But was that how Garrett saw her? She couldn’t help smiling.
Maddie walked over to the trunk and popped the lid. She supposed there was room for a few bags of feed in there, depending on the size of the bags.
“Maybe I should take it for a turn around the yard.” She opened the driver’s door and noticed the keys were in the ignition. “Just so I’m familiar with it.”
“Good idea.” His grin made her pulse jump. “Let’s see how she handles.”
###
That night, Maddie stared at her phone. She wasn’t ready to listen to the no doubt outraged messages from Howard and her parents.
Instead, she read Lyndsey’s letter. Between advising her to be careful and to call her if she needed anything, her friend told her that although she'd told her parents and Howard that Maddie was okay, she hadn’t given them the ranch‘s address, and vowed that she wouldn’t.#p#分页标题#e#
Lyndsey was a good friend, she mused as she turned off her bedside lamp, but Howard and her father were lawyers. They could be very persuasive when they wanted to be.
CHAPTER 3
Two days later as she and Garrett ate breakfast, he informed her they were going riding that morning.
“But what about the cabins?” Maddie frowned as she took a sip of coffee.
“You’ve almost finished one, haven’t you?” He arched an eyebrow.
“Yes, but I need to get started on the other one.”
“Plenty of time for that,” he said easily, forking up a bite of egg.
“But you won’t be able to rent them out until I’ve finished cleaning them.”
“A couple of hours off won’t hurt. Besides, I thought you liked horses.”
“I do.” She swallowed. “I’ve just never ridden one before.” So far, she’d only spied Garrett’s horses from a distance. The thought of riding one excited and scared her at the same time.
“Then it’s time you did.” A smile rumpled the corners of his mouth. “We’ll go slow and gentle.”
Slow and gentle. Would making love with Garrett be like that? She hastily squelched the image forming in her mind and hoped she wasn’t blushing. So far, he’d been a perfect gentleman, and lately she’d been telling herself that’s exactly what she wanted. Wasn’t it?
After breakfast, they walked over to the pasture where three horses grazed. “This is Prince.” Garrett whistled to the palomino and the horse ambled over to them, sticking his head over the fence railing. “You’ll be riding him.”
“Hi, Prince.” Maddie looked at the horse for a moment, and then turned to Garrett. “Can I pat him?”
“Sure. Like this.” Garrett held out his hand to the palomino, allowing the horse to sniff it, then patted him gently on the nose.
Maddie copied Garrett, the horse’s breath tickling her hand as she held it out to him.
“Now, like this.” Garrett guided her hand to Prince’s nose, his tanned fingers on top of hers as she stroked the palomino.
Maddie caught her breath at the sensation of Garrett’s hand on hers. His touch was warm and reassuring, but also exciting. What would it be like to have his hands roaming over her body, teasing and tantalizing her? For a second her imagination ran wild, before she told herself not to go there.
It seemed that they patted Prince for quite a while, before Garrett released her hand. “Blaze,” he called, and a large black horse with a white stripe streaking down its forehead to the end of its nose ambled over to them. “I’ll be riding him.” He stroked the horse’s nose and the gelding whickered in response.
The gray horse in the middle of the pasture lifted his head curiously, then returned to munching the lush grass. “That’s Smokey.” Garrett gestured to the gray. “He’s twenty-three, and was here when I bought the place. The owners couldn’t take him when they left so I adopted him.”
Warmth spiraled through her. Although she didn’t have a pet of her own, she’d always liked animals. She smiled up at him.
Garrett opened the gate and fitted Prince and Blaze with halters and lead ropes he’d snagged from the barn on the way to the pasture, then led them out. Maddie walked beside him, finding the rhythmic clip-clop of the horse’s hooves on the hard-packed dirt soothing.
Tying the horses to a post outside the barn, Garrett expertly saddled and bridled them. Maddie eyed the western style saddle, a large horn sticking up at the front of it. She had no idea how tall Prince was, but he suddenly seemed enormous. How was she going to get up there?#p#分页标题#e#
“I’ll give you a boost,” Garrett murmured in her ear. She shivered, his warm breath tickling the delicate line of her neck.