Esme Carter was alluring in a way Daniel had never encountered before. She didn’t try to flaunt her assets, or bat her lashes in the faces of unsuspecting men. Rather, she didn’t much care what other people thought of her – to the point where she lent her own body – and a lovely one, at that – to people she didn’t know from Adam so that they might have the child they desired.
The child he desired.
As she advanced on him, Esme looked more than a little nervous, glancing in turn to each of the horses whose reins he held. “Dear sweet Lord,” she breathed, her almond eyes wide. “They’re huge.”
“Actually, they’re pretty small for horses.” Daniel fought the slight quirking of his lips at her obvious intimidation. He himself had grown up with horseflesh, and so he couldn’t remember a time when the sight of hooves and blunt teeth had made him cower. Daniel liked to collect fine animals – he had over twenty on the ranch and more in locations both abroad and overseas. He was a stickler for healthy, well-bred, rare animals. His own horse, the reins of which he held firmly in his right hand, was a black, purebred Arabian stallion. It had taken him almost six months to break the proud animal – and he’d earned a fractured cheek bone and twisted wrist for his troubles.
But now, at seven years of age, Lincoln handled like a dream. He was extremely obedient – and fiercely loyal – a proud stallion with a gleaming coat and intense, dark eyes. In addition to bringing Lincoln from the stables, he’d also brought Apple. Apple was one of Lincoln’s daughters – a creamy white two-year-old mare with a dark spot on her forehead. She was one of the gentlest in the stable and he kept her precisely for her temperament. She was good with children and some of the ranch’s more skittish visitors.
And she would be perfect for a first time rider like Esme.
“Esme, this is Apple.” He led the mare past her pawing stallion father to present to Esme – who immediately took a tentative step backwards before stopping in her tracks. She appeared to steel herself before regaining that step – and then another to come face to face with the horse before her. Quickly, she glanced over in his direction.
“Can I touch her?”
He chuckled. “Well, considering you’re going to be mounting her in about five minutes, it might be a good first step.”
A small smile appeared on the young woman’s face before she reached out hesitantly to stroke over Apple’s downy nose. When she saw the mare wasn’t going to lash out and swallow her hand whole, she quickly huddled close to her, stroking the dark spot on her forehead and laughing when the eager animal nuzzled into her midsection, searching for treats.
Daniel taught Esme to feed Apple sugar cubes one by one before he started on the basics of how to mount a horse properly. He hid his smile as she struggled to swing her leg over at the precise moment, and then scowled when he made her do it over and over until the movement was effortless.
Next, he led Apple around the enclosed paddock he used for training, his hold on her reins firm as Esme rode on her back. The young woman quickly got the hang of shifting her weight and changing her hold on the reins to covey to the horse which way she wanted to go.
Within two hours’ time, Daniel had released Apple’s reins and watched Esme lead her carefully around the small paddock with approval. She was taking to riding much faster than he’d expected, and all because she didn’t try to tell herself what she couldn’t do. It was common in first time riders to place limitations upon themselves, but Esme threw herself into everything she tried with an uncommon gusto.
He’d almost forgotten what it was like to deal with a woman without inhibition.
He watched Esme with her irrepressible grin circle the paddock again and again. Even when Apple broke into a slight trot in excitement, it wasn’t enough to startle her. She merely shouted to him in inquiry for directions and he answered her in kind.
Everything was going perfectly swimmingly until the cat.
Daniel would happily tell you that on any given day, Apple was the gentlest horse in his stables. She almost never bolted or kicked, unless you threw one random factor into the equation: cats. For some reason, the young mare was absolutely terrified of cats.
Daniel had the gardeners all on the look-out for stray animals near the stables for exactly that reason – but on that particular day, one must have slipped through. Apple was prancing proudly around the paddock for what must have been the fiftieth time when a stray tomcat darted into her path.
Immediately, the mare screeched to a halt with a whinny of fright, rearing suddenly. Esme’s cry of surprised terror echoed around the stables and Daniel’s heart leapt into his throat. He raced over to Apple’s side, immediately grabbing her reins to steady her as the cat raced off. The thick muscles in his arm bunched and contracted as he attempted to calm the horse, and Esme held on for dear life.