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Next, he had her lead Paelo out to the training paddock to work on handling lessons. Though she was anxious on the way out, Paelo walked calmly, and she relaxed.
Standing in the middle of the enclosure side by side, Colton put her through the paces over the next forty-five minutes until she was comfortable with the horse.
“That’s good for now,” he finally said. “Let’s give him a break.”
Kendra led Paelo to the gate and Colton directed her to the green pasture. Inside, she unhooked the lead, but Paelo remained where he was, his nose stretched toward her hand.
She glanced at Colton. “Why doesn’t he go?”
He chuckled and dug into his pocket to pull out a couple sugar cubes. “Britt has him completely spoiled. If he works, he expects dessert. Here.”
“You want me to give them to him?”
He nodded and reached for her hand. Calloused fingers closed around hers, warm and rough, yet gentle with their grip. That first contact jolted through her, and she almost yanked free. Trying to ignore the heat of his touch, she let him turn her palm up to place the sugar in it.
“Hold them like this.” His voice had gone unusually low and he cleared his throat. “Palm up, fingers flat.”
He kept one hand under hers and smoothed out her fingers with the other. Then he extended their arms together for Paelo to take the cubes. Instinctively, she trusted Colton when it came to the horses, but still tensed the slightest bit as Paelo’s nose drew near their hands.
“Fingers flat.” He tightened his hold when she instinctively began to pull back.
The stallion gently lipped up the treats. As he crunched the sugar, he raised his nose to nudge it against her cheek. Kendra jerked in alarm, and took an instinctive step backward, only to come up against the solid wall of Colton’s chest. His left hand steadied her shoulder.
“He’s saying thank you.” The husky murmur stirred the hair at her temple.
She swallowed hard, a tingle running from her ear, to her neck, down her back and through the rest of her body. A glance up and over her shoulder met with smiling eyes, and she quickly turned her head to focus on Paelo.
When Colton reached around to give her more sugar, she realized she was practically encompassed in his arms. The urge to lean back into his warm strength hit hard.
Trust him with the horse—not yourself. Tension threatened to stiffen her body beneath the weight of his hand on her shoulder. She latched onto the first thing she could think of. “If I’d seen you with these sugar cubes before now, I would’ve assumed they were for you.”
“I’ll admit I have one every once in awhile.”
The grin in his voice had her laughing that her joke was actually true. Abruptly, his arms dropped, and he stepped away. She felt the loss of his warmth and was sorry for it.
“This went well,” he said shortly. “I bet we have you riding within a week.”
“Riding?” She turned around in alarm. “I never said I wanted to do that.”
He raised an eyebrow. “You can’t live on a horse ranch without learning to ride, Kendra.”
His tone suggested she was being an irrational fool and succeeded in putting her on the defensive. She lifted her chin with a glare. “Yes, I can.”
God, how did he go from soothing and encouraging to mocking and condescending in the blink of an eye? It was impossible to keep up with his instant mood swings, though maybe easier to deal with when her uncooperative body wasn’t messing up her mind.
Her attempt to sweep past him was misjudged, and her shoulder bumped his arm hard enough to push him back a half step. He caught her arm, but she shook him off. He reached again and held tight.
“Hold on a second.” He swung her around to face him before releasing his grip. “What the hell is your problem?”
“You are.” Kendra glared at him. “You take every opportunity to mock me and make me feel stupid.” Her fists clenched at her sides. “You’ve done it since day one, and I’ve had enough. If I don’t want to learn to ride, you can’t make me.”
He held up his hands. “Okay, fine, sorry I suggested it.”
That took the wind right out of her sails. She’d been counting on him bullying her into it so she could focus on being angry with him instead of being afraid of the horse. She wanted him to make her do it, so she didn’t have a choice. Damn it. She turned to head back into the barn.
Colton sighed heavily. “Now what?”
The all-suffering tone certainly didn’t make her want to confess her backward reasoning. “Nothing.”
