The Cowboy's Temptation (5 page)

Moving to the side, she considered all the various angles available to get onto the horse. Including the rear. She wasn’t sure how to do it but she knew the block of wood near the horse had something to do with helping her, otherwise Rick wouldn’t have brought Jemima over to it, would he?

“What are you doing?” Jake asked, trying not to laugh at the way she surveyed the gentle mare.

 

Elissa sighed. “I’m trying to figure out how to get on,” she finally admitted, looking at the ground in embarrassment.

Jake rolled his eyes and walked over to her. Grabbing her by the waist, he lifted her over the saddle and plunked her down, not even looking like he’d exerted himself in any way.

Elise landed in the saddle with a hard thump. “Well, that’s definitely one way,” she mumbled, grabbing the saddle horn with both hands.

 

“Now take the reigns and move the horse over to the corral while I open the gate,” he said and turned his back to walk over to the gate and unlatch the lock.

Elissa picked up the reigns and stared at the back of the horse’s head. She wriggled her hips a little, thinking that might get the horse moving in the right direction. But the horse didn’t even flutter her ears.

“Okay, Jemima, you heard the man. We need to go over there,” Elissa said, pointing to the corral.

 

Jemima’s reply was a snort of her nose but no movement.

 

“What the hell are you doing?” Jake asked, staring back at the woman wriggling her cute little derriere on the saddle.

Elissa froze. She hadn’t realized that he was watching her. She looked up and caught his astonished gaze. “You said to get the horse into the corral. I’m trying to get her to move, but I’m not sure how to do it.”

Jake’s mouth dropped open. But he quickly snapped it shut and walked back over to her. “You put your heels to her belly to make her move forward,” he snapped. “Pull the reigns to the left to make her go left and right to make her go right.”

Elissa looked down at Jake with a horrified expression, not liking what he was telling her to do. “I have to kick this horse to make her move?” not having the courage to do any such thing.

“You don’t kick her, you nudge her gently,” he said, exasperated. “Haven’t you ever watched any old Western movies?”

Elissa felt foolish but determined. “No. And if I knew how to do this, I wouldn’t have asked for lessons,” she snapped back. Wishing he would stop staring at her, she gently tapped her heels to the horse’s side.

Jemima took a step forward, then stopped.

 

“Again,” Jake yelled, walking back to the gate. He leaned against the rails and crossed his arms over his chest while he watched her.

Elissa again touched her heels to the mare’s sides and Jemima moved again, walking this time but, unfortunately not towards the corral. “No no, please. Go the other way,” Elissa pleaded, then remembered Jakes instructions about the reigns and pulled them to the left. Sure enough, the horse turned in the direction of the corral and Elissa let out a deep breath. Unfortunately, she forgot to let the reigns down and the horse kept turning, heading back into the barn. Elissa panicked. “No no, Jemima. Please don’t go back there. I promise I’ll give you a treat as soon as we’re done.”

Jake had been leaning against the fence of the corral, enjoying the view of Elissa’s cute little bottom on the saddle. When the horse finally moved, he smothered a laugh when she begged the horse to turn in the correct direction.

But his amusement turned to hilarity when the horse made a full one eighty and headed back to the barn, with Elissa pleading with the horse to do her bidding.

Jake shook his head and slapped his hat on his thigh, then moved into the barn to retrieve horse and rider. He held the reigns in his hands and guided Jemima and Elissa into the corral. Once there, Jake slapped the rump of Jemima once and the horse walked slowly into the fenced area.

Elissa could not hide her embarrassment as the horse moved into the corral, then stopped and waited for more direction.

 

“Just start her walking around the corral so you can get a feel for her,” Jake called as he latched the gate closed.

Elissa gently pressed her heels against Jemima’s sides again, concentrating on what the horse was doing. It seemed to know to move around the edge of the fence line so at least Elissa didn’t have to make her go in a specific direction.
“Make her stop,” Jake called.

Elissa flinched at his curt order and accidentally kicked Jemima on the sides again, making the horse increase her speed to a fast trot.

 

“Stop her, not make her go faster!” Jake snapped.

Elissa glanced up quickly but only allowed her eyes to touch Jake for a moment before moving back to Jemima’s ears. “What do I do?” she yelled, hoping he could hear her over the frantic beating of her heart.

“Pull back on the reigns,” he yelled back impatiently.

 

Elissa pulled back quickly and Jemima immediately came to a stop. Elissa dropped the reigns to grab onto the saddle horn. She stayed on the horse, but just barely.

 

“What are you doing now?” Jake asked, watching her cling to the saddle as if her life depended on it.

Elissa looked around her, noting the reigns dragging on the dirt and not sure how to pick them up again. “I’m not exactly sure what to do. Any suggestions?” She called out.

Jake put his head down for a moment. She looked so incredibly vulnerable and his initial instinct was to jump over the fence and help her down. Or climb up onto the saddle and show her how to ride the horse. But getting close to this woman was dangerous. He wouldn’t be touching the horse, he’d be touching her and that thought made him snap out commands more curtly than he’d intended.

“Reach over and pick up the reigns,” he said.

 

“No,” she called back.

Jake looked up, shocked at that one word. Orders by him were instantly obeyed by every person who stepped foot on this ranch. Men twice her size didn’t dare argue with any of his commands no matter what he asked them to do. So it was hard for him to comprehend that this tiny, sexy woman, sitting on top of one of the gentlest mares in his stable of over one hundred horses, had the courage to defy him when no one else dared.

Jake crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the corral, wondering if he should take her to task for telling him no. “Well, then what are you going to do?”

 

Elissa couldn’t think of an answer. “I’m not sure what to do, but I can tell you definitely what I’m not going to do,” she called back.

Jake heard the quiver in her voice and realized she was genuinely scared. He relented and allowed himself to close the distance between them. He reached down and handed the reigns to her, looking up at her nervous expression. “Elissa, this is a sweet, gentle lady. She’s not going to hurt you, I promise,” he said and patted the horse’s neck just to show her how sweet the horse was.

Jake’s softer tone and reassurance gave her some courage. She nodded and bit her lower lip in concentration. Elissa took a deep breath and tapped her heels against Jemima’s sides. The horse immediately moved forward at a slow walk. Testing out her courage, Elissa pulled the reigns to the right and was thrilled when Jemima walked to the right. Elissa tried it in the opposite direction and, sure enough, the horse contritely walked to the left. Elissa smiled brightly at her accomplishment, meeting Jake’s eyes in triumph.

Jake had to swallow hard as he watched her excitement over her maneuvers. They were barely up to the basics of horse riding and Elissa looked like she had just won a gold medal in the Olympics.

Ignoring the warm, tender feelings she created inside him, he called out to her, “Now stop her and start her up again.”

 

“Uh…Jake, you never told me how to stop her,” she said, turning the horse again to the right.

 

“Pull on the reigns.”

 

“I did that last time and lost the reigns. What did I do wrong?”

 

“You pulled back too quickly. You told her she needed to stop quickly, so she did. Pull back gently and she’ll come to a stop gently.”

 

Elissa did as he instructed and her smile widened when Jemima came to a gentle stop.

The lesson continued for over an hour. Jake had her start, stop, move to the left and right over and over again. Then when he thought she’d mastered that, he told her how to dismount. He made her get up and off several times.

Grooming the horse after the lesson was a treat for both horse and rider. Elissa rubbed the horse down with a brush, then fed her an apple, enjoying how the horse nibbled on the palm of her hand. She made fast friends with Jemima that day. But she avoided looking at Jake again. The one time in the corral was enough to assure her that he didn’t like her in any way and thought of her as burdensome. She was grateful for the lesson though, so once he told her that Jemima was adequately compensated for, she turned to offer her thanks.

“Be back here tomorrow for the next lesson,” he said before she could get out her thanks. He walked away after that tense command.

Elissa watched him walk away, admiring the man’s physique despite herself. His thighs were thick and muscular beneath the jeans and were topped by the nicest butt, she admitted. Elissa had never been a derriere admirer before, but she was changing in all aspects of her life, she realized.

Then her eyes strayed to his shoulders and she had to sigh. If she were a dating woman, which she wasn’t anymore, this man would definitely tempt her. She’d felt only his hands against her waist when they’d lifted her into the saddle, but that was enough to know that those arms and shoulders were packed with muscles underneath his black cotton shirt.

Elissa shook her head and forced her eyes to move away from his retreating back. She didn’t know what to do with the rest of her day. Veronica would be at school for another four hours, Rick was out on whatever task Jake had sent him to do. She thought about logging into her computer and checking her e-mail, but rejected that idea.

The main house caught her eye and Elissa remembered Veronica talking about the kitchen. Apparently, Jake’s mother loved cooking so the main house had a very large, airy kitchen with every possible utensil and pan known to the culinary world.

Elissa hadn’t cooked anything since before college, but she remembered how much she liked baking and creating. Since she was staying at the main house for a few more days, would Jake mind if she used the kitchen as well?

She turned around to see if she could put the question to him, but once she walked out of the barn, there was no one in sight, Jake included. She walked up to the house by herself, ignoring the tense muscles in her body.

She entered by a side entrance and gasped in pleasure. The kitchen was huge with acres of countertop space. The dark wood cabinets were large and, upon opening them, she discovered that they were filled with mixing bowls, pans of every size and shape and any utensil she might need, including some she had no idea what to do with.

Peeking into the refrigerator, she noted that it was packed full of food. Elissa wondered if Jake would consider this an invasion of privacy, but then shrugged. She didn’t care at this point. She didn’t have anything to do until Veronica came home so she was going to try her hand at cooking.

She found a dish towel and tucked it into the waistband of her jeans in place of an apron, then pulled out chicken, vegetables, cheese, bread and butter. Staring at the ingredients, she considered her options. With a nod of her head and a determined expression, Elissa set out to pounding, chopping, slicing and dicing. The first thing was a salad. That was easy enough, she thought as she tossed all the vegetables into a bowl, adding as much color as the vegetables would allow.

She worked on the main meal next and had a little more trouble with that. She decided to try stuffed chicken and burned herself on the oil when she put the first chicken cutlet into the pan. Ignoring the pain, she sautéed over six breaded chicken cutlets filled with sliced ham and cheese. The breading made the cutlets cook to a golden brown and the smell filled the kitchen with a wonderful scent.

For a side dish, she made mashed potatoes with lots of butter and sour cream, adding a little garlic to the end product.

It took her four hours, but the end product was very satisfying. She arranged the cutlets on two plates, four that she was going to take to Veronica’s house for dinner, then adding the last two to a plate for Jake along with a huge mound of mashed potatoes and a salad. She cleaned the kitchen, wrapped his dinner up in saran wrap and put it into the refrigerator in a place she was sure he’d see. Once she finished, Elissa carried all the dishes out the door, hoping to have the table set at the other house before Veronica came home.

But Veronica was pulling up to the house just as Elissa exited the house. “What are you doing over here?” Veronica asked, smiling and taking one of the bowls out of Elissa’s hands.

“I made dinner,” Elissa explained proudly. “I used Jake’s kitchen. I hope he won’t mind. Not that I don’t like yours, but Jake’s is really nice,” she said and opened Veronica’s front door to let them both inside.

“Oh, don’t worry about Jake. He won’t mind at all. He never uses the kitchen. The man seems to live on sandwiches unless I feed him over here.”

“Well, I left him a plate. I don’t know if he’ll like it but it was fun to cook again,” Elissa said with a satisfied expression as she placed the dinner on the counter in Veronica’s kitchen.

Veronica stared at her friend in confusion. “What did you do in New York when you were hungry?”

 

“Ate out,” Elissa replied, pulling plates out of the kitchen cabinets and placing them on the table. “Sit down and I’ll set the table,” She said.

 

Veronica sat and stared at her friend. “You never cooked at your house?”

Elissa opened and closed drawers, in search of utensils, shrugging her shoulders distractedly at Veronica’s question. “Well, I don’t really have a house, just a condominium. But no, I haven’t had time to cook in years. I ate out if I got hungry,” and she smiled triumphantly when she opened the drawer with knives and forks.

“What about breakfast? Don’t you eat then?”

Elissa took the plates from the counter and placed three around the table, adding knives, forks and spoons. “Nope. My stomach was usually too tense in the morning for anything other than a cup of coffee.”