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Paul flung himself onto the grass. “I must have been out of my mind! Why didn’t you gag me? He could have killed me with his little finger.”
    Ginny laughed nervously. “Fortunately I saved your life by holding you back.”
    “For which I thank you from the bottom of my heart,” Paul said, staring up at the darkening evening sky.

    Colby flung herself on the ground beside her brother, dragging Ginny down beside her. They clung together laughing at their audacity, slightly hysterical with relief. Colby was the first to sober up. “Pride is going to cost us big bucks this time. With Daniels pressing us on the balloon payment for the mortgage, I’m afraid this is a serious setback. I’ve only got two months to come up with the payment and he’s told me in no uncertain terms he won’t give me an extension.”
    “He didn’t say we have to give the horses back,” Ginny pointed out pragmatically. “Just keep them and bill him for the work.”
    “We’ll sue if he doesn’t pay,” Paul burst out indignantly. “You’ve worked hard on those horses and they’ve been eating our supplies. De La Cruz couldn’t find anyone better here in the States, or Brazil for that matter. He can’t expect to get your services for nothing.”
    “That’s probably how they got rich in the first place,” Colby said snidely, then was immediately ashamed of herself. She thankfully accepted a piece of fried chicken from practical Ginny. “Blast that man for coming over here! Although, to be strictly honest, I never would have accepted those horses had I known they were his.”
    Paul grinned at her unrepentantly. “That’s why I didn’t tell you.”
    Colby turned the full power of her emerald gaze on her brother. “That’s not something you should be admitting to me. Rafael De La Cruz is worse than his brother and I never thought that was possible.” She touched the nape of her neck where the warmth of his touch seemed to linger.
    “I wish they’d all leave,” Ginny stated clearly. She looked at Colby with frightened eyes. “Can they really take me away from you, to another country? I don’t want to go with them.” She sounded young and forlorn.
    Colby immediately circled Ginny’s shoulders with her arm. “Why would you ask such a thing, Ginny?” She glanced at Paul with a slight frown. “Did you hear that somewhere?”
    “It wasn’t me,” Paul defended, “it was Clinton Daniels. We saw him at the grocery store and he told Ginny the Chevez family was going to take the two of us to Brazil and you couldn’t stop them. He said you’d never win custody in acourt of law and the De La Cruz family had political pull and too much money to fight. With the De La Cruz family backing the Chevez family you didn’t have a prayer of keeping us.”
    Colby counted silently to ten, listening to her heart pound out a strange, irregular beat. For a moment she could scarcely breathe, scarcely think. If she lost her brother and sister she would have nothing. No one.
    Pequena? The word was a soft inquiry in her mind. A gentle soothing caress of reassurance. She heard it clearly, as if Rafael De La Cruz was standing beside her, his mouth against her ear. Worse, she felt his fingers trail down her face, touching her skin, touching the inside of her until she felt her body react in a purely sensual way.
    Colby was shocked and frightened by the way his voice seemed familiar and right. Intimate. By the way her body tightened and heated in response. She managed to smile her reassurance at Ginny even while she tried to build the wall in her mind to keep Rafael out. “Clinton Daniels always seems to find the time to gossip about everyone, doesn’t he? I think that man needs a full-time job to keep him occupied.” She hugged Ginny to her. “You are a legal citizen of this country, honey. The courts aren’t just going to turn you over to someone you don’t even know. It will never come to that. Daniels was just trying to get a rise out of