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“So invent...cousins,” said Rafael. “Martinez...cousins.”
Juanita gasped.
“I already said Valquez cousins. Why would you want to shift blame to your father’s family?”
Rafe shrugged. “Why not?”
“I’m not going to get some poor men named Martinez hanged,” Daniel told his brother in a low voice. “And make no mistake—Anna will go to the sheriff with names if she has them. Why would you shoot a one-armed man?”
Juanita’s dark eyes shifted to Rafael.
“Didn’t...realize.” He looked down. “’Til...after.”
Daniel shook his head and opened the storage room. Using the spill of light coming out of Rafael’s room, he started pulling out the crates he used for fruits and shifting things around to make room for Rafael.
He’d just put the fourth crate on the stack when the click of a door was like a gunshot. Every muscle went tight as he whipped around. He knew before he made it into Rafe’s room that it was going to be Anna.
Chapter Fourteen
I am disappointed your social commitments will not allow you to leave until spring, but I will await your instruction as to when you might travel.
Daniel appeared in the other doorway before Anna had taken two steps away from the door she’d picked open earlier.
“What are you doing?” he demanded.
So much for her secret sleuth abilities. She’d tried to shut the door gently, but the catch had made a loud click. She put her shoulders back as if she had every right to be in her future husband’s room—after midnight. “I heard noises. I thought Rafael might be back.”
“I’m getting out the crates for the grape harvest.”
She leaned to see around him. Wooden slats of crates were stacked in the hallway. “At this time of night?”
Daniel rubbed his hand across his eye and forehead. “The lamp was lit, and it needs to be done.” He dropped his hand and looked exhausted. “No use in putting it off.”
A spurt of anger that Rafael would leave too much work for Daniel to do alone burst in her. She’d expected Rafael to be sneaking back into his room, not finding Daniel working.
“He shouldn’t leave all the work to you.”
“He doesn’t, Anna.” He opened his mouth as if to say more. Then closed it. He casually leaned against the door frame, blocking her vision of the hallway.
Was he working, or was it just another subterfuge?
The bottom of her belly felt hollow. In spite of Rafael riding up and having dinner with them, she couldn’t shake her belief that he’d been hiding in the house that first day. And there was just something havey-cavey about Daniel pulling out crates at this time of night.
“When do you sleep?” she asked.
“When I can.” His mouth twitched, and his eyelids lowered for half a second.
A shudder rolled down her spine.
“I could pull out the crates for you,” she offered. “Until I get some sewing to occupy my time, I don’t have much to keep me busy.”
“You’re not sneaking into Rafe’s room because you are looking for an occupation.” He scowled as he walked toward her.
Half wanting to retreat, she put her hands behind her back and reached for the door handle. “I wasn’t sneaking.”
“Because you always enter a man’s room without knocking.” Daniel took another menacing step toward her.
“Actually, I do. I have very bad manners, I guess,” she said. The image of him sprawled across his bed yesterday morning intruded into her thoughts. “I didn’t knock on your door, either.”
Her insides were turning into mush. Her resolve to catch them at whatever they were hiding slid under an awareness of Daniel. The way his kiss had tasted, his earthy scent, the hardness of his chest against the softness of hers.
He stopped and scrutinized her, which almost left her...disappointed. Surely not. No, she was here to determine if he was hiding Rafael.
The minute Daniel relaxed and the ghost of a smile crossed his lips, she darted around him and raced to the hallway. He reached to catch her, but she had enough experience evading older siblings to make him miss.
“Anna, it’s not what you think,” he said, right behind her. He caught her arm.
She stared at a stack of wooden crates in front of the storage room. Across from her the door stood open, but it looked much the same as it had that afternoon. A burlap bag leaned against some barrels, and she didn’t remember it being there earlier, but Daniel could have moved it to get at the crates. As before she didn’t really see a place for a grown man to hide.
She twisted free of Daniel and ran to the end of the hallway and pushed open the doors. She looked left and right. Nothing was there but grass.
If Rafael were back, he’d be in his room, wouldn’t he? Why would he run and hide? She let out a long sigh with something short of relief. She still didn’t know what was going on, but finding Rafael would have been disappointing.
She turned around, and Daniel was pressing his palms to his temples and had his eyes closed.
Her neck tightened. What was he afraid she’d discover?
“Is he here?” she demanded.
His eyes popped open. Daniel closed the distance between them in two strides, but he didn’t stop until she was pinned against the wall. His body pressed against hers, and he caught her face in his hands. “Would I do this if my brother were here?”
He brushed his lips across hers. She could shove him back. She should shove him back. Instead, her arms wound around his shoulders. And she came apart. Her resolution to not kiss or be kissed by him hadn’t lasted an hour.
She whimpered, and her lips clung to his. His fingers slid into her hair, and pins pinged on the tile floor.
He pulled back, searching her face.
“I was so certain I’d find...something,” she whispered.
His forehead crinkled. “What is it you think you’re going to find, baby?”
“I don’t know. I just know things aren’t right.” Did he even realize what he’d called her?
His dark eyes searched hers. “You’re right. Things aren’t right.”
He kissed her again, and she tingled all over, especially where they touched. The pads of his fingers traced down her neck, and her heart pounded. Her bare toes curled into the cool floor.
But before she could ask what he meant he was kissing her deeply. Her bones turned soft, and she clung to him.
In every other way, she was so confused, but Daniel’s hold was so right. His touch was a combination of reverent and demanding, and his fingers splayed against her ribs, while his other hand threaded in her hair, teasing it down.
His hardness pressed into her belly, and his kisses grew more insistent. He wanted her. He wasn’t ignoring her or hiding from her. If she let him take her, he would decide her future for her.
A need for more than his kiss built in her. She strained to lift higher, so the hardness would press against the ache low in her. She wanted him to slide his hand up and cup her breast. His thumb brushed the underside, and shivers ran down her spine. He closed his hand around that part of her, and she pushed into him as he gently kneaded. Then his thumb brushed across her nipple, and a sharp ribbon of pleasure shot from his hand to her private parts.
She moaned into his mouth.
He growled and cupped her bottom, lifting her up. She wrapped her legs around his thighs, fairly wanting to climb him and become part of him. Letting him support her weight, she rubbed the back of his calf with her instep.
With a low groan, he rocked into her, and a starburst of sensation clouded her thoughts. Yet he seemed to be holding back. She slid her hands around to his shoulders and down his arms until she could reach around his waist.
He eased away, and she tried to pull him back into her.
“Anna, we have to stop,” he whispered.
Words seemed like foreign things for a minute as she stared at him, not comprehending.
He leaned his forehead into hers. His breathing was ragged. “We have to stop while we still can.”
Holding her with one arm under her, he brushed his fingers across her cheek. Then he peeled her away from him and pushed her shoulders back against the wall. “I have to take you back to your room now.”
Her feet protested the cool tiles as if they were a sudden jolt back into reality. “Oh,” was all she could manage.
His mouth twitched as if she amused him, but he wouldn’t laugh at her. Then his eyebrows drew together and he canted his head. “Are you barefoot?”
“Uh-huh.”
He bent and scooped her up, one arm under her knees and the other around her back. The night was not so cool that carrying her was necessary because of her bare feet. It must mean he wanted her in a bed not a tiled hallway. Anticipation wound around her as new pings of excitement danced through her body. She laid her head against his shoulder and put her arms around his neck.
