Carpathian 15 - Dark Secret

between them, jumping from his skin to hers and back again. That slow burn was back, heating, thickening her blood. For a moment their eyes locked, clashed, a terrible sexual hunger leaping between them, devouring them. Colby's chin went up in that familiar challenging way her brother and sister recognized. She pulled her hand away from him, not liking the way her body seemed to have a mind of its own around him.
    "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 toBrazil, 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 Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    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