Hot Blooded

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 very 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 him, 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 as 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. Part of 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 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. 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 window 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."
    "It's none of your business, De La Cruz." Colby's pretense at good manners
was thrown to the wind. Colby had no idea why she felt so threatened, but she
had the impression she was caught in the crosshairs of a powerful scope.
    "I believe that is one of my horses you are breaking. How did you get him?"
He asked it softly, as if he could not be bothered becoming disturbed by their
disagreement.
    "Like a thief in the night I crept into your corrals and made off with a
number of them," she mocked sarcastically. "Try not to be more of a jerk than
you can help. Juan Chavez sent over sixteen head. It must have been a conscience
thing."
    "The Chavez family has suffered greatly over this misunderstanding," he
replied patiently. "They wish for nothing more than to heal the breach in their
family. As I consider their family a part of mine and under my protection, it is
of equal importance to me." His black gaze didn't blink once as it bored into
her green eyes. She felt
hunted
. More than once she'd had to track
cougars after her horses, and they had looked at her with just that same focused
stare.
    "Go back to Brazil, Mr. De La Cruz, and take your family with you. That will
go a long way toward healing the breach."
    His teeth flashed, very white, his smile wolfish. For no reason at all it
made Colby shiver. She went to move away from him, to give herself breathing
room, a delicate feminine retreat, but he glided with her like a jungle cat
stalking prey. His hand curled around the nape of her neck, his fingers almost
gentle, yet she felt his immense strength, knew she couldn't