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“Then they will think I am a very lucky man.” Or they would think Rafael was. “Although you are fairly loud.”
She gulped and tensed. Then she was shifting around and reaching down the bed. He held on to her hips lest she uncouple them. He was strangely reluctant to let her loose.
“Where are the covers?” she muttered.
“I tossed them onto the floor.” He patted her cool bottom. “If you’re cold, I’ll warm you.”
She stopped wriggling for a minute. “I’m just so naked.”
He laughed.
She wrenched away and leaned off the side of the bed.
“I like you naked,” he said. “I’m planning on spending a lot of time with you naked.”
She snagged a petticoat and pulled it up on the bed. He yanked it out of her hands and sent it sailing across the room. It only went slightly out of reach before fluttering down.
He went to nudge up her chin for a kiss, but she kept her head ducked down. Had he failed her in some way? Unless she was a damn good actress, he’d satisfied her at least once—perhaps he’d been mistaken the second time. “Anna, what’s wrong?”
She shifted off him and moved to sit on the side of the bed, the knots of her spine peeking through the tangled length of her hair. “We need to talk, and I can’t have a discussion without clothing.”
In his experience not much good ever came after we need to talk. The afterglow of pleasure dimmed a little. “There is nothing we need to talk about now.” Perhaps she needed reassurances. “We’re in this together now. Anything else can wait until morning.”
“But I have to tell you something.”
His heart thumped oddly. What could she possibly have to tell him? He didn’t doubt her innocence. He didn’t doubt her pleasure. Was she still hiding something about her past? He couldn’t think of anything that would make a difference. “It won’t change anything. You’re mine now.”
She swiveled and looked at him. Hell, the avowal surprised him.
Her eyes were bright, and the edges of her mouth curled in a tremulous smile. Then she ducked her eyes as her creamy skin fired. Tenderness washed over him at her awkwardness in the wake of their lovemaking. He suspected he really did love her, because he’d never been so amused and concerned at the same time. But he’d make that declaration with all the pomp and ceremony it deserved.
He sat up. “Fine, I’ll get your nightgown, but only because if you stay naked, I might not be able to resist making love to you again. And I don’t want you sore.”
“Was it really making love?” she asked a little breathlessly.
“That’s what it felt like to me.”
He swung his legs over the side of the bed and looked around for the covers he’d tossed. They lay at the foot of the bed on the floor. Her nightgown hung on a hook on the far wall. He stood and padded across the space.
Her fingers curled into the mattress, but she didn’t avert her head. That was his bold Anna. Instead, her gaze shot to his face as soon as he turned around. Then, as if she couldn’t help herself, her eyes dipped lower. Her jaw dropped, making him want to roar with pride.
He handed her the nightgown and gathered the tossed sheets and blanket from the floor.
She hastily pulled on the worn cotton gown, and he sat next to her.
“Don’t you want to get dressed?” she asked.
“No.” If he got dressed, he’d start feeling like he should check on Rafe. He pulled the sheet across his lap as a concession to her modesty. “What is it you want to tell me?”
“Well, show you.” She popped off the bed and paced across to her trunk and opened it. She pulled out a sheaf of yellowed papers. “The thing is, while everyone was gone today, I was snooping around.”
His gut tightened. He didn’t think he was going to like where this was going. “What, in Rafe’s room?”
Her eyes shifted, and she chewed on her bottom lip. “Actually, in that strongbox in your mother’s room. Things just didn’t seem to make sense, and it didn’t look like it had been opened in a long time.”
“What did you do? Break the lock?”
Her shoulders lifted and never went down. “The key was in her wardrobe. I know I shouldn’t have, but I looked inside and on the bottom were these papers. And some were in Spanish, so I brought them into my room to try and read.” She watched him carefully.
“And?” A white-hot burn ignited inside him. He half knew what she was going to say.
“I found the bill of sale for the ranch from José Martinez to August Werner, and I found your father’s will. That was in English. The land is supposed to be yours, Daniel. The ranch is supposed to be yours. Your father bought it and left it to you, his only son, not to your mother and not to your brother.”
He stared at her, his gorge rising in his throat. Everything should be crashing down around him, but there was only silence. After all, only his hopes and dreams had fallen.
Anna knew the ranch should be his before she had sex with him. And here he thought she’d picked him, knowing he only intended to purchase a small bit of land. Apparently, she didn’t give a damn which brother she was with as long as it was the brother who owned the ranch.
Chapter Nineteen
One of the mares dropped a foal this morning. He was a determined fellow and was on his feet less than five minutes after his birth. His mother’s efforts to clean him had him wobbling and hopping about until he let out a loud neigh, and his mother allowed that this child would always have dirt behind his ears.
Anna didn’t think Daniel grasped the significance of what she’d said. He didn’t have to buy his vineyards and orchards from his brother. He was the rightful owner of the ranch.
“No,” he said.
His voice was cold and angry, but then to learn you’d been cheated of what was rightfully yours for years was bound to stir up resentments.
She took a step toward him. “Yes, it all should be yours—or almost all.” His father had allotted a small portion for Rafael to use.
He stood, and suddenly she felt small.
“The ranch is Rafael’s and is registered in his name. A bunch of old papers isn’t going to change that.”
“But I don’t think you understand.”
“I understand perfectly.”
“Just take some time and look at the papers.” She stepped forward and held them out.
“I should burn them,” he said.
“No!” She stared at him. “You can’t.”
He grabbed the papers out of her hands and tossed them on the bed behind him. He took a step closer. She shrank back. Her heart was pounding, and her mouth was dry. Why was he angry with her? The question froze on her lips as he scooped up his trousers from the floor and stepped into them.
Now he was getting dressed?
“You shouldn’t have been snooping. And understand this, Anna O’Malley, I wouldn’t want the ranch without my brother here. It is his ranch and his cattle, and any agreement we have is between him and me.”
“Did you even know?”
“I knew,” he said in a low voice.
She stared at him, trying to understand what he was saying. Her mind spun and stuck in a loop of confusion. Why would he not want what was his? She sorted through what she had learned.
The strongbox had contained other things: a lock of fine hair folded in a paper with Rafael’s name on it, a picture drawn by a child, a card for Mrs. Werner with Rafael’s signature. But nothing from Daniel. She hadn’t thought much of that at the time other than Mrs. Werner must have stopped using the strongbox and her mementos from Daniel were stored elsewhere. But she hadn’t found anything else in her room or in the office.
Clearly, Rafael was the favored son. But so much so that Daniel didn’t feel he could claim what was his? What kind of family stole from the rightful heir?
Daniel snatched the rest of his clothes from the floor and picked up his boots. Was he leaving her room? A minute ago he had acted as if he never wanted to leave.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“Yes, me, too.” He grabbed the papers and walked out the door without looking at her. He paused in the doorway, his back to her. “Only a fool would marry a nosy, meddlesome fortune seeker like you, and I’m not a fool. Nor is my brother.”
His words were knives slicing her open. She gasped.
What had she done? She shook all over, the room suddenly feeling like an icehouse. She’d thought he’d be hurt, maybe sad or even angry with his mother and brother, but she’d never thought he’d be angry with her.
* * *
Rafael blinked open his eyes. “’Bout time you showed up.”
Daniel resisted the urge to snap at his brother. It wasn’t Rafael’s fault Anna was a fortune seeker. Hell, he’d said she was from the beginning. Almost every Anglo who came to California was a fortune seeker. Some were willing to work for it, whereas Anna just wanted to marry it. He folded his arms across his chest.
