The Pirate & The Adventurer & The Cowboy

me to bounce the occasional business problem off you in the future, Maggie, love. I like the way you think."

    "Praise from Caesar." Her laugh was soft and somehow indulgent. "You do realize this is the first and only time you've ever asked my opinion on a business matter?"

    "I'll obviously have to do it more often." Rafe hesitated a few seconds, not sure how to say what he intended to say next. Hell, he wasn't even certain he wanted to say it at all. But for some irrational reason he needed to do it. "Maggie, about our bargain."

    She glanced at him in surprise. "What bargain?"

    He was annoyed that she had forgotten already. "Don't give me that blank look, woman. I'm talking about the bargain we made the other day. The one in which I agreed to go to Winters's gallery show in exchange for your agreement to let me announce our engagement. Or has that little matter slipped your mind?"

    She blinked, taken aback by his vehemence. "Hardly. I guess I just hadn't thought of it as a bargain."

    "Yeah, well, that's what it was, wasn't it?"

    "I suppose so. In a way. What's bothering you about it, Rafe?"

    He exhaled heavily, willing himself to shut his mouth while there was still time. But the words came of their own accord. "I don't want you agreeing to get engaged because we've made a deal, Maggie. I don't like having you feel you've got to do it to defend Julie from my bullheaded stubbornness."

    "Oh, Rafe, I really didn't think of it quite like that."

    "All the same, I thought I'd tell you that I'll go to that damned art show with no strings attached. I'll give Winters a fair chance. As for us, you don't have to make any promises to me until you're ready. I'm willing to give you all the time you need to make certain you want to marry me."

    "You surprise me, Rafe."

    "I can see that." He was still irritated. "You don't have to look so stunned. You think I can't be open-minded when I want to be?"

    "Well—"

    "You think I can't give a guy a fair chance?"

    "Well—"

    "You think the only way I work is by applying pressure whenever I see an opportunity to do so?"

    "Well, to be perfectly honest, Rafe…"

    He held up a hand. "Forget it. I don't think I need a truthful answer to that one. But I am doing my best to back off a little here, so let me do it, okay?"

    "Okay." She smiled gently.

    Saddle leather creaked as he studied her face in the morning light. "I want you to marry me. But I want you to come to me willingly, Maggie, love. Not because I've pushed you into it." Rafe drew a deep breath and got the rash words out before he could rethink them. "Take all the time you need to make your decision."

    "So long as I come up with the right one?" Her eyes danced mischievously.

    He grinned slowly, relaxing inside. "You've got it. So long as it's the right one." The sun was getting higher in the morning sky and the heat was setting in already. Rafe crammed the brim of his hat down low over his eyes and turned the chestnut back toward the ranch.

    I t was obvious from the moment Margaret and Rafe entered the thronged gallery that the showing of Sean Winters's work was a resounding success. The large, prestigious showroom was filled with well-dressed people sipping champagne and commenting learnedly on contemporary art. Margaret saw Rafe's cool-eyed appraisal of the gathering and smiled.

    "Not quite what you expected, hmm, cowboy?"

    "All right, I'll admit the man apparently has a market. The place is packed. That must be his stuff on the walls. Let's take a look at it before Julie discovers we're here."

    Sean Winters's work was clearly of the Southwestern school, full of the rich, sun-drenched tones of the desert. His paintings for the most part tended toward the abstract with an odd hint of surrealism. There was a curiously hard edge to them that made them stand out from the work of other artists dealing with similar subject matter. Margaret was instantly enthralled.

    "These are wonderful," she exclaimed, a bit in awe in spite of herself. "Look at that canyon, Rafe. And that evening sky above it."

    Rafe peered more closely at the painting she indicated. "Are you sure it's a canyon? Looks like lots of little wavy lines of paint to me."

    "It's titled
Canyon
, you twit. And don't you dare play the uncultured, uncouth redneck cowboy with me, Rafe. This work is good and you know it. Admit it."

    "It's interesting. I'll give it that much." Rafe frowned at the price on the tag stuck next to the painting. "Also expensive.