‘That's good, Danny.'
He came to stand behind her. She held her breath as his body brushed hers, and tensed when his hands came around her, allowing Tiago to use his hands to direct hers.
‘Bring your face closer,' he advised in an undertone. ‘Share the same air as your pony.'
His husky voice was hypnotic, and his touch made both Danny and the pony relax.
‘He's starting to trust you,' Tiago murmured. ‘I'm going to move away now, while you carry on. Caress him, speak to him and build his confidence. Who knows? One day he might be yours.'
Danny smiled, knowing she would never be able to afford the young colt, and then felt a spear of surprise, knowing that with Tiago's marriage settlement in the bank she could.
‘What would you call him?' he asked.
‘Firefly.' She turned, expecting to find Tiago behind her, but he was already with the gauchos on the other side of the fence.
* * *
He was on the same wavelength as Danny, Tiago reflected as he watched her work. He never allowed bystanders into the corral when he was working with young ponies fresh to training, but he trusted Danny. He'd seen her work on Chico's ranch.
And on the personal front...?
He trusted her on the personal front too. He couldn't say that about any other woman apart from Elena, his housekeeper. His mother had been a socialite-a butterfly who had fallen in love with the son of a rough working man who'd happened to own a valuable ranch. His mother had seen an opportunity.
Tiago had been pampered and petted as a boy-a situation he'd refused to tolerate as a teen. By that time his father had been a drunk and his mother an ageing beauty who had refused to accept that her day in the sun was over. There had to be more pills, more potions, more clothes, more visits to the beauty salon, and then eventually to the plastic surgeon. She had ruined his father, who had ended up stealing from the ranch, leaving Tiago's grandfather with nothing.
It had taken Tiago to return-a changed man-and rescue things to the point where Fazenda Santos had become no longer a broken-down ranch that existed solely to feed the greed of his parents, but a highly successful concern he had dedicated his life to.
Did he want to get married, with a family history like that?
No. But a year with a woman as lithe and lovely as Danny might just be tolerable-especially when she was in his bed.
CHAPTER SEVEN
TIAGO WAS IN a good mood after working with the colt, and as they walked back to the house it seemed as good a moment as any for Danny to ask him about the details of the wedding. She might not be having the idyllic country wedding she had imagined as a girl, but arrangements would still have to be made. It might be a hastily arranged formality, or-and she desperately hoped this wouldn't be the case-a full-blown society wedding for the type of people Tiago mixed with when he was on the polo circuit.
‘So...our wedding...' she began.
‘Friday,' he said.
‘Friday?' She looked at him blankly.
‘Friday is the end of the week,' he said impatiently. ‘I did tell you it would have to be this week.'
Yes, but talking about something was very different from facing the reality of the situation. She was already running through a checklist in her mind.
‘There's too much to do in the time available.'
Even if a wedding could be arranged at such short notice, she had to consider the demands of the ranch, as well as the Thunderbolts' polo fixtures.
‘Did you check on the team's games?'
‘Of course.' Tiago drilled a stare into her eyes, as if the choice between a polo match and their wedding was no contest. ‘All we need for this wedding is you and me and a couple of witnesses.'
‘I never expected anything more,' she said, angry to think Tiago imagined she craved some sort of grand ceremony to accompany her pay-out.
Nothing could be further from the truth. It was bad enough knowing she had to make promises that she would only keep for a year, without attempting to fool wedding guests into believing theirs was a romantic love match.
‘We'll get married here on the ranch,' Tiago said, to her relief. ‘But I want everyone to share the celebrations. This won't be a quiet wedding. I'm not ashamed of what we're doing, and neither should you be. When Chico and Lizzie return from their honeymoon we'll fly to Scotland and have a blessing at the kirk in the village, with a party afterwards. You can have whatever you want, then-ten dresses and a dozen bridesmaids, if you like.'
Tiago knew so little about her, she thought, chilled by his casual attitude. ‘I just want to get it over with,' she said, speaking her thoughts out loud. She was uncomfortable discussing the charade they were about to take part in.
‘I am not trying to cheat you, but I do want you to understand this situation for what it is. It's a short-term solution that will benefit both of us enormously.'
‘I know that. I've made a bargain and I'll stick to it,' she confirmed.
Tiago relaxed. ‘Thank you, Danny.' And then his eyes became slumberous, and a half-smile curved his wicked mouth. ‘Our wedding must be soon. I don't do waiting.'
For anything, she remembered, thinking about their encounter on his jet.
‘I suggest you get some rest between now and Friday, chica. It will be a big day for you.'
And an even bigger night, she thought, shivering in a very different way.
‘Will I see you before then?' She tried to sound casual, and only succeeded in making Tiago impatient.
‘I hope you're not trying to tie me down even before we're married?'
‘No.' She took him on. ‘I'm asking you a question.'
‘Will the fire of South America sit well with the frost of Scotland?' he mocked.
She raised a brow. ‘Let's be quite clear. I've got no intention of becoming your doormat.'
‘Well said,' he approved, curving her another smile. ‘And now I have business to attend to. You'll see me when I get back.' His powerful shoulders eased in a careless shrug. ‘I can't tell you how long that will be.'
‘So long as you're back for our wedding, I imagine that will be time enough,' she said coolly.
Tiago huffed a laugh. ‘I wouldn't miss it for the world,' he assured her.
Those eyes, that smile-she was glad he couldn't feel the heat surging through her veins. To say Tiago was arrogant would be vastly understating the case, but he was also bone-meltingly hot, and she was in no way immune to his appeal.
‘Shall I spread the word about our wedding?' she suggested mildly.
‘Tell anyone you like.'
‘Fine. Goodbye, then,' she said coolly. ‘Enjoy your trip.'
Tiago stared at her as if he expected something more -a longing look, perhaps, or a flaccid wave. She gave him a steely look as he walked away, and then-not for the first time-wondered what on earth she had got herself into.
It wasn't as if she couldn't arrange a wedding, Danny reasoned, now that she was alone, but for all Tiago's interest in the matter it was clear to her that the groom intended to carry on as usual, with no interruption to his schedule. She could challenge him all she liked, but Tiago wouldn't change his life for anyone.
* * *
He would be back by Wednesday, thought Tiago. She could like it or not. He would be back-because the gauchos were holding a party on Wednesday night, and he would take the opportunity to introduce Danny formally as his intended bride. And then he would take her to bed.
Everyone would know by then, as she would have told them, and waiting until their wedding night on Friday was too long for him to wait to claim a woman he'd already tasted and been denied.
He'd made a good deal with Danny and he was confident she would stick to it. It pleased him to think the people on the ranch already liked her. And the gauchos wouldn't have crowded around to watch her training the colt if she hadn't been good. The sketchy character he'd drawn in his mind of the wife he would be forced to take had acquired an appealing reality in Danny, and if their brief encounter on the jet had been anything to go by she would be a willing pupil outside the training ring too.
* * *
Tiago was a saint. That much she had learned while he'd been away. As she crossed the yard on Wednesday morning, heading for the house, she was still thinking about her conversation with one of the elderly gauchos, who had told her that Tiago rarely took time off. He knew every family by name, and all the names of generations past. He'd saved them from ruin, having plucked his grandfather's property from the brink of disaster. His parents had both been fools, who hadn't been able to spend Tiago's grandfather's money fast enough. They had been more interested in funding their lavish lifestyle than in saving the ranch.