She hated the walking away part because she hated being left behind. She could ride a horse, rope a steer, jump a fence, deliver a foal. But she couldn’t say goodbye.
Yet she’d have to say goodbye. If not tomorrow, then in a few weeks. Her insides knotted. She twirled the rope higher overhead until she was standing beneath the spinning circle. “How long are you going to be back?”
“Just for the night.”
Her heart plummeted to her toes in the tips of her boots. “What brought you back?”
“You.”
She almost dropped the rope. The loop sagged and she caught the circle with her other hand. Turning to face him, she wiped a bead of moisture from her brow. “Me?”
“I need your help.” He jumped off the fence into the center of the ring. “I was hoping you’d help me with Anabella for a few days until I can find her a suitable chaperone.”
“A chaperone? But she’s in school.”
“She’s already been kicked out. She’s in her room right now, throwing a tantrum, I imagine.”
That didn’t take long, Daisy thought. “What happened?”
“The school wouldn’t tolerate her promiscuous behavior.” He said the word promiscuous as though it were a snake coiling on his tongue. “I don’t believe she’s actually promiscuous, but she’s had a boyfriend, an unsuitable boyfriend, and she snuck out of the dorm to see him last night.”
“Ah.”
The furrow between his black brows deepened. “She’s determined to ruin her reputation.”
“She’s seventeen.”
“Not all girls are so bent on self-destruction.”
“But not all girls are as intelligent as your sister. Anabella’s very bright, Dante. She’s going to push the limits.” Daisy saw his perplexed expression and felt for him, she really did. Nothing could be more difficult than an emotional, hotheaded teenage girl. Daisy knew. She’d been one once. “Try not to worry,” she added more gently. “She’ll outgrow this stage.”
“Not before I’ve lost my mind. She’s running wild.”
Daisy bent over to pick up the rope and begin coiling it together. “So leave her here with me.”
“It’ll be just for a few days, while I interview for a chaperone.”
“No. Leave her here with me until you find a new school for her, and you go back to Buenos Aires and focus on your business.” Daisy slung the coiled rope over her shoulder and braced her hands on her hips. Her long hair hung in a ponytail down her back, and tendrils clung to her warm cheeks. “You do have a corporation to run, don’t you?”
He stared at her, his gaze fixed on a damp tendril clinging to her cheek. Daisy felt the warmth in his gaze, as well as the hunger he wouldn’t act on. She didn’t know whether to respect his willpower or resent it.
“She’ll give you holy hell,” he said at length.
“I’m not afraid.”
“You’re never afraid.”
Only of my feelings for you.
But she didn’t say it. The silence stretched between them. After an awkward moment she spoke. “Fair is fair. You’ve done plenty for me, this time I do a favor for you.”
“I don’t want a favor.”
“I didn’t, either, but you forced me to accept your help. You knew we needed it. You need help now.” They both had pride, too much pride.
“I’ll pay you to watch her, or I can reduce the interest.”
“This isn’t a business deal and I refuse to make it one.”
He walked away, and taut with frustration, she threw the rope, lassoing the fence post. Bull’s-eye. Of course. Too bad she couldn’t manage her emotions as easily as the rope.
The next morning she walked with him to his car. She was lousy at goodbyes, hated goodbyes, and just wanted him to go—quickly.
“Daisy.”
She couldn’t look at him. Her heart was thudding wildly and her hands were shaking so hard she had to jam them into the pockets of her jeans.
She didn’t want him to go and felt precariously close to begging him to touch her, just once. A hand to the cheek, a touch to the neck, something, anything. “When will you be back?” Her voice sounded husky even to her ears.
“So you will miss me.”
“That’s not what I said.”
“But will you miss me?”
“No.” Liar, liar, she silently chanted. Of course she’d miss him. She was already missing him.
“That’s right. Daisy Collingsworth doesn’t need anyone.”
She flushed but didn’t contradict him. He was right, in a way. She’d never needed anyone before. All her life she’d been taught to face problems head-on, to not make excuses and to not ask favors. “I can take care of myself.”
Dante’s hand hovered over the phone on his desk. He wanted to call her, wanted to hear Daisy’s voice and the smart sassy things she liked to say to him. He wanted to feel her smile because he could always tell when she was smiling.
He lifted the receiver, started to bring it to his ear before replacing it in the cradle.
He couldn’t call her. There was nothing to say. Well, he supposed he could ask about Anabella, but he’d asked yesterday and everything was fine.
If only he was fine. He felt terrible.
He’d thought that putting distance between himself and Daisy would help. It should have helped. Unfortunately it wasn’t working that way with Daisy. She was far too tempting, far too smart and sexy and stubborn.
Dante smiled faintly. He must be out of his mind if he was beginning to find her stubborn streak appealing. He must be out of his mind to crave her like this.
Normally women didn’t intrude into his personal life … at least, not beyond the bedroom. He’d learned to keep his wants and needs separate, dividing love from lust, but his attraction to Daisy was confusing the issue, confusing him.
Por dios, she had him in knots, and the rawness of his desire only deepened, a fire in his gut that burned all the way through him until he couldn’t think of anything but her. He’d never wanted a woman as badly as he wanted Daisy.
At the airstrip when they’d first arrived, and when he’d kissed her, she’d felt impossibly right in his arms. Her body fit his, her mouth tasted sweeter than candy, and he wanted more. And the more he wanted her the more he mistrusted his desire.
He couldn’t afford to lose his focus. He couldn’t risk Anabella’s stability or happiness.
Once he’d allowed his own interests to cloud his judgment, and the results had been devastating. While his younger brother, Tadeo, had self-destructed in Buenos Aires, Dante had embraced New York and his highprofile job on Wall Street. He had lived with a beautiful American blue blood in an expensive Third Avenue town house as though he had no ties, no obligations, no responsibilities but his own desires.
It wasn’t until he’d stood at Tadeo’s funeral that he’d faced the bitter truth. Dante had failed Tadeo. Just as their father had failed them.
Dante