“Enjoy the baile? You fling my proposal of marriage in my face, expect me to resign my position at the mint, then tell me to enjoy myself.” He juggled the rubies in his palm. “You won’t get away with this, Aurelia Mazón. Don Luís will set you straight.”
“Let me set you straight. Tío Luís does not control me or my family, regardless of what he or you might think. Now go, please, before you are the one who is sorry.”
He stuffed the rubies in his pocket and stomped back inside the ballroom. Aurelia stood gripping the rail, until at length she felt Carson behind her.
He reached around her shoulders, removed her hands from the rail, and drew her back behind the wisteria vines.
“You did fine, angel.” He pulled her tightly against him.
She buried her face in his silk jacket, while he ran a hand up and down her back, slipped it beneath the red stole, and massaged her through the boning and ribbing of her costume.
She squeezed her eyes tightly closed until the urge to cry subsided. She lifted her face to his. “I didn’t know it would be so hard.”
He feathered soft kisses across her face.
“He seemed so human,” she continued. “Like it mattered to him.”
Carson stopped, staring deeply into her eyes. “He’d be a damned fool if it didn’t matter.” Then his lips descended with purpose, and she gave herself up to his kiss.
How she had longed for his touch. Her arms went around him, drawing him near. Her lips opened to his search. “Does this mean we won’t have to stay apart anymore?” she sighed.
“After tonight,” he mumbled against her heated skin. “The parties are tonight, remember?”
“I will be at Pia’s. Maybe later…”
He laughed, then gave her a big smacking kiss. “Santos’s bachelor party is out of town at your father’s lodge. I can’t let him down.”
From behind the vines they heard the balcony door open. Footsteps crossed to the railing. Carson drew her face to his chest, holding her head protectively in the palm of one hand.
“Hey, you two. We got a reaction.”
At Santos’s voice, they stepped from behind the vines.
“He made a beeline for Tío Luís, whispered something in his ear,” Santos related. “Tío in turn spoke with Tía Guadalupe, whose face froze in an expression of pure anguish. Then the three of them stormed from the ballroom.”
Aurelia caught her hand to her breast. “You aren’t going to follow them? Please don’t…”
“Not tonight, angel. We promised your mother we wouldn’t skip the wedding festivities.”
“They can’t do much without us finding out,” Santos told her. “We hired Kino and Joaquín to watch Quiroz’s house. All we can do now is wait for somebody to make a move.”
“In the meantime, partner, you had best get back in there and dance with your bride-to-be.” Carson squeezed Aurelia to his side. “And I intend to dance with mine.”
At Carson’s insistence, Santos slipped back inside the door to signal the all clear.
“I have enough strikes against me with your father as it is,” Carson told them. “Don’t need to be caught spoonin’ on the balcony.”
“Spoonin’?” Aurelia asked after he approached her inside the ballroom, requested a dance, and twirled her onto the dance floor.
“Say that again,” he prompted. His warm brown eyes danced as merrily as his feet, causing her heart to skip at the sight of them.
“Spoonin’?” she asked.
“You sound every bit the Southern belle, ma’am.”
Laughter bubbled from deep inside her. “I don’t even know what it means.”
“Spoonin’ means courting.” He twirled her in great circles around the room.
Her feet fairly flew, until one corner of her stole, which had wound itself around her body, slid unnoticed to the floor. Her feet caught in it. She stumbled.
He caught her, juggled his own feet a bit, and found his footing. When he saw the stole dragging the floor, he ceremoniously unwrapped her and tossed it to an empty chair beside the dance floor. “That thing almost hog-tied us.”
She laughed again for the sheer joy of it. Then in the next moment, her heart fluttered at the sensual gleam in his eye.
“I like you better without those damned rubies.”
She wanted to squeeze him to her, she wanted to kiss him. She wanted it desperately. She wanted him desperately.
When they passed a door they both recognized, she nodded toward it, her eyes beckoning. “I’ll meet you in our room at the end of the hall.”
His feet missed a beat. He squeezed her hand. “You don’t know how tempting that is.”
“Yes, I do,” she whispered.
“But since I’m courting you now, I will make the arrangements.” He laughed. “And they will be designed to protect your good name.”
She tilted her chin. “I liked my way better.”
“So did I.” His husky voice revealed his own impatience.
The baile ended early, since the big day lay ahead.
“Remember what we told you,” Carson warned when they finished the last waltz. “Stay with the crowd. Not just one or two girls, but all dozen. Surely a dozen dizzy bridesmaids can quell any harebrained schemes you come up with.”
“You don’t think I take this seriously?”
His hand tightened on her waist, his eyes delved into hers. “I know you do, angel. But I can hardly stand to go off and leave you unprotected.”
She grinned. “Like you said, a dozen dizzy bridesmaids…”
Chapter Nineteen
Pia’s wedding day dawned on a dozen sleepy bridesmaids and one very nervous bride. They were awakened by a maid who gently shook Pia.
“Señorita, your mamá says you must arise if you are to finish the preparations.”
Aurelia, who shared the bed with her friend, sat up at the voice. She watched Pia run a small hand through her disheveled hair.
“Did you sleep at all?” Aurelia questioned.
Pia’s expression, a combination of awe, expectation, and fear, bordered on hysteria.
“Not a lot.” She began to vigorously pat her face, pinch her cheeks. “Oh, Relie. We shouldn’t have stayed up so late. My eyes will be lost in dark circles. I won’t be able to see to walk down the aisle.”
“Yes, you will.” Aurelia jumped from the bed. “Stay right there. I’ll fix you up.”
Pia moaned. “That usually means trouble.”
“Not today. Today I promise to be good as gold.” She issued orders to the maids, who were busy setting out juices and pan dulces for the roomful of sleeping girls. Stepping over first one heap of clothing, then another, she returned to the bed bearing two glasses of orange juice. “Drink this. I sent the maid to fetch compresses for your eyes.”
As soon as Pia sat up, Aurelia began fluffing pillows and stuffing them behind her. “Lean back now. Drink this and try to relax.”
Pia obeyed, then reached for Aurelia’s hand. “By the end of this day, we will be sisters.”
Aurelia hugged her friend, hoping to hide her own fears, which had plagued her through the long, mostly sleepless night. Was Carson all right? Was Santos? Or had Nuncio Quiroz made good his threat?
Desperately, she forced these concerns to the back of her mind, alongside the worry that Papá might somehow destroy her relationship with Carson. Today was Pia’s day. She must put aside her own worries and take care of Pia.
After a quick glance at the still-sleeping bridesmaids, Aurelia turned back to her friend. “Are you still frightened…about?…”
“Later, I probably will be,” Pia admitted. “Right now I’m too worried about everything else to think about it.”
Aurelia studied her a moment before dropping her eyes to her juice glass. She wanted to reassure Pia. She wanted to tell her not to be afraid…that it would be magical and wonderful. But she couldn’t say all that without telling Pia about herself and Carson. And she could never discuss someth
ing that personal—never again—not even with her best friend.
Except now she had a new best friend. And soon Pia would, too. “Pia, I’m sorry I badgered you. I shouldn’t have interfered. It was none of my business, and I…”
“You were trying to help, Relie. And you did.”
“No, your relationship with Santos is private.” She swallowed, studying the bottom of her empty glass. “I didn’t realize it, but…but I had no business discussing such a thing with you.” She gazed into her friend’s understanding eyes. “I’ve grown up a lot. I guess I really needed to.”
Pia hugged her around the neck. “Oh, Relie, I’m so glad you have found someone to love.”
The maid returned bearing the articles Aurelia had requested: a cold tea made of fresh Yerba Mansa leaves and several pieces of soft cotton wool.
“This feels good.” Pia waved toward her sleepy bridesmaids. “You all need compresses. And the men, too, I suspect. They probably need a lot more than cold compresses after drinking Rodrigo’s tequila.”
For the thousandth time, Aurelia stifled her fears over what might have happened during the night. What had Tío Luís done? And Enrique? And if they had done something, had Santos and Carson been so inebriated on Rodrigo’s tequila that they couldn’t defend themselves?
The other girls roused gradually. They laughed and talked, teasing Pia, helping her pack for her wedding trip, the destination of which, even though they bedeviled her mercilessly, she refused to reveal.
The house was abuzz with servants and hired workmen who traipsed up and down the stairs, preparing the Leal ballroom for the dinner and baile that would follow the evening wedding.
Sometime around mid-morning, the maid announced a visitor.
“Don Rodrigo Fraga to see Señorita Zita Tapis.”
While the other girls speculated on the budding romance, Aurelia had trouble keeping herself from rushing downstairs to quiz Rodrigo about Carson and Santos. Had anything happened during the night?
Zita returned before lunch, dreamy-eyed. “Carson told me I could catch a charro on my own,” she told Aurelia. “I think he was right.”
“Did Rodrigo mention Santos?” Pia asked. “He didn’t drink too much tequila last night, did he?”
Zita shook her head. “None of them did. Relie saved the day.”
Anxiety gripped Aurelia. “Me?”
“Your telling Enrique to get lost didn’t set too well with your father. He and your uncle burst into the lodge before the groomsmen had time for more than a couple of drinks. So you needn’t worry, Pia.”
“And?” Aurelia prompted. “What did Papá do?”
Zita shrugged. “Rodrigo said he was angry, no doubt about it. Santos and Carson left with him. The charros have all returned to your house by now.”
The plan had been for the girls to return to their homes before siesta. They would meet at the cathedral later in the afternoon, where they would dress together to avoid wrinkling their gowns.
Now Aurelia could hardly contain her eagerness to be on her way, but as she had promised, she waited for a carriage to come for her.
“Don’t worry a minute about all this ruining your wedding, Pia. I will take care of everything. You get some rest. I’ll see you at the cathedral.”
For all her assurances to Pia, however, Aurelia entered her own home with trepidation.
María took her satchel from Serphino. “Your mother wants to see you in the library, señorita.”
Her mother? What about the others? Fear rushed through Aurelia’s body like a house fire. Where were Carson and Santos?
The doorknob felt cold to her touch; she entered the dark-paneled room with her heart in her throat.
A whiff of cigar smoke struck her a nauseating blow. She looked immediately for Tío Luís, but saw only her mother and father, Carson, and Santos.
Carson and Santos.
Santos stood beside her father at the sideboard; Carson stood apart beside a wing-back chair. She studied him. He looked all right.
But he made no move to come to her, and when she started toward him, Santos intercepted her, guiding her to a chair nearer the desk. He set her down, then perched on the arm of the same chair. She struggled to rise, but he held her in place with a firm hand to her shoulder.
She glanced desperately toward Carson. “What happened? Are you two all right?”
He nodded, an almost imperceptible movement, but the warmth in his eyes reassured her.
Across the room Don Domingo poured a stiff glass of whiskey, downed it, and turned to Aurelia, scrutinizing her silently.
Santos spoke at her shoulder. “We’re fine, Relie. Tío Luís, Tía Guadalupe, and Enrique left this morning.”
“Left?” she whispered. Across the room, her mother sat with hands clasped in her lap. Her expression held neither anger nor sadness, merely a solemn resoluteness.
Aurelia turned her attention back to her father.
When he spoke, her mouth went dry at the anguish in his voice. “I should turn you over my lap, young lady, for pulling that foolish stunt. Robbing my own train. Twice.”
She felt her face flush. It was not what she had expected, what she had feared, yet to be chastised in front of Carson was humiliating enough to make her wish her father had ranted and raved.
“But I suppose I have to thank you for calling their hand,” Don Domingo continued. “Until you pulled off those stunts of yours, they were stealing from me and getting away with it. You worried them, Relie.”
His tone changed while he spoke. Rebuke gave way, if not to approval, at least to an awareness of the role she had played in saving his business.
“That you did,” he repeated. “You had them worried. They didn’t want someone else cutting into their profits, stealing from the ore trains.”
“They admitted it?” She listened, a bit dazed that while she had fretted the night away, the difficulties had been solved.
“No, Luís would never admit such a thing,” her father was saying, “but he hightailed it out of here bright and early, taking along his…his protégé.” His words drifted away, hanging heavy in the silent room. His hurt became obvious. More even than the loss of silver, he felt the loss of this man he had called hijo.
“I’m sorry about Enrique,” she said.
He stared at her a long time. Finally, he excused them, saying, “Run along now, all of you. We don’t need long faces on your brother’s wedding day.”
“Is it really over?” she asked Carson and Santos in the central patio.
“Looks like it,” Santos said.
“How did you convince Papá?”
“Showed him the books and assay reports,” Santos told her. “He was hard hit that he had turned his business over to Enrique so completely that he lost touch with the day-to-day working of it.”
“What about…Nuncio Quiroz?”
“Your father sent him packing,” Carson said. “That was the first thing he did after we convinced him of the setup. Said he’d had a hankerin’ to do that for a long time, but he had never been able to come up with a good replacement or a good enough reason for letting a family man go.”
“Family man.” She clasped her arms across her chest to keep their trembling from showing. Carson didn’t miss her distress, though.
He ran a palm over the top of her head, resting it on her shoulder. “We didn’t tell your father about…about the way Quiroz treated you.” He grinned, but his eyes remained serious. “Couldn’t risk a killing on Santos’s wedding day.”
“I’m glad. I don’t want anything to ruin the rest of this day.” She stood on tiptoe and placed her lips gently against his. “Or the rest of our lives.”
He responded with a tender but chaste kiss.
Santos cleared his throat. “We didn’t tell him about you and Jarrett, either.”
Her face fell.
“It wasn’t the time, angel,” Carson whispered. Santos left, and Carson kissed her again, this time soundly.
; “Are you going to be as understanding with me when I’ve been hurt as you were with your father back there?” His eyes probed hers, caressing, loving.
“What do you mean?”
“You said exactly what he needed to hear. Telling him you were sorry about Enrique.”
“I didn’t mean—”
“I know what you meant.” He kissed her again. “Your father did, too. To discover that the man you handpicked to take over your business and marry your only daughter had been planted by your brother-in-law to steal from you is a hell of a thing.”
With the mine problems settled, Aurelia no sooner touched the bed than she fell fast asleep, only to awaken an hour later with a new and terrifying thought.
The wedding would be over tonight. Carson would have no excuse for remaining in Catorce. They had made no plans.
And there was no chance to make them now, she discovered. When she hurried downstairs after siesta, Carson was nowhere to be found.
“I do not know, señorita,” Serphino answered her frantic question. “He and Don Santos have gone out.”
She considered going to her mother for help, but the moment she saw Doña Bella, concerned by the betrayal of her sister, harried over her last minute toilette, Aurelia knew she could not add any more weight to those sturdy shoulders.
By the time she arrived at the cathedral, she had forced all thoughts except of this joyous occasion from her mind. “Twelve dizzy bridesmaids…” she laughed, telling the girls what Carson had called them the evening before, “…and one beautiful bride.”
“Oh, I am…aren’t I?” Pia’s sentence ended on a high note of near hysteria.
“I’ve never seen anyone so beautiful.” Aurelia fluffed Pia’s mantilla, gently draping it from the high crown of the comb downward, across Pia’s satin-clad shoulder. “Don’t go getting nervous,” she consoled. “You need all your strength to drag this train down the aisle.”
The wedding music began, even more majestic and full-bodied than at the rehearsal.
The procession got under way, with one attendant after the other strolling in stately elegance down the long aisle. Their multihued gowns glimmered beneath the light of hundreds of candles.
Silver Surrender--Jarrett Family Sagas--Book Two Page 31
