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Daniel’s expression went flat. “No, it won’t go faster. We have to wait until the ground is saturated. I can’t leave the sluice gates open, or the river will flood the vineyard.”
“I just want to get everything settled.” She looked toward the mountains. “I thought I would be married by now.”
“You still want to marry him?” Daniel swung the hoe at the ground.
She hesitated long enough that Daniel stopped attacking the soil, and his dark eyes searched her face. Was he testing the waters because he felt the attraction between them, too?
Her heart thumped awkwardly in her chest. If she had any hope of reuniting her family, she needed to marry a man of wealth, a man who could employ or support her brothers and sisters until they could get on their feet. Rafael was that man, not his dependent brother.
“That is why I came out here to California.” To a place where the ground could shift underneath her. She had to marry Rafael. When she’d arrived, she’d been eager and believed he was the right man for her. “I want to marry the man who wrote to me, but your brother doesn’t seem like the same man.”
Daniel stared at her for what seemed like forever. Then he spoke. “And you’re not exactly what he should have expected.”
Her face heated. “Touché.”
“Anna.” He sighed. “I’ve already said Rafael will spend plenty of time with you, but he has to take care of the ranch first.”
“Yes, you’ve said.” She dropped her gaze to the dark green foliage of the grapes. That didn’t totally explain his avoidance of her, because he hadn’t talked to her long enough to know she wasn’t exactly as she’d portrayed herself. “I should think that he would be eager to get to know me, but he seems intent on avoiding my company.”
“He talked to you last night.” Daniel scraped the dirt.
“You and your mother did most of the talking.” Rafael had said hardly anything. Even when she’d been peppering him with questions. She frowned at the long row of grapevines. One thing had been clear in their conversation, though. “Why are the trees and vineyards considered yours when they are on your brother’s ranch?”
“My father started them. Besides, Rafe said he’d sell me this bottomland where my vineyards and orchards are.”
What was he waiting on? “When?”
His expression faltered. “When the United States gives him the title to the land.”
Her heart jolted, and her ears buzzed. Had she heard that correctly? “He doesn’t have the title to his ranch? He doesn’t own all this?”
Daniel waved a hand dismissively. “He has the land grant paperwork from Spain, but the government is making Spanish landowners prove their ownership. The next hearing is in a few months. Don’t worry. It’s just a formality.”
She was aware of his gaze following her, but her mind was spinning around the idea that Rafael didn’t actually own the ranch in the eyes of the United States. How could it be a mere formality more than a decade after the transfer of California to the United States? “Could they turn down his claim?”
“Anna,” he said with a sigh.
But he didn’t say no, which meant he could lose the land. She’d risked everything to marry a man who might end up owning nothing.
Chapter Eleven
California is the most wonderful place in the entire world. The weather is mild, the mountains are breathtaking and the valley where our ranch is found is rich with gently rolling hills.
Daniel stared at Anna’s horrified expression. Why had he even mentioned the hearings? He should have let Rafael tell her. “They won’t take his land away from him.”
“But—”
“They won’t,” Daniel said firmly. Except they could. And Rafe had been worried enough about it that he’d sent for an Anglo bride to strengthen his position in the proceedings. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Telling me not to worry doesn’t help,” said Anna. “So all the other Spanish landowners have kept their land, have they?”
Daniel closed his eyes a second and gripped the hoe tightly. “Do you know your voice gets lyrical sometimes?”
She pursed her mouth. “I’m Irish. It is how we talk.” Then her tone flattened. “Could your brother lose the ranch?”
He hit the dirt with the hoe. “He’s not going to lose the ranch, but it has been weighing on him. The proceedings are being drawn out so long that many a ranchero has had to sell his land to pay for the lawyers, translators and the surveys. Winning can be a hollow victory. But the paperwork is in good order, and my father did the surveys.”
Her skin turned pale, the reddish freckles standing out in harsh relief against her milky skin. Then red crept up from her neck. The play of colors fascinated him, and he lost the thread of what he should say to Anna. He was digging too deep a hole, and it wasn’t with the hoe.
Then he had to wonder if he’d told her because he wanted to know if she would renege on her promise to marry Rafael.
“What would happen if he loses?”
Daniel shrugged. “Then we’ll stake new claims for land in the valley. Or buy land. The livestock will still be Rafael’s, and if I can’t get this section, I’ll move as many of my vines and trees as I can transplant.” Heat crept under his collar. She wasn’t asking about him. “Anyone can claim three hundred and sixty acres and homestead it.”
She flinched. It would be a drastic reduction in the size of Rafael’s ranch, and he’d have to get rid of hundreds of head of cattle. Her eyes looked very green, like the underside of an oak leaf, and they begged him for answers. “Why would he advertise for a wife when the future of his ranch is uncertain?”
Try as he might, Daniel couldn’t form a lie to shield her from the truth. “He thinks having an Anglo wife will help him at the hearings.”
A small sound escaped her, something between a gasp and a cry.
He clutched the hoe tighter. He could not gather her in his arms and comfort her. Could not, should not, would not. “Anna, he did pick you.”
“Even though I’m Irish, not English?” She shook her head.
“I doubt that matters. Anglo is Anglo.”
“Then what is he waiting for?” Her eyes begged for answers he couldn’t give her. “Why is he spouting all this nonsense about courting me?”
Her words burned through his gut.
“For goodness’ sake, can we please go find him so I can tell him I’m ready to marry him?” She turned her palms up and gestured. “I don’t need a courtship. And if I can help him get the title to the ranch...” She swallowed. “Then I have to marry him.”
Dios, it wasn’t as if he wanted to marry her instead of Rafael. She was pushy and demanding. And the only thing she cared about was being married to the ranch owner. So why did his stomach hurt? “Fine. As soon as I get the gates open, we’ll ride to the top of that hill. We should be able to see for miles.”
And please let the herd be far enough away that he could convince her not to follow it.
* * *
From the top of the hill, the cattle could have been ants for all the size they appeared. A broad swath of them moved north. A lighter-colored horse appeared at the back of the mass. Daniel wasn’t certain which one of their vaqueros it was, but it sure as hell wasn’t Rafael.
Anna squinted as if trying to identify the men.
“They’re quite far away.” Daniel’s saddle creaked as he leaned forward. His stomach turned at the idea of more lies.
“I don’t see the wagon.” She raised her finger and moved it up and down, her mouth forming one, two... “I only see six men. Isn’t that how many cowboys work for your brother?”
“Rafael might not have reached them yet.” Daniel rubbed his itching nose with the back of his hand. “Or he might have gone ahead to where they expect to stop for the night. Either way, it would take hours for us to reach them.”
“Hours?” She twisted in her saddle. Her mount sidestepped, and she grabbed the horn to steady herself.
Daniel nodded. Her skirt was hitched up, exposing her calves encased in black stockings above her ankle-high boots. Her dress wasn’t meant for riding, and he had to think she was likely to get chafed with only her thin drawers between her and the saddle. But he had no business worrying about those parts of her. “Even if we galloped the horses, I’d say it would be more than an hour to reach them, and you don’t look all that...comfortable on horseback.” He looked up at the sun. “If you’re not a regular rider, I can guarantee you’d be saddle sore.”
“I haven’t been on a horse for years, but I can manage.” She grimaced. “How far away are they?”
