The man tipped his hat to Lenobia again, this time he smiled and even standing as far away as we were I could see that his eyes were sparkling.

"Well, ma'am, seems I got me some misinformation. Glad that was cleared up quick. My name is Travis Foster, and I'm pleased to meet ya, boss lady."

"And you don't mind finding out your boss is a lady?"

"No, ma'am. My momma was a lady and I never worked harder or happier than when I worked for her."

"Mr. Foster, do I remind you of your mother?"

I thought Lenobia's voice could have frozen water, but Travis didn't seem to notice. Actually, he looked like he was enjoying himself. He cocked his hat back on his head and looked down at Lenobia, like the question had been serious instead of sarcastic. "No, ma'am, not yet you don't." Lenobia didn't say anything else and I was just getting that squirmy, embarrassed feeling that awkward conversations with adults can bring about when Travis kinda shrugged, hooked a finger in the belt tab of his Wranglers, and said, "So, Lenobia, could you show me where my mare and I are gonna bunk?"

"Mare? Bunk?" Lenobia said.

"This is some great shit. I wish I had popcorn," Aphrodite said.

"She's gonna burn him with her laser vision," I said.

"Lenobia has laser vision?" Stevie Rae asked.

Aphrodite and I looked at Stevie Rae like she'd just asked if we thought Lindsay Lohan was really rehabbed.

"How 'bout I watch and not talk," Stevie Rae said.

"Thank you," Aphrodite and I said together, which made her glare at me before the three of us returned to gawking and eavesdropping.

"Well, ma'am," Travis drawled. "I told y'all 's High Priestess when she hired me that my mare and I come as a package deal, and I'd need to stable her here. Since I just wrapped up a season managing the stables at Durant Springs, I'd need a place to lodge, too." He paused, and when Lenobia didn't speak he added, "Durant Springs is in Colorado, ma'am."

"I know where it is," Lenobia snapped. "What makes you think you can stay here on campus? We have no accommodations for humans."

"Yes, ma'am, that's what the High Priestess said. Since the job needed to be filled right away, I told her I'd get along just fine bunking with Bonnie until I could find a place nearby."

"Bonnie?"

Travis rearranged his hat, the first sign he might possibly be uncomfortable. "Yes, ma'am. My mare's name is Bonnie." As if on cue, there came a giant thud! from inside the horse trailer. He moved to the rear doors while he continued to explain to Lenobia. "I'd 'preciate it if ya let me unload her. It's a long way from Colorado for a big girl."

"Do you think his horse is fat?" Stevie Rae asked quietly.

"Bumpkin, I thought you weren't going to talk," Aphrodite said.

"I think he just got his foot in the door," I said. No way was Lenobia gonna let a tired horse be hauled away to goddess only knew where.

"Unload your mare. You and I will discuss your accommodations after she's comfortable," Lenobia said.

I noticed that Travis had already been undoing the series of levers and chains that held the horse trailer's door shut, so we only had to wait a few seconds for the ramp to open.

"Come on, big girl. Baaack," Travis said in a voice that had gone from polite and at times slightly amused, to warm and gentle and sweet.

Then his horse backed out of the trailer and gasps of shock and awe came from all around us. I took my eyes from the horse long enough to see that Stevie Rae and I weren't the only gawkers. Darius, Stark, Rephaim, and most of the fledglings had somehow meandered their way over to us.

"That can't be a horse," Stevie Rae said, and even though we were several yards away from the animal, she actually took a step back.

"Holy shit. It's a dinosaur," Aphrodite said.

"I'm pretty sure it's a horse," I said, studying her. "But it's a really, really big one."

"Oh, a Percheron! She's exquisite!" Lenobia said.

Everyone stared as petite Lenobia walked up to the huge mare with no hesitation whatsoever. Totally dwarfed by the hulking equine, the Horse Mistress lifted her hand, just slightly. The mare watched her for an instant and then dropped her nose, blowing against Lenobia's palm. Lenobia, grinning like a girl, caressed the mare's gigantic muzzle and crooned to her, "Oh, you are indeed a bonnie, bonnie girl." She looked from the horse to the cowboy. The ice in her voice had totally thawed and I thought she was practically gushing. "I have not seen a Percheron since my voyage from France when I was a girl, and that's more years ago than I care to admit. There was a matched pair of the big beauties on the ship with me. I've remembered them fondly and since have been intrigued by draft horses. She's a lovely dappled gray. I imagine she'll continue to lighten as she gets older. I can tell that she's just turned five a month..." Lenobia paused, cocked her head, and stared into the horse's eye before continuing. "No, she turned five two months ago. She's belonged to you for her entire life, hasn't she?" I saw Travis blink in surprise. His mouth opened, then closed, then opened again. He cleared his throat. "Well, yes, ma'am." He paused and reached up to pat Bonnie's ginormically thick neck like he needed to anchor himself to something to get his sense back. I knew why he was suddenly so messed up. Everyone who had ever watched Lenobia around horses knew why. When she communed with horses Lenobia changed from really pretty to utterly, totally gorgeous, and she was doing some serious communing with the big mare, so she'd turned the full wattage of her horse adoration onto the cowboy. It wasn't that he was the intended recipient of her super attractiveness, he was just getting the fall out. But it was some serious fall out.