Worth the Risk(19)

“Can we talk?”

For a long minute her golden eyes held his, maybe searching for his true intentions. Maybe deciding if she even cared.

She raised her chin a fraction and he caught the challenge in her eyes. “You can talk while I work.”

Okay. Not exactly a conversation, but she’d listen.

She turned on her heel and he followed, eyes on the tan fabric hugging her ass and thighs. Long and lean and sexy as hell in her knee-high riding boots. God, he loved this look on her. A cell phone buzzed and he heard her brother answer with a terse “Walker.” But he wasn’t much interested in what was going on behind him. Not when Hannah was in front.

Her hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail and a light sheen of sweat dampened her hairline. She moved without a word, stopping at a small room off to the left. A brown horse stretched his head over the stall door next to him and Stephen gave him a pat while he waited. Hannah returned, arms full.

“Need some help?”

“No.”

There was an air of confidence about her here he hadn’t seen before, and she seemed to have hardened since the other night, which was good. He’d rather her be hard than hurt.

She stopped beside a beast of a horse and talked softly to him as she untied his rope from an iron hook. She looked so small beside him. He opened his mouth to tell her to be careful.

“Watch yourself,” she said, beating him to it, then wheeled the horse around to face an arch of light at the opposite end of the barn. She led the animal outside to a horse-size shower, and positioned him on the slab of concrete.

Stephen scanned the open fields, the trees beyond. Not really a farm, that he could see. Just a modest barn with a few horses. Without property lines, it was impossible to tell if this place butted up against the piece Dave wanted or if a strip of land lay between.

When she bent to turn on the water, he couldn’t think about anything. He was…entranced. By the pull of soft cotton over her breasts, the way they swayed every time she moved. He pictured those breasts in his hands, imagined holding her tight ass and running his palms up her back and around to cup her, tug at her nipples. Shit. Her brothers were right to try to protect her from him.

She picked up a back hoof and cradled it between her thighs while she used a small metal tool to scrape out clumps of mud and grass. Competent and skilled, but he didn’t like her so close to something that could hurt her. “Can’t your brothers do that?”

“My brothers? Why? It’s my job,” she said without looking up. “Not theirs.”

The animal shifted his weight again and Hannah worked, giving no sign she cared why he was there or that he was there at all. He had to remind himself he didn’t want her to. “You ride him?”

“That’s part of boarding; feeding, bathing, exercising. He’s not so bad, are you, boy?” She reached to pat his head, but he jerked away. “A little moody.”

And, as if to prove it, his thick, black tail lifted, and he let loose a foul blow of air so strong, Stephen squinted against it. That was followed by heavy chunks of manure, each piece landing on top of the other with a plop.

“Sorry about that. Roma’s not much on manners.”

Stephen didn’t miss her smirk or the affectionate pat she gave his neck. Definitely a different side of her here in this setting, on her ground. “That’s some powerful shit. Is that where he got his name? Aroma?”

Hannah smiled, wide and beautiful, even if it was aimed at the horse and not at him.

“He tries, and, no. It’s Aromashodu. His owner’s a big football fan.” She picked up the hose and the animal danced a nervous sidestep, his hindquarters quivering under the drops of water.

Time to get to it. He hadn’t exactly planned this, but now that he was here, he couldn’t let it go. “I wanted to apologize for the other night. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”

“You didn’t.”

Well, shit. He rubbed at the back of his neck. He wanted her to accept his apology, needed her to. “Hannah, I’m really sorry. I didn’t—”

“I heard you.” She continued the bath, sluicing off the excess water with some kind of fancy plastic card.

He’d been about to say he didn’t mean it, not at all the way it had sounded. But maybe it was better left alone. Better if she didn’t care.

“Everything okay?” Nick asked, standing in the yawning doorway of the barn.

“Yes,” she answered, then looked right at Stephen. “We’re finished.”

And they were finished. He hadn’t come here to change that, except…they were finished before they’d even started.