The grounds were quite beautiful from what Delaney could see, with a profusion of flowers blooming around the sprawling home. She was then whisked toward rolling, grassy hills dotted with grazing bulls. Every so often the horse startled coveys of quail, which called out and darted across the hard-packed earth.
Settling the mare into a trot, the girl finally glanced back at Delaney. “You acted surprised to meet me. I wish I could see Texas. I guess there’s no reason you’d know I’m the youngest Sanchez. I’ve only been home two weeks from schooling in London. I recently completed my lessons there,” she added giving a shrug. “I’d rather have studied here instead of boarding, but Our Lady of Fatima was my mother’s alma mater. Papa insisted I attend the same Catholic girls’ school.”
So that’s why Maria Sofia spoke with a British accent. Delaney absorbed the girl’s words. Dario’s sister had unwittingly added another stumbling block Delaney hadn’t considered before—Delaney was Protestant and Dario was Catholic. As if she needed another thing to stress about.
They were approaching a corral. Peering around Maria Sofia, Delaney saw a few men wrestling a young bull through a narrow chute. When the palomino pulled up short and crow-hopped to one side, Delaney got her first glimpse of Dario. Her heart rate shot up as she remembered—the very first time she’d seen him in Texas had also been from behind. He was just as gorgeous today. His mile-wide shoulders tapered to a skinny butt encased in low-slung, well-worn denim. He had a lazy way of walking toward a bull that defied description. Delaney felt her mouth go dry as her brain exploded in a...wow! There was no doubt but that Dario Sanchez was even more striking at thirty-one than he’d been at twenty-six.
Maria Sofia called out, “Dayo, stop what you’re doing. I’ve brought you a visitor.”
* * *
DARIO DIDN’T TURN at once. Instead, he calmly shot a tag through the ear of an unhappy bull that bellowed and kicked at him. As two helpers dragged the bull out of the corral through a side gate, Dario spun and aimed an irritated look at his little sister for disrupting his work.
The whole family had expected Maria Sofia’s tomboy ways to be curtailed at her regimented girls’ school. Obviously that hadn’t gone as planned. Staring into the sun, Dario paused to blot sweat from his forehead with the back of one leather glove. “Look, Maria Sofia,” he yelled, “how many times have we all told you not to ride wildly into a corral where we’re working with bulls?” he said in a mix of English and Spanish.
“You’re bringing in one bull at a time,” she pointed out sweetly. “And this time I have good reason for making you take a break. Come, say hello to someone you haven’t seen in quite a while.” Reining her horse around, the girl directed her passenger to swing off the mare.
Dario shaded his eyes. For a split second he thought he was hallucinating as the bright sunshine reflected off the flame-red hair of a woman climbing down from the back of his sister’s horse. He went hot, then cold, and felt his tongue tangle with his teeth, impeding his ability to speak as he gaped at the lovely apparition walking toward him, her full skirt appealingly kicked up by the wind. Never had he expected to see Delaney Blair again. Certainly not at the estancia, and especially not in the company of his half sister who studied him with a wicked, mischievous smile.
Forcing back his initial surge of joy, Dario deliberately turned his back again. “Julio, bring in another bull. Maria Sofia, please, escort our uninvited guest the hell out of here and off our property.”
Copyright © 2015 by Rosaline Fox
ISBN-13: 9781460344996
The New Cowboy
Copyright © 2015 by Rebecca Winters
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