Hot Blooded

recognize.
    Shocked, Paul could only stare. Lord only knew what Colby would do. Paul had
a sinking feeling she might throw a punch at the stranger and Paul couldn't see
himself winning a fistfight with the man when he would be forced to defend his
sister. He could see the stranger was the type of male who would hit sparks off
of Colby.
    The chestnut was acting like a lamb now and when Rafael stepped back to give
her room, Colby expertly put the horse through paces. His dark features a mask
of indifference, Rafael circled Colby's waist with one arm, lifting her bodily
from the saddle. He was enormously strong and he practically tossed her to the
earth.
    Ginny clutched at Paul, gasping aloud. How dare he do such a thing! Appalled,
she glanced at the woman watching with an air of annoyance and feigned boredom
from the pickup. To humiliate Colby like that!
    The moment the two hands spanned her waist, Colby felt an unexpected
connection. A heat from his fingers seeped through the pores of her skin and
spread throughout her bloodstream. Color stained Colby's face as she pulled free
of his hold. Her chin went up, emerald eyes sparkling dangerously. "Thank you,
Mr… ?" Her voice was velvet with exaggerated patience. She knew very well this
had to be the
other
obnoxious De La Cruz brother. Who else? This was
what she needed tonight. More misery!
    He bowed slightly from the waist, a curiously courtly gesture. "De La Cruz.
Rafael De La Cruz at your service. I believe you met my brother Nicolas and, of
course, Juan and Julio Chavez. You, undoubtedly, are Colby Jansen."
    Taking the hat Paul handed to her, she slapped it against her leg to remove
the dust. Her eyes slid over Rafael's imposing figure once, returned to his
broad shoulders before she seemed to dismiss him. "To what do we owe this
honor?" Even Paul had to wince at the honey dripping sarcastically in her voice.
"I thought your brother and I covered everything needed in our last
friendly
discussion."
    His ice-cold black eyes moved broodingly over her face, rested on her lush
mouth, on the thin trickle of blood at the corner of her lips. His gut clenched
hotly, and for a moment desire flared in his eyes. "Did you think we would give
up so easily?" His voice whispered over her skin, soft, hypnotic, mesmerizing.
Colby actually felt him touching her, his fingertips trailing over her skin so
that little flames seemed to dance through her, yet his hands were at his sides.
    She shook off the effects of his voice and eyes by concentrating on the woman
in the cab of the pickup. "Is your lady friend ill?"
    At her words the woman lifted her head and glared at Colby. She pushed open
the door of the cab and shifted so she could carefully turn on the seat showing
off long legs in spiked heels. She was a tall willowy blonde with white skin and
perfect makeup. In her cool lavender dress she looked like a fashion model. She
didn't bother to hide the contempt she felt as her eyes slid over Colby, taking
in her faded dusty jeans, torn shirt, dirt-streaked face, and wild braided hair.
    Colby, all too aware of the contrast in their appearances, the scars on her
hands and arms from bites and wicked hooves, lifted a hand to her unruly hair.
Before she could attempt to tidy it Rafael caught her wrist, easily pulling her
arm down, his expression harsh. Electricity arced 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 the 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