Her Tender Tyrant Page 0,2

but she told me it was now or never. Several of the colts that were born this past spring are about to be sold.”

“And you need the colts for your study?” he asked, not sure if he believed her. It sounded ridiculous, except it was also something only his mother would do. She seemed to befriend everyone and anyone. If there was a hurt or lost soul out there, they eventually made their way to this horse farm.

“So you decided to just stop on by and help yourself to…” he glanced behind her, “ice cream?”

Juliette was starting to become irritated by his distrustful tone of voice. “First of all, I bought the ice cream as well as other food supplies, not wanting to mooch off of your very kind parents. But furthermore, I’m not lying,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Your mother is a very sweet woman and I’m very grateful for her offer to help me.”

“You’re right about one thing. She’s very sweet. But you shouldn’t be taking advantage of her kind nature.”

Juliette hissed in outrage. “I am not taking advantage of her! In fact, her farm will be noted in my findings. It will be great advertising for her!”

“She doesn’t need any help advertising. She’s internationally known for her horses.”

“Which is why she invited me here!” she exclaimed, throwing up her arms in exasperation.

His eyes narrowed as his mind worked through the issue. “Or did you invite yourself? Knowing neither of them would be here for the next few weeks?”

Juliette was really angry now. “That’s it! Call your mother! She’ll vouch for me!”

“I’m not going to…” He watched with alarm as she pulled her phone out of her back pocket.

“If you won’t do it, then I will.” She was dialing a number and, a moment later, she glared up at him with increasing anger. “I refuse to have my character maligned by a big, obnoxious…” she stammered, trying to think of the right word, “bully!”

At the same time, Marcus’ phone started ringing. He looked at it and saw his Dad’s number come up. Pressing the ‘answer’ button, he maintained eye contact with the little she-devil in front of him. “Hi Dad. What’s up?”

“Sorry Marcus. We forgot to tell you about the woman who is staying at the house while we’re out of town. I need you to take good care of her,” he was saying. “Your mother is calling Juliette to let her know that you’re going to be there as well. We completely forgot to mention each of you to the other. Very sorry about that. I hope it won’t cause any confusion, but when Juliette shows up, we need you to be very nice to her.” Marcus could barely hear his father since Juliette was whispering something into her phone.

“I think the lovely Juliette is talking to Mom right now.”

He heard his dad’s chuckle. “I have no idea what the two of them are saying, but there’s a lot of whispering going on,” Damien said and Marcus could hear the patient amusement in his voice. And the love. After decades of marriage, Damien Alfieri was still madly in love with his wife. “Whatever they’re saying, it can’t be good. So watch out. And do me a favor,” he said.

Marcus eyed the little lady in question, thinking his father was right to be dubious. “What’s that?” he asked absently, noting the woman’s tiny waist and her full breasts, pressing against the fabric of her top.

“Take care of her. Juliette is one of the good ones. We’ve known her for a while and she’s going to be a brilliant psychologist. She’s working on her master’s thesis now and whatever she comes up with will be amazing. I’ve read some of her papers and I’m impressed with how deep her understanding of human behavior goes.” He paused for a moment. “But she’s still a babe in the woods in many ways, in my opinion. So watch out for her. Don’t let anyone take advantage of her while she’s trying to finish up her study. Can you do that for me?”

Marcus must have said something assuring because his father continued. Marcus, on the other hand, was watching the woman in question, seeing her with new eyes. He still might not like her, but if his dad respected her, there must be something more to the woman that just a knockout figure. Damien Alfieri wasn’t an easy man to fool. In fact, Marcus’ father was one of the