Carpathian 22 - Dark Predator

She nodded slowly. There will be no need, Zacarias.
    He shrugged. If one of her beloved horses threatened her, there would be no question as to what he would do. Just as if one of her beloved workers threatened her. Man or beast, he would destroy every enemy. It was what he was good at. This—finding a balance with a woman was an altogether different proposition.
    But enjoyable, she pointed out.
    “Enjoyable,” he echoed. “More than I can express.” Although another woman might have made it a mindfield for a man such as Zacarias, a throwback to medieval days.
    Further, my man, much further. Try caveman, she teased as she opened the stall beside the mare. This is Thunder. He moves as if he has wings. There is no better horse on the ranch to ride.
    He could feel the pride in her. She was offering him one of her greatest pleasures. Her eyes shone again like the sparkling champagne. If he’d never wanted to ride a horse, he would have done it, just for that look. He pushed his worries for her safety to the back of his mind. He was powerful and he could watch carefully, a small price to give them both this special moment.
    You use your connection with Thunder to guide him into doing what you wish. There’s no need of a saddle or bridle. I just ride bareback and think where I want to go and they take me. If I’m just riding for the beauty of riding, I let them go to their favorite places on the ranch. They like sharing the control.
    Zacarias didn’t like sharing control with anyone or anything. He nodded his head and laid his hand on Thunder’s neck. Instantly he felt the horse’s spirit brush against his. He knew he could do nothing to hide his nature from the animal. He was born to lead, and if the horse didn’t accept the dominance in him, there would be disappointment for Marguarita.
    Her soft amusement slid into his mind. There you go again. You disregard your own feelings. The disappointment will be yours. You want to do this. Thunder knows and he’ll do as you wish. I want this for you, because you want it, not for myself. It’s all right if you’d rather just watch me ride.
    “Not a chance. I will be at your side every moment you are outside and exposed to danger.” He couldn’t help the hard edge in his voice—the one that should have told her there was no give to that side of him.
    Marguarita smiled at him, caught the horse’s neck and leaped on in one smooth, practiced movement. He could see how her male jeans were an asset. The moment the thought entered his head, so did the memory of her body encased in nothing but black lace. A thick erection was not going to be an asset on the back of a horse and he willed the erotic picture of her out of his mind.
    It was easy enough to slip onto Thunder’s back—after all, he was Carpathian and could levitate—but it wasn’t quite as easy ridding himself of the picture of Marguarita’s body, bare but for those small wisps of lace, her cloud of blue-black hair tumbling like a waterfall down to her waist. He raised his head and looked at her. Her eyes met his, full of mischief, sexy, dark desire flickering in their depths.
    She was temptation. And she was fun. Her soft amusement stroked him like fingers, and the flow of her spirit into his was suggestive, sensual, erotic, her mind circling his thickening cock like a fist and stroking. Her eyes transformed to dark, melting chocolate, filled with lust—for him.
    Her horse turned abruptly and exited the stables. Horse and rider flowed over the ground, not at a particularly fast pace, but a ground-eating four-beat gait that was breathtaking. He urged Thunder to follow, and the horse immediately responded, taking them from the stable. Zacarias felt almost as if he were floating through the air. He felt every muscle of the powerful animal beneath him, felt the joy in the horse as it trotted over the ground, gathered itself and sailed over the fence right behind the mare.
    As connected as he was, spirit to spirit with Thunder, he felt the way the earth seemed to rise up to meet the dancing hooves, he felt the wildness as the wind blew the mane across the horse’s face as he trotted. They flew across the field and then the next one, riding the edge of the rain forest where the tangle of fern, trees and wildflowers winding up trunks added to the beauty of the moment.
    He urged Thunder to Sparkle’s side so that the horses moved in perfect unison. Marguarita sent him a smile and his cock stirred again. The