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Daniel stiffened. “You need to ask Rafe that.”
“I can’t ask Rafe that because he isn’t here to ask.” Her stomach knotted. When he was back, she needed to have a serious conversation with him about their future. But Daniel was here and knew the answer. And she wasn’t even sure if she wanted to know because of Rafael, but she wanted to know why it affected Daniel so strongly. “I’m asking you.”
He sighed. “It’s not my place to tell you.”
But his nonanswer told her something. The details of the earlier conversation clicked together, shifting and coming more into focus. Like watching a train pulling into the station back in Connecticut. At first all you could see was an indistinct black-and-gray thing; then as it grew closer you could see it was an engine with smoke billowing out the top.
Daniel stepped off the porch, putting them on the same level, although he was still taller than her. His eyes went to her hair and then came back to her face. “What do you think about the portraits for the wanted poster?”
Uneasiness settled in her belly. Now she was the one who wanted to avoid answering. She shrugged. “I don’t know how well a person could be recognized by just their eyes.”
“But they’re good likenesses?” Daniel’s eyes narrowed. He seemed to be waiting for something.
Her stomach grew hollow. Just as it had in the moment when she hadn’t been certain she was describing the robber’s eyes or Daniel’s eyes. She looked down. “Close enough.”
She didn’t really want to talk about the robbery because with it always came with that moment when the robber had realized she’d shot him. Knowing she’d done the right thing, that she’d saved the people she traveled with, didn’t mitigate her feeling that shooting a man was a horrible thing to do. “I want to understand your family.”
“No. You do not,” he said. “You’d never want to be a part of it, and Madre would never forgive me.”
His mother, not his brother?
The other moment from the holdup when she’d caught the attention of the robber with the lasso intruded into her thoughts. Somehow it was as if her life had split in two at that moment. A before and after. The before and after should have been the moment she’d pulled the trigger, but it seemed earlier as if not only her life had changed but she’d changed, too, when her gaze locked with the robber with the lasso. “I don’t like talking about the holdup.”
“I don’t like talking about my family,” he countered.
But Daniel had given her one too many clues. He’d said the Martinezes weren’t his cousins, but Rafael claimed them. And he’d said that his mother’s maiden name was Valquez. The name Rafael used as his middle name, and he’d taken the surname of Daniel’s father as his last name, which made her think he didn’t have one. “José Martinez is Rafael’s father, isn’t he?”
* * *
“Ma, give him room to breathe,” Daniel said from the doorway of the storage room.
The room was cramped enough with Rafael’s bedding wedged in between some barrels and the wall. There wasn’t even room for him to lie flat, although he seemed to breathe easier half reclined.
Now with Madre kneeling by Rafael and clasping his hand, the room was even more cramped.
“I don’t know how much time I’ll have,” said Daniel.
Juanita had promised to ring the dinner bell if Anna left the main room. She was going to try to occupy her with breakfast and then questions. But how long she could keep inquisitive Anna busy remained to be seen.
He’d wanted to talk to Rafael before their mother got to him. He wanted to know how much Rafe knew and tell him that Anna knew too much, which was as much his fault as anything. He hadn’t meant to say anything, but then he’d gone and opened his mouth about Madre lying to him his entire life.
Oh, he’d known that José Martinez was Rafael’s father. And he’d known Mr. Martinez had refused to marry his mother even though he’d gotten her pregnant. Rafe had told him that years ago, but he hadn’t known Rafe’s father had owned their ranch. No, he’d been told that Rafe’s father was just one of the many vaqueros who’d worked the range. That Martinez was the former owner put a new light on things.
“She knows who your father is.”
Madre turned, and her eyebrows flattened. “Why you tell her this?”
“I didn’t. She put it together from what the sheriff said and what she already knew.” The trouble was he had no idea how much more she had put together. She hadn’t wanted to talk about the robberies or the thieves. He didn’t know if she’d deliberately given wrong details to the artist.
Rafael shook his hand free from Madre’s two-handed clasp. “I planned to tell her...before we got hitched.”
“She’s smart, and she won’t stop digging until she has answers that satisfy her.” Hell, the only way he knew to stop her questions was to kiss her, and he couldn’t keep doing that. Although desire shimmered under the surface every time he so much as looked at her. He shook off the unbidden response. “It is only a matter of time before she puts together it was us, not imaginary cousins. She was close to realizing when she was with the artist.”
“No, no, she cannot know this.” Their mother tried to take Rafe’s hand again.
“Ma, give us a minute alone,” said Rafael.
“We cannot let her find out,” she urged. “We will have to get rid of her before she knows. Before she tells.”
He remembered what she’d said about getting rid of the horses. “For Pete’s sake, Ma, the next thing you’ll be telling me is to take her up into the mountains and put her out of our misery.”
His mother stared at him.
Cold spread through him, freezing the blood in his veins. She couldn’t think he was serious. “That was a joke, Ma.”
“Don’t joke about that,” said Rafael. He cast an uneasy look at his mother. “I’ll marry her... Then she can’t testify...against me.”
“I don’t—”
“Ma, get me coffee.” Rafael shot a quelling look in his direction. “And food.”
Hell, he’d remembered Anna hadn’t eaten, but he’d plumb forgotten Rafael hadn’t had a chance to eat.
Daniel helped her to her feet, but then she pushed him away and scurried toward the courtyard.
“That’ll buy us...few minutes.”
Daniel turned back to his brother. “You’re talking better.”
“Easier sitting down.” Rafael rubbed his chest. “Still hurts to breathe.”
“I should have gotten you out of here this morning.” But he’d overslept. After so many nights in a row with only a couple of hours’ sleep, he hadn’t stirred out from bed until well after dawn. Fortunately, Anna hadn’t been up at that point, but just as he was getting ready to go rouse Rafael and get him out, the sheriff had arrived. “But you are going to have to talk to Anna soon.”
“Not yet.”
“Soon.” Not only did Anna need to have a chance to make up her mind; he needed her to transfer her affection to his brother before he was in too deep.
“Hell, such a mess.” Rafael rubbed a hand across his forehead. “You’ll just have...to keep Anna...busy.”
“Really, Rafe? I only know of one way to keep her from asking questions. Didn’t think you wanted me doing that.” His neck grew warm, and he glared at his brother. “And you can’t marry her to keep her from testifying against you. It only means she can’t be compelled to testify against you. Nothing will stop her if she wants to.” Not much would stop Anna.
“I know.” Rafael struggled to sit up more. “Marry her ’cause she wants to.”
Daniel’s stomach burned at the thought. She might very well prefer his brother once she got to know him.
They were wasting time arguing about Anna. He didn’t know how long he’d have, and he had to ask Rafe what he’d come to ask him. “How long have you known?”
Rafael’s eyes widened; then he looked away. “That my father sold the ranch...to your father?”
Daniel folded his arms.
“Since I saw the bill of sale and then your father’s supposed will at the last hearing. The one Ma had filed when I was sixteen.” Rafael plucked at the bedding. “It had to be forged, but I didn’t know before that the land was never Ma’s.”
The last hearing had been three years ago. Rafael had come back worried, but Daniel hadn’t suspected anything like this. His chest squeezed. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because Ma will kill me, then you.”
“Ma won’t kill us.” Every muscle he had tightened. But she’d steal the land that was rightfully his. Madre clearly thought the ranch should belong to Rafael. Until today he’d never questioned that. Madre was here long before his father had arrived, and it hadn’t occurred to him that his father had purchased the ranch from the prior owner. It made more sense to think Madre inherited it, and his father had married her and run the ranch. But she didn’t inherit from the man who wouldn’t even give her or his son his name.
