Faith whirled the pony around, almost losing her balance at the sound of Reese’s voice. Embarrassment flooded her face. “What are you doing here?”
Reese’s gaze traveled from the tips of her dusty boots, up the length of her legs, hips, waist, lingered a moment at her breasts, then focused on her face. “I came to see what was keeping you. I never dreamed I’d find you like this.”
Faith heard the husky tone, recognized the heat in his eyes, and tried to smooth her skirts back over her exposed limbs. She wet her lips. “I promised Joy I’d groom Brutus for her.”
“Groom him for what?” Reese approached the pony, eyeing him warily, careful to keep out of the reach of his teeth.
“Groom him.” Faith repeated. “I was going to brush him, but then I thought how fun it looked to ride astride instead of in a side saddle…”
“Oh, it is.” Reese’s eyes darkened. “Fun to ride astride.”
“I never have before.” She looked almost guilty as she attempted to slide off Brutus’s back.
Reese slid his hands around her waist, easing her off the pony.
“Oh, yes, you have. Numerous times.” He pulled her to him, kissing the corner of her lips. “But never in a barn. Until now.”
“Reese, we can’t.” Faith murmured, already kissing him back and beginning to undo the buttons of his shirt.
“Of course, we can.” He backed her into one of the clean stalls.
“Reese! Faith! Are you in there?” Sam’s voice carried through the length of the stables. “Breakfast!”
“Maybe tomorrow.” Reese muttered.
Faith shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
“Reese!” Sam interrupted again, his voice closer.
“We’ll be there in a minute, Sam. We’re just putting Brutus away.” Reese grabbed Brutus’s reins before reaching over to kiss Faith one last time. “Meet me here in the morning after breakfast. I’ll teach you to ride astride. We’ll practice every morning.”
“On a horse.” Faith insisted.
“We can do that, too.” Reese led the pony into his stall. “If you insist.” He turned away from Brutus to face her. “But only if you’re a good girl and practice.”
“Reese…” Faith tried to warn him.
“And, sometimes, we won’t even need a horse…” He leaned toward her. Brutus leaned forward too, opened his mouth and took another chunk out of Reese’s arm. “Dammit!” Reese spun around to confront his attacker. The pony shied away, looking bored, uninterested.
Faith took a sugar cube out of her pocket and held it out to Reese.
“Don’t reward him!”
“I’m not.” Faith smiled at him. “I just thought you might like to make friends.”
“Not a chance.” Reese grumbled.
“We might be spending a lot of time in the barn.” Faith let her words trail off.
“On second thought…” Reese took the proffered treat, then grudgingly extended his hand to Brutus.
* * *
Reese announced his intentions at breakfast. “From now on, I’ll be giving Joy’s riding lessons.”
Charlie looked up from his plate.
Reese explained. “Faith wants to learn to ride…western style. I promised to teach her.”