he wheezed, barely able to speak. I examined his abdominal muscles beneath his T-shirt. The area was slightly red but no damage done. “Next time you say plackart, I’ll say yes ma’am.”I threw myself on top of him. “You’re okay. She’s really good. No one can believe she beat you.”He lay back against the sand. “We all have to lose sometime.”“But you lost on purpose. I knew that’s what you were going to do.”“Yeah, well, let’s not talk about it right now. I think I’m getting too old to fall off a horse.”The joust was over. The bewildered King Harold was giving the victor’s purse—fake gold coins that had to be returned—to Katharina. D’Amos, Daisy, and Phil Ferguson from the Sword Spotte, ducked under the fence to find out what had happened. I moved back to grasp the horse’s reins.“Are you okay?” Daisy ran her hand up and down Chase’s chest. “Daisy!” I called her off before it got embarrassing. Her round face turned bright red, and she pulled her hand back.
