Animal Heart (Beast & Beauty) (4 page)

“
You help with the horses, don't you, Mia? That must be a lovely way to spend your time.”

“
If you can call mucking out lovely, I suppose so,” she grumbled.

“
But you ride them too and I'm sure that you do more than cleaning their stables?” she probed.

“
Yes to both,” she said shortly.

“
How long have you been here?” Maddy pressed on, despite her lack of response.

“
Five years, from the start.”

“
What did you do before?” she asked in a determined, interested tone of voice.

“
I worked in a garage.”

“
Did you like that?”

“
Not much.”

Maddy gave up trying to coax her out of her miserable mood. She got the feeling that only Aden could do that.

Lucas gave her a sympathetic smile, as if to say, don't even bother, and she grinned at him.

“
Fancy a quick walk? Let's kill some of those calories together...” he suggested in a sexy voice.

“
Okay, I'll just get my coat.” She walked off to her room, changed her shoes to lower heeled ones, and put on her warm padded jacket. She returned, and they left the ranch house, walking down the trail towards the woods. He carried a small torch to light their way, but he turned it off after a while as the moon was very bright in the clear starry sky.

“
It's a beautiful evening, isn't it?” she asked, gazing up heavenwards as they walked. She could see her breath steaming in the cold night air. “Aren't you cold?” she asked him, looking at his thin t-shirt and bare arms.

“
Not too often,” he replied.

“
Lucky you.”

“
It's quite mild at the moment. You should be here in January. Now
that's
what I call cold.”

They walked in silence for a minute or so and then he stopped and leaned against the ranch fence, motioning for her to join him.

“So, Miss Gorgeous, got anyone special back there, in busy old Calgary?”

“
Errr no...” she replied warily.

“
Perhaps we could have a little fun together, while you're here. What do you say?”

“
Fun?”

“
You know, hang out. Fool about. Getting real friendly kind of fun.”

“
Lucas, are you asking me to sleep with you?” She asked in disbelief.

“
Not right away. I can wait 'till tomorrow,” he replied with a wicked smile.

“
Ha ha... you're kidding me. Aren't you?” She asked with a nervous laugh. He had to be joking, didn't he?

“
No, I'm not. I'm quite serious for once.” Before she could object or even think another thought, he caught her around the waist and pulled her close to his warm, hard muscular body, pressing his mouth to hers and gently kissing her. A little surge of desire made her respond, hesitantly at first, and then more enthusiastically until they were both breathing heavily and quite into it. Their tongues wound around each other's and his hands started to explore. She pulled away from his very intimate embrace, suddenly a touch embarrassed at his obviously aroused state, and looked blindly over his shoulder, trying to gather her thoughts and calm her breathing.

“
Come back here sexy. I wanna do lots more,” he whispered and pulled her back against him, nuzzling her neck and ear with his wonderfully soft lips, making her sigh and close her eyes in pleasure. One of his hands played with her hair, stroking up and down the sensitive nape of her neck. She tingled with arousal. It had been a long while since she'd slept with anyone, and Lucas was so very handsome and hard to resist. So very, very tempting. He smelled and tasted more than pleasant. But it was much too soon. She pushed him away slowly and firmly.

“
Not tonight. Look, I've just got here. I can see where this is heading and it's way too fast for me.”

“
That's cool... No, really... I was pushing it a bit, I admit.”

“
I take it you don't have a girlfriend here then? One of the other staff?”

“
No. Sadly not. They're all after Aden. Well, apart from Sammy. She's kinda with Shane. Kinda. It's not official. And Verity and Jamie are a little interested in each other. That's a fairly new development though.”

“
But the other three are all after Aden?” she asked incredulously.

“
He must be appealing somehow. The bitching that goes on over him, you would not believe.”

“
I noticed Mia throwing daggers at me at dinner, why was that?”

“
She sees every woman as competition, for him.”

“
But I'm only here for five days! Is he interested in her particularly?”

“
Aden isn't interested in any one woman.”

“
Why, is he gay or something?”

“
What? Ha, ha, ha, that's too funny. No, just uncommitted. If he made a choice I get the feeling a few more would pair up.”

“
So what do you do while the women fight over your boss, hmmm?”

“
I play with the customers. But only the pretty ones. Unfortunately, single pretty ladies don't turn up very often. So when they do, I pounce. Especially if they've got red hair.”

“
Lucas, you're so sweet.” She gave him a mock punch in the arm and planted a kiss on his cheek. “Tell me something. What the hell are you doing here?”

“
Oh don't get me wrong. I love it here. It's a great life. We go hunting, riding, swimming, and canoeing in the summer. We eat well, and even drop by town now and then for a little partying. The winter's hard though. Being snowed in can be difficult to bear for months on end. We do have a couple of motorised ski sleds and the dog sleds as well, but it's sixteen miles to town. It needs to be worth it!”

They began to walk back to the ranch, towards warmth and light, and soon arrived at the door.

“
I'm just having a quick smoke. You go in.” Lucas lit up and stood outside while she made her way in. Inside, the room was empty, apart from the clatter of work going on in the kitchen. She popped her head inside to say hello.

“
Hi, I'm Maddy. Thanks for the lovely dinner.” She walked in and Shane and Samantha looked her way with a smile.

“
You're welcome love. We all like our food here. In fact I think it's our sole reason for existing sometimes.”

“
I imagine it's hard work, cooking for a bunch of ravenous people all the time?”

“
It's not so bad. I used to work as a chef in a busy restaurant. I managed five hundred meals a day. This is easy compared with that. But I did have a lot more staff there.”

“
Oh really, where was that?”

“
New York. In the Financial District.”

“
And you came here... Why?”

“
Yeah we all wonder that sometimes, don't we Sam?” He laughed and they gave each other a knowing look. “After a holiday in the Rockies, I fell in love with the place. I met Aden in Calgary. I worked there for a while first.”

“
Do you ride the horses too?”

“
Now and then, but I don't get a lot of time. Three meals a day plus getting the supplies is full on.”

“
How do you manage in the winter?”

“
We have massive freezers. We can last for months if the weather is bad. Dried food, canned, plenty of beer, and of course some excellent company.” He smiled at Sammy and she blushed a little in response. “Plus I love watching movies. There's nothing nicer than being curled up in front of the fire with a great story unfolding before you, is there?”

“
Oh, I know. I love sci-fi and horror and anything that gets my blood racing.”

“
You do? There's plenty of that kind here. Take a look in the study area, by the computer. We have hundreds of movies. Watch them in your room or on the big screen. It's got a great sound system.”

“
I will, thanks for the tip.”

“
Fancy a nightcap?” He asked.

“
If you're having one.”

“
I always do, to relax. Take a seat. So, what'll it be? Wine, beer, whisky...? We've got everything.” He opened a cupboard to reveal a lot of bottles. “It's the cookhouse personal supply,” he sniggered.

“
Wine please. Red if you've got it,” she replied, taking a seat.

“
What do you do, Maddy?” Sammy asked, sitting down at the table opposite her. Maddy examined her in a subtle way. Her eyes were her best feature, although her whole face was quite pretty. They were very expressive, large and grey, with thick dark lashes. She wore her chestnut hair in a plait to the side, and had several piercings in her ears and a little diamond one sat on the side of her nose.

“
I work in TV advertising. In Calgary.”

“
Sounds like fun,” she replied with an interested look.

“
It can be. It's busy and the days go by pretty fast. The pay is fairly good as well. I'm buying my own place. I'd rather be here though. I'm very envious of you. This is my ideal life. Out here in the wilds. Horses, space... fresh air. I'd give up advertising in a second if the opportunity came to work somewhere like this.”

“
You'd need to be very serious about it, we don't get paid much, if at all!” She laughed. “It's more a labor of love. Food and board and a few dollars for essentials. Everything the ranch earns is put back into it, keeping it in top form. It's a massive task as you might imagine. We have two hundred acres. Our land stretches down to the lake one side and the river the other, you know?” She explained proudly.

“
Really? I thought it was just the ranch house and paddocks.”

“
No, that's only about ten percent of it,” Shane interrupted the conversation as he placed three glasses of red wine on the table, sitting down to join them.

“
And Aden owns it?”

“
Mmmm, he bought it with the proceeds from the sale of his garage.”

“
Oh, was he a mechanic, then, before?”

“
Yeah, he was. He still looks after the generator and stuff, but mostly he's into his horses now.”

“
I don't blame him. They're the love of my life.”

“
You two should get on very well then. It's not Mia's cup of tea to be honest. She likes riding the horses, but she'd rather be in here, doing something else, anything else in fact! Especially in the winter. She complains like hell about it all. But Aden insists each job needs a man and woman on it. He thinks that's fairer. Rather than keeping the women on domestics and the men outside. It works well for the rest of us. We all enjoy our work. Don't we, sweet?” He placed his hand over Sammy's possessively and a look passed between them that Maddy couldn't help but recognise. They were in love. Very much so.

She sipped her wine thoughtfully, looking at Shane's attractive features. He reminded her of Christian Bale a little, but a fair version. She couldn't quite get over the good looks of the staff here. There wasn't an ugly one amongst them. Mia was probably the prettiest of the women, with her silky dark hair, tall, slim body and soft feminine curves, and those big brown eyes of hers. But from what she'd seen, she didn't have a very attractive personality to match. None of the men equalled Aden and Lucas in terms of size, but they were all so good looking it took her breath away.

“
I see… Having a party are we?” Lucas appeared in the doorway.

“
A welcome drink and a nightcap. Fancy one?” Shane asked as he came inside and stood behind Maddy's chair, with his hands on her shoulders.

“
No, I think I'll turn in now. I'm tired after our hunt.”

“
What do you hunt?” she asked, intrigued, turning her head to look up at him.

“
Anything. It's not for sport, It's for food, you know.”

“
I'd love to come. I've never been on a hunt. When are you going next?”

“
It'll be a while I'm afraid. We don't hunt when we have guests.”

Oh, that's a shame. It must be exciting. Do you go on horseback?”

“
No, we go on foot. We track, stealthily.”

“
What do you use? Shotguns, rifles, bow and arrows?” She laughed.

“
We use what we need to take down our prey,” he said cryptically. An odd, creepy look passed between the three of them that she couldn't explain. “Look, I'm off. I need some serious shut-eye. I'll catch you tomorrow my gorgeous ginger nut.” He leant down and placed a gentle, but rather too long kiss on her lips, and then looked at the other two as if to say, 'she's mine, got that?', and he turned and left, leaving them open mouthed at the table, herself included.