Ruark smiled slowly. “ ‘Tis a fine stallion and smart. ’Twould have taken me many months with another. I’ve only taught him to come when I whistle. ‘Tis more than you will do.”
Shanna seethed, and her bosom heaved with her indignation. “If you think I’ll ever come when you beckon, then you are more than addlewitted, sir!”
It was as if he did not hear her stormy words. His smoldering gaze moved caressingly over her meagerly clad body, and his desire quickened. He well remembered the softness of her naked skin.
“Will you stop staring at me like that?” Shanna railed, feeling devoured by those burning eyes.
Without a word Ruark stepped beside her and with a quick movement was up behind her. Shanna gasped in outrage, struggling briefly, but his arms came around her, and his hands took the horse’s mane.
“Get down! Are you mad?” she protested, but her mind was invaded with the press of his hard, naked chest against her back and his long thighs showing dark, lean, and muscular beside her own. His loins pressed intimately against her buttocks, and she was suffocated by the manly feel of him against her.
“What are you about?” She tried to twist away from him. “If ‘tis rape, I’ll have you hunted down. I swear I will.”
His voice sounded hoarse in her ear. “Be still, Shanna, and let me ride with you for a space. You’re accustomed to a lady’s saddle and so is Attila. He needs to be taught obedience by his rider, whoever that may be.” Then Ruark added in a jaunty tone. “You’ll then be able to restrain him when I whistle. Now watch and I will show you both how a man rides.”
Shanna’s spine stiffened at the humor in his tone. She snatched her hat from her head as she sneered, “And what if we’re seen? What then, Mister Ruark?”
“With the swamp on one side and the coral reefs on the other?” He chuckled lightly. “I doubt it and so do you. Now be at ease, Shanna. Your virtue is safe with me. Who could be more concerned than your husband?”
His low laughter had an edge to it that cut sharply.
“Safe!” Derision rode heavily in her words. “When you are near me, I am constantly pawed, and I feel as if there’s but one thought in your mind.”
“Because there’s but one thought in yours, my love.” The whisper came close to her ear as he smoothed her tumbled hair between them. “And you know what the result will be. I’ll have the bargain done in my own time, my own way, and fully met.”
“You are a rogue to so force a lady!”
“Rogue? Nay!” Ruark shrugged. “I have only the desire to see payment for a service rendered as was promised me. As to force—never! I do not wish to hurt you, Shanna. Rather, I would say, I wish to share a blissful moment and introduce you to the tender touch of passion.”
Shanna twisted around to stare at him, a play of wonder and anger fighting for her face.
“Enough!” Ruark settled her in his arms and took a firm grip on the mane. “Today you are safe. ‘Tis but a lesson in riding I wish to give you.
“Watch.” He grew more purposeful. “Place your knees higher and let the horse feel your heels against him. Then…”
He tapped Attila’s flanks with his heels, and the steed moved slowly, prancing. Ruark leaned forward, and the stallion quickened his pace. Ruark guided him through a series of maneuvers, and Shanna was amazed. She could feel the movements of the man, and the horse responded as if they were one. Then the knees beneath her tightened, and with a leap Attila stretched out along the beach, and they were racing with the wind.
Ruark whispered in her ear, and Shanna turned a questioning stare to him.
“I asked if your father expects you back soon.”
Shanna shook her head, and her hair flew over his shoulder.
Ruark shifted her closer against him. “Good. I’ll take you along a trail I found in the swamp. Not frightened, are you?”
Glancing up into his eyes, Shanna saw the soft, smiling warmth there and could find no fear in herself. Her curiosity was piqued at his apparent ability to turn circumstances to his benefit. Here was the man who had taken her virginity, escaped the hangman, and accepted his bondage with an unusual lightness.
“I am at your mercy, sir.” She resigned herself perhaps a bit more cheerfully than she had intended. “I can only hope you are true to your word.”
“There is no reason to betray you, Shanna. I shall have my night.”
Leaning back, Ruark let his body roll easily with the surge of the powerful beast beneath them. Attila ran harder, his hooves sending up small geysers of wet sand and water when they struck. Shanna had never dared to give the animal his head, yet with the strong arms encircling her she felt oddly secure.