“Answer me,” she whispered.
Daniel's jaw tightened.
“I never meant to hurt you.”
“That wasn't my question.”
He lowered his eyes.
She gripped his bare chest, desperate to make him look at her.
“Did you marry me because you wanted revenge?”
Daniel closed his eyes.
For several seconds, he couldn't speak.
Then he whispered, “I came to Silver Creek to take back everything your father stole from my mother.”
Elizabeth felt her breath catch.
Daniel continued.
“I entered his household as a stable hand because it was the only way I could get close enough to find the records.”
Her fingers slowly loosened.
He caught her hand before it fell.
“But I didn't know he would force us to marry.”
Elizabeth stared into his eyes.
The sunset illuminated his weathered face, revealing something she had never seen so clearly before.
Fear.
Not fear of her father.
Not fear of poverty.
Fear of losing the woman standing in front of him.
She swallowed.
“Then what am I to you, Daniel?”
He looked as though the question physically hurt.
For a long moment, the only sounds were the wind moving through the distant pines and the soft creaking of the cabin porch.
Then he answered.
“The one person I never planned on loving.”
Elizabeth's eyes filled.
She stepped closer.
“That's not enough.”
He looked down.
She raised one trembling hand toward his cheek.
“I need to know whether you see me as your wife… or as another piece of property my father stole.”
Daniel's expression broke.
He placed his large hand over hers.
“Elizabeth, I'd surrender every acre of that ranch before I let you believe I married you to punish you.”
Her lips trembled.
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
He looked toward the mountains.
“Because every time I tried, I thought about the way you looked at me on our wedding day.”