cocked her head to the side, tightening her hand around Sun’s lead rope. “Excuse me?”
Kane stepped closer, close enough to cast a shadow over her. “I bought this particular horse for a reason, Miss Macarthur. I’m sure you are fully aware of the jump start a stud of this caliber would give to our breeding program. That’s not the kind of thing I can find just anywhere.”
“I do understand, but don’t really see where that is my problem.”
But one look from Kane Harrington told her he was about to make it her problem. “I think the people around here would disagree with you.”
“What do you mean?”
“We both know our businesses,” he said with a smooth confidence. “We know they run on reputation almost as much as the performance of our horses.”
Oh, Presley knew all about that, having experienced the struggle to keep her stepmother out of the business of running their stables since her father’s death more than six months ago. Her stepmother didn’t know the meaning of tact or, hell, even business. All she saw were dollar signs, and she wanted more and more—no matter what she hurt in the process.
They can scent a weak link better than a hound dog and will extort it worse than a lawyer. Never let them see weakness.
Her father had repeated those words to her again and again, so why had he decided that his daughter and his wife should share the business he had worked so hard to build since before Presley was born? Her stepmother was the weakest link of all—and Presley had a feeling Kane Harrington knew that all too well.
Wielding his power without noticeable effort, Kane moved closer, then had the gall to pace around her, making her temperature rise. The urge to move away became unbearable.
Just as Kane reached her back, she slipped beneath Sun’s neck, putting the horse between them to avoid the unfamiliar arousal this man evoked deep inside. Yes, as much as she hated to give the feeling a name...
Kane’s thick, dark eyebrows rose, but he didn’t call her out on her cowardice. “The way I see it, your stepmother has done something illegal. And then there’s the embarrassment of retracting the announcement that Sun would be joining the Harrington stables.” He loomed over the horse’s high back, pinning Presley with a steely-eyed glare that should have made her mad but instead sent intriguing shivers up and down her spine.
“If my reputation is gonna take a hit over this, so is yours,” he assured her.
Anyone who thought the customer was always right had never been in just this situation with just this man. One look told Presley she was about to make many concessions—whether she wanted to or not.
Kane could tell the moment Presley Macarthur realized he wasn’t letting her off the hook without consequences. She was pretty good at hiding her expression—but her gorgeous, moss-green eyes gave her away.
They told him she was going to try to get out of this somehow.
“I’m really s-s-sorry about that—”
Kane shouldn’t be happy about that stammer, shouldn’t wish it was from more than just the pressure he was bringing to bear. It marked him as a bad person, surely. But it didn’t stop the satisfaction from rushing in. The curiosity.
Whoa. This game is fun.
“So you’re sorry your stepmother made a mistake. How do you plan to make it up to me?”
Only as her eyes widened did he realize how that might sound—and not just the words. An attraction, a need sparked by this woman had given his voice a husky quality. He hadn’t had this type of reaction with a single debutante since he’d moved back to Kentucky.
Hell, years before that, even.
Why this particular woman? She wasn’t flashy like the diamond-studded princesses in the main house. Her dress was pretty enough, made of a nice-quality material, but its loose style didn’t reveal a single curve. Kane was intrigued by what might be waiting underneath for him to discover. And this close, he noticed another significant difference. Whereas every woman he’d met tonight wore makeup to a greater or lesser extent, Presley Macarthur’s face was clean and clear, without so much as tinted lip gloss to highlight the sexy curves of her naked lips.
Suddenly her gaze narrowed, and she pulled herself a little taller. “What do you mean, exactly?”
The pushback intrigued him, too. The last thing he wanted was a weak woman, one who needed taking care of—that type was his kryptonite, as Emily had proven all too well. Before him was an attractive woman who obviously knew and ran her own business. If the gossip he’d heard was correct, Presley also did consulting on equine and stable management. So she was smart, not easily intimidated. Kane was going to have to get creative to recoup this loss.
He shook his head, ignoring her question while he worked out the puzzle in his head, well aware his silence would be intimidating in and of itself. What was happening to him? First his earlier anger. Now he was contemplating...what?
Blackmail?
Sure, that would get him a long way toward acting on this attraction, toward finding out what was beneath Presley’s loose dress. Not. The sudden idea that popped full-blown into his head was very naughty. As if reading his thoughts, Presley leveled a suspicious gaze squarely in his direction. Kane relied on his instincts, but he wasn’t usually quick to act. He thought things through, weighed the consequences, made plans. Impulsiveness was more Mason’s style.
Not tonight.
This was too delicious an opportunity. “I’ll need you to fix this for me—”
“I would think good and hard before you try to force me into anything inappropriate,” she interrupted.
“Oh, I wouldn’t do that.” Kane let his deceptively soothing tone confuse her while he, too, slipped beneath the horse’s neck to invade her safe spot. She stiffened even more.
Apparently she didn’t like that at all...
Or did she? This close, he couldn’t miss the uptick in her pulse at the base of her delicate throat or the way her tongue peeked out and slid slowly over her parted pink lips. He also caught the dip of her gaze to his fitted dress pants and button-down shirt before quickly returning to his face with a flash of guilt darkening her eyes.
Surely it wasn’t terrible to use that interest to his every advantage? Selfish, maybe. He wouldn’t let that sway him. “But I do think we will be getting to know each other very, very well.”
“What?” The squeak in her voice and the hot blush that rushed into her cheeks told Kane he’d struck a nerve.
“Macarthur.” He stepped closer, herding her toward the wall. “I recognize your name, Presley. Your stables, your family.” He had a feeling his grin was not putting her at ease. “So does everyone else in the state, and beyond.”
“So?”
Ah, he loved that breathless tone. “So, if we were together, it
