Under A Harvest Moon (8 page)

"I had no idea. And no, I hadn't noticed." She gave him an apologetic smile. "I'm afraid my vision's been clouded since I arrived."

"You've had a lot of changes." Nico quickly checked on all his stock, fully aware that Danielle watched his every move. He hoped she understood how important his work was to him, to all of them here at Whitney Vineyards. When he finished with the vines, they left for the fields.

"There are so many grapes. How do you care for them all?" Danielle asked when they were back in the golf cart.

"Mostly we use these." Keeping one hand on the wheel, Nico held up his other hand. "Every vine here is touched by human hands several times a year. I personally see to as many as I can myself. A lot of what I do is instinct."

"It sounds like a lot more than that, Nico," Danielle said. "You have a ton of knowledge in your head."

"I'm a vineyard brat." He turned to look at her, catching the respect in her eyes, respect that filled him with pride.

They spent the hours between three a.m. until dawn working in the vineyard, with Nico checking the grapes, pruning when necessary to allow the sun better access to the fruit. Danielle peppered him with questions. If she intended to sell, why was she so interested in the place? He'd never expected her to give a rip about anything happening at the vineyard, and her interest made him uneasy.

When the sun peeked over the horizon, Nico didn't miss Danielle's pause as she watched the sunrise, the first beams of light filtering into the vineyard, waking up the grapes, coaxing them from their nighttime slumber.

"I don't remember it being so pretty here," Danielle said with awe. "But then again, I wasn't usually up at sunrise in those days."

"No?" Nico teased unable to help himself.

"No." She smiled back, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

She looked young and pretty and relaxed, reminding Nico of the girl she'd been. They continued to work in the fields, with Nico pruning, and Danielle raking up the discarded pieces while she listened intently as Nico explained why he removed the leaves he did.

At seven, Nico said, "Break time. I could use another cup of coffee and something to eat. I'm sure you could, too. We can check on the kids and then head back out."

"All right." Danielle's stomach growled loud enough they both heard it. She laughed. "For the first time in a long time I'm hungry for breakfast. That should make Lola happy."

Nico chuckled. "She does like to fatten us up."

Danielle smiled.

They rode back to the house together in companionable silence, a first for them since Danielle had come home. As they pulled into the driveway, they could hear Juan talking, his Spanish high and excited.

"I wonder what's going on?" Danielle asked.

Nico understood Spanish well. There had been some kind of vandalism. "Come on."

Juan met them halfway. "Mrs. Rankin," he said respectfully with a bob of his head. "Nico."

"Is something wrong?" Danielle asked.

Juan's face fell. "I arrived just moments ago, and I found them like this." He held his hand out, his palm filled with crushed rose petals. "Who would do such a thing?"

"The roses?" Danielle's brow wrinkled.

Nico didn't wait to hear any more. He started for the garden, Danielle right beside him. It took a second for both of them to see the cause of Juan's distress. Someone had cut the blooms from every plant, leaving dozens of rose-less bushes. All the petal soft flowers lay on the ground, crushed.

"No," Danielle exclaimed, turning to him with questions in her eyes. "Why?"

Nico had no answer for her. "I don't know."

"My nana planted these roses," Danielle said. "No one has as much attachment to these flowers as I do. Clearly this is an attack against me." She looked straight at him, as if she suspected him of the vandalism.

"I didn't do this," he said. "I know how much the roses mean to your family. Besides, look at the bushes, they're intact, the roses will grow back. This looks like a childish prank."

"Are you saying you think Kaiden did this?" she asked, her voice rising. "He would never do anything like this."

"Then who?" Nico asked, the question hanging in the air between them. "You said yourself that he's upset about coming here."

"But he wouldn't do this." Danielle took a step back. "Kaiden has no idea what these roses mean to me. I've never told him."

"They'll grow back," Nico said, hoping to calm her down. "We'll find out who did this. I promise."

Danielle removed the hat from her head. "I knew everything was too easy yesterday. I let myself believe that people were happy to see me, even when I knew they shouldn't be. I've been a fool. When will I ever learn?"

Turning, she stormed away, leaving Nico to stare after her.

Had the vandalism been directed at Danielle? If so, was someone trying to scare her away, or was someone trying to frame him? He'd seen the accusations in Danielle's eyes. She suspected him.

He had to do everything in his power to ease her suspicions. If he didn't, he could lose the vineyard.

Chapter Four

Danielle straightened, stretching her arms above her head to ease the cramp in her lower back. Sweat trickled down her temple. More than anything she wanted to drop down in the dirt and rest, but she'd never give Nico the satisfaction. He'd been hunched over for hours, pruning, and not one complaint. The white polo shirt he wore still looked crisp and neat. To her disgust, the man didn't even have a drop of sweat on him.

He glanced over at her. "Tired?"

"I'm fine."

They'd gone back into the vineyard right after breakfast. Nico had put her on clean-up duty. As he dropped the leaves, she went behind him, raking the excess leaves, placing them in the wheelbarrow for removal. She couldn't remember the last time she'd done any type of physical work. Her aches had aches. She was more out of shape than she'd thought.

"Will you make it until I finish this row?" he asked, the rhythmic swoosh of his knife not missing a beat.

"I'll make it." Was he thinking about what a wimp she was? That she couldn't do a full day's work? Danielle's grip tightened on the rake as she attacked the fallen leaves.

The rhythmic snip of Nico's knife continued to fill the silence between them. They were deep into Block 2, the block climbing up the foot of the Blue Mountains, close to where Nico had taken her before the meeting. He worked on cabernet grapes, in temperatures she'd guess to be in the high eighties.

She'd discarded her jacket hours ago, and the pink tank top she wore was plastered to her like a second skin. Her shoulders radiated heat and she wished she'd thought about applying sunscreen. Danielle removed her hat, her forearm swiping the moisture from her brow.

"Done." Nico straightened. He slid his knife into the leather sheath attached to his belt. "I shouldn't have kept you out so long your first time. Too much sun can be brutal when you're not used to it."

"Don't stop on my account," she said.

His brows rose. "I'm not."

"Fine." Danielle tossed the rake into the wheelbarrow. She'd had trouble being civil to him since he'd accused Kaiden of vandalizing the roses earlier that morning.

She hadn't spoken to Kaiden about the roses, and she didn't intend to. There was no way he'd do such a thing. She knew her son better than that. Maria, however, was another story. The girl had been in the kitchen when she'd talked to Lola about visiting the rose garden. But Danielle couldn't think of a possible motive for the vandalism. Maria had no reason to dislike her. Nico, however, had plenty of reasons to want her gone. She'd done nothing but think about the cruel act all morning.

"Let's go." Nico glanced at his watch. "It's almost eleven-thirty. You've put in a full day. You've earned a rest."

When she moved to pick up the handles of the wheelbarrow he said, "Leave it. Nicandro will come by with the truck and pick it up."

"Okay." She brushed by him, beating a hasty retreat down the row to the place they'd parked the golf cart. As she walked her butt muscles cramped in protest. She'd be lucky if she could even get out of bed tomorrow morning.

She wanted nothing more than to take a hot shower and catch a nap, preferably on the hammock she'd noticed out back near what was left of the rose garden.

Once they were in the golf cart, Danielle removed her hat, hoping the slow breeze from the movement of the vehicle would help cool her off. It didn't. Instead, the heat seemed to seep into her veins. She rested her head against the door frame, allowing the purr of the engine to block out all thought.

"We're here."

Danielle jerked awake.

Nico grinned. "You fell asleep."

Asleep? Her own body had turned traitor. Danielle's neck muscles ached as she straightened. "Where are we?" She glanced around, trying to get her bearings. She recognized the path to the river. "Why are we here?"

"We're going swimming." Nico climbed out of the cart, pulling his shirt off, flinging the garment into the golf cart.

"What are you talking about?" She rolled her neck from side to side to get the kinks out. "I'm not swimming. I don't have a suit."

"Not that excuse again." He came around the vehicle and grabbed her hand, pulling her out. The motion caused her to stumble into his naked chest. Her palms flattened against his skin, the contact electric. Danielle jumped back.

He flashed a wicked, knowing grin. "You don't need a suit."

With a laugh, he tugged her down the path. At the river, he let her go and jumped in. Water shot up and out, the icy droplets wet Danielle's face, her clothes. The cold water cooled her skin, made her long for more relief. Suddenly, she couldn't get her shoes off fast enough. Fully clothed, she jumped in. The icy water stole her breath and took the sting out of her sunburn. Her feet touched the bottom of the river, and she sprang up, out of the water, close to Nico.

"Feel better?" He used his hand to shove his wet hair from his face.

"Yes." She floated onto her back. Above her the blue sky stretched as far as she could see. Her body temperature cooled quickly. Even her hot, tired feet felt refreshed.

"This is the quickest way to cool down," Nico said. Although the water was only about five feet deep, he swam over to her, treading water beside her. "You worked hard today. You surprised me. You aren't the girl I remember. That girl would never have worked in the fields."

"That girl was never asked to." She quit floating. Her feet touched bottom, but she remained crouched under the water. "This girl intends to earn her money."

"Fair enough." Nico smiled, making her forget every bad thought she'd had about him while they'd been working that morning.

The sun glinted off Nico's black hair. Tiny beads of water dotted his face, and Danielle had the strongest urge to smooth those drops of water away with her hands. The slow burn of desire caught her off-guard. Upset about her reaction to him, she swam to shore and waded out of the river. She didn't want to feel anything for him. She didn't trust him or his motives when it came to her and his precious vineyard. She wasn't about to let another man use her for his own gain. She'd already been down that road with Peter.

"Wait, where are you going?" Nico asked.

"I should get back." With no towel available, Danielle used her hands to wipe the water from her arms. Water dripped from her everywhere. She gathered her hair in her hands and squeezed the moisture from it.

Nico trudged through the water to the riverbank. "I need to get back to work anyway."