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She firmed her chin and stepped toward the table. “I suppose that will give me time to survey the house and see what I need to spend your brother’s money upon.”
He wanted to applaud her pluck and thank her for saving him from the overwhelming urge to gather her in his arms and reassure her everything would be all right.
She put her white clothes in the washtub, laid the green dress she’d been wearing on the stagecoach beside it and reached for the bucket.
It would take a damnably long time to fill the tub with boiling water, and he still needed to get the horses into the hills before anyone realized they hadn’t been stolen. He couldn’t leave as long as Anna was awake. He set the saucer with the soap shavings on the table. The only thing he could do was help her so the washing went faster. “Every pot we have is heating.”
Glancing toward the brick shelf, where he had set filled bowls as well as pots, she put down the bucket.
For a second in profile she looked so forlorn, he leaned toward her. “Rafe is just trying to get our horses back.”
“Because that would certainly be more important than tracking down the men who tried to kill me,” she muttered.
“Only one of the men fired his weapon.”
Her gaze sharpened on him and poked holes in him.
Daniel bit the inside of his mouth. He tried to remember if she’d said that in his presence. He rushed to move on before she thought about it too long. “Besides, they are probably one and the same. Rafe will just try to pick up the trail from where he lost it yesterday, and I’ll be following it from the stagecoach robbery site. With any luck our paths will meet.”
Her eyes narrowed.
His spine tightened. He needed to stop talking about the robbery.
“Well, I would feel much better if you did catch them.”
He was late in agreeing with her. “I’m sure that would be best.”
“But you don’t think you will?” She continued to study him.
The weight of her gaze made him want to squirm away like the lowly worm he was becoming. He closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath, then opened them to meet her green ones. “I’ll do my best.”
But damn it to hell, he would only succeed if he managed to mislead the townsfolk.
He and Rafe were trying to demonstrate they were a cut above other rancheros, hardworking, innovative, willing to learn what the new Californians needed and deliver it, whether it was beef, trained oxen or fruit. Too many of the Mexican landowners were caught in doing what had worked half a century ago instead of recognizing the changes that were coming.
Too many of the Anglos coming in thought the old ways were lazy, instead of realizing the rancheros ran small herds over their big spreads because there hadn’t been a big enough local market for beef, and producing more fruits and vegetables than a family could consume hadn’t made sense. He and Rafe had spent long hours discussing the future and what would keep the ranch solvent, especially in light of the mounting legal fees. And part of that was welcoming the Anglos and learning their ways instead of becoming more entrenched in old Spanish traditions.
He hated to think how the townsfolk would despise him if they thought he’d become a criminal. All the work he’d done to establish himself as a fair-dealing man would be for naught.
He shifted away from the maudlin thoughts. At least with Rafe pretending to go out tomorrow he could share the blame. “Rafe will find their hiding place if they have one.”
“How many horses were stolen?”
“Four,” Daniel counted the descriptions he’d given the sheriff in his head. His gut tightened. Keeping his lies straight was difficult. “No, wait, three. We found one of the ones we thought was missing later.”
His heart thumped madly. Even though Rafe had told him thousands of times learning to lie to their mother would make life easier, he’d never thought it a useful skill to cultivate. The memory of his father’s strictures to be honest rang louder in his head.
“Do you have so many horses you can’t keep track of them?” Her face was scrunched with skepticism.
“We have upwards of fifty. When we have to drive the cattle to market, a man will use four or five horses in a day.” How the ranch worked was something he could talk about and not have to lie. He breathed out a long breath. “My father always insisted that each man had enough so the horses don’t get worn down.”
Her head tilted, and he could see the gears turning in her mind. “When did your father die?”
His chest felt cleaved open. Daniel glanced toward the stove, willing the water to boil. He didn’t want to talk about his father’s death. The grief had never left him, especially since his mother had told him to stop crying about missing his father. He folded his arms. “While back. Rafe had to take on the responsibilities of running the ranch when he was thirteen.”
Her brows drew together. “You must have been very young. That must have been awful for you.”
Her sympathy was both a balm and an irritant. He tried to fend it off and steer the conversation back to the workings of the ranch. “Rafe increased the herd, and now we not only provide meat but we train oxen to haul cargo wagons. He made the ranch more profitable.”
Surely any woman was interested in how much her future husband’s holdings were worth.
“Mmm. How did your father die?” she asked.
Daniel rolled his eyes. She was like a dog with a bone, determined to get at the marrow of the thing. He would have to satisfy her curiosity or she’d never leave off. “He was sick one night and just didn’t wake up the next morning.”
“What did the doctor say was wrong?” Anna’s brow furrowed.
“Didn’t see one.” Daniel walked to the stove and dipped a finger in the smallest pot. Still cool. “Don’t know if a doctor would have helped. There weren’t any around back then.”
“I’m sorry.” Her head dipped, and her face screwed up so that he wanted to move around the table and gather her in his arms, which was completely out of place.
“When did Rafael’s father die?” Another question.
Why wouldn’t that damn water boil?
“I don’t know.” Actually he wasn’t sure that Rafael’s father was dead. He wasn’t certain Madre had been married to him, but the one time he’d asked his mother, she screamed at him for calling her a whore. He should find out what Rafe intended to tell Anna about his parentage. “You should ask Rafe about that.”
She tilted her head again and looked at him askance. “It’ll be difficult to ask him anything if I never see him.”
“You’ll see him.” All too soon, probably. And then Rafe would be the one having late-night conversations with her, which was how it should be. No doubt Rafe would be able to charm her once he was well, and Daniel was looking forward to when his brother could take over answering her overly inquisitive barrage of questions.
* * *
On her third circuit of the perimeter of the courtyard, Anna peeked in windows, although trying not to be obvious. The Werners were covering up her future husband’s behavior, and she deserved to know what she was dealing with. Rafael’s room had the curtains drawn so tight, she couldn’t see anything at all. She’d tried the door at one point, but found it locked. Odd.
After completing her circuit, she entered the main room of the house and looked for Mrs. Werner. Her questions thus far had been brushed off as well as her offers to help with the housework. But the longer she remained idle, the more restless she became. She was too used to working hard. And her mind was spinning like a whirling dervish.
How bad was a drunk Rafael? She’d seen plenty of men make a habit of hard drinking. Often it seemed to pass from father to son.
Mrs. Werner swept the long porch on the front.
“I could do that,” offered Anna.
“No, no, I am done,” said her future mother-in-law. “Sit. Sit. You are not to work. You should have let me send for the washerman.”
Anna shrugged. Earlier she’d taken her clothes down from the cord Daniel had strung across the courtyard. She’d told him more than once that she could manage without his help, but he’d insisted, even when he was yawning. He seemed easy enough to be with, even if every time he got close to her, her breath caught a little.
He’d been a perfect gentleman, which made her wonder if she was mistaken in thinking he’d been about to kiss her just before Rafael came out of his room. But he’d also been evasive and uncomfortable with her questions about his family, which only fueled her belief they were trying to hide something from her.
She hadn’t seen either of the brothers today, and Mrs. Werner insisted they were both out tracking the criminals.
Anna moved forward and sat at the table. “Does Rafael drink often?”
“No, no, just when he have a bad day.”
“Did his father drink?”
“Why you ask these questions? His father has been gone a long time. How am I to remember?”
