this what you’re looking at? The second dress I’ve had ruined today.”
It took him a second to realize she was talking about the brown blotch in the center of her chest. His gaze was more drawn to her curves. Her breasts would fit perfectly in his hands. His palms even itched. No, this isn’t right.
“I’ve come clear across the country. I’ve had a very bad day. I want to meet your brother. Now.”
He dragged his gaze up to her pursed lips, only that was worse. He wanted to claim them and soothe the anger from her. “Anna.”
“What?” she retorted, then squinted at him.
He didn’t have the right to call her by her first name. “Miss O’Malley, it would be better if you saw him in the morning.” Surely Rafael could manage to be up long enough to meet her. “You are tired. He is—” Daniel struggled for the right words “—not up to meeting you tonight. Everything will be better in the morning.”
She stared up at him. Her skin glowed under the light of the moon. She was so fair. Her lips parted, and he wanted to close the distance between them, reassure her, distract her, taste her.
No. He didn’t. She was completely the wrong sort of woman for him. After dealing with Madre all his life, he wanted a biddable woman, one who wouldn’t fight him at every turn.
“Does he drink, then?” she asked in a low voice.
“We all drink,” said Daniel, folding his arms. Lying to her made his head hurt, but he hadn’t actually lied, and Rafael did occasionally drink more than he ought to.
“He isn’t really hurt at all, is he?” Her expression fell. “That was just to keep me from seeing him in the state he’s in. That’s why you had to get me.” She wrapped the shawl tighter around her shoulders. “I knew this was too good to be true.”
The urge to hold her, comfort her, returned full force, but comforting her was a dangerous thing. He’d reacted too strongly when she’d thrown herself into his arms in Stockton. And the way he’d been thinking about her made touching her again foolhardy. He tightened his hold across his chest just to be sure he didn’t brush the hair back from her temple. Didn’t trace a finger along her smooth cheek. Didn’t kiss her.
“My brother is a good man, he just...” Daniel floundered. Occasionally loses himself. He didn’t understand Rafael’s recent reckless streak. Ever since he’d returned from a hearing in Sacramento about getting the title issued for his land, he’d been acting odd.
Anna’s chin tilted up, and she pinned him with her gaze as if to say she wouldn’t tolerate any falsehoods.
“He’s a hard worker—the hardest worker I know. And after my father died, he taught me everything.”
“Your father?”
Daniel’s skin heated. “We had different fathers.”
Her fingers twisted the edge of her shawl. “Is he at all like you?”
“I try to be like him,” answered Daniel with painful honesty. Except on days like today when Rafael behaved like an idiot.
His loco behavior had started about three years ago, around the time of the hearing. Was his foolhardiness just because of that hearing? Granted, he shared Rafael’s fear that the request for the land title could be denied. The treaty between Mexico and the United States was supposed to honor the established land grants, but the United States was forcing the rancheros to prove ownership.
Two of their neighbors, men who spoke little English and whose families had been on the land for decades, had lost their claims, while an Anglo man who’d become a Mexican citizen to get his land grant and then switched his allegiance to the United States when California was ceded by Mexico had his title in a matter of months, unlike the years it was taking everyone else. It appeared that whites were much more likely to receive a patent for their land than Spanish were. But Daniel didn’t understand why Rafael was acting as though their case was hopeless. Not all the claims were denied. Besides, if it was hopeless, why bother marrying an Anglo bride to improve the odds?
Anna watched him silently for a moment; then her chin firmed and jutted up. “I’d still like to meet him. I’d rather know what I shall have to deal with. And I’d say he’s likely to be worse in the morning.”
With a small toss of her head, she started to step around him. Daniel caught her shoulders and pinned her against a post to the covered walkway. “You would see him at his worst, yet you don’t want him to know that you shot a man?”
The moonlight caressed her face. His breath was sucked from his body. Her eyes glittered. She didn’t look down or away as another woman might in her place. He tried to remember he hated such boldness in a woman, but, damn, his blood thickened.
“A thief and would-be murderer,” she corrected him firmly.
His brother wasn’t a murderer or a thief, but Daniel struggled to keep the objection to himself. So far she hadn’t recognized him. Didn’t suspect anything beyond Rafael being a drunkard.
“And I just think it best if he hears it from me.” Her features had a mulish cast. “When I am ready to tell him.”
She had a point. He cocked his head, studying her. “Fair enough, but don’t wait too long or he will hear it from someone else.”
She shuddered ever so slightly. Perhaps she had been frightened. He lightly massaged her shoulders and cursed himself for an idiot. He told himself to drop his hands, step back, but he couldn’t. Wanting to soothe her and reassure her, he stepped closer and lowered his voice. “He’s a good man—you’ll see. He won’t hold it against you that you defended yourself against a man you believed was intent on harm.”
“He was intent on harm,” she insisted. “Someone had to stop him. The rifle fell right by Selina, and she knew that I had fired a gun before.” Another tremble ran through her. “I had to shoot.”
No, she hadn’t needed to shoot, because in another three or four seconds he would have dragged Rafe away, but Daniel couldn’t say that.
“He was looking right at Selina and me,” she whispered. “There were two of them and—” her pause spoke loudly of fears a lady couldn’t voice “—two of us.”
Damn Rafael. Daniel’s stomach turned. She’d likely thought she and her friend were about to be kidnapped and then raped.
“It’s all right,” he murmured. “Don’t think about it. You are safe here.”
The less she thought about it, the less likely she would be to connect them to what happened.
“This is a very lawless place,” she said.
“No. Not usually. And I promise I will make certain those criminals will never be seen again.”
“How?” she demanded.
Because if Rafael had a wild idea like that ever again, Daniel would hog-tie him. But he had to reassure her in a way that made sense. “I’ll track them tomorrow. I’ll make sure they never come near here again. You’re part of our household now, and I always protect my own.”
She
