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This was ridiculous. She was in no mood for his nonsense this morning. Planting her hands on her hips, she confronted him. ‘Have you forgotten that I told you I was working this morning?’
‘I remembered.’
Dismounting, he secured both horses to a post, while she tried very hard not to notice the width of his shoulders, his lean frame... And she definitely refused to notice his tight butt, along with the familiar bulge in his jeans.
‘I left a message for my employer to let him know I will be working as usual this morning,’ she announced crisply.
‘I know you did.’
‘You know?’
Tiago turned to face her and his expression was distinctly amused.
It took her a moment, and then the penny finally dropped. ‘You!’
He shrugged. ‘Had you forgotten that this farm belongs to the Lochmaglen estate? Don’t look so horrified, Danny. I made a very generous offer. Your ex-employer had no difficulty accepting it.’
‘So you’ve bought up everything in sight?’
‘Not quite. Chico and Lizzie still own Rottingdean.’
‘So between you and Chico you’ve bought up half the Highlands?’ She shook her head. ‘You’re incredible!’
‘Glad you think so,’ Tiago observed wryly, utterly unfazed.
‘This isn’t funny, Tiago. You could have told me last night, but instead you chose to dangle me on the end of your line. I won’t let that happen again.’
‘Mount up,’ he suggested calmly. ‘We can discuss this on the ride. And don’t pretend you can resist checking out such a fabulous horse.’
True. He’d caught her looking at the mare. ‘You’ve got a damn cheek.’
‘I’m still trialling her,’ he said, ignoring this, ‘and I’d like to know what you think. I value your opinion, Danny. Is that so strange? You have had the best training in the world, after all.’
‘And you can stop mocking me, and smiling like that, right now.’
Narrowing her eyes, she’d made the mistake of meeting Tiago’s dark stare to say this, and now it was impossible to look away. His eyes held far too many wicked messages—messages that her body was all too eager to receive.
Tearing herself away from that distraction, she checked the tack and mounted up. ‘You could have told me all of this last night.’
‘I never show my hand on a first date.’
‘A first date?’ she queried, bending to flick the latch on the gate with her crop. ‘Is that what you’d call it?’
‘What would you call it?’
‘You don’t want to know.’
Tiago shrugged and then followed her through. ‘Shall we just enjoy the ride and find out where it takes us?’ he suggested, closing the gate behind them.
‘I would need to erase the past for that.’
Danny urged her horse into a relaxed canter, but as Tiago rode alongside all the hurt came welling back.
‘I would need to forget that you persuaded me to marry you without telling me what was involved. I would have to blank out the fact that you arranged a wonderful evening for us last night at a house you forgot to tell me you owned. And you even drew Annie into it—’
‘Stop.’ Tiago shifted position in the saddle so he could stare directly at her. ‘Annie was eager to be part of last night, and I thought you were eager to be there. You were obviously pleased to see Annie—and you were eager to marry me, I seem to recall.’
‘I was eager,’ Danny admitted. ‘I was eager and stupid and gullible. But not now. I gave you my heart and my trust in Brazil, but that was before I woke up. And I thought you knew me better than to imagine I could ever, ever involve a child.’
‘Danny—’
‘No,’ she flashed, and with a click of her tongue she urged the grey mare to gallop away from him.
* * *
He wasn’t staying back this time. This time he gave chase. They rode neck and neck at a flat-out gallop across the purple heather before finally reining in on the riverbank.
‘What do you think of her?’ he asked.
Danny looked at him as if she couldn’t believe he could change tack so easily.
‘The horse?’ he prompted.
‘I know what you’re talking about,’ she assured him. ‘The horse is great.’
‘She’s great—but we’re not?’ he suggested, raising a brow.
Danny’s face reflected her conflicting emotions. ‘You had to find a wife—any wife—and there I was.’
