“Why your horse dumped you.”
Her mouth fell open. Was he able to read minds? She blinked and shook her head. Now she was just being fanciful. “Excuse me?” asking for clarification on why he thought her horse had dumped her.
“You named your male horse ‘Beauty’. He was offended. No man wants to be called ‘Beauty’,” Sam said and looked down at her as if he were explaining something very deep and important.
Marabeth shook her head. “Excuse me, I disagree with you. Beauty didn’t throw me because of his name.”
“Why did he?”
“He didn’t throw me. I fell off,” she said through gritted teeth, glaring at the horrible man.
“Ah…well, that probably makes all the difference in the world…I guess to the horse as well.” The two of them walked for several minutes in silence. “Are you sure you wouldn’t like a ride?” he finally asked.
“No. Thank you,” she said with as much dignity as she could muster under the circumstances.
“Why not?” he asked.
“As I said earlier, I fell off my horse, I deserve to walk,” she said, coming up with an excuse as quickly as possible. In truth, she just didn’t want to be that close to his magnificent body.
Sam shook his head. “You realize it is about a three mile walk back to the stables, right?”
“Yes. I know that. I’ve been on this path almost every day of my life. But thank you for so graciously pointing that out to me, sir. Now that you’ve done your gentlemanly duty, please feel free to head on back to where ever you came from,” she said with a brightly false smile on her face.
“You’re going to make this difficult, aren’t you?” he said, chuckling down at the spirited woman with sunshine sparking off her hair.
“No,” she said glaring up at him, wishing he would just leave. this difficult at all. I just want to be left alone with my humiliation. helping me.”
“I’m not making
But you’re not
“Pride goeth before the fall, huh?”
“If you don’t remember because of your caveman mentality, I’ve already fallen. I’ve admitted that I fell. Why can’t you just leave me alone?” she asked, her hands fisted by her sides as she enunciated each word as if he were extremely slow witted.
“Because you’re beautiful and incredibly sexy and every instinct inside me is telling me to be the gentleman and carry you back to the stables.”
Marabeth was shocked at his words and her expression showed her confusion. No man had ever dared to speak so openly to her. Not even her deceased fiancé. Men were always polite to the point of irritatingly gracious around her. She didn’t particularly like this man telling her those things though. They caused flutters inside her stomach that were foreign and odd. Odd in her mind was always bad. She pulled herself up to her royal height of five feet, seven inches and looked as intimidating as possible at this incredibly muscular man. “I’d recommend ignoring your gentlemanly needs and listen to my own needs. Please leave me alone, sir. I believe I’ve experienced enough humiliation in your presence to last me a lifetime.”
“Don’t say so, my lady. I’d be so disappointed if I never got to see that lovely blush on you’re beautiful cheeks,” he chuckled.
“Sir, please, leave me alone!” she demanded, becoming angry now as he pointed out her fiery cheeks.
“I’m sorry, but my mother taught me never to leave a woman stranded,” he said. The next thing she knew, Marabeth was being hauled up into the saddle by an incredibly strong arm. She was seated right in front of him, her bottom pressed intimately against his groin, her leg laying against his very muscular one.
“There,” she heard him say softly in her ear. “That’s better, don’t you think?”
Marabeth couldn’t think. She was too aware of this man’s body and the heat emanating from him and heating up her bones. She trembled as one arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her more firmly against him as he settled her for riding. His other arm took the reigns and the horse responded immediately to his unspoken command.
She could feel the muscles in his legs against the backs of hers and she wanted to reach down with her hands and verify with her fingertips that the muscles were flesh and blood and not hard steel. But she didn’t dare. She kept her hands locked in front of her on the saddle horn, terrified that any movement of her body would give away her feelings to this mysterious man.
“Relax,” he said and his arm around her waist tightened slightly as if to reassure her. But it didn’t. It only made her aware of his arm on her stomach where no man had ever touched. Then her mind drifted to the strong chest against her back and the shivers started up again.
It seemed like an eternity before they finally reached the stables. Max was leaning against the stable fence talking with one of the horse trainers. Marabeth noticed that his eyes narrowed slightly when he saw the two of them riding into the stable yard. He walked up and immediately reached up to lift her down from Sam’s horse.
“What happened out there? I’ve never seen you fall before.”
“Oh, just not paying attention to Beauty,” Marabeth said, smiling slightly for her brother’s sake, then moving off towards the stable to see to her horse.
Sam climbed down from the stallion and watched Marabeth walk away. He was grateful to her horse for riding off. He had the opportunity to hold that incredible beauty close to him and he’d definitely felt her trembling in his arms. He wanted her. And what was more important, she wanted him. Sam was experienced enough to know the difference between sexual tension and fear. She’d been aware of every move of his body, just as he had been of hers.
They would be good together, he thought with satisfaction.
He was slightly concerned because she was a princess and he respected her title and the position she held within the government. But the woman had been engaged to another man. She understood what the world was really all about.
“She’s usually not that clumsy,” Max said, also watching Marabeth walk into the dimly lit stable and disappear into Beauty’s paddock. “I’m not sure what happened out there, but thanks for giving her a ride back,” he said to Sam.
“No problem,” Sam said and turned to start unsaddling his own horse.