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Long, thick lashes batted up at him. “Oh, thanks for showing me around, Ryan. You’re so sweet. I just know I’m going to love it while I’m here, especially with big, strong men like you to take care of me.”
Keena tried not to vomit. That’s all she needed to screw up her vacation—the man she couldn’t get her eyes away from and the slut who already had her hooks into him. Well it was better that it happened now. Ms. Thing had kept Keena from letting her desires take her somewhere her heart didn’t want to go. And Ryan had proven her theory on men without a doubt.
When she noticed that both Ryan and Ms. Thing were wearing chaps, she made her decision. “Linda, I’d like to rent some chaps for the week. Or at least the day, until I’m sure I’ll like horseback riding.”
“You’ll love it,” Linda assured her and completed her purchases after Keena had, on impulse, tossed in a Stetson and gloves as well.
Without looking in the couple’s direction a second time, Keena left the store with a curious heavy feeling in her chest. She was used to it after what had happened between her and Steven, so she just brushed those thoughts aside and kept moving. From her pocket, she pulled out a simple map of the ranch’s layout and soon had the direction of the area where she could get her riding lessons.
When she strolled up to the place and spotted the horses dancing in the ring, butterflies stirred in her stomach. Two trainers already stood inside helping other guests. Terrified, Keena was about to back out before they caught sight of her, but someone brushed up beside her.
“So you’re going to chicken out?”
She gasped, peering up at Ryan, and frowned. “I’m not chickening out. I’m here, aren’t I?”
He shrugged and turned away with disinterest in his gaze. “Looked to me like you were leaving.”
Keena pressed her lips together and rolled her eyes at his back as he had to show off and climb over the fence. She walked around to the gate and waited until he came to unlatch it for her. When he gathered the reins of a free horse and raised an eyebrow in challenge to her, she hesitated again. “But . . . I was waiting for one of the trainers . . . since I’m new.”
“Trust me, I’m more than qualified to teach you to ride,” he quipped.
Still, Keena didn’t move. She placed a hand on her hip. “I thought you were already helping someone, that woman you were in the store with.”
She waited for him to tell her that skank was nothing, but he didn’t address her comment. Rather he stood there waiting for her to come over. She sighed and stomped forward.
“What about these?” she asked, referring to the chaps and gloves.
“The chaps you won’t need until you’re actually on a trail, but the gloves you can wear now if you like.” He glanced down at her hands. “If your hands are sensitive.”
She wasn’t rising to the bait and not wearing the gloves just to prove to this arrogant cowboy that she wasn’t some weak city girl. She was a city girl. That fact was obvious, and she guessed she’d do a lot better if she didn’t pretend she was something she wasn’t. After tossing her chaps over the fence, she placed her Stetson on her head and slipped her hands into her gloves. Then she returned to Ryan. Her resolution to do the best she could and to listen closely to his instructions didn’t stop her heart from pounding.
Ryan guided her to the left side of the horse, placed a mounting block close to the animal, but didn’t lead her to get up on him. Instead, he took her to the horse’s head. “First, you get to know Annabel, greet her, and let her meet you. Then you mount, and the two of you can trust each other.
Shivers raced over Keena’s skin at Ryan’s nearness. He stood just behind her, guiding her fingers over the horse’s muzzle. More nervous when the horse parted her lips, displaying big, chalky teeth, Keena took a step back only to bump into Ryan. The unyielding hardness of his thigh on her butt made her jump, but Ryan brought a hand down on her shoulder.
“Relax, or you’ll spook her. She needs to know that she can rely on you.”
Keena frowned. “Rely on me? Hey, buddy, I’m the one that has to get all the way up there on her back and risk life and limb if I fall off.”
He smirked at her dramatics. “Are you ready to ride?”
She straightened her back. “Yes, I’m ready.”
They moved back to the mounting block, and Ryan gave her quick instructions. “Hold the reins in your left hand, and rest your hand on the saddle horn with your right hand on the back of the saddle. Climb the block, and move as close to Annabel as you can so you don’t tug her or the saddle out of position. Got that so far?”
She nodded, and he continued with how to mount by using her left foot in the stirrup, straightening her left leg, and swinging her right over the horse. All of it seemed simple and easy. Keena grasped the reins, rested her hand on the saddle horn, and threw her leg over. She kept going. With a shriek, she saw the ground coming up fast toward her face, but from nowhere, Ryan was there, his arms around her and holding her close.
For a long while, she could do nothing but stare into his dark gaze, amazed at the desire that stirred there. And then he put her away from him, his expression gone back to its usual coldness. “Are you okay? You didn’t follow my instructions, were too hasty.”
She stared at the ground. “I’m sorry. Maybe it’s not for me.”
“Do it again.”
She looked up. “What?”
“Let’s go,” he commanded as if this were some military camp. “Do it again, and this time do what I tell you to.”
“You are the most . . .” She stopped herself before she could say something she regretted. “Fine. I’ll do it just as you said, and you’ll see for yourself that I’m not made for this.”
