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grimly. “Can you see me?”
    Anna tried her best to focus her gaze on his dark face. Her vision was still blurred, but thankfully it was quickly clearing.
    â€œYes. Was I...kicked in the head?” She brought her fingers up to her forehead. It felt like someone had whammed her with a hammer.
    â€œRight in the temple.”
    â€œShe took a pretty good lick, boss,” one of the cowboys that were grouped around them said. “Maybe she should go to the doctor.”
    â€œYou’re probably right, Jim,” Miguel agreed. “Can you men go on, while I take Anna back to the ranch?”
    â€œNo!” Anna practically shouted and made a sudden move to get to her feet.
    â€œStay where you are!”
    The demanding tone of Miguel’s voice was like a shot of adrenaline to Anna. She shoved herself away from him and stood on rubbery legs.
    â€œI’m okay. I don’t need a doctor!”
    Another cowhand retrieved her felt hat from the ground where she’d fallen and handed it to her. Anna jammed it back on her head and tried not to wince as it settled over the goose egg that had already formed beneath her scalp.
    â€œYou probably have a concussion,” Miguel warned her.
    â€œI can see, and I don’t have the urge to throw up. I just have an ache in my head. And you would, too, under the circumstances.”
    Miguel motioned for the men to get back to work, then, taking Anna by the arm, he led her over to the back of the chuck wagon where the two of them would be out of sight from the others.
    â€œWhy are you continuing to argue with me? You were briefly knocked out cold!” he told her, his voice rough with frustration. “I want you to swallow a couple of pain pills, and then I’m going to ride with you back to the ranch.”
    â€œWhy? I don’t need to go back to the ranch.”
    He glared at her with angry disbelief, and Anna wished she had the strength to knock the know-it-all look off his face.
    â€œYou didn’t need to be down in the branding pen, either,” he said, “but you wouldn’t listen to me.”
    â€œOh, sure, throw that up to me! I’m sure it tickles you to death to be able to say ‘I told you so.”’
    At this very moment, Miguel wanted to shake her, then hold her as tightly as he could. He’d never been so frightened as when he’d heard the thud of the calf’s hoof striking her head and then had seen her lying white-faced and lifeless on the ground.
    â€œNothing about this situation tickles me Anna.”
    She tried not to feel hurt by his attitude. After all, nowhere was it written that he had to like her. “In other words, you never wanted me around in the first place. You only tolerated my presence because of my mother. Well, if you must know, I only came out here on this roundup to please my mother.”
    â€œAnd here I thought all this time you were pining to be near me,” he said sarcastically.
    â€œYou really are—” she shook her head “—sickening!”
    Suddenly his hand was cupping the back of her neck and his face was dangerously close to hers. “What would you know about me, Anna Murdock Sanders? You’ve been away from this ranch for more than a year. You didn’t even know your mother had hired a new man to run the place. I can plainly see who and what you care about!”
    Anger turned her cheeks scarlet and made her head pound just that much worse. “I think your hands and your notions are both misguided,” she said through gritted teeth.
    Something flared in his eyes, but before Anna could figure out what it was, pressure from his fingers propelled her forward and a pair of hard lips clamped down on hers.
    She groaned a protest in her throat, and her fists came up to push against his shoulders. But that was where her fight ended. Her stunned outrage was suddenly forgotten as her senses gave over to the overwhelming sensation of