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She rolled her shoulders, wanting to crawl out of her skin. “Yes, well, Selina was able to get a photographer to take our pictures very cheaply.” Olivia and Selina had assured her the photograph would only help her cause. “So it seemed like the right thing to do. And when Rafael answered...” She pressed a hand against her churning midsection. “I didn’t want to marry a poor man. I wanted a man with land for raising animals and crops. I don’t want to worry about where my next meal is coming from.”
Daniel’s gaze softened, and he cleared his throat. Just as she started to relax, he said, “What else did you lie about?”
“I worked in a cotton mill until the shipments dried up because of the war,” she said in a hushed whisper.
“So there weren’t any parties. Or dancing until dawn. Have you ever even waltzed?” His expression was inscrutable. He turned toward the horse so she was left with even fewer clues.
She shook her head. She’d put her foot in it now, and she couldn’t tell if Daniel was angry or disappointed. She was as much on the outside as she’d been back in Connecticut. Her throat went dry, and her eyes stung. Why had she ever thought she could pretend to be cultured and refined? “I’ve never actually...waltzed.”
“California is getting settled fast, and Rafe wants a wife who will help him fit in with the important people, project the right image. How will you do that?”
Did he now think she was so vulgar she’d repel people? She wasn’t that bad. Olivia had never made her feel gauche, even when she explained manners and etiquette rules that Anna never knew existed until she made a mess of them. Nor had Selina or Olivia made fun of her accent the way other people at the mill had. With one question, Daniel had sliced open her fears and reminded her of all the times she’d been told she was nothing, just another worthless Irish immigrant. One that didn’t even know her place as a female, let alone as an American.
She’d worked so hard on learning the manners Olivia had said were important and learning to speak like a lifelong resident. If not for the stage being robbed, she never would have been exposed so soon or so thoroughly. That wasn’t her fault. And whether Rafael wanted her or not, his neglecting and ignoring her was ill-mannered. “He should mind his own drinking first.”
“A man is always allowed a lot more leeway in behavior than a woman is,” Daniel countered.
Her outrage simmered. Would he tell his brother, and they’d send her packing because he’d made a snap judgment that she couldn’t be the kind of wife he wanted? She fisted her hands to still the tremors. She could and would make him a worthy wife, no matter how hard she had to work at it. Drawing in a deep breath, she tried to hold back her anger before it got her in trouble. She’d come all this way expecting certain things, too, but she wasn’t going to ignore her promise to marry Rafael, and he shouldn’t, either. “That’s hardly fair.”
“Not fair, but true. Miss O’Malley, if you want to marry my brother, you’d better be able to convince him you can do him proud as his wife and not embarrass him.”
Her thoughts jumped. Did Daniel want her to succeed? “But he has to marry me. He proposed.”
“He doesn’t have to marry you.”
She almost staggered backward. “I could sue him for breach of promise.”
Daniel lowered his voice, “Are you very certain he made an unconditional proposal? If he didn’t, your case won’t have merit. Especially if you deceived him.”
Had she come all this way on a whim of Rafael’s? She’d staked her entire future on this working out. Her heart was racing, and her ears buzzed. “I will be the best wife I can be. I don’t want to disappoint him. Whatever I don’t know I will learn.”
“I could help you. Teach you to waltz.” He ducked his head. “Help you with the things you should know.”
“Would you?” she asked, stepping closer. Would Daniel be an ally to her? He was the only one who seemed to at least not dislike her so far. Which must be why she had the urge to burrow into him.
“Of course.” His mouth pulled back as if he regretted his offer.
If he had thought she wouldn’t accept his help, too bad. She wouldn’t turn down help. She needed everything to work out too badly. For a second she wondered if their discussion was meant to distract her from the fact that Rafael hadn’t returned home. Probably hadn’t left.
“We can start tomorrow,” she said. “But tonight I am determined to wait out here until Rafael makes it home safe.” She tilted her head and watched him.
* * *
“She doesn’t believe you went out tracking today,” Daniel hissed at his brother. “She’s waiting on the front porch for you to come riding up.”
“She’ll wait...long time.” Rafael pressed his hand to the bandage across his chest.
“I’ll distract Miss O’Malley while you go around to the paddock and get on a horse. Circle around the back of the house and ride over the hill. It’ll look like you’ve just returned home.”
Rafael groaned as he sat. “Can’t saddle...horse.”
Daniel pressed his hands to his face. “She’s going to figure it out. She suspects something already. I had to convince her that you are going to be disappointed in her if she doesn’t act like a high-society girl.”
“What makes you think I won’t be?” Rafael slowly stood. “Hell, I wish...she didn’t shoot.”
“You can’t hold that against her. She had no idea she was shooting you.” Daniel’s gut burned with the frustration at having to lie to Anna, having to go on the attack because she was getting too close to the truth. It was the kind of tactic his mother would use, and he never wanted to follow Madre’s example in that. He hated the twisting accusations and the verbal ambushing.
Anna’s background didn’t amount to a hill of beans—neither he nor Rafe thought a woman who would choose to be a mail-order bride would come from a perfect life—but if she was embarrassed enough to cover up her past, he figured poking at it would disturb her. And it had—more than he wanted.
The way Anna’s eyes had filled with tears gnawed at him. There wasn’t much he wouldn’t do for his brother, but Rafe was expecting too much. He couldn’t keep hurting her to protect Rafael. It made his insides blacken and shrivel. Her eventual anger had been a relief, but he couldn’t keep covering for his brother. He was going to have to make an appearance and deal with Anna himself.
Daniel held his brother’s shirt open. “Come on, Rafe. She’s pretty, she’s Anglo like you wanted and she wants to marry you. What more could you want?”
“Wants to marry ranch...owner.” Rafe gingerly slid his arms into the sleeves. “Doesn’t know me.”
A twinge of regret stabbed Daniel between the shoulder blades. Anna’s confession led him to believe she saw the land as security against the vicissitudes of fortune. He hadn’t the heart to tell her Rafael could lose the ranch altogether if the courts didn’t affirm the title.
“Well, she is awful anxious to talk with you,” Daniel said. “So you’ll have to pretend like you’ve just arrived home and sit down with her for at least a few minutes.” Once Rafe worked his charm on her, she’d be smitten. Then Daniel could worry less about crossing lines with his future sister-in-law. “Better at night when the light isn’t so strong.”
“You can’t be saying...might not be handsome...enough?” demanded Rafael. He slowly fastened his shirt.
Daniel resisted the urge to button his brother’s shirt for him. “I’m saying you look like hell, but maybe she won’t notice so much in the lamplight.”
Rafael swayed on his feet. Daniel grabbed him. This would never work if Rafael couldn’t stay upright or say more than three words without gasping for breath.
“Get Juanita,” said Rafael. “She can saddle—” he heaved a deep breath “—bring horse around back.”
“I hate to involve her.”
“She knows.” Rafael shrugged, then groaned. “Ma sent her.” He gestured to a plate beside his bed. “Anna followed Ma. All day.”
“All right. But tell her not to let Anna see or hear.”
“Why’s she so...curious?”
“She knows something is going on.” And she was tenacious and not afraid to ruffle feathers to get answers. Daniel held back a smile at the way she just came straight out and said what she was thinking. “She’ll probably calm down once she talks to you.”
Rafael coughed weakly and wiped his forehead. “You do the talk...ing.”
Didn’t Rafe get it? Daniel couldn’t keep talking to Anna. “I can’t. I’ll end up telling her the truth or something.”
Actually, he was more worried about the or something.
