurious. “How do you know so much about horses?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know a lot. As a kid, I was sent off to summer camp pretty often, and they had horses. I rememberedthat there’s a certain way to touch an ailing horse to keep the animal calm.” His left eyebrow rose a fraction. “Fifty-fiftyshot. I could have gotten kicked in the face just as easily.”
Evelyn flinched. “Well, I’m glad you didn’t, and danki—I mean, thank you for your help.”
A smile filled his face. The lopsided grin was cute, in an adolescent sort of way. She could tell by his features that hewas close to her age, maybe a year or two older.
“I like your accent,”