Page 19 of Virgin's Stolen Nights with the Boss

She repeated her mantra in her head.I am a stable hand...

‘Let’s get started...’

CHAPTER FOUR

ITWASCLEARto Carmen that Elias was reluctant to play guide, but she took no insult. Certainly, she hadn’t been expecting the owner to give a new stable hand a tour, but it was obvious something unexpected had happened with Blake, and the yard was a busy one.

‘Laura would usually step in—’ he nodded to the silver-haired woman ‘—but she’s with the farrier this morning. Laura’s our head groom.’

‘Hey!’ Laura looked up from the horse’s leg she was holding and gave Carmen a welcoming smile, then spoke to Elias. ‘I’ll take over as soon as I can, but if I can’t get there she’ll be in the attic.’

‘The attic?’ Carmen asked, but he offered no explanation.

Instead, he asked, ‘How many can you take out in a set?’

‘A set’ was riding one horse and leading the others in order to exercise them.

‘Four,’ Carmen said. ‘Five if I know them.’

‘Start with three.’

Clearly he wasn’t prepared to take her word. It was fair enough; she wouldn’t take on a new hire without observing them at work either.

Next, she was shown the office, which boasted a huge electronic board for updating feed rations and vitamins and such, as well as a scruffy desk. She glanced through a door and blinked at the rather unexpected sight of an additional office that looked better suited to a glamorous city high-rise than a horse yard, no matter how well-heeled.

‘Yours, I presume?’ she said.

In response to her question he closed the door, making it clear to Carmen that there was much about this man that was off-limits.

Completely off-limits.

Elias had been thinking about the dark-haired beauty since Saturday night—not just their brief exchange outside the venue, but also the subtle smile she’d imparted and her throaty voice as she’d offered him champagne.

It was rare that his mind dwelt on someone like this. He’d trained himself to be impervious to charm—and not just at work. He kept himself distant when it came to sexual partners too.

Riding into the yard, he had recognised her immediately. Dom had been startled at the sudden tension evident in his rider.

Elias had been less than thrilled to find that Blake, who dealt with all the hiring decisions, had already decided to take her on for the position.

‘She seems great,’ Blake had said during their brief exchange in the office.

‘A bit overly confident,’ Elias had suggested, but then halted himself—because there was no tangible reason he could call upon that justified why she shouldn’t be hired.

There was one intangible one, though: a silent allure.

Oh, yes, he certainly remembered her from the other night.

How could he forget her smile, or the distraction she had caused that had snapped him back to attention, saving him from revealing too much in his speech.

And then there was that moment when he’d stepped outside for air...

It had nothing to do with preferring not to be attracted to a stable hand—it wasn’t him being a snob. Elias didn’t want to be that attracted to anyone. He didn’t even want to be thatawareof anyone.

Ever.

And he’d been aware of her before he’d so much as met her black eyes. That smile had been enough to draw his gaze upwards...

‘I’ll put her through her paces on Rocky when I get back,’ Blake had said. ‘She can only do six weeks, but it gives us time to find someone permanent. After the Martin debacle, I want to take my time and get it right.’

---