Efrem
Authors: Mallory Hall
Tags: #Erotic Fiction, #Exhibitionism, #Contemporary, #Romance
Efrem
Efrem Mantz knows computers and surfing. Lisa Alayne knows brood mares and ranching. Lisa purchases a new computer with a breeders' software program that defeats her. She meets Efrem in the company’s help chat room. Intrigued with each other, Efrem agrees to come to her ranch and help with the new computer. Little does he know he’ll end up helping Lisa keep her ranch…and him.
Lisa’s inheritance—the ranch—is almost hers. When she turns 30 in a couple of weeks, she can finally take ownership. The ranch’s foreman, however, has a plan in place to get control of at least half of the ranch. Lisa fell in with the plan by falling for the foreman’s nephew, but she learns fast not to trust a man too good looking to be real. Still, as good looking as Efrem is, she trusts him with her heart and her ranch.
Genre:
Contemporary
Length:
21,327 words
Mallory Hall
EROTIC ROMANCE
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Erotic Romance
EFREM
E-book ISBN: 1-61034-497-9
First E-book Publication: July 2011
Cover design by Jinger Heaston
All cover art and logo copyright © 2011 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
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Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Letter to Readers
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Efrem
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MALLORY HALL
Copyright © 2011
Efrem Mantz never pretended to understand women. He looked. He dated. He even touched once in a while. But he never understood them.
He stood six foot one inch. Black hair grazed his shoulders and crystal clear blue eyes looked out on a world that periodically confused the hell out him.
Reaching high over his head, he stretched his arms. The chambray shirt he wore pulled tight across his chest. His neck popped as he twisted right then left. Shaking his arms out, he looked at his screen to see if his customer had responded. She hadn’t.
The shifting of bodies, shuffling of papers, and the mumbling of normally composed computer freaks, usually ignored, seemed to rise in volume. Efrem knew it was only because he was listening. He checked his watch, glanced around the room, then back to his screen.
Efrem sighed. You’d think anyone logging into a live help chat room would pay attention. He drummed his fingers. He wasn’t used to feeling impatient and distracted.
Efrem hit the send key and leaned away from the keyboard. He was tempted to bring up a solitaire game. Customer Lisa was more distracted than he was and each reply was taking longer.
Efrem watched in astonishment as she disconnected.
“Labor?” He blinked at the screen, but no answer came back to him.
* * * *
Lisa Alayne turned off the computer and ran from the room. The ranch house was a quarter mile from the barn and Dan’s voice over the walkie-talkie had sounded urgent. She grabbed her hat off the peg at the back door, leaped over the three porch steps, and hit the dirt running, scattering the small but noisy flock of chickens that tended to congregate under her office window. The squawking chickens, running for their lives from the house cat, had distracted her during her first attempt at a
chat
room. She’d been desperate for help after spending hours trying to figure out SMTPs, mail servers, and hosts.
Her braid slapped her back, her jeans rode up her boots, and her glasses slid down her nose. None of this distracted her as she tore down the hard-packed dirt path that led to the barn. Her heart pounded from excitement and fear, not exertion. She was in excellent shape from working side by side with the cowboys. She groomed horses, mucked stalls, pulled calves and foals and mended tack, just like her employees. On top of that she managed the ranch. Keeping books, tracking bloodlines, and arranging stud services, among her other chores, kept her busy.
Learning to run the new-fangled computer kept her insane.
She arrived at the barn door and slowed down so she wouldn’t startle the four pregnant mares housed inside. She was breathing deeply and evenly, her heartbeat strong and regular.
Approaching Raven’s stall, she gasped as she looked over the door. The three-year-old mare lay on her side groaning and wheezing. Her belly was rigid with a contraction. As Lisa watched, Raven’s back right leg jerked, missing the hard stall wall by inches. Dan, the ranch foreman, leaned over the mare’s hindquarters. A tiny black nose protruded from the straining mother-to-be.
“Why didn’t you call me sooner?”
Dan shrugged. “She was doin’ okay until just before I called.”
Lisa slipped her hands into above-the-elbow rubber gloves. She positioned herself at the horse’s back, watching Raven’s top leg until it flexed toward her belly again. Grabbing it, she looped a rope around the fetlock to prevent the leg from connecting the next time the mare kicked. The white of the mare’s eyes showed as the new mother whinnied her terror at the unexpected pain. Lisa dropped to her knees beside her.
“Doc been called?”
Dan grunted.
“How long has she been like this?”
“Fifteen minutes.”
Lisa murmured soothing nonsense words to her favorite mare. She stroked the horse’s neck when the contraction finally passed.
The next contraction came so quickly it took all three of them by surprise. The horse shrieked and kicked up at her distended belly. Dan straightened away, aware of the power in a hind leg. Lisa threw herself backwards as the huge hoof rushed toward her face. The horse was frantic with pain and fear. Her first foal was not cooperating.
Sweat trickled between Lisa’s breasts. The smell in the barn was strong, but fear for her horse crowded out her senses. All but one. As the contraction eased, a tiny hoof slipped back into the warm haven of its mother.
“Someone call a doctor?” Doc Stewart sauntered into the stall to assess the situation.
Lisa and Dan didn’t answer. They both knew he’d decide what to do a lot quicker if they kept their mouths shut.
Doc Stewart looked at the horse, then Dan, then Lisa. “How long she been like this?”
“Fifteen minutes,” they answered together.
The Doc looked at Raven again, ran his hands over her huge belly, and checked her eyes and her gums.
“She needs some help.” He turned to fetch what he needed from his truck and came back loaded down with supplies and equipment.
* * * *
Forty-five minutes later, Lisa shook hands with Doc Stewart and returned to the barn. The veterinarian oozed relief, making Lisa realize how dangerous the foal’s birth had been. She gazed over the stall door at Raven and her beautiful but shaky colt. The mare seemed to understand what was expected of a new mother—once the horrific pain was over—and the colt was working hard to stand up under the onslaught of her busy tongue. Raven gave a surprised snort when the colt butted her and began to nurse. She stood still but kept trying to nip the colt’s stubby little tail that whipped around in little circles.
Mother and son had been moved to a clean stall where Lisa watched the antics until Dan returned. She had groomed Raven, fed and watered her, and could find nothing else to delay her return to the computer.
She took a deep breath through her nose and grimaced. Maybe a shower first.
* * * *
Efrem gazed at the poster on the wall. It showed the Chairman of the Board at one of the company’s best-selling computers, grinning like an idiot. Efrem had never realized the poster was so corny.
“Lisa’s back!” The shout came from the other workroom. Efrem jumped up and jogged between the rows of computers, out the door, down the ten feet of hallway, through the door of the other workroom, and over to Sam’s terminal.
“I’ll take it from here, Sam,” said Efrem as he practically pushed Sam out of the chair.
“Yeah, sure thing, Efrem.” Sam judiciously escaped sideways to let his supervisor have the chair. Everyone watched the interplay, curiosity warring with caution due to their very private supervisor’s aversion to anyone poking their nose where it didn’t belong—namely, anything about his life outside of these two rooms.
Efrem read the screen.