Seducing the Professor Read online

  In the end it took another two days to kill the fire totally and Paul remained to assist and ensure it was dead. He took the chopper back to the airfield and arrived back at the stables around four in the afternoon on Wednesday. He strode towards the hospital stable with long strides, worry between his eyes.

  “You don’t look too well, my friend. Why don’t you go and take a shower and have something to eat? There is not much you can do here.”

  “How are they?”

  “Hanging in there, but you’ll have to make a call on two of them. Go, I want to clean their wounds again and should be done by the time you’re back.”

  “No, I want to see them now.”

  Brett just shook his head and they walked inside. He spent the rest of the night and the next day by his side working and caring for the injured animals.

  By the time he fell into bed, he was dead on his feet. The thought flashed through his mind that he still had to phone Alexandra, but sleep overcame him.

  Ellie tsk’ed when he walked into the kitchen on Saturday morning and handed him a plate overloaded with a hearty breakfast.

  “Sit down, Paulie. I’ll pour your coffee.”

  He started eating and only realized then the last time he ate was breakfast at Alexandra’s on Tuesday morning.

  “Shit!”

  “What, Paulie?”

  “I forgot to phone Alexandra.”

  “Oh, yes. She phoned yesterday morning, but you were at the stables. She sounded very upset and said to tell you Wade will be coming to finish the research himself. She is going to Russia.”

  “What! Did you tell her about the fire?”

  “Yes … but she said something about at least leaving a note or a message. She actually, now that I think about it sounded angry.”

  “Dammit!”

  Paul dialed her number and sat strumming his fingers on the table and cursed when it went directly to voicemail. He scrolled to Wade’s number and dialed.

  “Paul, my friend … how are you? Alexandra mumbled something about a fire?”

  “Yes, quite a bad one. Where is she? What is this nonsense about you coming instead of her?”

  “Beats me. But she was very upset this whole week and I have not been able to get much out of her.”

  “Can you take your phone to her?”

  “That might be a bit difficult.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “She is already on a plane on her way to Russia.”

  Paul’s jaw turned rigid and he clenched his fists.

  “She has a responsibility to this Ranch and to solve my problem, Wade. I suggest you get her right back on a plane the moment she lands in Russia.”

  “I am more than capable to …”

  “I don’t care. She started it, she knows what is what already and she will finish this! It is her responsibility! Do you hear me, Wade? You get her back here!”

  Wade could hear the fury in Paul’s voice and cringed. He warned Alexandra, but she was adamant that she was not going back. How the hell was he supposed to make her now?

  “What the hell happened, Paul? Monday everything was fine?”

  Paul clenched his teeth. If she was angry because he left without telling her, he could understand it, but to run away? Dammit, it was not as though he did it on purpose!

  “No Wade, I am not going back! I just arrived in Moscow!”

  “I am afraid you don’t have a choice, Alexa. Paul Shuttle is adamant you have to finish the assignment or he is going to ruin the ADC’s reputation. You know how much power he has in the Racehorse industry. We can’t afford to annoy him.”

  “Wade, the chips will work. I don’t need to do much else.”

  “There is still a lot to do and you know it Alexa. The defected chromosomes have to be identified, then you have to find a way to eliminate it. No, I am sorry, but Paul is right. You have to go back.”

  Wade was immovable and Alexandra had no other choice but to go and collect her pre-booked ticket at the counter. At least the flight was only the following day, so at least she would not have to sit through an immediately torturous long flight.

  She cursed and lugged her bags to the cab stand where she hailed a cab. This was not what she wanted … he proved that she was no more than another … concubine to him! To just disappear without a message, without a phone call. She realized he must have been preoccupied and unable to call while out dealing with the fire, but Ellie said he has been back at the Ranch since Wednesday evening and he still did not call her!

  Now that he remembered about her existence she must jump at the snap of his fingers! She snorted and caught the cab drivers look in the mirror. She smiled apologetically and stared outside fuming.

  She’ll go back. This time she would only be there to work and she would stay in town. She refused to be his convenient sex partner … no matter how much pleasure he gave her. She wanted more than that. She deserved more than that! Her mother was right. You should only have sex with the man you’re about to marry. That way at least your heart does not get shattered … crushed and used!

  She gasped the instant the thoughts ran through her mind. She loved him. She loved him with a depth that burnt into her soul. That was why it hurt so much to arrive at home and find him gone … just vanished! No note, no phone call, no message. She has never hurt as much as she did right at that moment … except when Ellie told her he was in the stables and she realized how little she meant to him.

  Alexandra was not in a good mood by the time she arrived at the Hotel in Richmond, Kentucky. Two eleven hour flights within two days took its toll and she was dead tired. She has never been a good flight traveler and hardly slept on such long flights.

  She unpacked her luggage that Wade had delivered, took a long bath and fell into bed at four in the afternoon. When she woke up the next morning she felt much better and as hungry as a horse. She dressed in baggy cargo pants with a tight black strappy top and her Cats boots. She pulled her hair in a pony at the back of her head and headed down for breakfast.

  Armed with her laptop, the manufactured chips and a sour attitude, she got in the rental after breakfast and headed out to Silver Star Stud Ranch.

  Lo and behold whose car was parked in front of the house, but the glorious Gloria’s? Alexandra’s heart cracked and she winced at the pain that tore through her. She blinked the burning tears back and drove directly to the stables.

  Samuel came to meet her and assisted carrying all the boxes to the designated lab area. The specialized computer that Wade sent for the monitoring and analyzing of the chip would be set up in Samuel’s office for future use.

  The whiny, syrupy, sweet voice of Gloria reached them the moment they entered the stable and Alexandra’s steps faltered.

  “Your arms are so strong! Oeh! You make me feel as light as a feather. Hmm.”

  They were in the middle of the passage in front of the second stable. Paul held her high against his chest, his arm around her back and the other under her legs. She held his face between her hands and he was kissing her. Alexandra’s heart shattered into pieces. The kiss was so steamy, they did not even notice them and Samuel glanced worriedly at the silent woman by his side.

  She pulled her shoulders back and strode forward, making sure to avoid any contact with the kissing couple and nearly ran into Samuel’s office. An excited whinny reached her ears as she passed the second last stall. She threw the bags she carried down in Samuel’s office and ran to the stall, kneeling and wrapping her arms around the excited colt. The tears running down her cheeks hidden in his soft fur. She felt Blossom nuzzling her neck and she lifted her head. She smiled into the warm eyes of the mare and rubbed her nose. She cleared her throat and laughed at the colt jumping in front of her.

  “He has grown up so nicely, Blossom! You must be so proud!”

  Her voice was soft and raspy from the tears and lump in her throat.

  “Oh … goodness, we did not realize there was someone here!”

 
; Alexandra grunted, but ignored the comment and kept her back turned to the couple and Samuel that now stood in the stall entrance. She cursed and willed them to walk away. She started examining the colt’s teeth and gums and he stood quietly allowing her to probe him. She pressed over his nose and frowned when she felt his glands were slightly swollen in his neck.

  “Samuel, please bring me my stethoscope.”

  She examined the glands behind his ears and they too were swollen.

  “Are you feeling a little sick, baby? Hmm?”

  Samuel handed her the stethoscope and she quickly listened to his lungs and heartbeat. She frowned and turned to Yellow Blossom, examining her as well, but was relieved that she showed no signs of swelling.

  “Phone Brett, Samuel. Ask him to bring his mobile MRI scanner with.”

  She turned, but kept her eyes lowered and squeezed past Samuel.

  “Alexandra. What is wrong?”

  She stopped, took a deep breath and turned to face Paul. Her eyes lifted to his and she caught her breath at the hard, angry glare in his.

  “Please Shuttle, don’t let us keep you and your … lady. As soon as Brett gets here and we have the answers, he will supply you with a full report.”

  She swung around and walked away drawing on all her strength not to fall apart from seeing him with his arm around the glorious Gloria.

  Chapter Eleven

  Paul cursed and looked down. He stepped back irritably when he realized Gloria had stepped in under his arm and it appeared as if he was holding her. He was already annoyed when she appeared out of the blue and jumped in his arms under the pretense of a mouse scare.

  It was a damn stable! What did she expect? Grabbing his face and kissing him, angered him to no end and when he heard Alexandra’s voice every nerve in his body came alive. Her anger and clear annoyance proof that she witnessed Gloria in his arms and the kiss. He cursed again.

  It took another thirty minutes before he managed to get rid of Gloria and he immediately stomped to the stable. Anger slammed against his chest when he found Brett and Alexandra nearly wrapped around each other working the MRI.

  “What the hell is going on in here?”

  They startled, but Alexandra ignored him and continued to feed the cord they were battling with through a narrow slot. Brett had his arms around her, stabilizing the platform where the colt was standing on.

  “We’re battling to get this damn cord through, without spooking the colt. He is already becoming agitated.”

  Paul walked closer and around the unit. He took a pair of pliers from the wall unit and grabbed the edge of the cord just as Alexandra managed to push it through. He pulled it through and took the connector Alexandra held out to him. His annoyance growing that she remained within Brett’s circle of arms.

  He quickly fixed the connector to the end of the cord and found the plug and pushed it in. The MRI purred to life. He moved back and took hold of the platform and glared at Brett.

  “You can let go now.”

  Brett let go and stood upright. Alexandra straightened and leaned closer to the monitor on the side of the MRI. She frowned and shook her head. She continued to ignore Paul and his anger boiled slowly higher and higher.

  “Brett, come look here. See this shadow there … it appears to be a tumor, but there! Did you see that! How did … you have to get all the water troughs tested. Immediately!”

  “Is it what I think it is?”

  “It’s a larvae. I just don’t know what kind, but with the swelling in the glands, it is clearly not just in the intestines and stomach. This one is in the bloodstream. If we can identify what they are we can inoculate all the horses. We have to be fast. Certain larvae if it is heavy can be fatal.”

  Paul cursed and assisted Brett with the foal as soon as Alexandra took a blood sample. She walked to the lab directly and started analyzing the sample. While the sample matured in the little oven and the analyzer whizzed with the other sample, she started analyzing the samples Samuel started bringing in from the water troughs. The ones from the streams and dams were separated and color coded.

  Hours later the lab was buzzing with all the machines running and Alexandra knew there was nothing further to do than wait. She grabbed her bag and keys and walked to the rental parked outside the stable.

  The lights inside the house were still on and she knew Samuel, Brett and Paul were busy marking all the water sites on the Ranch to ensure they tested all of them. She got in the car and drove off. Her phone rang just as she got into bed after a hot shower. She picked it up and hesitated noticing it was Paul. She sighed and answered the phone.

  “Hello.”

  “Where are you?”

  “At the hotel.”

  The silence that followed sizzled with his anger and she winced. The line went dead. She gaped at the phone.

  “Damn you Paul Shuttle! You and your damn glorious Gloria!”

  She just slumbered off when a loud banging on the door woke her. She got such a fright she nearly fell off the bed.

  “Open this door, Alexandra!”

  She sat gaping at the door in the dark. Was the man daft! He was making such a ruckus he probably had every guest in the hotel awake already. He banged on the door again and rattled the door handle.

  “Alexandra!”

  She ran to the door and stood in front of it with her hands on her hips.

  “Are you crazy? You’ve just woken up all the guests!”

  “Open this door!”

  “Go away! I am tired and want to sleep!”

  He rattled and banged on the door again.

  “Paul! For goodness sake, please stop that!”

  “If you don’t open the door right this minute, I am going to kick it down.”

  “Okay! Alright!”

  She mumbled as she unlocked the door. She threw it open and stood glaring at him with her legs spread and her arms crossed. He stormed inside, picked her up and slammed the door closed behind him. She flew through the air when he threw her on the bed and she gasped for breath. The next moment he was naked on top of her and he plunged inside her depths, her oversized tee-shirt ripped off over her head.

  She cried with shock at the unexpectedness of it, but also at the ease with which her body accepted him. She struggled immediately and pushed against his chest.

  “Get off me, you oaf! What’s the matter? Did glorious Gloria not satisfy your rampant desires? No Paul! I said get off me!”

  He ignored her and pressed her deeper into the bed forcing her channel to stretch and accept more of him. His breathing was haggard and his eyes glittered in the dark.

  “Gloria is not a patch on you, Blondie.”

  She screeched and hit him against his shoulder with her fists. He grabbed her hands and pulled them over her head and held them down with one of his. He took her chin between his fingers and turned her face to his. He cursed when it was too dark and he reached over to switch on the bedside lamp.

  Light flooded the room in soft hues and his eyes bored into hers. She struggled and tried to throw him off her body. He laughed and she glared at him when she felt him swell even bigger inside her with her continued struggles.

  “Let me go!”

  He looked into her eyes and pulled his shaft back, nearly all the way and then plunged back hard. Her eyes widened and she gasped. He kept her eyes captive and started to thrust, hard and fast, driving his shaft with ruthless direction upward inside her. He felt the quiver of her muscles around his shaft, the panting of her breath against his chest and he stopped.

  “Tell me now to let you go.”

  Alexandra drew tortured breaths into her lungs, her whole body was on fire. Her channel throbbed and the pressure inside her gripped her ruthlessly.

  “Go … ttoo ... hell!”

  His eyes darkened and he slowly lowered his hand to circle her nipple and she bit her lip. He flicked his thumb over the nipple and her breath hissed in her throat.

  “You are going to come for me,
Alexandra … and when we get home … you will keep coming until I decide when you’ve had enough.”

  “No … you are … crazy! Ahhh!”

  He leaned down and pulled her nipple in his mouth and suckled. He swopped from the one to the other and she cried. He started to thrust, hard and fast. Alexandra felt her whole body burst into flames and arched her back. She screamed, the climax gripping her so hard she could not breathe. Her organs stopped and all she felt was the clamping of her muscles around Paul’s plunging shaft. Desperately clawing through her release. He plunged hard and then shouted, throwing his head back as he followed her with a shattering climax of his own.

  It took a while for them to get their breaths back. Paul let her hands go and lifted on his elbows, looking down at her. She glared at him and pushed against his chest.

  “Get off me!”

  He sighed and the anger he tore into the room with, returned fully. He withdrew from her and got up. He walked the bathroom and cleaned himself up. He returned and threw a cloth at her.

  “Get dressed.”

  He started dressing and hesitated when she pulled the sheet up to cover her, glowering at him. He snapped his jeans shut and straightened to his full height.

  “Be warned, Alexandra. I will carry you out of here buck naked. I have had it with this damned attitude of yours! You have a lot of explaining to do and I have run out of patience!”

  “Me! Of all the gall! I am not going with you! I do not need to stay at the Ranch to do my job.”

  He picked his shirt up from the floor and pulled it over his head. He ran his hands though his hair and walked towards her. She sat up straighter, clutching the sheet against her. He ripped the sheet from her hands and picked her up in his arms. He turned and headed to the door.

  “PAUL! Stop! You are crazy!”

  He ignored her and opened the door, he stepped into the hallway and she grabbed him around his neck, hiding her face in his throat. He kept walking.

  “Please, honey! Don’t do this to me!”

  “Will you get dressed and go back home with me?”