“I mucked out the barns, fed the horses, and helped Daddy with his truck.” He shrugged and went to give his mom a kiss on the cheek. “And the Christmas tree is right out the door, Mama. I just wanted to make sure you weren’t scaring off my husband on the first day.”
“Good boy.” She laughed and moved toward the oven when the buzzer went off. “Your daddy would never say it, but the fence on the western pasture needs fixin’. Some of the cows have been gettin’ out.”
“Hey now, that’s a lie. I can handle my own affairs, woman.” Eric gave me a wicked smile that was very similar to Alton’s. “Don’t be causing a ruckus.”
Mrs. Bouchard grabbed her oven mitts and a wooden spoon, spinning on him and shaking the utensil at him. “Don’t call me woman. You know I hate that, Eric Bouchard.”
Eric held up his palms and laughed, and Alton and I joined in with him. She shook her head and huffed, muttering something I couldn’t hear and probably didn’t want to.
Alton walked over to me and slipped his hand into mine, tugging me out the door. I followed, and his parents didn’t say a word as we left. Buster wanted to come, racing for the back screen door, but Alton closed it on him so he couldn’t.
“Stay, boy. You’ve done your work for the day. Keep Daddy company,” Alton murmured when the dog whined.
We headed out into the farm Alton once called home, and I wanted to stop and appreciate the beauty. Even though I could only see so far, it was hard not to be impressed by the size. To the left was a large dark wooden contemporary barn that was taller in the middle, with two massive doors in the center that clearly slid open. There was one window with shutters in the higher part of the barn, and I suspected there might be an area up there where someone could sleep. Maybe a farmhand or two. I didn’t know much about barns, though, or what they held other than animals.
Outside, with reins tied to the fence, were two horses. One was brown with a white stripe down the middle of its face, while the other was pure white, and both were tall and intimidating. It took me a moment to realize Alton was leading me over to them, and when I did, I dug my feet into the ground, effectively stopping us.
He turned toward me with a frown. “What’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong?” I echoed, yanking at his hand. He didn’t let go of mine, though. “They’re horses.”
A smile crinkled his freckled face, and he glanced at the massive animals, then back at me. “Yeah, they are. What’s your point, little mouse?”
“Why are there horses?” I tilted my head to peer around him at them. They both had saddles on, and I had a bad feeling about it. “And they’re ready to ride. I might have never ridden a horse, but I know what they look like when someone’s ready to ride them!”
He faced me and held on to my hand tighter, dragging me toward him. I slammed against his hard body, and he hooked his finger under my chin, tipping my head back so he could lay a demanding kiss on my lips. I groaned, hunger swirling inside me and making me force myself on tiptoe to get closer to him. It’d been too long since I’d felt this kind of need from him and I craved it. It was scary how much Iwantedhim.
“We’re going to check the fence. Daddy—” He paused, cringed, and cleared his throat. I hadn’t realized how hard he was trying to change his language, but it made sense that it would fall from his mouth now that he was back home in Texas. “Dad told me Mama would ask, so I got the horses ready for us.”
“I can’t,” I whimpered. “I don’t know how to ride a horse,husband.”
“Do you trust me?” he whispered, breath tickling my mouth.
“Yes.” The word came out so quickly I realized I was telling the truth. For some weird reason Ididtrust him.
“Then I’ll take care of you.”
I shuddered, squinting at the horses again, before taking a deep breath. I straightened. “Okay. But if I fall off, I’m never forgiving you. Ever. And you can sleep on the couch for the entire time we’re married.”
He laughed and pecked me on the lips again. Gripping my hand, he guided me past the horses and into the barn. Inside was as big as I expected, with at least ten stalls on either side. He had things ready to go and made me take off my shoes and put on some riding boots. He stopped to watch me as I bent to change my shoes, which didn’t make things easy. His stare was hot and lust-filled, and my cock twitched under the attention. But it didn’t last long because he passed me a helmet and my fear returned with the reminder of what we were about to do. I was crazy for even considering it.
“We’ll go out there and check the fence. I won’t be able to fix it until tomorrow. I’ll take Dad’s truck out there with the tools. You can come with me if you want, but farmers start early.” He gave me a wink and led me back to the horses. “I thought we’d get out of staying here, but Mama’s stubborn. We’ll stay until the day after Christmas, at least, then we’ll head to the cabin we booked.”
“Are you sure your mama won’t be upset about that?” I asked, not wanting to hurt her feelings. I might have just met her, but I liked her a lot.
He grinned over his shoulder at me as we reached the horses. “Mamawill be fine.”
I hadn’t even realized I’d called her that and I chuckled. By the time I left Texas, I’d probably be speaking the slang, but it was hard when I was surrounded by their accent. Even Alton had reverted to a heavy twang that had my blood stirring down below. He grabbed what looked like a small set of stairs from near the fence and placed it next to the white horse.
“This is a mounting block. Now, I need you to listen to me real careful.” He spun on me and took the black helmet out of my hand. Placing it on my head, he kept talking. “I’m gonna be leading your horse with a rope, but here are the basics. Make sure your feet stay in the stirrups and hold the reins loosely. Horses take orders from their rider through the rider’s movements, so don’t kick her. Let me lead her.” Once he had the buckle done up under my chin, he laid another kiss on my lips as I took a deep breath. “You’re gonna be fine. I’m here. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
I licked my dry lips and stared at the smile on his face. If he kept looking at me like that I would do anything for him. His attention had been away from me for so long, I reveled in it now that I had it, and that was terrifying. What happened when this marriage was over?
“We get up on the horse on the left side.” He waved at the block he’d put down. “This will help. Watch your leg as you get up, don’t hit her rump, okay?”
Nerves trickled down into my gut as I nodded and let him guide me to the horse. Mom had offered me riding lessons, but I’d flat-out refused. I’d always been scared of big animals, and horses were on the top of the list. I’d heard too many horse-show horror stories from my friends. It was far too competitive. But as Alton helped me put my foot into the stirrup and swing up into the horse’s saddle, my fear washed away like water in a drainpipe. The horse neighed and flicked her white head but didn’t move as Alton gave me the reins.
“Are you sure we should be doing this?” I whispered, scared to alarm the horse.
