by ANDREA SMITH
Okay. Now he’s making fun of me, which is so not cool.
This was no time for Derringer to morph into a stubborn mule, and yet he had. From the porch, I heard Jenna’s delighted cackle as she observed the horse’s refusal to comply with my commands.
I was clearly irritated that I was providing comic relief to her and this guy who seemed a bit arrogant for just another co-worker here.
“Don’t you have a pig or…something to roast, Rhett?” I lashed out at him, tugging harder on Derringer’s lead, forcing the horse to take a step.
“Derringer halt,” his smooth and silky voice called, as he took the reins from my hands, and dropped them to the ground.
What the?!?
Derringer didn’t budge; dropping his head to graze on the grassy patch beside the drive. My eyes immediately flew back to look at the townie who was now smiling at me wickedly.
“The name’s Trey,” he said. “And yours?”
“Tylar Preston,” I replied. “I take it you don’t work over at the smokehouse…”
“No, I don’t. At the moment, I’m overseeing the entire operation here while my parents are in Europe.”
“Ah, so then your last name must be…Sinclair.” I mumbled.
“We can’t keep a thing from you, can we?” he teased.
“And that means Derringer is uh…your horse?”
“He is. How is it that you were able to get him out like this?” he asked.
“Frankly, no one else wants to mess with him. I guess I liked the challenge of getting him to trust me. We’re friends now. I bribe him with carrots, groom him, and talk to him. I was hoping to start exercising him over in the arena at the Belle. He’s had some dressage training, right?”
Trey’s face darkened in anger. “You misunderstood the question, Ms. Preston. I’m asking why you would disregard the orders I’ve given with respect to this horse by bringing him out of the pasture?”
“I’m not sure that I’ve disregarded any orders, Mr. Sinclair. I’m being paid to take care of the horses and that’s what I’m doing. Derringer needs to be ponyed right along with the quarters and jumpers daily. I’m simply working to gain his trust so that I can mount him.”
He took a step closer to me, to the point where I was pretty sure it would have thrilled Jenna if she were in my place. I had to force myself from taking a nervous step backwards.
“My instructions were specific to Ray regarding this horse,” he said in a gravel-low monotone. “But maybe they weren’t clear enough. No one mounts Derringer, the only exception being me. He’s an expensive piece of horseflesh, and I won’t have some novice equestrian-wannabe taking risks with him, is that understood?”
I could feel my eyes widening to the point where my eyelashes were probably spreading out. His eyes were cool as a cucumber, ablaze with a splash of ice as he continued to look down at me.
“Is that understood?” he repeated, his voice now carrying a steely edge to it.
I nodded and took a step back from him. “Yes,” I squeaked. “Perfectly.”
“Good,” he said, bending down to grab Derringer’s reins from the ground. He looped them around his hand, and with one swift and lithe movement, Trey swung himself up and onto the horse’s bare back, turning to peer down at me, as Derringer did a side-step. “Because, Ms. Preston, if this happens again, your ass will be fired.”
He pressed his calves into the horse’s sides, taking off, presumably for the stables leaving me standing there feeling humiliated, chastised and idiotic in front of Jenna.
I seethed in anger the whole way back through the woods to the stables. I hoped like hell he was gone by the time I got there. I had no desire to be at the receiving end of his wrath again.
Once I reached the stables, I peeked in the window to make sure he was gone. I saw that Derringer had been untacked and was back in his stall. What a screwed up end to my day! Jenna would probably broadcast to everyone that I’d had my ass ripped by Trey Sinclair.
Jenna had done her share of gossiping about him in the few weeks I’d been here. Something about him being a high-powered attorney somewhere else, owning shares of the family business, a scandalous broken engagement in his past, and oh yeah, Jenna dreamed of ‘doing him’ one day soon.
I tried to put it all out of my mind as I crossed the pasture heading toward the bank of cottages and the cold shower that awaited me. Suddenly, the loud roar of an engine caught my attention as I spotted a black Lamborghini Gallardo convertible speeding down the Sinclair estate driveway. The driver wore sunglasses. There was no mistaking the burnished brown hair flying back from that sinfully handsome face. As the car passed the pasture to my right, the driver glanced over. For a split second, I thought I could actually make out his smile. Despite his assholiness with me, there was no denying Trey Sinclair was smokin’ hot.
Ah yes, that shower’s going to cool me off nicely.
About Andrea Smith
Andrea Smith is a USA Today Best-Selling Author.
An Ohio native, currently residing in southern Ohio. The Past Tense Future Perfect trilogy is Ms. Smith’s first self-published work. Having previously been employed as an executive for a global corporation, Ms. Smith decided to leave the corporate world and pursue her life-long dream of writing fiction.
Ms. Smith’s second series, The G-Man Series consists of four novels and a novella. Her Limbo Series is her first venture into a blend of romantic, suspense, mystery with steamy scenes and a paranormal edge.
A listing of her published fiction:
G-Man Series:
Diamond Girl
Love Plus One
Night Moves
G-Men Holiday Wrap
These Men (Spin-off) Part of the BEND anthlogy.
Taz
Past Tense Future Perfect (Boxed Set trilogy, e-book only.)
Limbo Series:
Silent Whisper
Clouds in my Coffee
Ms. Smith also publishes New Adult fiction under the pen name of Graysen Blue.
Sins of September
When September Ends