Mistress to the Prince (23 page)

Max looked down at her pert face and almost laughed.  “I suppose it has something to do with survival of the fittest.  The more masculine, the more it is perceived that the man will have the stamina to reproduce.  We are hard wired to make sure all the women around us know that we are fully capable of taking care of them.”

“So you’re advertising?”

Max considered that for a long moment.  “I guess so,” he stated.  “Do you agree that I have the stamina?” he asked, turning from the horse and leaning down to kiss her lips.

“Oh, yes,” she said breathlessly, her hands going to his shoulders, encouraging him to continue.  She didn’t even remember that they were in the palace stables and anyone could come upon them.  “I seem to remember a great deal of stamina last night.”

Max chuckled.  “Good,” he said, his hand slipping underneath her sweater to touch her skin, moving upwards to cup her breast.  “
D
id the advertising live up to expectations?”

“Exceeded them!” she cried out as his thumb found her nipple through the lace of her bra.  “Definitely exceeded them.”

“Good,” he said, his teeth nipping at her ear lobe.  “Because I intend to show you again and again.”

“When?” She was hoping it would be immediately and her body moved against his, feeling the pressure from his body against her stomach that indicated that he was just as turned on as she was.

“Just as soon as you learn to ride a horse,” he chuckled and stepped back from her.

Tara
grimaced.  “I thought I was getting out of that,” she said. 

“Ready to meet your horse?” he asked.

“No.  I’m fine just watching,” she said and reached up to touch the horse’s nose again.  Zeus nuzzled
Tara
’s hand, asking for more affection when she stopped. 

“See?  He likes you.”

“He’s very nice,”
Tara
said, emphasizing the male pronoun.

“Come over here,” he said and took her hand to lead her down a few more stalls. 

“This is Lady,” Max said and reached in to pet a smaller brown mare with sweet, gentle eyes that looked at
Tara
curiously.  “I think you two will get along very well,” he said.  “How about if you give her the apple?”

Tara
held out her hand to the sweet looking horse with soft, brown eyes.  The mare nuzzled her hand and took a small nibble of the apple, then once she realized what it was, she took a larger bite, eating half the apple in one swallow. 
“Wow!  You’re a sweety,” she said and laughed as the horse nuzzled her hand for more. 

Tara
gasped when Lady’s mouth moved down her side and tried to nibble on her jacket.  “Um, Max?  What do I do now?” she said, trying to remain calm.

Max smiled and moved closer.  “Give her the sugar cubes that you have hidden in your pocket.  She knows they are there and you’ll have a friend for life,” he explained and held the horse’s mouth away long enough for
Tara
to retrieve the sugar cubes. 

“What do I do with them now?” she asked, holding her hand away from the horse’s mouth.

Max raised one eyebrow in amusement.  “You give them to her.”

“That mouth has teeth,”
Tara
said, nervously backing up another step.  “I saw them eat the apple so you can’t tell me otherwise.”

“Of course she has teeth but she won’t bite you, I promise.  She loves sugar and will only lick them off your hand.  It will tickle.”

Tara
eyed him suspiciously. 

When she continued to hesitate, he laughed gently and pulled her hand with the offering closer to the horse. 
“Go ahead.  Have I ever steered you wrong?”

Tara
considered his question carefully.  “Actually, I remember you asking me to take notes in a meeting of environmentalists about two months after I started working for you.  You told me it would be a piece of cake and then
you
walked away.  If I recall the meeting correctly, they almost tore each other apart trying to get their own points across to me.
  So in answer to your question, yes.  You’ve steered me wrong.  Would you like me to come up with other examples?
”

Max shrugged that episode off.  “I believe you handled that one very well, and it was an isolated incident
so you probably can’t come up with any others
. 
Besides, if I remember correctly, s
omehow,
in the case you mentioned,
you crafted legislation that made everyone happy, so what was the harm?”

“Isolated incident, huh?  What about the time you told me to call Lord Dibbons about his project? 
You told me it would be a brief call just to touch base with him on a minor issue. 
He
had me on the phone for an hour.
  Didn’t you say that the phone call would be quick and easy?  I was trying to head out to lunch that afternoon
with a friend
.”

Amazingly, a sheepish grin stole onto Max’s face with that example. 
“Okay, I’ll admit to lying about that one.  But I’ll excuse myself because I knew you were going out with some guy named
Bobby
.”

Her mouth dropped open with his admi
ss
ion.  “
Bobby
is a
female
friend,” she said, emphasizing the gender.

Max smiled unrepentantly.  “How was I to know?  You almost never go out to lunch and I thought it was some guy.”

Tara
’s mouth fell open in shock at his admission. 
“You were jealous?”

“Absolutely.
”

Tara
watched him pat the flanks of the brown horse affectionately. 
“That was over a year ago.
”

“
What does the time
frame have to do with anything?  It doesn’t alter the fact that you were about to go out with someone named
Bobby
and I didn’t like it. 
Are you going to give that sugar to Lady?  She’s been eyeing it this whole time.  Trust me
, it will definitely help her disposition
.
  She’s not ornery or anything but definitely has a sweet tooth.
”

Tara
glanced
over
at the sweet looking horse and relented despite his record of lying to her in the past.  As she reached out her hand
, she said, “So basically, what
you’re telling me is that you’ve been manipulating me for the past two years.  Is that right?”

“I’ll admit only to going nuts trying to get you to think of me as more than just your employer in the only means I could think of at various points in our working relationship.”

“No
problem there,” she muttered but she wasn’t going to admit that the horse named ‘Lady’ was definitely a sweet and gentle animal and her tongue did tickle
Tara
’s palm as the horse licked the sugar crystals off. 

“
W
hat was that?” he asked, moving closer to her
and wrapping an arm around her waist. 

Tara
hesitated for a moment
, enjoying the feeling of having his arms wrapped around her
.  “I said, there was never a problem with me knowing you were a man.”

“Well, you never showed any interest in me at all
,” he grimaced.  “Until last week, that is
.  Ready for your first lesson in riding?”

“No, thank you,” she said and petted Lady’s neck some more.

“Sure you are,” he
countered
.  “You can ride with me this time.”  Max patted Lady again, then took
Tara
’s
hand and led her back to Zeu
s’s stall.

Tara
immediately stepped back
, still wary of the black horse that was about four feet taller than the gentle brown one
. “Max, there is no way you’re getting me onto that horse.” 

Max didn’t respond.  He simply led the horse out of the stall and saddled him. 
Tara
watched as Max worked, enjoying the play of muscles along his shoulders, reveling in the strength of the man. 

Now that she had admitted she was in love with him, there was a little sadness knowing she would have to find a new job but there was also freedom in her admission.  She realized that she’d been in love with him for a long time now. 
Tara
wasn’t sure when she’d actually fallen over the cliff from just fascination and admiration and into the madly in love category, but it felt good, at least for the moment. 

She had been with him for long enough to know that she had at least a couple of weeks with him.
He generally stayed with a woma
n for three or four weeks before another one caught his eye.  It wasn’t that he was fickle so much as the fact that he just enjoyed women and they threw themselves at him so often, he had no reason to settle down. 
Why would a man settle for one appetizer when he could have the buffet? 
Tara
didn’t like the analogy but considered it apt in his case.  The man was just too gorgeous for women to ignore him
.  Add his power and charm and he truly was irresistible. 

“Ready?” he called out to her.  She was leaning against a fence watching him saddle the horse.  But when she looked up, he was already sitting on top of Zeus, staring down at her with a strange look in his eye. 

“Ready for what?” she asked warily. 
Tara
didn’t like the arrogant look in his eyes.  Not at all.  She took a step backwards, intending to stay out of his reach.  It would be just like him to charm her into getting onto the horse.  “I’m heading back to the palace.  Thank you for introducing me to the horses.  Enjoy your ride and I’ll see you when you are through.”

“
Tara
,” he said, his voice full of authority.  But
Tara
didn’t stop her backwards movement.  She knew him too well.  “You’re not going anywhere except up onto this horse
for your first ride,” he explained. 

She raised her hands up in front of him as if to ward off his approach. 
“Nope.  Not going to happen,
Your Highness
,” she laughed and started walking back to the palace.  “I’ll see you later,” she said, walking along the pathway.

He only gave her enough time to clear the fence line before he scooped her up into his arms, settling her in front of
him
on Zeus’s back.  “You’ll love the ride,” he said and pulled her bo
ttom more firmly onto his lap.  “Swing your leg over or you’ll fall off,” he ordered.

“Max, please let me down.  I don’t know how to do this,” she said, her hands clenching at his muscular forearm.  “What if he bolts?  What do I do?” she demanded.

“First of all, swing your leg over him so you are riding astride.  That will make him feel more balanced,” he explained.  “I’ve got you so you don’t need to worry about falling.” 

Tara
did exactly as she was told, too terrified to do anything else. 
She swung her leg over the horse’s head carefully, not wanting to spook the animal in any way.  Thankfully, Zeus just flicked his ears and waited patiently for his command. 

“Good,” Max said into her ear.  “Now, just relax a little and lean against me.  You’re going to have to trust me in order to enjoy the ride.”

“Max, please let me down,” she begged, still staring at the horse’s ears in case they showed some sort of irritation
, not relaxing her death grip on his arm no matter how softly he coaxed her
.