The Man's Outrageous Demands Page 0,6

fall off horses, but I’m not that dense,” she said and turned back towards the forest to continue walking.

“Well, that explains everything,” he said and sat up straight in his saddle.

Marabeth looked back up at him. She wasn’t going to ask. She wasn’t going to ask. She repeated that phrase to herself several times, walking faster in the vain hope of losing him. In the end, her curiosity won out. “What does it explain?” she demanded, finally asking the question she hated herself for asking.

“Why your horse dumped you.”

Her mouth fell open. Was he able to read minds? She blinked and shook her head. Now she was just being fanciful. “Excuse me?” asking for clarification on why he thought her horse had dumped her.

“You named your male horse ‘Beauty’. He was offended. No man wants to be called ‘Beauty’,” Sam said and looked down at her as if he were explaining something very deep and important.

Marabeth shook her head. “Excuse me, I disagree with you. Beauty didn’t throw me because of his name.”

“Why did he?”

“He didn’t throw me. I fell off,” she said through gritted teeth, glaring at the horrible man.

“Ah…well, that probably makes all the difference in the world…I guess to the horse as well.” The two of them walked for several minutes in silence. “Are you sure you wouldn’t like a ride?” he finally asked.

“No. Thank you,” she said with as much dignity as she could muster under the circumstances.

“Why not?” he asked.

“As I said earlier, I fell off my horse, I deserve to walk,” she said, coming up with an excuse as quickly as possible. In truth, she just didn’t want to be that close to his magnificent body.

Sam shook his head. “You realize it is about a three mile walk back to the stables, right?”

“Yes. I know that. I’ve been on this path almost every day of my life. But thank you for so graciously pointing that out to me, sir. Now that you’ve done your gentlemanly duty, please feel free to head on back to where ever you came from,” she said with a brightly false smile on her face.

“You’re going to make this difficult, aren’t you?” he said, chuckling down at the spirited woman with sunshine sparking off her hair.

“No,” she said glaring up at him, wishing he would just leave. this difficult at all. I just want to be left alone with my humiliation. helping me.”

“I’m not making

But you’re not

“Pride goeth before the fall, huh?”

“If you don’t remember because of your caveman mentality, I’ve already fallen. I’ve admitted that I fell. Why can’t you just leave me alone?” she asked, her hands fisted by her sides as she enunciated each word as if he were extremely slow witted.

“Because you’re beautiful and incredibly sexy and every instinct inside me is telling me to be the gentleman and carry you back to the stables.”

Marabeth was shocked at his words and her expression showed her confusion. No man had ever dared to speak so openly to her. Not even her deceased fiancé. Men were always polite to the point of irritatingly gracious around her. She didn’t particularly like this man telling her those things though. They caused flutters inside her stomach that were foreign and odd. Odd in her mind was always bad. She pulled herself up to her royal height of five feet, seven inches and looked as intimidating as possible at this incredibly muscular man. “I’d recommend ignoring your gentlemanly needs and listen to my own needs. Please leave me alone, sir. I believe I’ve experienced enough humiliation in your presence to last me a lifetime.”

“Don’t say so, my lady. I’d be so disappointed if I never got to see that lovely blush on you’re beautiful cheeks,” he chuckled.

“Sir, please, leave me alone!” she demanded, becoming angry now as he pointed out her fiery cheeks.

“I’m sorry, but my mother taught me never to leave a woman stranded,” he said. The next thing she knew, Marabeth was being hauled up into the saddle by an incredibly strong arm. She was seated right in front of him, her bottom pressed intimately against his groin, her leg laying against his very muscular one.

“There,” she heard him say softly in her ear. “That’s better, don’t you think?”

Marabeth couldn’t think. She was too aware of this man’s body and the heat emanating from him and heating up her bones. She trembled as one arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her more firmly against him as he settled her for