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CHAPTER FOUR

‘YOU’RE QUITE A RIDER,’ Tiago commented as they jogged to a halt.

‘You mean you couldn’t catch me?’ she fired back dryly.

‘I caught you.’

Her body thrilled at Tiago’s warrior glance. She was on a high. If there was anything better than riding out with Tiago Santos she was eager to try it. The fact that she’d given him a run for his money was an added bonus—though she could do without her body purring with approval every time he looked at her. She had to keep her head cool and her thoughts confined solely to horses.

‘Have you ever thought of going back to Brazil, Danny?’

Well, that good intention had lasted all of one second. Why did he have to remind her about Brazil, when seeing him had been the highlight of each day? Her thoughts had instantly slipped to the dark side and that fantasy world she inhabited, where she spent nights with Tiago too.

‘Maybe,’ she admitted. ‘It’s hard to forget my time in Brazil. All those top-class horses and state-of-the-art training facilities—I can’t say I’d turn down an opportunity to go back. Why? Are you offering me a job?’

Tiago remained silent, his considering stare on her face. Maybe she’d overdone it. She was supposed to be exercising Lizzie’s horse, not touting for work.

‘Shall we get back?’ she suggested, wondering if he’d had enough of her company.

‘I’m in no hurry.’

And then she understood. He was staring out at the silver river rushing to the sea, beyond which lay a dense and mysterious forest that seemed to beckon them into its hidden interior. There were standing stones that held secrets from ancient times to one side of them, while purple heather spread out like a carpet, leading them home. It was so magical. Who in their right mind would leave?

For a while they sat on their horses in companionable silence. She had loved this vantage spot since she was a little girl. She was at her most relaxed here—until she became aware of Tiago staring at her. What was he thinking? she wondered.

Closing her eyes, she turned her face to the sky and inhaled deeply. Just here, just now, in this one perfect moment, she felt strong and sure—as if things were changing for the better and anything was possible.

‘Are you ready to go back now?’ Tiago asked.

She was ready for anything. But then she remembered he was heading home to Brazil. That was life. Up one moment; down the next.

‘Last one back to the house makes the coffee?’ she suggested.

The last sound she heard as she galloped away from him was Tiago’s laughter, carried on the wind.

* * *

‘You’re shivering.’ he commented when they dismounted in the yard.

‘You must be made of iron,’ she countered. ‘Aren’t you aware that it’s a million degrees below freezing today?’ She blew on her hands to make her point.

‘Here—let me warm you.’

Before she had a chance to object Tiago had opened his arms and drawn her inside his jacket. She tensed, and then reminded herself that Latin men were demonstrative, that she shouldn’t make anything of it. All he was doing was preventing a mild case of hypothermia setting in.

‘Mmm...much better.’ Her cheeks were burning as she pulled away—which she had to do before she grew used to the addictive feeling of hard, hot man.

‘Go inside and warm up in front of the fire,’ Tiago suggested. ‘I’ll take care of the horses.’

‘I’m not leaving it all to you,’ she protested. ‘We’ll do it together. It will take half the time, and then we can both take a shower,’ she insisted when Tiago seemed about to refuse. ‘You’re wet through too,’ she reasoned.

Sleeting rain had started to fall at the end of their ride, in an unrelenting curtain. It showed no sign of easing any time soon.

When the horses were settled they ran for the house. She screamed as a clap of thunder coincided with Tiago grabbing hold of her hand to help her run faster, and was laughing and panting by the time they reached the door. Just for a moment, as they faced each other and Tiago stilled, she wondered if he was going to kiss her.

‘Come on—let’s go inside.’

She spun round before he had a chance. It was a most unlikely event that he was going to kiss her. She didn’t want to be disappointed. There was nothing worse than turning your face up for a kiss and receiving nothing.

‘Take a shower and warm up,’ he told her. ‘Then come back downstairs and we’ll talk.’

About what? she wondered. A job? Her heart thundered as she waited for Tiago to reply, but he said nothing.

Brazil.

The thought of returning to Brazil was enough to make her heart race with excitement. The thought of returning to Brazil with Tiago was off the scale. The pampas, the horses, the starry nights, the vibrant music, the warm and friendly people—what she’d give for a chance to go back...

Brazil with Tiago?

Okay. Don’t even go there. The thought was so exhilarating she wondered if she’d ever think straight again. But she was never going to make a fool of herself over a man again.

When she came downstairs she found Tiago in the library, where he was standing by the window, staring out into the darkness, seeing nothing as it was so black out there. So he was thinking. But about what? She closed the door quietly behind her, but the click made him turn around. Even now, when she was used to the sight of him again, seeing Tiago Santos here—so tall, so dark, so powerful—she felt her senses flood with heat.

‘So, what’s this chat you want to have with me?’ she said briskly, not wanting to appear too eager. And she had to set her expectations at a reasonable level. Not every interview ended with the offer of a job.

‘Sit down, Danny. You’re right. I do have a business proposition for you.’

She frowned. A business proposition? That sounded a bit formal. What could he mean? She had no money. He must know that. She had no land. He must know that too. She didn’t own any breeding stock. She rode whichever horse needed exercise. What could she possibly offer Tiago Santos that he didn’t have already in abundance?

Something didn’t feel right.

Tiago sat on the sofa facing hers and came right to it. ‘I’ve got a problem—you have too. You need a job,’ he said, before she could comment. ‘And you need a job that pays a lot more than your work here if you’re to have any chance at all of saving to start up your own place.’

‘Of course I do—but I’m realistic.’ Her laugh was short and sounded false. She didn’t like being reminded that her career ambition was probably a hopeless fantasy.

‘The type of training stable you envisage running is going to cost a lot of money.’

‘I would have to begin small,’ she said.

‘Very small,’ Tiago agreed dryly. ‘But what would you say if I told you that you don’t have to wait, that you don’t have to start small? What if I told you that you could do pretty much anything you want?’

‘I’d think you were mad—or lying.’ She laughed it off, but then something occurred to her. ‘You’re not saying you’d back me, are you?’

When Tiago had mentioned a business proposition she had never imagined he was considering investing in her skills.

‘Yes, that’s exactly what I’m suggesting,’ he admitted. ‘I’d help you to draw up a business plan and I would fund your business.’

She was briefly elated—but then common sense kicked in. ‘And what would I have to do for this—beyond training horses and hopefully making a profit eventually?’

She knew full well that establishing a reputation in equine circles would take years. There would be no quick or easy profits for the type of venture Tiago was suggesting.

‘You would have to put your faith in me.’

Sitting back, he crossed one booted foot over the other and with half-closed eyes regarded her lazily, with just the hint of a smile on his mouth.

‘What do you mean?’ For some reason, instead of feeling excited by Tiago’s suggestion, she suddenly felt chilled.

‘I’d offer you a contract—a fair contract—that would give us both an out in one year’s time.’

‘So I could be left high and dry without a job if you felt like it?’

‘That would never happen.’

‘How can I be sure? What is this job?’

Tiago hesitated, and then said, ‘As the wife of Tiago Santos you would never be left “high and dry”, as you put it.’

‘Your wife?’ She couldn’t have been more shocked, and her lips felt like pieces of wood as she spoke the words. ‘What on earth are you talking about, Tiago?’

‘I need a wife,’ he said bluntly, with a careless gesture. ‘And I need a wife fast. I’m telling you this because I won’t pretend otherwise. I’m going to be absolutely honest with you, so that you know exactly where you stand. The terms of my grandfather’s will have left me with no option. I must marry—and soon. Before the trustees find some excuse to take over the ranch. They know nothing of its history—nothing of its people—’

Tiago’s passion scorched her. He didn’t just care about this ranch and its people—they were his life. That was the only reason she stayed to listen and didn’t get up and stamp out of the room. But she was still running his words over in her head. His wife? Tiago’s wife? She couldn’t take it in.

‘I’ll give you a moment,’ he said. ‘I can see this has come as a shock to you.’

Tiago was half out of his seat, but she gestured for him to sit down again. ‘Please...’

‘Don’t look so apprehensive, Danny, so alarmed. I mean what I say. You would have everything you’ve ever wanted—ever dreamed about—right now, rather than waiting, and you’ll be secure for the rest of your life.’

Secure? She would be rich enough to own and run her own training establishment—that was a dream come true, just for a start, to someone who had grown up penniless, believing her dreams to be as distant and unachievable as any fairytale. Tiago was offering her the golden chalice.

Yes, but he was keeping it just out of her reach. He could grant her everything—including security for her increasingly unpredictable mother—but at what cost? she wondered.

‘I’d be selling out,’ she said flatly.

‘I’m sorry you see it that way.’ Tiago’s tone hardened. ‘I think if you take a more critical look around you’ll see that every marriage is a bargain of some sort.’

‘What about love?’ She couldn’t help herself. She’d always been a romantic. ‘Where does love fit into this?’ She was as impassioned on the subject as Tiago had been when he’d talked about his ranch. ‘I refuse to believe there aren’t some marriages, at least, based solely on love without thought of gain by either party.’

She could tell he thought her naïve, but she did care about love. To love and to be loved was the most important thing in the world as far as Danny was concerned.

‘I think we’ve made a good start,’ Tiago continued calmly, as if there’d been no outburst from her.

‘And a couple of days in my company is enough time for you to decide you want to marry me?’

‘We’ve known each other a lot longer than that, Danny,’ he reminded her.

‘Yes, but as sparring partners in Brazil—nothing more.’

It had always been a lot more on her part, but she wasn’t going to confess that now. She had wanted Tiago from the first moment she saw him, but he had been an international polo player, while she’d been a lowly student living on a grant for young people with troubled home lives. They hardly had anything in common, she’d thought at the time, though that hadn’t stopped her standing up to him when he had sought her out. He had loved teasing her, she knew that, and she had loved answering back. It had excited her to confront a man like Tiago Santos and give back as good as she got.

‘We’ve always got on, Danny. If we give this a chance I can see no reason why it can’t work.’

‘Is that any basis upon which to found a marriage?’

‘Better than some,’ he said.

Brushing the attraction she felt for him to one side, she challenged him again. ‘And is that what you really want, Tiago?’

‘I want the ranch.’

Well, that was clear enough.

‘I’m proposing you remain married to me for one year, to make it seem genuine. I’m being completely honest with you, Danny. I have to get married if I’m to stop those idiots ruining all the good work that’s been done on the ranch. Our marriage must be seen as genuine—hence the term I’m putting on it. And, no, I don’t want to be tied down. Is that frank enough for you?’

‘It is honest,’ she admitted. ‘You want to give me money to induce me to marry you, but you want to carry on your bachelor ways. Is that a fair summary?’

‘It sounds rather calculating when you put it that way.’

‘How else would you put it? It is calculating. And my answer is no.’

‘No?’ Tiago’s eyes narrowed in disbelief.

‘You’re suggesting a cold-blooded contract, and yet I have no say in it because you’ve thought it all through for me. That’s right, isn’t it, Tiago? You’ve anticipated what you think it is I want out of the agreement, but you’ve judged those demands through your own eyes. It must have been very convenient for you, finding me here at the wedding—a brood mare waiting for her stallion. How long have you been sizing me up? Since you found me outside in the mud? Did I look like a victim to you? Did you think I’d be grateful for the crumbs from your table?’

‘I never thought that. I would never take advantage of you in that way. I remembered you from Brazil. You were always strong, always determined—’

‘And I’m just as determined now to say no.’

Tiago’s jaw worked as he mulled over her flat refusal.

‘Can I say anything to change your mind?’

She hesitated. Her feelings for Tiago cut too deep for her not to want to help him. She understood that he cared for the ranch, and she couldn’t deny that the chance to get to know him better was appealing. But did she have to marry him?

There was something else nagging at the back of her mind—and it was something that was weighted in his favour. The business opportunity Tiago was offering would allow her to work—and that was so far removed from anything her mother might do that it did hold appeal. She tried to measure everything she did in life by asking herself: would her mother do it? And if the answer was yes, Danny would do the opposite.

This was her one chance to fulfil her dream, Danny reasoned. If she could do that, surely she could guard her heart for a year by burying herself in work?

‘Well?’ Tiago pressed impatiently.

‘If we go ahead with this—and I’m only saying if—I have certain conditions,’ she explained.

His expression turned grim. He wasn’t used to bargaining when he had decided what he wanted to do, she gathered, but he could see that she wasn’t going to change her mind.

‘Name them,’ he grated out.

‘For one year I’m the only woman in your life. I mean it, Tiago,’ she said quickly, when he started to speak. ‘I won’t take any more humiliation. I’ve seen my mother make a fool of herself and I don’t need anyone to tell me that I was fast following in her footsteps. I won’t go down that road again—not for you, not for anyone. If you want this deal you will have to put my terms in that contract too.’

Tension soared as she waited for his reply. She guessed Tiago hadn’t expected her to put any obstacles in his way, but she wasn’t prepared to back down.

‘All right,’ he said eventually. ‘But if you’re putting conditions on this then so am I. This will be a proper marriage, and you will be in my bed.’

Her throat constricted. She couldn’t have answered him if she’d wanted to. The expression in Tiago’s eyes had turned cold and hard. This was the deal-breaker, delivered by a man determined to have his way. Tiago was like a coin with two sides, she decided. There was the strong and compassionate man on one side of the coin, and the ruthless playboy on the other. Surrendering her body to a man like that was a heart-stopping thought.

But her body betrayed her now by melting. Her mind burned with confusion. It was like drowning in a sweet honey bath of desire, even while everything about Tiago in this frame of mind was a warning to her not to fall for him unless she wanted to be hurt. But how was she going to remain detached from her feelings when she was lying in his arms?

She would have to, Danny determined, but there were one or two more points she wanted to clear up first. ‘If this is to be a marriage in every sense, as you suggest it will be, then we have to consider the potential consequences.’

‘For instance?’ he pressed without warmth.

‘How will we explain this love-match of ours to any children we might have? And I use the term “love-match” in its most cynical form.’

Tiago shrugged. ‘I must admit I have never thought of this as a permanent arrangement.’

‘Clearly,’ she said, shrinking a little inside. Was this the one thing in his life that Tiago Santos hadn’t thought through? she wondered.

‘Finding a wife is uppermost in my mind,’ he said, as if he could read hers. ‘Perhaps I am guilty of not considering every possibility. I can only tell you that when I found you yesterday outside the stable block I wasn’t thinking about this at all. My one thought was your safety. I hope that reassures you? As for this contract—I can’t have been planning it for long, chica, since I’ve only been here for a couple of days!’

Calling her chica threw her. It was so intimate—too intimate. Endearments from Tiago were unsettling, as was his cold-blooded approach to marriage. When she kept him at a distance she could handle her feelings for him. Jibing at him verbally in Brazil had been fun, but this was a very different situation.

She wasn’t about to roll over and become his convenient wife, Danny concluded. Tiago would have to consider her terms and conditions. They were a deal-breaker for her.

‘You’ve only been here for a couple of days,’ she agreed, ‘but that’s long enough for you to negotiate a business contract, I imagine?’

‘True,’ Tiago agreed. ‘But this is particularly important to me.’

‘And to me,’ she said. ‘It’s quite a commitment you’re asking me to make.’ She felt a cold hand clutch her heart as she said this.

Tiago was quick to reassure her, ‘The agreement between us will be drawn up by my lawyers to include your demands. It will be absolutely watertight. I assure you of that.’

‘I have no doubt.’

‘You’ll be protected, Danny. You’ll be safe. You’ll be secure for the rest of your life.’

‘You make it sound like a prison sentence.’

‘It will be what we make it,’ Tiago told her with calm assurance. ‘You can have your own lawyers look over the contract. I’ll pay for them.’

‘But you don’t know me.’ She shook her head, still racked with doubt. ‘We don’t know each other.’

‘How long does it take to know someone? I saw you nearly every day for a year on Chico’s ranch. It will be the same. You struck sparks off me with your banter then—’

‘Do you mean I stood up for myself?’ she asked wryly.

He relaxed, and his mouth curved in the familiar winning smile. ‘That’s why I like you, Danny. I’m not looking for a push-over. I’m not interested in taking advantage of you. I want this to be fair. And when we’re married—’

‘I haven’t said yes to your outlandish proposal yet,’ she pointed out.

‘But you will,’ he said confidently. ‘I will expect you to stand up to me. I expect you to tell me when something doesn’t make you happy. I expect to enjoy a healthy, outspoken relationship.’

‘You can depend on that,’ she assured him. ‘But a year sharing a bed with a man without love...?’

‘I’m sorry you see it that way. I wish I had more time to persuade you that this will work really well for both of us, but I don’t have that luxury. I can only promise you that you’ll have everything you need and that I will always respect you and treat you well.’ He shrugged. ‘I can’t think of anyone I would rather enter into this agreement with—anyone I can imagine seeing on a daily basis and getting on with half as well as I get on with you.’

‘So long as we do get on well,’ she said dryly.

‘Danny—’

‘I know. You have a flight plan filed, no doubt, and you don’t have time to waste selling love’s young dream to me.’

‘Don’t be such a cynic. It doesn’t suit you. Your choice is simple. Stay here and nothing changes, or come with me on the biggest adventure of your life. Which is it to be, Danny?’