Evadne hid her amused grin when Taladan stared in horror at the boxes. "Yes we do," she said, trying to keep her voice neutral. Now she was in her element, on familiar terrain, knowing exactly what she was doing. He had outwitted her last night, but that wouldn't soon happen again.
"This is Romeo," she introduced her own stallion to Taladan, lovingly stroking the animal's nose. "You should approach him slowly. He doesn't like strangers very much." True enough the horse seemed rather anxious in Taladan's presence, but if he was any good with horses that would pass soon enough. Evadne also often found that horses were a good judge of character, instinctively feeling if someone had good intentions or not. Though she still had no idea what to think of Taladan, she sensed that Romeo would get along with him soon enough.
She went to the second box and slid aside the heavy, barred door. "And this is Emanuelle. Don't ask me why someone would name a horse Emanuelle, but my father likes the name. And she is his horse, so I didn't have much say in it." Evadne pulled the mare out by the rope around her neck, and tied her up to the section where the three cows housed. "Never put Romeo and Emanuelle close to each other. They don't get along very well, except for when my father and I are riding them. They're as different in personality as in appearance."
True enough, the animals were as different as they could be. Romeo was rather tall, with an ebony fur, while Emanuelle was considerably smaller with a chestnut colour. While Arthur preferred sturdy and dependable, Evadne enjoyed raw power and spirit.
After tying up her father's mare, she joined Taladan in the stables. The awkwardness was back on her side, and she worked on quietly. It took her a while to figure out where it came from. When he asked her about her quick escape, she flushed and suddenly it hit her.
It was his scent.
Evadne leaned on her hay fork a moment, baffled by the realisation. It had been so prominent last night. It was a mixture of sweat, alcohol and something else, something that she couldn't define, but it was unmistakeably masculine and she was strangely attracted by it. She swallowed, pushing the thoughts away before she answered.
"Well... I realised I would be dead if my father found out you ... well, that I let you sleep on my bed --" she purposely avoided the use of the words in my bed "-- so I figured I should get out before he could suspect anything." They finished cleaning out the box, and Evadne quickly moved to the one next to it, dying to get away from that scent for a while. She needed him to leave. She needed Taladan to go, she needed it to stop raining. But most of all, she needed Taladan to stop trying to get to know her. He was purposely breaking down the three-foot-thick wall she had been building since infancy, and as her defence crumbled away she felt herself getting smaller. She had done and said everything that drove every single sane person away, but he remained friendly and understanding. She had lost her self control last night, but he had remained friendly and understanding. She had sneaked out through the window after spending the night in the same bed, and still, he remained friendly and understanding. Evadne had completely lost the hang of it, and every minute longer he stayed near her, he confused her more.
His SCENT, for God's sake! she thought angrily, frustrated with herself.
She didn't look up when Taladan followed her into the next box. While walking to the wheelbarrow with a full hay fork, she concentrated on her balance and banned the struggle against herself out of her mind. "Did you happen to see my father?" Evadne asked him instead. "He should have been here by now."
