quickly looked away. 'You are the enemy, Rafael.' Deliberately she used his name to prove she wasn't afraid of him. It was a mistake. It created a further intimacy between them in the small room. 'You want my sister and brother. You want the ranch.' Her eyes suddenly locked with his. 'Mostly you want to go home and I'm in your way.' She stared intently at him as if seeking something beyond what he was telling her.
Rafael felt the sudden surge of power in the room. It was strong and focused. He knew immediately she was reaching for the information in his mind, seeking answers to the sudden change in him. Joy surged through him, but he kept his triumph buried deep. He reached casually for the next piece of equipment, his arm deliberately brushing her body. 'That was true a couple of days ago. It no longer is so.'
'What has changed?' There was a wealth of skepticism in her voice.
'I met you.' He said it softly, meaning it. Everything had changed. He was going home, but he was taking her with him. Nothing else mattered to him, he
'Pete. Pete Jessup.' Her throat constricted, but she fought her way through the emotion and continued. 'He was a very good friend to me. I'm not sure I can run the ranch without him. He couldn't always do the work, but he gave me very valuable advice. Everyone thought he was a charity case, but Pete knew so much about running a ranch; he'd worked on ranches all of his life and he was willing to teach me.' He had provided companionship to her as well as advice.
She hung up the bridle she had been working on and found another ragged piece to avoid looking at him. She was embarrassed and slightly ashamed she had come out with such private information. Rafael De La Cruz was dangerous to her. In such close proximity she could feel his need to comfort her, to protect her, and that was dangerous to her peace of mind.
'You are a woman, Colby, you should not have to run a ranch.' He said it so quietly, so gently, the words almost didn't register.
For a moment she sat there beside him until the words sank into her brain. Rafael felt it again, the swift surge of power, filling the room until the walls were nearly bulging outward in an effort to contain it. Colby struggled for control of her temper. She shoved a hand through her thick hair, taking several deep breaths while she battled with herself. 'I think it would be best if you left, Rafael,' she finally suggested. 'I appreciate the attempt at friendship, but we are never going to be friends.'
His black eyes glittered at her, fathomless, holding a thousand secrets. 'I think we will learn to be very good friends.' His smile was frankly sexy, his teeth very white. 'It will be necessary for you to lose the chip on your shoulder first.'
In spite of everything, the terrible day, her worries over the ranch, even who he was, Colby found herself wanting to smile at his choice of words. Both her brother and Ben Lassiter often accused her of exactly the same thing. 'I do not have a chip on my shoulder.' When his black eyes continued to stare steadily at her she shrugged. 'Okay, maybe a small one where you're concerned. I don't like you.'
He leaned close to her so that his thigh rubbed against hers. 'Do you flatter all men, or am I the only one so privileged?'
'I'm sorry, that was rather rude. I'm usually not rude.' She rubbed her forehead. 'At least I don't think I am. Okay, maybe I am sometimes. What are you doing here?'
'I am courting you.' He sounded very old-fashioned.
Her vivid green eyes jumped to his face. 'Courting me? Whatever for?'
He turned the power of his black eyes on her face. Mesmerizing. Hypnotic. Sexier-than-sin eyes. 'Why do men usually court women, Colby? I think you can work it out for yourself.' His voice was velvet soft and slightly husky, the accent giving him a tremendous advantage.
Colby could feel her skin burn. Little flames seemed to be licking along every nerve ending. She sent him a quick reprimand from under her long lashes. 'I think you are so used to women falling all over you that you can't stand it when one doesn't. I'm a practical person, Rafael. Men like you do not court women like me.'
His black gaze slid over her from head to toe like a whisper of velvet, leaving her skin on fire and slow color creeping into her face. 'See, right there, that's what I'm talking about,' she accused. 'You've spent your life seducing women, and I just think of men as friends, colleagues. You wouldn't know how to relate to a woman as a friend. And I wouldn't know what to do with one who wanted to seduce me.'
His teeth were whiter than ever, his smile slightly mocking. 'I do not think you quite understand the situation you find yourself in,
The breath rushed right out of her lungs and she gaped at him, silently appalled. For a moment she could only stare at him. 'Do you even hear yourself when you spout this nonsense?' She leapt up to put a couple of feet between them so she wouldn't wring his neck with the bridle. 'Is that supposed to be a compliment, that you would choose me to be your bride and not your mistress? How many mistresses do you have exactly? Is there a set number after you're married or do you just wing it?'
She looked so beautiful she robbed him of breath. There was a steel thread running through her small soft body, a fierce pride, hard-earned. He looked at her and saw himself through her eyes. What had he done with his life? She knew nothing of him other than the image they had so carefully cultivated of powerful, rich playboys.
Who did he love? Members of the Chevez family had lived with him for centuries, running his affairs during the daylight hours; his own brothers, loved only through dim memories-he felt it now, that intense, protective emotion; but Colby had seen him cold, uncaring. She had seen he had little interest in others. People were thought of in the same vein as his cattle, his property. It was necessary to protect them, but it was his duty, a matter of honor, nothing more. Women were to be seduced, fodder, really, easy prey for a man as alluring and as seductive as Rafael. Colby Jansen was looking at him as if he were a rather useless ladies' man. She thought him handsome, sexy, but rather cold and cruel. Useless. There was the slightest curl of contempt in her mind when he managed to slip past her guard. A Latin lover. She thought his life one of endless parties and women. Rafael's long fingers tightened on the old leather.
Colby knew what it was like to love fiercely, passionately, protectively. She worked hard without complaining, without thought for anything but those she cared about. Rafael found he wanted desperately to be one of those few she counted as her own. Taking her to his lands and claiming her would not earn him her genuine love. She was his lifemate, and her body had all the responses to him of a lifemate, but her heart and mind viewed him as a rather useless individual. He found he didn't like her assessment of him at all and, more importantly, that her opinion mattered to him.
Rafael and his brothers had been sent from the Carpathian Mountains in times of turbulent war and massacres. It had been long after they had lost their ability to see in color, to feel all emotion, but they had served their prince to the best of their abilities in keeping with their rigid code of honor. It was all they had left to them in a gray, barren world of endless existence. But through the long, long centuries, memories dimmed and more and more the darkness had crept up on them.
Colby's eyes suddenly flashed fire at him. 'And have you forgotten my rather unfortunate parentage? As I recall, I was the reason the Chevez family could not find it in their so-called hearts to accept Armando back into the family fold. I believe I am illegitimate. A De La Cruz shouldn't associate with someone like me, let alone court me. It might ruin your good name.'
His black eyes went from a sheer black intensity to icy cold so fast she shivered. 'Where would you get an idea like that?' His voice was very soft, yet carried a wealth of menace. He didn't move, but all at once he was far too close, looming over her.
Colby stood her ground, but suddenly it seemed to be shifting out from under her. 'I read the letter. The letter from the family patriarch ordering Armando to get rid of my mother and me before I brought disgrace to the name of De La Cruz. It was in my mother's drawer. I found it after she died.'
He stared at her a long moment hearing the hurt she tried so hard to hide.
