When I'm with You (Because You Are Mine #2)(54)

It was love at first sight, he could tell, and the feeling was mutual. Kesara whickered softly as Elise petted and greeted her in a low, confidential tone. Kesara’s ears flicked with interest. For a moment, Lucien found himself listening to the silky, soothing sound of Elise speaking in French to the horse, lulled just like the animal . . . charmed. The dulcet tones made his skin prickle, his body stir. His gaze lowered to the taut, sleek curves of Elise’s hips and ass optimally outlined by the tight jeans and T-shirt. All the lust he’d been holding at bay suddenly flooded into his flesh.

Blood pumped into his cock, thickening it in a manner of seconds.

* * *

She turned, grinning with pleasure over Kesara. She paused when she saw Lucien, her eyes narrowing, her smile widening. His gaze was hot and wanting as he stared at her ass.

Damn him. She knew he wanted her. Why was he toying with her like this? She was sick of it. Why was he so intent on controlling her . . . on insisting she submit?

I’ll make him take me.

She blinked at the raw intensity of her thought. Suddenly, she knew precisely what she was going to do to get what she wanted.

“Can we go for a ride?” she asked him eagerly.

He shook his head. “It’s too dark. I’ll bring you out on Sunday.”

She used her eyes to seduce him. “I want to ride now. Please? She’s so beautiful. We can just go around the polo pitch.”

He paused, considering. She slicked her lower lip with the tip of her tongue, seeing the spark ignite in his eyes.

“All right,” he conceded, removing his jacket. She was careful to hide her triumph. “Wait here while I saddle them up.”

He’d finished Jax and had him tethered near the horse exit door when Elise asked for the location of the restroom. He pointed and gave her some instructions. She watched him enter Kesara’s stall. Instead of going to the restroom, which she really didn’t need to use, she quietly opened the stable door. Jax tossed his head up and gave her a defiant, one-eyed glare when she approached him. She smiled grimly and reached for the pommel.

* * *

A minute later, he heard what sounded like a door opening and Jax’s disgruntled whinny.

A feeling of dread swooped through him.

No, she wouldn’t.

He rushed out of Kesara’s stall and saw the stable doors wide open, neither Jax nor Elise anywhere in sight.

* * *

The devil made me do it.

The words zoomed into her brain as Jax flew into the night and a mixture of terror and excitement made her heart leap into her throat.

She didn’t mean the biblical devil. She meant the man who’d been bedeviling her for weeks. Lucien’s angry shout pierced the night, but Elise was too preoccupied with staying on Jax’s back to pay him much mind. She bent low, her chin just inches from Jax’s flying mane, her thighs clamped on the saddle like a vice. She gathered the reins and pulled for all she was worth, but the large, strong animal had been startled when she’d crawled up onto his back.

Startled and pissed.

She was a good rider, but she hadn’t been on a horse in over a year. Plus, she’d never been on a mount as strong or fierce as Jax. He shot across the dimly lit pitch, Elise clinging onto his back like a leech that was about to lose suction.

Maybe this hadn’t been the wisest choice after all. But when had she ever been wise when she grew desperate?

“No, Jax, no,” she pleaded desperately when the animal cleared the pitch and entered the forest. For a few wild seconds before darkness almost completely encapsulated them, she saw that it was a wide horse path. Jax was clearly familiar with it. He barely slowed with the dirt beneath his hooves instead of the grass. The animal bolted through the forest, Elise hanging on for dear life and beginning to panic over her decision to goad Lucien.

Damn him. If he only wasn’t so insufferable—staring at her ass when she wasn’t looking with those hot, gray eyes, acting like he didn’t want her when she knew perfectly well he did.

Her eyes were blinded by the patchy clouds and the dark trees. Jax pounded on the path, the sound of his hooves hammering into her ears and mixing with the terrified beats of her heart. The horse’s footing was sure. If she just hung on, he would eventually tire.

Wouldn’t he?

The boundless, raw energy she felt exuding from the animal made her doubt her self-assurance. At least he hadn’t tried to throw her. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness. Very dim starlight helped her to make out the tops of the trees. Her thighs began to burn unbearably from the tight clamp necessary to stay on the horse’s back. If Jax bucked or reared, she wouldn’t be able to hang on.

Suddenly she became aware of the sound of distant hooves behind them.

Lucien.

Relief surged through her. Her increasing terror at being on the back of the out-of-control animal trumped the dread of his reaction.

“Jax!” Lucien shouted in a hard voice several moments later from behind her. Jax whipped up his head sharply and let out a throat-tearing whinny, the action and sound making her fear he’d rear.

“Hang on, Elise. Do not leg go. Jax, slow down, you demon,” Lucien bellowed from behind her, sounding wild with worry, not to mention furious. Could he catch up before she lost her strength and fell off? she wondered frantically. Elise could tell by Kesara’s sleek form that she came from a family of racers, while Jax came from a long line of horses bred initially for the brute force and perseverance required on the battlefield, and in modern times for polo. But Jax was pitched into a frenzy.