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“Yes, I am. There is no reason for me to stay.”
Rafe had made getting her in his arms look so easy, but Daniel was like a just-born colt, wobbly and uncertain, trying desperately to get his feet underneath him. “Not even if I want you to stay?”
“No.”
The dinner bell rang, jangling his every last nerve. Not now.
Why wouldn’t she look at him? How was he supposed to propose when she wouldn’t turn around? Her incessant questions were conspicuously absent.
“Not even if I grow potatoes for you?” Apparently, he was the one with questions.
She didn’t answer. Perhaps she cared enough about potatoes to stay. Yes, brilliant proposal, most men offered rings or flowers, and he offered potatoes. But if it worked, he wasn’t going to knock it. He took a step toward her.
“It’s time for dinner.” She darted toward the door.
He caught her around the waist and hauled her back against him.
“Don’t,” she warned in a low voice. Her body was tense. And she shoved at his arm.
“Should I write you a letter then? Or just tell you I am a fool?”
“I don’t like you very much right now, Mr. Werner. And do you intend to make us late for the table?”
That was his Anna. He opened his mouth to declare himself and propose. Only this wasn’t the way it was supposed to be done, holding her so she couldn’t escape and her refusing to look at him.
The heavy tread of two men walking stopped him. If his proposal was to be this awkward, he’d rather not have witnesses. He spun her so he was between the door and her; then he backed slowly until he could shut the door.
“We need to talk.” He loosened his hold.
“We’re done talking. You’re a cruel beast.” She stepped away, wiped at her face, then turned around.
Her eyelashes were spiky with moisture, and her nose was red. His heart flipped over.
“Okay, I need to talk, you need to listen and then we need to kiss.” Assuming she said yes. Of course she’d say yes. She’d come out here to marry the ranch owner, and if that was what it took, he’d tell her he’d get the ranch in his name. He wasn’t stopping until she said yes.
“I hate you,” she said.
“I love you,” he countered.
She jerked away as if he’d slapped her.
“Not the reaction I wanted.”
She sat on the bed. “Why didn’t you say that last night? And what does it mean anyway?”
He crossed the room and took her hands. “Anna, it means I love you.” He lowered himself to one knee. “I want you to be my wife.”
Her lower lip trembled, and she looked away. She wasn’t going to cry more, was she? He kissed her hands. “I thought that you’d want to hear it when I asked you to marry me. Men say things they don’t mean when they’re...”
She pinned him with her green gaze and arched an eyebrow. “Have you?”
“No. Of course not!” Madre de Dios, this conversation was not going as it was supposed to.
A knock on the door made him wince.
“Miss O’Malley, you come,” called Juanita. “Senora Werner do not serve food until you are arrived.”
“We have to go.” She rose and made for the door until he tugged on the hands he still held, jerking her back and making her stoop a little.
“Are you going to give me an answer? I just proposed to you.”
“I don’t believe you asked me. You just told me I’m going to marry you.”
“Oh, for Pete’s sake, Anna. Please, marry me. If you want to take your time before saying yes, then fine. You can tell me yes after we eat if you must.” He knew he was making a hash out of it, but between Juanita knocking and her crying, he didn’t know how to rope this beast and get it under control.
Juanita knocked again. “Senorita.”
He marched over to the door and flung it open, intending to say, “We’ll be there in a minute.” But Anna slipped around him and, short of grabbing her and pulling her back in front of Juanita, he had no choice but to follow her.
* * *
Anna tucked her lips around her teeth, holding back her smile. Of course she’d say yes, but Daniel owed her an apology. He’d ripped her heart out last night; he deserved a dose of the anxiety he’d put her through.
And she really didn’t think it was fair of him to trap her into listening to his blundering effort at asking her to marry him.
Although, there was something endearing about his not being smooth at it. She’d wanted to brush his hair back and kiss his forehead.
She’d been half-afraid when he closed the door that he intended a repeat of last night’s events and was half-disappointed when he didn’t.
Daniel grabbed the door she’d opened and held it for her. Juanita slipped back into the kitchen.
The mood that hovered in the main room was like being smacked. Mrs. Werner’s glare hit her like a wall. This for being just a few minutes late? She hadn’t found the family to be that punctual before.
“I go get the food now,” said Mrs. Werner. “You sit.”
Rafael was already at the head of the table, but his eyes had a faraway flat look to them, and the corners of his mouth pulled down. He’d been kind to her earlier, and her anger at his abandonment when she first arrived had become just disappointment. On his right one chair away sat the lawyer. Anna took the seat between them, just so she would not be next to Daniel.
“Have you finished packing, Miss O’Malley?” said the lawyer. “Mr. Werner and I have concluded our business, and I will return to town as soon as I’ve eaten.”
“She’s not leaving,” Daniel said. He stood by the door, his arms folded.
“My bags are packed and ready.”
Daniel looked at her, looked at his brother and then crossed the room. He pulled out the chair opposite hers, and it kept going back until it was five feet from the table. He moved behind his brother’s chair and picked it up by the seat and put him down in the vacated spot. He placed the chair he’d pulled away at the head of the table and sat in it, putting him right at her side.
Her heart kicked up a notch.
“I may need to discuss business with you also, sir.” Ignoring her, Daniel spoke to the lawyer.
“You could have asked me to move,” gritted out Rafael.
“I would have if I thought you would,” Daniel said calmly.
His face darkening, Rafael half rose out of his chair. “Damn you.”
“Don’t I recall you making a fuss about unpleasantness not appropriate at the table just at breakfast?” asked Daniel. His words were pleasant, but the look he leveled at his brother was steely.
“When I’m...” Rafael’s voice trailed off, and he sat back down hard. Collapsed really. Odd.
“That’s what I thought,” said Daniel.
Juanita came through the door with several steaming bowls on a tray with Mrs. Werner behind her with a plate of cornbread.
Juanita set bowls down in front of people, but she bypassed Anna.
Mrs. Werner frowned at Juanita. “Give Miss O’Malley her stew,” she said.
Juanita returned to Anna’s side and lifted a steaming bowl from her tray. The girl trembled, causing the brown surface in the bowl to ripple. She set it on the edge of the table, and Anna reached to push it back.
Juanita slammed her hand down on the edge of the bowl, flipping it and the contents into Anna’s lap.
Mrs. Werner shrieked.
“Damn!” Anna jerked back and stood.
The bowl clattered to the floor; the brown stew dripped down her skirt, leaving a big blotch where her lap had been.
Daniel jerked out of his chair, sending it toppling backward. “Are you all right?”
Next to Anna’s chair, Juanita trembled. The hot stew dripped off her hand. Something was very wrong with the girl.
And she’d thought that she and Juanita were getting along. “Did you burn yourself?” asked Anna.
Mrs. Werner jerked Juanita around and slapped her.
Anna threw her arm across the girl’s chest and angled herself between Juanita and Mrs. Werner. “Stop it.”
She stopped short of saying it was an accident. Very clearly, it hadn’t been, but something was wrong.
Juanita started speaking slowly and then faster and faster, but it was all in Spanish.
Daniel half rose out of his chair, his face going pale.
Rafael buried his face in his hands.
The lawyer gaped. “What is she saying?” Anna asked.
Juanita gripped Anna’s waist, pulling her back and undoubtedly causing more stains. She pointed at Mrs. Werner. “She say give this bowl to the senorita, it have no chiles, but she dish from same pot. I see her hide the powder in her pocket when she think I look not. When we go to town she buy the powder for the rats. I say we have no rats. She buy anyway. She poison you.”
Alarm knifed through Anna.
Mrs. Werner screamed at Juanita, “You are lying, little puta.”
