"Stop it." Addie found herself smiling unwillingly at the picture he painted. "I just want to know what you're going to tell Rus-my father after I get thrown again and wind up with a broken neck."
"It sounds as if you're asking for a riding lesson." Ben's amusement disappeared all too quickly, replaced by a sneer. "Imagine that. Adeline Warner needing a few pointers from little 0l' me."
"You're crazy if you think I'm trying to get attention from you!"
"Then why the attempt at femme fatale?" He cast a meaningful glance at the patch of ground where they had both been.
Addie swallowed back a sharp-tongued retort, wondering if it would be more in character for her to argue with him or pretend that her fall from Jessie had been a silly feminine ruse to get his attention. He seemed inclined to believe the worst of her-why not play on his ego? Besides, she had to come up with some explanation of why she'd handled the horse so ineptly. Ben might as well think she'd fallen on purpose.
"I should have known you wouldn't be enough of a gentleman to oblige me," she murmured, peeping up at him through her lashes. There. That sounded flirtatious, and perhaps it would throw him off-balance. Let him believe this entire episode was a ploy to attract him. He'd expect nothing less from Adeline Warner.
Instead of being disconcerted, Ben was frankly amused. "The merchandise doesn't appeal to me, honey." He gave her an assessing glance. "Not that it doesn't come in a pretty package."
Oh, she absolutely detested him! "You're too kind," she said stiffly.
Suddenly he grinned, the hint of malice leaving his expression. "Why the antics this morning? Just bored, hmmm? Am I the only man left in the county who isn't head over heels in love with you?"
"Probably," she said carelessly, causing him to laugh.
"Don't try again, Adeline. It's a dangerous game. I'm nothing like the boys you like to dangle by their heartstrings.”
"I'm sure you like to think so," she said disdainfully. "But you're all alike. No matter what age, you're all just boys. You like to play the same ridiculous games over and over again, and… " She closed her mouth with a snap.
"And what?" he prompted. As she remained silent, his gaze seemed" to bum through her. "What do you think the difference is between a boy and a man, Adeline?"
"I wouldn't know. I have yet to meet a real man." He gave her a jeering smile, and when he spoke, his voice was smooth and drawling, sending tremors up and down her spine. "I don't think you could recognize one, darlin'."
"A man is someone who has principles," she said, enunciating the word as if it would surely be unfamiliar to him. "And the strength to stand by them. Someone who wouldn't always put himself first, others second. And also-"
"Please." He held up a hand as if in self-defense. "I'm sure it's a long list, and very entertaining. But I don't have the time."
"You'd never measure up to it anyway."
Ben chuckled. "Darlin', you're hardly an authority on the subject."
His condescension rankled. She knew more about men than he thought! Although women back in these days were raised on silly Victorian principles, she had grown up in a time that was far less prudish. Her peers had prided themselves on being modem and sophisticated about sex. They had seen plays and read books about it until they ceased to become shocked by such openness and had merely been bored by it. Although Adele had never had an affair, she was part of a generation which had come to adulthood wondering what all the commotion was about.
"I'm not as sheltered as you seem to think," she said.
"I have an idea you're not as experienced as you seem to think."
"How do you know? I believe you said that you resisted my… er, advances in the stable."
"You still can't believe I turned down your offer, can you? I had no idea how much it bothered you."
"Don't look so smug. It didn't bother me at all! I'm thrilled nothing happened between us. You can't imagine how… What are you doing?"
He took her arm in a firm grip and pulled her over to Jessie.
"Don't," Addie said, her voice changing rapidly. "I can't manage her."
"You're too rough with her. Her mouth is sensitive, and you're fixing to tear it up. You're also bumping your heel against her side, which doesn't exactly set her straight about what you want her to do."
"I admit I'm not handling her well." Stubbornly Addie turned away from the horse as Ben urged her nearer to the animal. "But the rest of the problem is the fact that that animal is mean and bad-tempered, and that's nothing you can fix."
"She just needs the right handling. Like any female." Ben rested his hand on the saddle, preventing her from slipping by him. "Now, get on."
"Stop it. I've had enough of y-your orders." The rage she felt was directed more at herself than him. She had gotten herself in this mess by not putting her foot down this morning. She should have refused to go in the first place. Now there was nothing to do but get back on the horse.
"Enough," he said, turning her around and taking her by the waist. "I don't know what inspired you to play this game-"
She managed to knock his hat off as she struggled with him. "It's not a game!"
"-but if you want to pretend you don't remember how to ride, then I'll oblige you. You want a riding lesson? I'll give you one hell of a lesson, Adeline."
Before she could say a word, he handed her the ends of the reins and lifted her up into the saddle. Instinctively she scrabbled for a secure position on the horse's back, clutching at a coarse mane, and Jessie started to fidget. Addie closed her eyes and clung tighter, knowing she was going to be thrown again. Ben swung up behind her, his powerful thighs clamping down on the mare's sides.
"She's jumping around again," Addie gasped, drawing in the reins as tightly as she could.
"Stop yanking on those," he said, sounding irritated. "You're going to bruise her mouth."
"She's trying to kill me, and you're worried about-"
"Give me the reins." He took them in one hand and' slid his other arm around her midriff, pulling her against him as Jessie tried to rear on her hind legs. Addie's breath caught in her throat, and she clung blindly to the arm around her, frozen with fear. Contrary to her expectations, she didn't fall off. Ben's hold on her was hard and. secure, his body perfectly balanced as he accommodated Jessie's motion with no effort at all. The mare quieted soon, sensing the futility of opposing his commands. "Turn your heel out. You're kicking her again."
She was paralyzed. "I'm just trying to stay on."
"Turn your heel out."
As soon as she realized Jessie was going to stay still, Addie let out a taut sigh and obeyed, loosening her death grip on Ben's arm. Slowly his hand slid to the front of her midriff, settling in a place perilously close to her breasts. "Now, take the reins. And keep them loose. "