Leo arched a brow and she did her darndest to ignore him.
“Oh? Have you never gone riding then?” Jane asked.
Kat fidgeted. She could feel Leo’s intense stare and she already knew what would be coming. She didn’t even have to confirm what the two people in front of her were coming to realize.
Leo tisked. “That simply won’t do, Ms. Jerris. You can’t spend six months here and not go riding at least once.”
She turned a narrowed gaze on him, but Jane prevented her from making a snappy comment.
“Leo’s right. The two of you should go for a ride sometime this week. Take one of the horses and really get to know this place—I’m sure you’ll see why we love it so much.”
“Oh, I couldn’t?—”
Leo moved to her side and draped an arm around her shoulder, holding her captive. “Don’t worry,Princess. It’s gonna befun. I’ll make sure of it.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Leo cinchedthe belt beneath his horse firmly and darted one more look in Kat’s direction. She had her arms wrapped around herself as she stared out at the landscape before them. The sun’s light glowed behind the mountains. The sky was a brilliant red, bleeding into the clouds to make the whole sky look more like molten lava than a sunrise.
She was nervous and he wanted to revel in it.
But that niggling part of him that didn’t want to be this person held him back from accepting joy in the role he’d been taking while around her.
Last night, he’d barely gotten any sleep. His mind bounced from hating the woman to wanting her attention—the sort of attention she’d given him before she’d betrayed him and stuck him in that coop.
Kat was nothing if not a firecracker. She’d only been here a couple of days and already he couldn’t shake her. He couldn’t stop thinking about her.
Any time she came into view, it was all he could take not to take her in—every last inch of her. After her shopping spree with Hallie, she officially looked every part the cowgirl.
She was mesmerizing.
And the worst part?
Some of the other men had started to notice, too.
His hand clenched into a fist and the leather of his gloves creaked with the effort. Tripp had been the first to notice her beauty. And anytime he was within the same vicinity as Kat, he made it known exactly what he was thinking with one look.
If Leo wasn’t around, he’d easily win her over with his smiles and his charm. It was who he was. If Leo had anything to do about it, no one would win Kat over. She wasn’t going to be around long, and her presence didn’t need to be something that stuck with people.
He grabbed the reins for both of the horses he’d saddled. One was his. He’d participated in a lot of the training over the last couple of years and there wasn’t a horse that was better trained. Buck was a gentle giant of sorts. He could run with the best of them, but no one was sweeter or more mild-tempered.
If Leo was a better person, he would offer Kat his horse. As it was, Kat would be riding Viper.
There wasn’t anything inherently wrong with Viper. The horse was hard-headed on his best days and a little skittish on his worst. He’d never thrown a rider, though, so he couldn’t be all bad. There was just enough uncertainty that Leo knew he’d be able to put Kat in her place.
She might be a princess in New York, but here? Leo was king.
Kat turned when he got closer, and he jerked his chin toward the black horse. “Do you need help getting up there? Or like everything else, are you already perfect at it?”
She narrowed her eyes then shook her head. Without saying a word, she slipped her riding boot into the saddle. The boots she wore were scuffed and worn—probably a pair that Hallie had loaned her. Kat also wore a sheepskin jacket. He hadn’t seen her wearing it previously and he couldn’t be certain if she’d gotten it while she was here or if she was borrowing it as well.
He wouldn’t be surprised if she’d dropped nearly a thousand dollars on the new wardrobe she’d purchased. The woman probably didn’t know the meaning of budgeting.
It took Kat five attempts at jumping to get into a position where she could swing her leg over the saddle. All the while, Leo waited. He wasn’t about to put his hands on her.
Not again.
The other day when he’d had his hand at her waist, she’d been so intoxicating it had taken more will power than he wanted to admit to keep everything professional. Her scent alone seemed to have drugged him into a dizzying state.
