"Louise Everett," the woman introduced herself, laying a possessive hand on Rafael's forearm. "You know my brother, Sean, and his wife, Joclyn. The De La Cruzes, their servants, and I are all staying on Sean's ranch." She made it sound as if she had arrived with the De La Cruz family. "When they heard Rafael and I were coming over to see you they asked me to deliver a message to you." She stared for a moment disdainfully at the dirt on Colby's forehead. "Joclyn would like her daughter to have riding lessons." She examined her long fingernails for damage. "Although it looks to me as if that horse has thrown you more than once. I want my dreadfully crippled little niece learning from someone qualified, someone competent."

Paul's deep breath was audible. Colby was a professional. The best. Her reputation for training horses was known throughout the States. He wanted the snobs gone before he lost his temper and did something foolish. He took an aggressive step forward, his hands curling into fists. He didn't care if La Cruz was a dangerous man and could beat him to a bloody pulp, no one was going to put Colby in such a position and get away with it, not as long as he was around. And that crack about the De La Cruzes' servants-the woman meant the Chevez brothers. Paul was a Chevez, so was Ginny. Did that mean if the family succeeded in taking them to Brazil, they would be servants instead of ranch owners? Out of the corner his eye he caught sight of Ginny. She was glaring as angrily as he was.

"There's been some mistake." Colby's voice was, if anything, softer than usual. She crossed to the thermos of lemon-more, Paul was certain, to keep from punching De La Cruz than anything else. She had that look in her eyes Paul new very well. "I don't give riding lessons, Ms. Everett. I don't have time for anything like that." Her green eyes slashed at Rafael's hard features. "Evidently Mr. De La Cruz has so many servants running his ranch for him he's forgotten what hard work actually entails." Crippled little niece. The words echoed in her mind so that she wanted to clap her hands over her ears and drown out the sound, the image of the poor child obviously unloved by her aunt.

Rafael's icy black eyes seemed to smolder but the rugged features remained impassive. He moved then, glided, a ripple of muscle and sinew, no more. She blinked and he was beside Colby, crowding her close, leaning down to remove the thin trickle of blood at the corner of her mouth with a brush of his thumb. Her heart jumped at his touch. Her body actually ached for his. It was damned maddening and Colby wanted it to stop. She recognized that he would be dominant sexually. It was bred into his very blood and bones. He would demand everything from his woman, own her, possess her, until there would be no going back-ever. And she hated that she was so susceptible to his dark sensuality when she prided herself on independence.

"Louise misunderstood the message," he said softly, his black eyes unblinking on Colby's face. Burning. Devouring. Hungry. He seemed to be looking right into her soul. She had the uncomfortable feeling he might actually be reading her thoughts. She watched as he raised his hand to his mouth and touched the pad of his thumb to his tongue almost as if he was savoring the taste of her.

Her entire body clenched. She found herself staring almost helplessly at him. The idea should have repelled her, but he was sinfully sexy, and she was mesmerized by him, the way he moved, the way his eyes were so hungry as his gaze drifted over her face. He had the ability to make a woman feel as if she was the only woman on earth. The only one he saw. He also made her feel as if he would take her, throw her over his shoulder and stride off with her if she defied him. It was unsettling-and, God help her, exhilarating.

"Colby." Ginny caught at her sister's hand, suddenly afraid for her. The stranger was looking at her older sister as if she belonged to him, as if he might be a wicked sorcerer bent on casting a spell on her.

Colby shook off the sexual web Rafael was weaving, silently cursing. This man was truly dangerous. He would own a woman, make her a sexual slave with no thought but to please him. He was an erotic temptation no woman could ever afford to succumb to. They had sent the first brother to order her to turn over the ranch and the children to the Chevez family and when that didn't work, they obviously sent the first string in to deal with her. She lifted her chin in challenge. "What message exactly were you supposed to deliver?"

"Joclyn would appreciate you meeting her later this evening at the saloon." The voice was so beautiful she ached to hear more. She forced her hands to stay at her sides instead of pressing them to her ears. "I believe she wanted to do you the courtesy of speaking to you herself."

Colby found herself clutching at Ginny's hand for solace.

Rafael De La Cruz was capable of casting spells, a dark sorcerer weaving black magic, and she was highly susceptible. She wanted him gone before she fell into the depths of his black eyes. He was leaning so close to her she could smell his masculine scent. Outdoors. Sexual. Definitely male. "It seems to be important to her."

"I'm very busy this time of year," Colby said a little desperately. She couldn't look away from him, not for a moment. His eyes were so hungry, so needy, so demanding. And damn, her body actually ached for his. Crippled little niece. She couldn't let the image go.

"Then I will have to stay and convince you," he said, his accent very much in evidence. Everything in him, every cell, his heart and soul, his brain, even the buried demon roared at him to chain her to his side. He could do it, just take her. There was no one capable of stopping him. He was used to nothing, no one opposing his will. Certainly not a little slip of a woman. A human woman.

"Eight o'clock then," she said impatiently, trying not to look as frightened as she felt. No one had ever made her feel confused and edgy as he did. There was something possessive in his eyes, something that seemed to claim her. She had never been truly afraid of anyone before. "If you'll excuse me, I've got to get back to work." He was the enemy. Closely associated with a family who hadn't wanted her or her mother. Someone who would consider her brother and sister servants in a land they knew nothing of. She had to remember that. She had to remember how hard their father had fought to give his children a legacy of their own. Rafael De La Cruz had that Latin charm she'd heard so much about but had never experienced. The man was lethal. Deliberately Colby looked at Louise. She was obviously drowsy and purring like a domesticated cat. She looked very much as if the two had just made love. Louise was stroking his arm and looking up at him with a singularly rapt expression on her face, one that turned Colby's stomach.

Rafael gestured imperiously toward the pickup, and Louise sent him a smile, her face lighting up at his attention, and she obediently went to the truck. The motion set Colby's teeth on edge. Why didn't you just snap your fingers? The De La Cruz brothers had a way of acting as if women were inferior to them and it irritated the hell out of her. That wasn't altogether true. It was more like every man or woman, every human being on earth, was considered inferior to them.

Rafael turned his head and looked at her almost as if he could read her thoughts. For a moment she froze, almost afraid to move. She had never seen eyes so hard or cold. If his eyes were a mirror to his soul, this man was truly a monster. He made no move to follow Louise; instead his gaze swept over Colby's slender figure, his merciless features devoid of expression. "Why do you persist in this nonsense? This is work for a man, not one such as you. It is obvious you have spent most of the afternoon on the ground."