Susana’s belly clenched. She knew he felt hot. Horsemen always did, particularly after exercise. Was his coat still damp from the polo game? How sleek and hard his muscles must feel against Nellie’s palm. As a healer, Susana had touched many Horsemen. She tried keeping sexual thoughts far from her mind when she treated patients. Remaining professional around such beautiful creatures wasn’t always easy, but Susana rarely had a problem with it. Yet when it came to prime specimens such as Linn and Moor, it was especially hard for a woman not to listen to her libido.

“I’m training a new groom to work with me,” Nellie continued, her hand sweeping the length of Moor’s equine back. She paused at his flank, the expression on her face making the touch far more intimate than necessary. “If you’ll let us work on you, I’ll only charge you half the usual fee. Grooming a large Horseman will be good practice for her.”

“Two grooms for half the price of one?” Moor smiled. “A Horseman would be a fool to say no to that.”

“Jane,” Nellie bellowed. Susana felt a bit of satisfaction when Moor’s sensitive ears flickered at the shrill sound. A younger woman, slim and shorter than Nellie, stepped away from the Horseman she’d been talking to. “Bring the brushes and ointment. We’re doing Moor now.”

Doing Moor? Susana wasn’t sure she appreciated the sound of that.

Moor stepped into a roomy box, about the size of a large stall. Each of the resident Carriers had a box of his own to keep tack, ointment, grooming supplies, and changes of clothes.

The women stepped inside and Susana expected them to close the door. Instead, they left it open. From her position, crouched on the scuffed though clean wooden floor, she saw directly into the box. Nellie stood at Moor’s equine rump while Jane positioned herself atop a stool by his man torso.

Susana’s mouth went dry as she watched Jane dip a soft cloth into a bowl of warm water and bathe Moor’s face and neck. He closed his eyes as the groom-in-training ran the cloth over his shoulders and across the massive expanse of his chest. Rivulets of the clean water trickled down his breastbone and streaked his well-defined abs. Moisture gleamed through the thick mat of hair that tapered down his stomach and flared out in the sleek brown coat covering his equine body.

Crisp air wafted in through the small open window at the back of Moor’s box. The breeze reached Susana, carrying the icy outdoor scents, but also Moor’s scent. Woodsy, musky, wild and oh-so-delectable. She imagined covering his broad chest with kisses, licking his lean waist, and using her fingertips to trace each and every sculpted abdominal muscle.

At the back of the stall, Nellie used a sweat scraper to clean off his coat, dirty from the polo game. Taking a brush, she stroked it over his rump and across his sturdy back.

Susana had stopped sorting through her bag and stared, her lips parted and her breath quickening as she watched Nellie’s palm slide over his well-muscled sides, the brush following her touch. The groom smiled as she slid her fingers over his brown wings. His feathers fluffed a bit. Susana knew they felt as soft as baby chickens but far sleeker. The woman shouldn’t be putting her hands on him like that. She had a brush, damn it, and a cloth. Why did she need to stroke his gleaming coat and caress the underside of his belly? When she walked behind him and placed both hands on his rump, Susana’s rage hit the boiling point.

“She’s a groom, all right,” Susana muttered in disgust, jerking the ties tightly on her bag and standing.