Taming the Stallion by Dorothy Callahan

Author:Dorothy Callahan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, contemporary
Publisher: Crimson Romance, an imprint of F+W Media, Inc.
Published: 2012-01-21T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 29

“Thanks for meeting with me so soon, Marta. I know this is a big imposition, but — ”

“No imposition here,” she said, beckoning Raylie to a chair. “I know time is of the essence, and you have a case to solve before more horses are killed.”

She nodded, not trusting her tongue to spare Marta the details of her time with Ashton.

“Now, I did some thinking, and I’ve made a list of horse-related items. On a scale of one to one hundred, I want you to tell me how anxious you get when you think of these, okay?”

“Okay.” She settled into her chair, ready for the crash course. Or, at least, the crash.

“Seeing a picture of a horse.”

“One.”

“Talking about horses.”

“One.”

“Planning to ride a horse.”

To ride? “Eighty.”

“Holding tack.”

She took a deep breath, imagined the smell of leather and horse sweat. “Sixty.”

“Remembering a time as a child when you rode a horse.”

She thought of Snowflake, a pony she rode at a carnival, and nothing happened until she envisioned walking up to him again. “It went from five to ninety-five.”

“What changed?”

“I saw myself walking up to Snowflake.”

“And that became ninety-five?”

She nodded. Marta scribbled it down.

“Playing with toy horses.”

“One.”

“Being on a horse trail.”

She considered that one. “Five?”

“Seeing horses on that trail walking toward you.”

“Eighty.”

“Walking around Mr. Lyre’s stable.”

In a flat tone, she said, “One ninety-seven.”

She smiled. “Okay.” Marta leaned back and set aside her notepad. “I have a good idea of where to go from here. Now, since we’re going to have to work quickly, I’m willing to step outside my normal parameters and offer you some latitude regarding how we’re going to go about this. Do you,” she leaned forward, “have something that makes you completely relaxed, makes you forget all your daily toils?”

Sex with Ashton made her more physically relaxed than she imagined possible, but the ensuing complications knotted up her insides after she left. She had been a fool for thinking she could ride that particular hunk of flesh and emerge unscathed.

Marta sat waiting.

“Oh, playing with my foster kittens. They crack me up. And they’ve come around socially to the point where they act like lightning lunatics now.”

The comment made Marta grin. “Okay, next session I want you to bring them.”

“Here? You want me to bring a litter of lunatics to therapy?”

She shrugged. “Why not? I have paper towels if they make a mess.”

“You’ll need a vacuum cleaner and a kindly God if they make a mess,” she mumbled, but the thought thrilled her. They’d get socializing while Raylie healed. “What a great idea.”

“Glad you like it. For today, I want you to pretend you’re watching your foster kittens play. Can you do that?”

Raylie nodded, loving this exercise. She leaned back in her chair, closed her eyes to do as bade. Marta turned on some music, spoke in low tones, encouraging Raylie to unwind.

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