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Maggie leaped in front of Rafael as Santos came around the front of the Porsche in two long, angry strides. Rafael picked her up and set her out of his way. “Your sister’s afraid I’ll hurt you, because she knows you can’t hurt me.”
“Stop it!” Maggie shouted with the same authoritative tone she’d used to break up fights in the corridors of Catalina Foothills high. “You two have no better manners than the bulls you torture. Give us the video camera, and we’ll take it to Miguel right now. I’m not staying here to watch you scuffle in the dirt, and if that insults you both, I’m glad.”
Rafael raised his hands and moved back while Santos curled his hands into fists and glared at him. “I’ll take you home. You don’t have to ride with him,” her brother promised through clenched teeth.
Fox came around the side of the house, took one look at the men’s hostile stances and hurried to join them. “If there’s going to be a fight, my money’s on the Gypsy.”
“Wise choice,” Rafael answered.
Ana punched Santos in the stomach. “If I’d known you and Rafael were going to fight over Magdalena, I wouldn’t have come. It’s a good thing I didn’t bother to unpack.” She started toward the house, her fair curls flying behind her.
Santos didn’t glance her way. “I mean it, Magdalena. You’re coming with me.”
“No, she isn’t,” Rafael answered.
“I don’t want to ride with either of you. I’d ask Ana for a ride home, but I can’t leave you two here alone. This is like the story of the man trying to cross a river with a fox, a chicken and a sack of grain.”
“What?” Santos asked.
“It’s a math story problem for children,” Rafael explained. “I’m sure you could figure it out in a day or two.”
“That’s it,” Maggie cried. “I’m leaving with Rafael because he hasn’t got the sense to keep his mouth shut. Come on, let’s get our things. Where’s the video camera?”
A sly smile curved Santos’s lips. “Sorry. I wanted to give him a chance to do better tomorrow, and I erased the video.”
Rafael swore a particularly bitter curse under his breath, but Maggie caught every foul word. “We could stay in Zaragoza tonight and come back here tomorrow.”
“No, stay. I promise to be good,” Santos vowed unconvincingly. “I hadn’t used the camera in a while, and the video wasn’t worth saving. Tomorrow I’ll do a better job.”
“I don’t trust you to even point it in the right direction,” Rafael complained.
“Convince Ana to stay,” Maggie suggested, “and she can handle the camera.”
Santos shrugged and turned toward the house. “I’ll try.”
“Just slip more money in her hand,” Rafael called.
Maggie looked up at him and shook her head. “With that mouth, how did you survive a prison sentence?”
Fox thought the whole confrontation funny. “You can tell he wouldn’t be anyone’s bitch.”
Maggie looked around, but there was no place to go. Her heart was pounding, and, feeling shaky, she leaned back against the Porsche. “You pick fights for fun, and I absolutely abhor conflict. Do you see something wrong with this picture?”
“I don’t think she’s asking me,” Fox said.
Rafael gritted his teeth. “Santos and I have never liked each other. I’ll not insult him within your hearing. Is that good enough?”
Maggie thought it a lame promise, but it was probably the best he would do. “When Santos’s mother learned Miguel had married my mother, she hanged herself in the stable here. He was only a baby. Try and remember that the next time he’s rude to you. Don’t tell him I told you that story either. He wouldn’t want your sympathy, but if he can be nice to me, when his mother is dead because of mine, then you should be able to be civil to him.”
“Do you suppose the stable is haunted?” Fox wondered aloud.
Rafael leaned back against the Porsche and draped his arm around Maggie’s shoulders. “I only knew he’s Miguel’s son, but he hasn’t been kind to me either. If you want to compare pitiful stories, I have them too.”
He was no more self-centered than most men, but it was incredibly annoying. “True, but will you work on being kinder yourself just because he’s my brother?”
Ana came out of the house alone carrying only her purse. “Do you still want to go to Zaragoza, Magdalena?”
“No, thank you. I think I better stay here.” She and Rafael moved away from her car.
