“What? I don’t look relaxed?”
He grinned but stayed close, watching as she did exactly as he’d explained. She picked up the movement of the horse and adapted to it.
The wind blew through her hair as they sped by trees on each side of them. He saw fear change to excitement and knew she was enjoying herself. She wasn’t supposed to have fun. His plan was backfiring. But had he really wanted her to be afraid of riding a horse?
When Cal slowed Tornado, Taffy matched the other horse’s pace.
“That was fantastic,” Nikki said, laughter in her voice.
Yeah, it had been even though he didn’t want to admit that he’d enjoyed her reaction. It did make him wonder what the hell kind of childhood she’d had.
“Didn’t you ever go to an amusement park, feel the rush of wind on your face when you rode the roller coaster?”
“Like Six Flags?” She shook her head. “No. My parents had their reasons, but we did travel most of Europe. The art museums were wonderful.”
They’d traveled Europe. He would’ve loved sightseeing when he was a kid, especially art museums. Yeah, right. Not that he’d had a choice. His grandparents hadn’t had that kind of money.
But where she’d traveled wasn’t his concern. He refused to feel sorry for someone who wanted to drag his reputation through the mud, but maybe he would show her a few things-like what sightseeing on a ranch was all about.
“There’s a spring-fed pond not far from here. I used to practically live there during the summer. We can water the horses. Want to see it?”
“I’d like that.”
“I’ll race you.”
“You’re on!”
She lightly kicked the sides of her horse. Taffy leapt forward and she had to grab the saddle horn to keep from falling off, but she didn’t slow down. An amazing woman-but still a reporter.
He chuckled as he sat watching her. Damn, but she was something else. She had plenty of determination and stubbornness. But that’s why she’d been nicknamed The Barracuda, and he needed to remember that.
“Are you going to let me win?” she yelled over her shoulder as she reined the horse in.
He grinned. “You’re going the wrong way!” He twirled Tornado to the east and nudged her forward.
“That wasn’t fair,” Nikki told Cal when she caught up to him, but she had to bite back the laughter that threatened to bubble out of her. That was the most fun she’d ever had in her entire life. Who knew riding a horse could be that exhilarating?
“Yeah, I know. But you enjoyed every second of it, admit it.”
She cocked an eyebrow. “It was fun. There, are you satisfied?”
“It’s okay to enjoy life.”
“I enjoy life very much. Do you think I don’t?”
“I wondered. You’re stuck in the nineteen twenties doing research, you’ve never been to an amusement park, and you’ve apparently never celebrated a holiday.”
She cringed at the lie about why she was really here, but it wasn’t as though she could tell him the truth. Now that she really thought about it, her life had been tame, except for her job. There’d never been anything tame about the stories she went after-well, except this one, and she didn’t really want to think about it right now.
They rode the rest of the way in silence, stopping when they came to a stand of trees.
Cal swung his leg over Tornado and jumped off. She swung her leg over Taffy and jumped to the ground, too. Immediately, her legs buckled. Before she could fall, Cal caught her up against him.
“Did I forget to mention riding a horse is a lot like going from a ship to land? You have to get your balance back.” There was laughter in his voice.
“I believe you did leave out that minor detail.”
His arms were firm as they held her close. If she raised her head a fraction, and circled her hand behind his neck, she could pull his face down to hers so their lips would meet.
Except she was still pissed that he hadn’t seemed quite as excited about their lovemaking as she had. She hoped he got a killer hard-on and suffered a great deal of pain. Then and only then, she might relieve him of the discomfort.
“I’m fine now.” She pushed away. Her legs actually wobbled more. Oh, yeah, she’d really punished him. This was kind of like cutting off her nose to spite her face.
“The trail is narrow here, but it’ll widen out when we get to the pond. We can walk the horses to it.”
Was there sweat beading his forehead? She didn’t get her hopes up. It was getting warm, and they’d been riding for quite some time. It was nothing more than that. The last time she’d looked at her reflection she’d looked pretty hot. So why did he seem so uninterested?
He led the way and she followed.
When she reached the pond, she stopped. An oasis in the middle of rolling hills. Curtained off by trees and framed with lush green grass, the secluded location presented a pretty picture of peaceful serenity. Her irritability evaporated.
“It’s beautiful.”
“Brian and I used to pretend it was the place where fairies lived. Magical people for a magical place.” He took the reins from her and led the horses closer so they could get a drink.
“Fairies?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.
“If it makes you feel better, there were a couple of dragons, too.” He shrugged. “We were kids with vivid imaginations. Didn’t you ever pretend you were in a different land with magical creatures?”
“No.” Her parents had told Nikki fantasies were great time wasters. If you wanted something, you went after it by working hard. The dreamers were the ones who usually had nothing.
Odd, but Cal had quite a lot, and he’d reached his goals even though he’d apparently had strange musings. She felt as though she’d missed something along the way while she was growing up.
“Do you swim?” he asked as he loosely tethered the horses to a bush so they could eat the grass without running off.
Swim? She used the pool every day she went to the gym. “I’m a very good swimmer.”
“The water is nice this time of year.”
Her pulse quickened. “I’m not wearing a suit.”
“You don’t need one out here. Don’t tell me you’ve never been skinny dipping.”
The water looked inviting. Swimming was her passion. The heat of the sultry Texas sun beating down on her shoulders was a great inducement and she knew exactly what it would lead to.
“Skinny dipping?” Nikki asked, eyeing the dark waters with more than a little trepidation.
“You look nervous,” Cal said.
She frowned. “Not about getting naked. I’m not in the least ashamed of my body.”
“And you shouldn’t be.” His gaze swept over her in a way that made her body tingle. “If you’re afraid of the water, don’t be. There’s nothing in there that’ll hurt you.”
Okay, she’d try just about anything once even if she wasn’t so sure what was beneath the murky water. She wasn’t a coward. She unbuttoned her shirt and tossed it across a bush. Her bra followed. She looked at him. Cal wasn’t doing anything but watching her.
“You are planning on swimming, aren’t you?”
“Oh, yeah, that and a whole lot more.”
Chapter 16
Nikki was glad she and Cal were on the same page, because she wanted to do a whole lot more, too. Except that he wasn’t getting naked.
“You aren’t going to take off your clothes?” Now that would be a shame.
Cal reached for his top button. “I’m enjoying the view.”
“Is that so?” She grinned as she toed off her boots, then unbuttoned her jeans and slowly slid the zipper down. She kicked out of her jeans, leaving her black lacy thong on as she tugged off her socks. Then slowly, seductively, she removed the thong, too.
“Have you ever had sex in the water?”
It wasn’t so much a question as it was a promise. Her nipples tightened as a familiar ache swept over her.
“I think I’m about to.”