words.
He swung off Tornado in one easy motion and stretched his legs. It had taken him about a week to get over the soreness of riding once he came home. It sure wasn’t the same as when he was a kid growing up on the ranch. Back then, he’d loved to ride and practically lived on a horse. Not so much now.
Nikki was about to find out firsthand what it was like to ride a horse. She didn’t look too happy about the prospect.
“Come on, I’ll give you a leg up,” he said.
“Are you sure I can’t walk him for a while? Just until he gets used to me.”
“Not afraid, are you?”
Her chin jutted out. “Of course not.”
Much better. He liked her feisty. Brought the color to her cheeks and made her eyes flash. Besides, Taffy was gentle. The horse that Brian put all the kids on.
“Grab the horn,” he said, sliding his fingers along her arm and taking her hand to the front of the saddle. His movement brought her closer. The heat of her body swirled around him in a haze of teasing pleasure, sending an aching need all the way down to his midsection.
“And then what?” she asked breathlessly.
“Raise your foot.”
She did and he bent, guiding it to the stirrup. As he stood, his hands glided up her calves, over her thighs, and cupped her bottom. She leaned against him. He lost himself in the sweet scent of her perfume, and the heat emanating from her.
“Now what do I do?” Her whispered question fanned the hairs on his arm, showering him with ripples of pleasure.
“Push off with your other foot and pull on the saddle horn. As you come up, swing your leg over the horse.” His words were husky as he fought the passion that flared inside him. He refused to let her win in the game she’d started.
In one fluid motion, she was sitting on top of the animal. Cal handed her the reins. Their fingers touched. Hers trembled. Maybe she wasn’t as much of a barracuda as people thought.
“It’s really high up here.”
“It’ll be a nice, easy ride,” he told her and wondered if he was talking about the horse, or something else, and did she know it? But then, she didn’t like it easy. He cleared his throat. “Ready?”
She nodded.
He climbed back on Tornado and they started at a walk. After about a quarter of a mile, he knew she was more relaxed. “Are you ready to try a faster pace?”
“Yeah, sure.”
She hadn’t sounded sure. Nope, he didn’t think she looked nearly as confident as she pretended. “Raise up a little in the stirrups, and then nudge him with your heels. Try to go with the rhythm of the animal.”
She lightly kicked the horse’s sides. Taffy moved into a nice, easy lope. She grabbed the saddle horn.
“You’re doing fine,” he told her.
“It doesn’t feel like I am.”
“Try to relax.”
“What? I don’t look relaxed?”
He grinned but stayed close, watching as she did exactly as he’d explained. She picked up the movement of the horse and adapted to it.
The wind blew through her hair as they sped by trees on each side of them. He saw fear change to excitement and knew she was enjoying herself. She wasn’t supposed to have fun. His plan was backfiring. But had he really wanted her to be afraid of riding a horse?
When Cal slowed Tornado, Taffy matched the other horse’s pace.
“That was fantastic,” Nikki said, laughter in her voice.
Yeah, it had been even though he didn’t want to admit that he’d enjoyed her reaction. It did make him wonder what the hell kind of childhood she’d had.
“Didn’t you ever go to an amusement park, feel the rush of wind on your face when you rode the roller coaster?”
“Like Six Flags?” She shook her head. “No. My parents had their reasons, but we did travel most of Europe. The art museums were wonderful.”
They’d traveled Europe. He would’ve loved sightseeing when he was a kid, especially art museums. Yeah, right. Not that he’d had a choice. His grandparents hadn’t had that kind of money.
But where she’d traveled wasn’t his concern. He refused to feel sorry for someone who wanted to drag his reputation through the mud, but maybe he would show her a few things-like what sightseeing on a ranch was all about.
“There’s a spring-fed pond not far from here. I used to practically live there during the summer. We can water the horses. Want to see it?”
“I’d like that.”
“I’ll race you.”
“You’re on!”
She lightly kicked the sides of her horse. Taffy leapt forward and she had to grab the saddle horn to keep from falling off, but she didn’t slow down. An amazing woman-but still a reporter.
He chuckled as he sat watching her. Damn, but she was something else. She had plenty of determination and stubbornness. But that’s why she’d been nicknamed The Barracuda, and he needed to remember that.
“Are you going to let me win?” she yelled over her shoulder as she reined the horse in.
He grinned. “You’re going the wrong way!” He twirled Tornado to the east and nudged her forward.
“That wasn’t fair,” Nikki told Cal when she caught up to him, but she had to bite back the laughter that threatened to bubble out of her. That was the most fun she’d ever had in her entire life. Who knew riding a horse could be that exhilarating?
“Yeah, I know. But you enjoyed every second of it, admit it.”
She cocked an eyebrow. “It was fun. There, are you satisfied?”
“It’s okay to enjoy life.”
“I enjoy life very much. Do you think I don’t?”
“I wondered. You’re stuck in the nineteen twenties doing research, you’ve never been to an amusement park, and you’ve apparently never celebrated a holiday.”
She cringed at the lie about why she was really here, but it wasn’t as though she could tell him the truth. Now that she really thought about it, her life had been tame, except for her job. There’d never been anything tame about the stories she went after-well, except this one, and she didn’t really want to think about it right now.
They rode the rest of the way in silence, stopping when they came to a stand of trees.
Cal swung his leg over Tornado and jumped off. She swung her leg over Taffy and jumped to the ground, too. Immediately, her legs buckled. Before she could fall, Cal caught her up against him.
“Did I forget to mention riding a horse is a lot like going from a ship to land? You have to get your balance back.” There was laughter in his voice.
“I believe you did leave out that minor detail.”
His arms were firm as they held her close. If she raised her head a fraction, and circled her hand behind his neck, she could pull his face down to hers so their lips would meet.
Except she was still pissed that he hadn’t seemed quite as excited about their lovemaking as she had. She hoped he got a killer hard-on and suffered a great deal of pain. Then and only then, she might relieve him of the discomfort.
“I’m fine now.” She pushed away. Her legs actually wobbled more. Oh, yeah, she’d really punished him. This was kind of like cutting off her nose to spite her face.
“The trail is narrow here, but it’ll widen out when we get to the pond. We can walk the horses to it.”
Was there sweat beading his forehead? She didn’t get her hopes up. It was getting warm, and they’d been riding for quite some time. It was nothing more than that. The last time she’d looked at her reflection she’d looked pretty hot. So why did he seem so uninterested?
