Savannah smiled a little. "I can't say I'm sorry about that."
"That was not any fun for me to do. I hope you know that."
She said slowly, "I believe you. I've engaged in spanking play for fun and it's nothing like that. Ben… are you still going to let me ride?"
"Are you ever going to do anything like that again?"
"Never. And I mean that with all my heart."
"Then I believe in second chances, and I believe I'll be making a safe choice letting you ride again."
Savannah let out the breath she had been holding. "Thank you. That would have been a much worse punishment than having my butt whipped."
"You might not think so by the time you ride back to the barn. That saddle isn't going to feel so good now."
"I guess that's what I get," Savannah said quietly.
Sure enough, the ride back was not comfortable for Savannah. By the time she had taken care of Reba, she was deeply weary. Ben hung the saddle up for her.
"Are you all right?"
"I'm exhausted and my butt's on fire, but I'll be fine. I'm going to stand in a cool shower for about a day and probably sleep on my stomach tonight. Are we all right?"
"As far as I'm concerned, it's forgotten."
"Okay, now I'm going to go home. It's been a hell of a day."
Ben hesitated and then swept her into his arms and kissed her for a long time. "I couldn't handle you getting hurt riding one of my horses. Thank God you're okay."
Savannah smiled at him and kissed him. "Thank you for the lesson. I'll see you Wednesday."
She climbed stiffly into her truck and waved at him. Ben stood looking after her as she drove away.
Chapter 14
Ben kept himself extra busy in the time leading up to Wednesday. He replayed the events of Saturday in his mind so many times that he finally gave himself a mental boot in the ass. He wondered if he would ever see Savannah again and wavered between remembering the kiss they had ended with and thinking about her outrage when he had started spanking her. If it were any other woman in the world, he wouldn't spend two minutes worrying if he had done the right thing, but he didn't know how he could stand it if he never saw Savannah again. Finally, on Tuesday evening, he stood in a cold shower for as long as he could stand it and then poured himself a generous glass of whiskey.
"You're an idiot, Ben," he said out loud. "She had it coming, and she accepted it too. So maybe she's been busy. It's not like you see her every day. Lesson days, usually; in between is something extra, not like a routine or anything."
Savannah, meantime, had been busy. GG was still down with her cold, and Savannah had been in charge of the shop. She found herself really enjoying it, a little to her surprise. She was too busy to think about the fact that it wasn't "her life" that she was living. She had been stiff and sore for a couple of days after Ben had taken his belt to her, but the red bottom and the soreness had both faded. By Tuesday, she felt good and was looking forward to getting back on a horse. The thought she kept coming away with was a huge sense of relief that Ben had been willing to let her keep riding.
On Wednesday, GG felt much better and came back to work. At two, she waved a hand at Savannah and told her to go get ready for her lesson. With a light heart, Savannah drove her pretty red truck home and got ready for riding. She made herself a sandwich and poured a glass of iced tea, gulped them both down, and found herself headed to the barn at least a half hour early. When she got there, a horse trailer was backed up to the big doors.
Walking into the barn, Savannah heard the noisy clatter of hooves on the floor of the trailer. The horse backing out was a beautiful sorrel, obviously pregnant, mare. Savannah wandered closer, careful to stay out of everyone's way. There were several people she didn't know, along with Ben and Mrs. Harper and the veterinarian, Doc Fisher. A man walked the mare up and down the aisle a couple of times and then into a stall that Savannah had never seen used before. It was extra large and bedded down with a thick cushion of straw, rather than the sawdust that was in the other stalls. As everybody watched, the mare investigated her quarters, sniffing and blowing, then lowered herself to the floor and rolled back and forth, scratching her back in the fresh straw. She couldn't get rolled quite all the way over without several tries, her distended belly obviously in her way.
Ben looked up and saw Savannah watching. He gave her that devastating smile, and her heart melted a little. He beckoned to her and she walked over to stand beside him, watching.
"Hey, Savannah," Ben said, giving her hand a squeeze. "This lady is going to have a foal by Ms. Harper's stud, Son of Boone. The owner wants to have her here and so does Ms. Harper. She's due anytime now."
Savannah couldn't take her eyes off the horse. "She's beautiful. Is everything okay with her?"
"Yep, no problems so far, but it's her first so everybody wants to be a little extra careful."
"Oh, Ben, and you get to be right here. It must be amazing," Savannah breathed in awe.
Ben put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. "Don't worry; I'll call you as soon as we know she's in labor. If you want."
Savannah's eyes were huge and shining. "Really? I would love that!"
His heart turned over again. "You got it."
In a few minutes, the little crowd of people had dispersed, leaving the mare to relax. They had put a baby monitor in her stall and there was a receiver in Ben's apartment and another in the tack room. The house was a bit too far away, so Ben would most likely be in charge of summoning everyone to the birth. Savannah watched the horse inspect her new stall, take a long drink of water, and finally come to the door to sniff at Savannah. She breathed in Savannah's face and then lowered her head to be petted. Savannah rubbed her brow and talked to her softly. Ben watched them, grinning when the horse nudged Savannah's hand, asking for more attention.
"She likes you," Ben said.
"What's her name?"
"They call her Belle. Her registered name is considerably longer and fancier than that."
"Nice to meet you, Belle," Savannah said as she patted the mare on the neck.
Soon, Savannah was up on Reba, cantering in figure eights around the outdoor arena and learning about changing leads. Ben taught her how to open the gate without dismounting, letting them enter and leave the arena until Savannah was proficient at it. He set up a low barrier and taught Savannah how to take Reba over it with a little jump. Finally, just for fun, he set up some barrels and let Savannah, first, trot, then lope around them in a barrel-racing pattern.
When Savannah had finished her lesson and taken care of her horse, Ben asked, "So would you like to go out on Friday night?"
Savannah said, "What did you have in mind?"
"Oh, I don't know. Say dinner and a movie?"
Savannah smiled sweetly. "There's no movie theater in Boone."
"No, but there's one over in Dixon."
"No, I don't think so."
Ben felt like he'd had a little punch in the gut.
Savannah continued. "It's not a good idea to go away for the evening when Belle could have her baby anytime. How about pizza and a movie at your place?"