The Trouble with Angels (Angels Everywhere #2)(39)

"Oh, no.” Maureen had warned her daughter against doing this very thing countless times. Her own actions had been stupid and irresponsible.

"I had to leave Midnight back on the trail.” He shucked off his lambskin-lined jacket and draped it over her shoulders. It felt warm against her chilled skin. His scent circled her like the smoke from a lazy fire, and it felt as if his arms were around her, comforting her.

Taking his time, his fingers holding hers, Thom carefully guided her over the rocky path toward the trail. She held on to him firmly, afraid to let go. With her hand in his she felt secure and safe.

"Aren’t you angry with me?” she asked when the silence grew too much for her. Heaven knew he had every right.

"Should I be?”

"Yes,” she said crossly. "I was reckless and foolish, and it seems to me—”

"It seems to me,” he interrupted, "you’re angry enough with yourself. You don’t need me lecturing you when you’re doing such a fine job of it.”

They reached the narrow trail. Midnight, his dark gelding, was tied to a tree, waiting impatiently. Thom smoothed his hand down the horse’s long, sleek neck and spoke soothingly to the gelding. Maureen recognized the same calming, comforting voice. It rankled her pride that he spoke to his horse in the same gentle tones as he did her!

With an ease and grace she envied, he lifted himself onto the saddle. The leather creaked as it accepted his weight, and Midnight sidestepped twice, seemingly eager to head back to the barn.

Maureen wondered exactly what she was supposed to do when Thom slipped his foot free of the stirrup, leaned forward, and offered her his assistance.

She studied his extended hand for a moment. "You want me to climb on behind you?” she asked, and grimaced at the squeaky, nervous way her voice reverberated into the night. She’d never ridden horseback in her life.

"Yes.” She noticed he didn’t offer her any advice or instructions.

Luckily she had on a pants suit. She lifted her left foot and placed it inside the stirrup, but it was so high off the ground that it would have taken a forklift to heave her all the way up to where Thom was.

With one foot trapped three feet off the ground, she hopped around on her good foot in an effort to gain her balance. "Don’t you dare laugh,” she admonished.

"I wouldn’t dream of it.”

But she could already hear the amusement in his voice.

"Give me your hand,” he instructed, and when she pressed her smooth palm in his callused one, he hoisted her upward. Her one foot flailed in midair for a moment or two before she was able to boost it over Midnight’s back.

Thom sat forward in his saddle, giving her just enough space to rest her bu**ocks.

"Comfortable?” he asked.

"No problem,” she assured him, gripping the saddle behind her in an effort to keep from wrapping her arms around his waist. Their positions were intimate enough. She wore his jacket, and that alone felt as if she were in his arms. If she touched him, she might have to deal with the emotions his kisses had roused. To the best of her ability, she pushed every thought of his kiss from her mind and settled as far back in the saddle as was possible.

Thom pulled on the reins. "You might want to hold on to my waist.”

"I’m fine,” she said confidently. Her fingers bit into the hard leather saddle.

Midnight took off in an easy trot. Within the first few seconds Maureen recognized it was either hold on to Thom or else slip straight off Midnight’s back. As it was, she felt as if she were sitting on a trampoline. Her bu**ocks lifted several inches off the saddle and slammed down repeatedly.

Immediately her arms shot out and went around Thom in an octopus grip. Her head jerked up and down until her teeth felt as if they were about to fall out.

Thom patted her hands, which were joined at his stomach. "That isn’t so bad, now, is it?”

He’d nearly unsaddled her on purpose in an effort to get her to hold him. Maureen was sure of it. She noticed that Midnight’s gait was much more relaxed now, and she sat relatively comfortably behind him.

Maureen would have chastised Thom, but just then they trotted into the yard and Karen came racing toward them.

"Mom,” she cried, "where were you?”

"Lost,” she muttered. "I did something none of us should ever do. I went for a walk without telling anyone where I was going.”

"You’re restricted for a week,” Karen said, sounding dead serious, then ruined her feigned outrage by giggling. "I was worried until Mr. Nichols decided to look for you. Paula told me he wouldn’t come back until he’d found you.”

A man of his word. Maureen didn’t know there were any left in this world. She’d been married to a man who’d often bartered with the truth, a man who’d traded away his integrity and destroyed their marriage for a few moments’ pleasure with another woman.

"Come inside the house,” Thom said. He slipped from Midnight’s back and reached up to help Maureen down. It seemed his hands gripped her about the waist several seconds longer than necessary.

"Inside the house?” she asked once her feet were planted firmly on solid ground. Ken led Midnight into the barn.

"You’re half frozen. You need something warm.”

She wanted to argue, tell him the car heater would chase away any chill, but the words never made it to her lips.