Part 8 (2/2)
”You've built trust in him.”
”He's never been mishandled and I don't isolate him. He gets his privacy, but he's not treated as a pariah. Outside of the breeding season, I stable him with his mother and his favorite mares.” Mason added, ”You rode his father once. When we were kids.”
She half expected a blank stare or a dismissive shrug, but a sweet smile fitted across Vienna's face. ”Yes, I remember. Such a fast mover...so powerful...just breathtaking.” With an air of innocence, Vienna added, ”The horse, too.”
Mason fumbled with her reins like a beginner. ”Very funny.”
Vienna wasn't just teasing, she was flirting. Her kissable mouth was slightly parted and her cheeks were infused with pink. She looked carefree in her jeans and sweater, her red hair coming loose from its careless ponytail, her eyes bright with daring.
Did she know how desirable she was? Mason doubted it. Vienna's sophistication was effortless, yet she seemed strangely unawakened. Mason decided she probably only had s.e.x between clean, white sheets with a partner she could control. No doubt she'd already reinvented their encounter the day before as an aberration, s.e.x foisted on her by a woman who led innocents astray.
”This is nice,” Vienna said.
Holding Mason's gaze, she smiled, not the calculating, sharp-edged smile Mason was used to, but something more honest and spontaneous that pierced her defenses and made her stomach roll. Unable to look away, she smiled back. She wasn't capable of an intelligent comment.
A tiny frown settled on Vienna's brow and she blinked as if she'd just awakened from a long dream. Emotion clouded her eyes before she could shutter them. ”I can see why you love it here.”
Mason searched for an agenda in the quietly spoken words but could only see that beautiful child from her past, now grown-up and riding at her side. She had a crazy urge to reach across and take Vienna's hand. Halt and dismount. Walk her to the temple and stand on the steps, looking out over the lake and the house, then lay Laudes Absalom at her feet as a gift.
Shocked, she turned her gaze straight ahead and summoned to mind Vienna's vow to kill all the livestock on the property. A hollow threat, surely. Vienna wasn't made of the same stuff as her crazy dog-hating grandfather. Still, if the worst happened, Mason wasn't going to take any chances. She would move every living soul off the property before Vienna set foot inside the gates. Give Laudes Absalom to her? h.e.l.l would freeze over first.
She glanced sideways again and noticed Vienna had finally relaxed in the saddle. Dulcifal detected the change and lifted his tail a notch. Mason loosened her reins and tapped her heels, moving into a sitting trot. Vienna followed suit, providing Dulcifal with the cue he was transparently hoping for. At any moment she would surely transition to the pa.s.sage, the piaffe, and finally the pesade, accompanied by the usual lavish praise. Admittedly, they weren't in the dressage arena where he usually performed his ballet and there was always the possibility of those hated swans, but he had his head down and ears p.r.i.c.ked regardless, his whole body poised in antic.i.p.ation.
”If you have any moves, now's your chance,” Mason invited dryly. ”He's desperate to show off.”
Laughing, Vienna said, ”Trust me, the only airs above the ground you're likely to see will be me flying over his head, and it won't be pretty.”
Mason took the lead as they reached the pine forest, skirting the edge of the lake. The buckshot snap of twigs corrupted the quiet air and the soft thud of hooves made the dry leaves vibrate. They followed a serpentine up the slope toward the fork at the farthest boundary. There, on the hill, the trail divided, skirting Penwraithe on one side and Laudes Absalom on the other. Mason dismounted in the clearing, looped Shamal's reins over a shrub, and looked back down toward the lake. A fine mist clung to the surface and swirled around the pines and the temple. The dome glowed whitely, and with its edges s.h.i.+mmering in the morning sun the temple looked like a mirage resting on the water.
”It's beautiful.” Vienna tied Dulcifal to a branch several feet away.
”My brother and I had a tree house up here.” Mason pointed to a few rotting planks in a huge pine. ”We could see everything.”
Vienna stared out toward Penwraithe. ”You watched us, too?”
”I watched you.”
”It's strange. Sometimes I felt that.” Vienna paused, lowering her gaze. ”For a while, I tried to send signals.”
”The dolls?” Mason queried.
”You knew?”
Vienna looked up again with startled delight. Her eyes were not the gla.s.sy emerald sometimes seen with her coloring, but a drownin-me deep chrysoprase as dark as a winter sea. A shadow floated beneath the surface of her stare, as though cast by some inner cloud. Mason had always been intrigued by that dreamy stare, even as a child. The first time she'd looked into Vienna's eyes, from the back of her horse, she'd wanted never to look away. She felt just as powerless now, twenty-five years later.
”Did you ever notice the f.a.gs I tied in these trees?” Mason asked. ”I was signaling you back.”
”I didn't realize. I thought it was a game you and Lynden played. I used to wish I could sneak away and play, too.”
”You should have.”
”I wasn't brave like you.”
Mason shook her head. ”You were brave. I know you came over here when you weren't meant to. Mrs. Danville told me.”
”Why wouldn't you see me? I knew you were at home.” Vienna touched Mason's hand. ”Was it because of your father?”
”Our fathers were both...”
”Irrational,” Vienna completed softly. Her hand remained in Mason's.
Lifting it, Mason held it to her cheek. The fingers were cool and smooth. Vienna didn't withdraw from her clasp. Mason pressed her lips into the soft palm. ”I was afraid for you. See...not so brave after all.”
”My father would never have raised a hand to me,” Vienna said.
”I know.”
Comprehension brightened Vienna's stare. ”Ah...you mean your father.” Her fingers drifted over Mason's cheek in a tender caress. ”I was frightened for you, too.”
She moved in, letting Mason's arms close around her as if it was the most natural thing in the world. And it seemed that time stopped and spread out like a blank scroll on which the future was not yet written. Mason could almost believe they were free of the past, if only they chose to be. That they could stake a claim on a different tomorrow, starting right here on the boundary that divided their land, their lives, their destiny. Vienna felt so warm and contented in her arms, she couldn't let this moment pa.s.s without trying.
Crus.h.i.+ng her close, and with a desperation she couldn't hide, she whispered, ”Can we stop fighting?”
For the longest time Vienna didn't speak. Her breath fanned Mason's cheek and Mason could sense she was struggling with something. A film of sweat broke, making her s.h.i.+rt cling to her. Mason felt her own, damply glued to her back. Gentle fingertips traced her hairline, followed by the soft brush of lips on her cheeks. The corner of her mouth. Vienna's tongue teased her lips open. Silken heat invaded her mouth. Their kiss was slow and hot and slippery. Throbbing, aching, she could feel Vienna's b.r.e.a.s.t.s brus.h.i.+ng hers, her heart pounding against the flesh and bone that confined her own.
”What are you asking me, Mason?” she murmured.
Another kiss followed. This time more urgent. Their warm, mingled breath damped Mason's face. Their thighs glided together. Pressure built. Her c.l.i.t strained for contact. She looked past the auburn sweep of Vienna's hair toward a bed of pine needles. Not what she had in mind at all. Her voice emerged, thick with pa.s.sion.
”Come back to the house.”
”I can't.”
”Yes, you can.” Mason licked the taste of coffee from Vienna's lips. Between more intense kisses, she said, ”I know you want me inside you again.”
A tiny moan escaped Vienna. Their faces were just inches apart. Mason could see petals of dark blue in Vienna's dreamy irises, like a tiny lobelia had flowered in each.
”Yes.”
”Say it again,” Mason demanded.
”I want you inside me.”
Mason groaned. Vienna's tongue was on her neck. Her teeth traced the tendon to its base and sank in just enough to confuse her senses. Pain or pleasure? Mason didn't know and didn't care. Desire weakened her legs and soaked her groin. Sleek muscles moved beneath her hands as she caressed Vienna's back and hips. Vienna undid a couple of s.h.i.+rt b.u.t.tons and slid a hand inside. Mason's nipples were so tense, she jumped at the first glancing flick of a fingertip.
”When?” she gasped out.
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