to the house with all the dignity at her command.
"What are you doing, Senhora?"
Caroline gazed up from the papers spread on top of the mahogany desk to see Ignacio staring at her from the doorway in openmouthed astonishment.
"What does it look like?" she asked, smiling in order to cushion the harshness of her words.
What she'd been doing was staring at stacks of papers and ledger books without comprehension. She'd hoped keeping busy would take her mind off of Jason, but all she could think of was Jason sending his men back and remaining in Manaus. She had half a mind to jump on a boat and go after him herself.
Ignacio's brow furrowed in suspicion. "What have you done with Senhor Aveiro?"
Caroline laughed softly past the persistent pain in her heart. "What do you think, Ignacio? How could you think I would do anything to that kind old man?"
"I didn't mean...." he began, removing his hat and stepping cautiously into the room.
"He received word on the last mail boat that his father is ill, so he left immediately for Portugal, judging by Senhor Aveiro's advanced age, I can only imagine that his father must be over a hundred years old."
"But, Senhora," Ignacio said, twisting his hat nervously. "What are you doing?"
"I'm keeping the books," she replied impatiently. He acted as if he'd caught her with her hand in the till.
"You can't!" he insisted vehemently.
"Why not?"
"Because... because..."
"Because I'm a woman?" she asked angrily.
She'd received the same reaction from men in New Orleans when they learned that her position at the Sinclair Coffee Company entailed a little more than smiling and looking pretty. Filling her lungs with air, Caroline launched into her defense. "I kept the books for the Sinclair Coffee Company for a year. I paid the bills, placed the orders—"
"No, Senhora," Ignacio managed to interrupt. "Because... well, you know the patrao, how he is. He likes to make all the decisions."
Caroline settled back into the comfortable leather chair. "Well, then he shouldn't stay away so long."
"I told him the same thing," Ignacio assured her. "When he finds out what you've done, he will—"
"He will be angry, I know!" Caroline rolled her eyes and gazed toward the ceiling as if beseeching heaven. "Everything I do or say or even think about doing or saying makes the patrao angry. I don't care! He's not here and I'm not as confident as you are that he will ever come back as long as—"
She cut her speech short before she blurted as long as I'm here.
"I must write to the patrao and tell him so he can hire another man while he is in Manaus," Ignacio told her, turning to leave.
"Wait!" Caroline cried, coming to her feet once again. How could she explain her need to keep busy? The opportunity to keep the books had come at a time when she desperately needed something to occupy her mind.
"Ignacio, please," she pleaded, trying to keep the urgency from her voice, "let me do it. Give me a month. If I don't do a good job, you can take a boat and go to Manaus to find someone yourself."
Ignacio scratched his head in indecision. "I don't like it. You should not anger the patrao."
"I only have to breathe to anger the patrao. Please, Ignacio. Maybe he won't be angry. Maybe he'll be glad I'm so resourceful. Besides, it'll save him money. He'll be happy about that, especially since I had to order a new water pump tor the beneficio."
"You did what?"
Stunned by the horror on Ignacio's face, Caroline felt a prickling of apprehension and prepared to defend her position once again. "It stopped working, so I sent an order back with the last mail boat. In the meantime, they've had to use a hand pump."
"Oh, Senhora, you shouldn't have done that!" Ignacio said, making the sign of the cross in front of his chest.
"Stop it!" Caroline snapped, anger pushing the momentary fear from her mind. "I had to. The fazenda can't operate without water power."
"Senhora, it is an old pump."
"Yes, I know," Caroline said, settling in her chair once again. "High time it was replaced."
"It breaks all the time."
Caroline nodded agreement. "My point exactly."
"It breaks, Luis fixes it. Master Jason isn't a man who spends money freely. He has had that pump for nine years."
"Freely? Surely he knows there are things he has to spend money on to keep the fazenda running?" Stony silence met her words. Gazing at the horrified Ignacio, her temper rose steadily. "Luis