CHAPTER NINE

      ‘OH.’ DANNY’S VOICE was flat. The shock of what Tiago had told her cut deep. She couldn’t blame him for his candour after she’d pressed him for an answer. She guessed he’d thought a clean cut would be the best. The news that her mother wasn’t interested in Danny was old, but it hurt all the same. The fact that her mother didn’t even care that she was getting married was brutal.

      ‘You tried, Danny. At least you tried.’

      Yes, she was certainly a trier, Danny reflected dryly. How stupid she felt now, imagining her mother would want to wish her well.

      ‘I can’t honestly say I expected her to be here for the wedding,’ she admitted, pinning a smile to her face.

      She glanced up to find Tiago staring down at her with concern. Maybe she was wrong about him. Maybe he did have feelings but, having spent a lifetime hiding them, now found them impossible to express.

      ‘Don’t feel sorry for me, Tiago. I’m not a child.’

      ‘Maybe not,’ he agreed, ‘but my people show you more affection than your own mother. If she had been born with a title, and then squandered an old man’s fortune, I would say that your mother and mine must have been twins.’

      The bitterness in his voice told her that Tiago had experience of loving someone and being rejected. She knew that that could lead down one of two roads: the road she trod, where she never stopped trying, or the road Tiago had taken, where he simply turned his back. It was another thought to unsettle her.

      ‘I can’t bear to see you hurt like this,’ he raged.

      ‘I’m not hurt. I’m—’

      ‘Accustomed to it?’ he spat out. ‘Why should you be accustomed to it? This is wrong, Danny. You should cut her out of your life.’

      ‘She’s my mother. I can’t.’

      ‘She’s no mother to you.’

      With an impatient gesture, Tiago ground his jaw, but thankfully said nothing more on the subject.

      ‘Don’t worry,’ he said at last. ‘Everyone on the ranch will be here to cheer you on.’

      ‘And that’s all that matters,’ she said with conviction.

      She only had to remember how touched she’d been when a selection of treasured veils and wedding dresses had been brought out of lavender-scented storage for her to choose from to know how much Tiago’s people meant to her.

      ‘They’re your people now, Danny,’ he said, reading her.

      ‘Our people.’

      That thought made her feel strong. Whatever happened in the future, the bond she was building here with the people of Fazenda Santos would support her as surely as any strong family could.

      ‘They’ve done so much in the short time they’ve known me to make me feel welcome,’ she said, glancing round the courtyard, which was already dressed for the wedding, ‘and I’m honoured to have been accepted here.’

      ‘You’ll be happy. I’ll make sure of it,’ he said.

      But when Tiago put his arm around her shoulders and drew her close she thought, Yes, but for just one year.

      She was certain that Tiago would do his best to make her time in Brazil trouble-free. It wasn’t in his interest to do otherwise. He would never risk this marriage of convenience being challenged by anyone.

      ‘One last drink before we part?’ he suggested.

      ‘Why not?’ She smiled.

      Tomorrow was their wedding day. It hardly seemed possible. Closing her eyes briefly, she drank in his strength, wishing with all her heart that they were a normal couple, with a normal relationship. But what was normal? Could any couple enter into marriage with complete certainty?

      Shaking off her doubts, she walked with him towards the outdoor area at the back of the ranch house, where Tiago loved to stand and look out across his property. She reminded herself that for some married couples it wasn’t even possible to guarantee a happy year.

      * * *

      The hunter had become the protector. His cold-blooded plan to marry Danny at all costs had been brought to its knees by the way she was treated by her mother. No one should be treated like that. Hot blood surged through his veins as Danny stood beside him. There was anger, and there was lust—and something else he refused to name. Twenty-four hours ago he had held her in his arms—and that seemed too long.

      Glancing down, he saw how pale she was. The conversation he’d had with her about her mother had hit her hard. He should have found some gentler way to break it to her. He shouldn’t have been surprised by her resilience, but he was. He poured her a drink—orange juice, as she’d requested. She was determined to keep a clear head, he concluded, quelling his disappointment at the thought that temptation would have to be resisted for another night.

      ‘Why are you smiling?’ she asked him when he took the empty glass from her hand.

      ‘You’re wearing a dress, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen your legs before.’

      ‘Liar. You saw me at the wedding in a bridesmaid’s dress.’

      ‘Which trailed around your ankles.’ He tipped the neck of his bottle of beer in Danny’s direction.

      She shook her head. ‘It did not trail.’ And then she said, ‘Shall we drink a toast to your grandfather?’

      ‘My grandfather? I’m surprised you’re even thinking about him.’

      ‘Why wouldn’t I? We wouldn’t be here without him,’ she pointed out.

      His lips pressed down with amusement as he shook his head. She was right. His grandfather might have done a lot of things he disagreed with, but he had given Tiago the chance to change his life.

      Easing onto one hip, he told her a little more about his history. ‘I never imagined my grandfather would deny me full ownership of the ranch, but he was cunning, and he never liked my playboy antics. He said it reminded him too much of my mother—the feckless socialite, as he called her. That’s why he constructed his will as he did. He knew how much I loved this place. He knew I wouldn’t let the people down.’

      ‘Whatever it took?’ Danny observed dryly.

      ‘Whatever it took,’ he agreed, meeting her stare head-on. The one thing he would never do was lie to her.

      ‘To your grandfather,’ she said softly, chinking her glass against his bottle. ‘Manuelo told me your parents were never around, and that when they were they only came here to beg for money from your grandfather. Once they got that, he said they left—sometimes without even seeing you. So what’s the sequel to this story, Tiago? I know there must be one, because Manuelo thinks the world of you—as does everyone else on this ranch.’

      He