The Black Sheep and the Hidden Beauty (4 page)

“Your job doesn't rest on you giving me lessons, if that's what you're asking.”

“And the personal interest?”

The twitch of the lips was more of a real smile now, one that made it all the way to his eyes. And wasn't that just lethal. She swore it made her knees go wobbly.

“Don't worry,” he said. “I can handle rejection.”

She couldn't help it—she smiled back. “Not something that happens all that often, I'm guessing.”

He lifted a shoulder, but didn't respond.

She still didn't believe the interest wasn't just a cover for something else, so she called him on it. “If you'd like, I can find you another trainer.”

“You said you could teach me to ride.”

Pit bull
. “I can. But my job here is to train horses, not people. Kate has a whole crew whose job it is to teach people. If you're still interested in riding lessons, that is.”

He studied her for a prolonged moment. “You don't make anything easy, do you?”

“I don't intentionally make things hard, if that's what you mean.”

And there it was, a real smile. Enough of one to show a flash of white teeth and crinkle the corners of his eyes. It…humanized him. And did things to her body that she really didn't need to know about.

“I'm not a natural,” he said. “With horses.”

Honestly, it was a good thing she knew he was just messing with her and not serious about all that “because I want you” stuff, but she sure as hell wished her body would get the memo. “I still don't see what that has to do with me.”

“If I'm going to learn to ride, then I'd like someone who is very comfortable with horses.”

“Everyone who works out here—”

“I've watched everyone out here.”

He kept his gaze on hers with such ease, but also with a directness that was unnerving. Okay, a
lot
unnerving. And then there was that hint of a smile, always hovering now, making her foolishly wish he was serious about this verbal foreplay, even if just for the briefest of moments.

“And I've watched you.”

She swallowed, again, and folded her arms across her chest, even though she knew he couldn't possibly see how deeply he was affecting her. He probably flirted like this the same way some men breathed. It was second nature to a man who looked like him, when he wanted something. She just wished she knew what he really wanted so she could stop wishing that what he really wanted was her.

“I've never seen anyone as comfortable and in command with horses as you.”

“Says the guy with no horse experience.”

“I asked you. Would you like me to ask someone else?”

She wondered what he'd say, or do, if she said yes. She wondered why she wasn't jumping at the offer to get out of this situation entirely. “Despite your earlier reassurances, I'm thinking turning down a personal friend of the boss isn't going to do me any favors.”

“Kate has nothing to do with this. In fact, she doesn't even know I'm asking.”

That tidbit surprised her. Of course, he could be lying. But she didn't think he was.

The twinkle resurfaced, as did the eye crinkling. He was intensity personified, which she was clearly struggling to resist. She really didn't need him to be charming, to boot.

“In fact,” he went on, “what with the double duty you're already pulling with the new horse, she might not be all that happy with me for asking at all.”

It was his voice, she decided, as if he was hypnotizing her or something. She was looking straight at him—like she could look anywhere else, even if she wanted to—and she could swear he was telling the truth. Maybe she was paranoid. Maybe he really just wanted lessons and to kill some down time flirting with the new girl. Hell, for all she knew, maybe he nailed every female who came to work there as a matter of course.

But being paranoid was what had kept her and Springer safe this long. She couldn't afford to be any other way. Which certainly didn't explain why, every time she opened her mouth around this man, she couldn't seem to help but continue the verbal foreplay he'd so effortlessly begun. Like, even if she didn't have bigger things to worry about, she'd want the attentions of a guy who was more interested in racking up notches on his bedpost than caring who he notched them with. He'd all but admitted she wasn't even his type.

Her forehead began to throb. What she really needed was to go lie down somewhere and give this pheromone fog presently poisoning her every chance to dissipate and leave her the hell alone.

But, instead, she smiled right back at him, and said, “So, you're essentially trying to get both of us in trouble.”

His lips curved. There was a flash of white teeth. “It looks that way, yes.”

Poisoned, surely that was it
. “So, now I either say yes or I say no, and you go bother one of my staff and distract them from their duties, which will just get me in trouble anyway.”

His grin was brief, but downright lethal. “Interesting how that works.”

So, he was even more dangerous when amused. She'd have to remember that. “When did you want to begin?”

He looked briefly surprised. Hunh. Well, it was good to know she could get him off balance. At least she had some leverage, slender thread though it may be. Then she had another thought that had her swallowing a grin of her own.

If it was leverage she needed, well, maybe she just needed to get him up on the back of a horse first.

“R
iding lessons? You?” Donovan MacLeod laughed. Hard. “Don't start. I'm actually doing this for you and your significant other.”

“Right. So when you get thrown on your ass, it's all my fault.”

“You learned to ride. How hard can it be?”

“Very funny.” Mac stood at the edge of the patio, staring down the sloping back hill to where the stables were. “But why don't you just come out and admit that what this is really about is you wanting to get her naked?” He turned and grinned. “Which, when you think about it, is also a form of riding lessons. Just without the crop.” His gray eyes gleamed. “I assume, anyway.”

Rafe didn't take the bait. “I'm serious about this. I think there is something else going on where she's concerned. Or I sure as hell wouldn't be getting on the back of some damn horse.”

“Oh yeah, spending time with her will be a real sacrifice. She might not be your usual fare of perfectly put-together arm candy with a law degree. But she's got thoroughbred legs and an incredibly fine—”

“Hey,” Kate said, as she stepped out onto the porch. “The only ass you're allowed to make Neanderthal comments about is mine.” She glanced at Rafe. “Although he's right. I've seen her in riding pants. I'd kill for her ass.”

Mac put his hand proprietarily on Kate's backside. “Your ass is spectacular.”

She grinned at him. “You just want to get laid.”

“Well, yeah, but I could probably manage that without lying, so you know I mean it.”

“Men and their logic.” When Mac went to take his hand away, she immediately pulled it around her shoulder. “But I'll take it, I'll take it.” Tucked under Mac's arm, she looked at Rafe. “When Elena told me you'd asked for lessons, I almost choked. You hate horses. What's going on?”

He'd known this was coming since the moment three days ago when he'd apparently lost what was left of his mind and propositioned Elena. In more ways than one. Which hadn't remotely been his intent when he'd walked out to that barn. He'd been regretting it ever since. Never more so than right this second. “I don't hate horses. They're beautiful animals. I just don't see the need to climb up on the back of one. But that's not the point here. The point is, I think something else is going on with your new manager. Either she's in trouble, or running to avoid it. But something's not right. And I don't want her troubles becoming your troubles.”

Mac glanced down at Kate. “He's just jealous because he's around us too much. Now he's hot for a barn chick who isn't his normal glamazon type, so he's projecting some sort of crisis so he can write it off as a work-induced fascination.”

Kate listened to Mac with an indulgent smile, then turned a quite serious expression to Rafe. “What makes you think she's hiding something?”

“Hey,” Mac said, obviously put out by being brushed off.

Kate leaned up and kissed him on the jaw. “I love you, but you're reacting like a guy, and not like a business owner. If something is going on, then I need to know about it. My kids and my camp come first. I like Elena. A lot. In fact, she's the best thing that's happened around here in awhile.” She looked back to Rafe. “Almost too good to be true. I've been saying that since the start. I'd really hate for there to be something to that.”

Mac rolled his eyes, but accepted defeat and turned to Rafe. “When did this amazing insight take place? You've evidently had your eye on her since she got here and that was only a few months ago. I was wondering when you'd finally get over yourself and make a move.”

“I'm not ‘making a move,'” Rafe said, though that was precisely what he'd done. He could tell himself that this was about Kate and protecting her interests, and therefore Dalton Downs' interests, but that didn't remotely explain why he couldn't stop thinking about Elena Caulfield. “Maybe the reason I've been noticing her is because my instincts have been telling me something isn't right. And after what I overheard the other day, I think that's more important than whatever attraction there might be.”

Now Kate's eyebrows lifted. “Might be?” She avoided Mac's elbow nudge, keeping her now openly speculative attention on Rafe. “So, what, you think women who work in barns and muck out stalls aren't good enough for you?”

“Don't go all feminist rant on me. I never said that. She actually struck me as a sharp, intelligent woman who handles very large animals like they're small children. I have a lot of respect for that, but I can't help it if I'm more attracted to women who dress and act like women.”

Kate's smile turned knowing, and grew wider. She looked up at Mac. “Okay, maybe you have a point.”

Mac just grinned. “Guys know these things.”

“What?” Rafe demanded. “What's wrong with being honest about what you like and don't like?”

“Because what you like is Elena, and it's making you crazy because you just won't admit it to yourself,” Mac said.

That much was true, but not for the reasons he meant. Well, mostly not for those reasons. Elena was more earthy than his usual choice in female companions, but something about the way she'd held his gaze, and handled his attention, had definitely gotten to him. In ways he didn't want to understand, but his body certainly had. Which was the last thing he was going to share with either of the two people presently staring him down. “It doesn't matter whether I'm attracted to her or not. What is important is that she's got more going on than simply taking on a job that will let her mare gestate in peace.”

“And you came to this amazing conclusion because her vet came out to see her horse. Her pregnant horse,” Mac said.

He'd started to tell Mac the story before Kate arrived, but hadn't gotten further than mentioning Kenny's visit. Rafe turned and picked up several folders he'd stacked on the patio table. “You didn't see her face when he showed up.” He slid two copies of a report out from the top folder and handed one to each of them. “I did.”

“You're putting together reports on her?” Kate looked up, alarmed. “Rafe, I'm glad that you want to make sure she's on the up-and-up. So do I. But I need her, and I don't want you to go pissing her off by digging into her background and—”

“First off, she has no idea I'm digging. I'm a little better than that.”

Mac spoke up, finally serious. “He's a lot better than that.” He squeezed Kate's shoulder, then opened his own report. “What did you find?” He was all business now, and Rafe finally relaxed a little.

“Thank you,” he said, to which Mac just looked up and grinned unrepentantly.

“Oh, I'm far from being done razzing you about this, but if you really think something is up here, then at the very least, I want to hear about it.”

“Good.” Rafe turned to Kate. “How much of a background check did you run on her?”

She frowned. “I did the standard check. Her report came back clean. And her references were all in order. Why?”

“Don't worry, she doesn't have a criminal record or anything, but did you make contact with her previous employer?”

She nodded. “I always run references, yes.”

“Who did you talk to at Charlotte Oaks?”

“I don't recall his name off the top of my head. He was the head trainer there, or one of them. John something-or-other. It's listed on her application if you want me to check. As I recall, he didn't gush, but I gathered he wasn't exactly the chatty type anyway. He gave her a solid recommendation, though. Said she was a hard worker, showed up on time, did what was asked of her. It was enough for me.”

“Did you ask him about her departure? Was it questioned in any way? The timing of it?”

“What do you mean?” Kate asked. “Because of her horse being pregnant? I didn't ask him about that and he didn't mention it. I'm sure if he'd had any issues with her leaving, he'd have said something. I didn't get the impression she left them in the lurch or anything. In fact, she just seemed like another employee. It's a good-sized operation, from what I could tell.”

“But she left a good-sized operation because her horse was pregnant, when you'd think she'd stay and let them help take care of her. Especially if there were any concerns.”

“Were there?”

“I haven't been able to track it down, but from what I overheard, her horse had trouble the last time she was pregnant.”

Kate's brow furrowed. “She didn't mention that part to me.”

“I know. She didn't want to jeopardize you taking her on.”

“Well, she has her own vet, as you know, so maybe it wasn't as big an issue as you think.”

“A vet she was surprised to see show up, and who she wasn't entirely comfortable having here. She even made a point to say she'd bring her horse over to him in the future.”

“Maybe she's worried about stepping on toes, using her own vet instead of ours.”

“Maybe. But even the vet was concerned that she'd left Charlotte Oaks, that she should have stayed for her horse's sake. And then he made some reference to something bad happening there, which might have had something to do with her leaving.”

Kate's frown deepened. “Nothing that I heard about. Again, I didn't ask more than the standard questions, but they certainly didn't have anything negative to say.”

“Maybe they didn't know.”

Mac opened his file. “It says she left there last October. She's only been here since early March, barely two months. What did she do in between?”

“She thought she had something lined up working for a friend,” Kate answered, reading over Mac's arm. “But that didn't pan out, so she stayed with some other friends, worked for a family friend of hers briefly, but there was nothing available long-term until she heard about the spot here.”

“Which means she left Charlotte Oaks without a solid game plan in place,” Rafe said, “with a pregnant horse who could need special care. Why do that?”

Kate shook her head. “She said she'd known for some time she wasn't going to progress there, that the good-old-boys club was just too tight for her to break in. When her horse got pregnant, it seemed a good time to leave so she could find a place less hectic for her mare to gestate while trying to figure out what to do next. To be honest, it seemed quite plausible at the time. And nothing surfaced to say otherwise.” Kate looked at Mac, then back at Rafe. “I'm usually a pretty good judge of people. She's a hard worker, a self-starter, and better with horses than anyone I've ever seen.”

“You also think she's too good to be true. Your instincts are good ones, Kate—don't ignore them.”

“You know there are a million reasons why she might have wanted to get away from that facility with her horse when she did. As I said, it's a big operation and she was one of many junior trainers trying to get a leg up and not succeeding as well as she'd hoped. Who knows what else may have added to her decision to leave when she did. Maybe there was harassment, maybe she was involved with someone and it didn't work out. Or maybe it's just what she said it was—a dead-end job, and she had a horse who could use some peace and quiet for a while. If a surprised look about her vet showing up unannounced is all you're going on, then I'd have to say—”

“You don't think it's odd she didn't mention the problem pregnancy when she took the job?”

“Not really. Maybe she didn't want to hurt her chances by making me worry she was bringing in a potential problem. She'd already missed out on her last job opportunity. Maybe that was why she was surprised to see her vet. She'd told me she had an old family friend who would take care of her horse, but nothing about there being a problem. Maybe that look you intercepted had to do with her worrying that he'd say something to the wrong person about her horse having problems with her last foal before she could let him know what was what.”

“What did she say about that lost job opportunity?”

“She didn't say specifically, but I gathered it didn't turn out to be what she was looking for. She turned it down, not the other way around. She gave me a reference, but, to be honest, I didn't call that one. She'd been with Charlotte Oaks long enough and her employment there was steady, problem free. And, frankly, I really liked her and didn't want there to be anything to keep me from hiring her.”

Rafe and Mac shared a look.

“What?” Kate asked. “You know I wouldn't have hired her if there was even an inkling of a problem. My camp kids mean more than—”

“I know,” Rafe said. “Let me ask you this. I'm guessing she intentionally bred her horse. I mean, it's not like a dog who gets accidentally knocked up by the local mongrel. So, she breeds her horse, even though she's contemplating leaving. A horse who had problems with the last pregnancy. Does that make sense? Why make such a huge career transition and do something like that with your horse at the same time?”

“I don't know. Maybe she had a chance to breed her for a good deal and so she went for it. Hard to say. Maybe her mare is hard to breed and she couldn't afford to pass up the opportunity. I really don't know.”