The Bed You Make
Chapter 36, continued
Even though the groom had already checked the saddle and all its straps, Stefan gave it another brief examination. He was not a man to leave matters to chance. It didn't matter that the hand was a trusted employee. Stefan knew that no one was beyond betrayal.
He glanced out into the paddock. Another groom struggled to get the stallion Semyon under control – quite unsuccessfully, Stefan observed. He abandoned his examination of the saddle and strode out into the paddock. Silently he demanded the reins and, with a single word, calmed the restless animal.
"What did you say to him?" Dara appeared beside him. Stefan noted that his wife was careful to keep a healthy distance between herself and Semyon. "It is not," he beckoned Dara closer, "what was said as much as the manner in which it was said."
Dara allowed Stefan to place her hand on the big stallion's nose. Semyon promptly snorted and tossed Dara's hand off. " Yeah, well… " she muttered beneath her breath, " I don't want to get to know you, either. "
"Let me guess," the attorney grimaced and wiped her hand on her riding gear, " this horse and Sarezin are brothers?"
"They have the same bloodlines, yes."
"I can tell. Those two couldn't make their feelings about me any plainer if they tried."
Amused, Stefan raised an eyebrow. "Which feelings would those be?"
"Disdain, condescension…" Dara scowled. "Those little snorts they give when they see me." She unconsciously wiped her hand again. "That's just their way of letting me know that they don't think I'm good enough to even sit on their backs."
"Semyon, like Sarezin, senses your apprehension," Stefan corrected her. He lifted the saddle from the stallion's back and handed it to the stable hand to take away. With a single graceful movement Stefan climbed onto Semyon's bare back. He curtailed the horse's defiant movements with a sharp tug of the reins. "If you desire his respect," Stefan leaned down and grasped Dara's forearm, "then you must demand it." He pulled her up behind him with just a little boost from the groom. "It is the same with any male animal."
