‘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.’
‘Yes,’ he admitted. ‘But I fell in love with you.’
‘You fell in love with me?’ she said. Her mouth slanted. ‘If you’d loved me you would have told me the truth.’
‘Maybe I didn’t know what love was, but you taught me. I married you for the worst of reasons, but graças a Deus I saved the ranch. I’ll make no apologies for that. Do I love you now? God help me, yes. Now more than ever.’
Swinging his leg over the horse, he dismounted. Running up his stirrups, he turned to stare at her.
‘Do I ask you to forgive me? No. There’s nothing for you to forgive. I will always love you, and I have never lied to you—’
‘Except by omission,’ she interrupted.
He shrugged. ‘If I’d told you everything last night you would have thought, The playboy is back. He thinks he can buy up everything in sight, including me. I didn’t want you to think that, Danny. I wanted the chance to speak to you and win your trust. I wanted to ride with you, out here in the open, where we have nothing to lose and everything to gain. I wanted to see your face when you saw the new mare. I rebuilt the house with you in mind, and I chose everything in it for you. Maybe I was wrong to believe there were some things it was better for you not to know, but I did it out of the best of reasons. I wanted last night to be special, unthreatening. I wanted to give us another chance. I didn’t want what I can buy getting in the way of our reunion.’
‘Like this horse?’ Dipping her head, she nuzzled her face against the mare’s silky neck.
‘I wanted us to start afresh—just you and me last night, and then a new start for us this morning.’
Danny didn’t say anything for a long time as they watched their horses drink, and then she said, ‘You look tired.’
‘So do you. Bad night?’
She curbed a smile. ‘I didn’t sleep much,’ she admitted. ‘But we can’t just erase the past and start again, Tiago.’
‘Why not?’ He mounted up.
‘Because your plan is redundant. You own Fazenda Santos and you don’t need a wife.’
‘But I need you. And what if I have a new plan? One that includes you? I’m going to turn this estate around, Danny. I’m going to base it on my success in Brazil. You can help me, if you like. Unless that’s a problem for you?’
‘I couldn’t possibly work fast enough to meet your exacting standards,’ she commented.
‘Really?’ He pretended surprise. ‘I found you satisfactory in Brazil.’
‘Satisfactory?’ she exclaimed. ‘Watch it! I might be transparent when it comes to horses, but—’
‘Not just horses,’ he said.
‘I’m certainly not vulnerable where you’re concerned.’
‘I don’t think you’re vulnerable at all,’ he argued. ‘I think you’re strong—though you’re far too trusting.’
‘Tell me about it,’ she said. And then a new thought occurred to her and she frowned. ‘If this is your way of asking for my resignation...?’
‘Certainly not,’ he assured her. ‘I’m going to put you to work.’
She held up her hand. ‘Not so fast. If I do stay on I should warn you I’m unlikely to agree with you on most things.’
‘Should I act surprised?’
‘I won’t be easy to work with,’ she warned him, mounting up.
‘Now I am surprised,’ he murmured dryly as they both turned for home.
On the brow of the hill overlooking the old house of Lochmaglen, they stopped and reined in. They could see broken fencing stretching for miles from there.
He turned to Danny and smiled. ‘I’ve always loved a challenge, haven’t you?’