GABRIEL HAWK'S LADY

by Beverly Barton

  A few miles along the trail, several vehicles waited, and another half-dozen men. Paz Santos stepped up into a battered jeep and issued orders to his driver. Some of the soldiers crowded into a Hummer. Hawk lifted Rorie into the cab of a truck driven by a boy she doubted was even eighteen, then Hawk jumped up and into the seat beside her.

  The vehicles roared down the bumpy mountain path, jostling Rorie from side to side. Hawk draped his arm around her shoulders and drew her close. She reached out and grasped his hand. He squeezed hers, reassuringly. She glanced at him and found comfort in his look of concern.

  Signs of recent clearing littered the old trail down the mountain. Hawk had no doubts now that Emilio Santos had somehow known not only Frankie's whereabouts, but that he and Rorie were headed to the mission for the boy. Santos's men, not Lazaro's, had destroyed the bridge that crossed the main roadway leading to the mission. Only a handful of people possessed the secret information about Frankie and about Rorie, and one of those people had betrayed them. But who?

  Mayari lay high atop the limestone cliffs, a secluded little village accessible by one main road leading to Vieques. Hawk remembered how well guarded that one entrance was—indeed, how completely secure the entire village was. Sentries were posted around the clock.

  Hawk would never forget the day Peter Dean and his young wife had been paraded through the village and beheaded in front of a cheering crowd. Santos's renegades and their families hated Americans almost as much as they hated King Julio.

  The truck stopped. A soldier opened the door and ordered Hawk and Rorie to step outside. Paz Santos waited for them at the entrance to the building Hawk recognized as Emilio's headquarters.

  "Follow me," Paz said. "Emilio will want to see you immediately."

  "Is Frankie here?" Rorie asked.

  "My brother can answer all your questions, señorita."

  Hawk clasped Rorie's hand in his. She took a deep breath and followed him up the wooden steps and into the square, stucco building. They walked down a dark, narrow hallway. Paz knocked on a door at the end of the corridor.

  The door opened and a young soldier saluted Paz, then stepped aside to allow him entrance. Paz motioned to Hawk and Rorie.

  Late-afternoon sunshine flooded the room through the two windows facing west. Despite the fresh evening breeze wafting in through the open windows, an overpowering odor of human sweat permeated the office. Except for the one armed guard at the door, the only other occupant was a small, wiry man in his early thirties, who sat behind a large desk. Rorie halted as she took a good look at Emilio Santos—her brother's murderer.

  Dark, almond-shaped eyes stared at her. Not moving a muscle, not batting an eyelash, Rorie stared back at him. Curly black hair snaked about his ears, meeting his sideburns that grew into his neatly trimmed beard. He stood and walked around the desk. When he smiled, Rorie's first thought was that this renegade killer was not as handsome or charming as General Lazaro.

  "Hawk, my friend." Emilio grabbed Hawk's shoulders, then glanced back and forth from Rorie to Hawk. "I never expected to see you in San Miguel again. Not after what happened."

  Rorie was surprised by how well the man spoke English. She watched with curiosity the friendly attitude Emilio displayed toward Hawk—even friendlier than Paz's.

  "I came on business." Hawk eased out of Emilio's grasp, but kept his gaze riveted to his face. "Personal business. I've brought Peter Dean's sister to San Miguel to get her nephew and take him to the United States."

  "Is Frankie here?" Rorie asked.

  Emilio turned his full attention to Rorie. "Your nephew is safe, señorita. Believe me, Prince Francisco is worth far more to me alive than dead. For now."

  Rorie wanted to strangle the man. She'd never felt such hatred for another human being, but then she had never met a monster like Emilio Santos.

  "Where is Frankie?" Rorie took a tentative step toward Emilio. Hawk moved quickly to stand at her side, his stance threatening.

  Emilio looked at Hawk, then smiled and nodded. "You are her bodyguard, sí. And more. She is your woman."

  Emilio laughed. Every muscle in Hawk's body tensed. A chilling sense of foreboding tingled up Rorie's spine.

  "She's my woman." Hawk slipped his arm around Rorie's waist. When he drew her to his side, she went without protest.

  "Since you are my old friend—" Emilio's wide smile revealed two chipped teeth "—and she is your woman, I will show you my hospitality. I will feed you and give you a place to rest for the night."

  "Where's Frankie?" Rorie tried to pull away from Hawk, but he held her firmly in place. "I want to see my nephew!"

  "Prince Francisco is not here in Mayari," Emilio said. "I have sent the boy into safekeeping with Rosa, until General Lazaro meets my demands."

  "What demands?" Rorie's stomach fluttered with nausea.

  "I have sent word to Lazaro that I have the boy," Emilio said. "And if the general will agree to join forces with me, to combine our armies, together we can defeat King Julio."

  "What part does Prince Francisco play in your scheme?" Hawk asked.

  "Lazaro will offer King Julio an exchange." Emilio slowly circled Rorie and Hawk, his gaze surveying Rorie from head to toe. "In Puerto Angelo, the king is safe. With his large army, he could hold the city and continue the war for a very long time. But if he brings his army out of Puerto Angelo for a meeting with Lazaro—a meeting to exchange the prince for a large amount of gold—well…" Emilio reached out and touched a loose tendril of Rorie's hair.

  Rorie drew back, unnerved by the man's bold move. Hawk stepped in front of Rorie. Emilio laughed.

  "I gave Hawk my word that his woman would be safe here," Paz Santos said.

  "She is safe." Emilio clasped Hawk's shoulder. "Both Hawk and his woman are safe … for now. But we must detain them for a while." He looked directly into Hawk's eyes. "I am giving you a secluded little love nest, in one of the caves on the other side of the village. You'll be alone for several days, perhaps a week or more. That will give you time to explain to her why you have kept the truth from her."

  Hawk knew Emilio would take great delight in telling Rorie all the details of Peter Dean's death, especially Hawk's part in her brother's execution. "You're going to detain us until King Julio meets with General Lazaro to exchange the prince for a fortune in gold. You're selling the boy to his grandfather." Hawk brushed Emilio's hand from his shoulder. "But what King Julio won't know is that you and Lazaro have joined forces. The king knows his army is an even match for Lazaro's, so he will feel safe in meeting with him away from Puerto Angelo."

  "You were always too smart for your own good. I knew you would figure out my plan." Emilio sized Rorie up, his gaze lingering on her breasts, just as Paz's had. "Perhaps when your woman knows the truth, she will prefer me to you?"

  "The king won't be expecting an attack from both rebel factions, will he?" Hawk knew that Emilio was toying with him, playing a deadly game, a game as sick and perverted as Emilio himself. The renegade killer was going to tell Rorie about Hawk's part in the deaths of Peter and Cipriana Dean, and there was nothing Hawk could do to stop him.

  "Once Lazaro and I join our armies in a common goal, the war will end quickly," Emilio said.

  He circled Hawk and Rorie again, edging closer and closer to Rorie. Hawk turned her quickly, keeping her out of Emilio's reach.

  Planting his hands on his slender hips, Emilio puffed out his chest and threw back his head. "I give you a choice, señorita. You may go into a dark, damp cave with Hawk or you can stay in my house with me, where you will be treated like a queen. Which do you prefer?"

  "You must be insane to think I would choose to stay with you." Rorie leaned into the protection of Hawk's big body.

  "Emilio, do not do this." Paz looked pleadingly at his brother. "It is not honorable."

  "I'm not an honorable man," Emilio said. "You know this about me. I am a man of action. A man who takes what he wants and does as he pleases. And it will please
me to see the look in Señorita Dean's eyes when I tell her that her man is not who she thinks he is."

  "You can't tell me anything about Gabriel that would change the way I feel about him." Rorie winced when Hawk's tenacious hold on her waist tightened painfully.

  "And how do you feel about Hawk?" Emilio's grin spread across his face. "You love him, sí? Would you love him if you knew he played a part in the deaths of your brother and sister-in-law?"

  A tingling numbness began in Rorie's face and slowly spread down her neck and through her entire body. A deadly shiver of cold pulsated along her nerves. She tilted her chin defiantly. "I don't believe you. You're a liar as well as a murderer."

  "Señorita, it is not the way Emilio would have you believe." Paz glared at his brother. "Hawk was on a mission for his government. Like any other man fighting for his country, he did what he had to do, just as you and I do what we must for the good of all San Miguel."

  Ignoring Paz completely, Emilio concentrated his attention on Rorie. "Your man was once a member of my army. He fought at my side. He was like a brother to me. He was one of the men I sent to kidnap Princess Cipriana and her husband on their journey to Puerto Angelo."

  Rorie turned to Hawk, her eyes questioning him. He returned her stare, the truth revealed in his dark eyes.

  "You—you helped kidnap Peter and Cipriana?"

  Hawk said nothing, only continued staring at Rorie. What could he say? Yes, I helped kidnap your brother and his wife. Yes, I did everything I could to save them. I sent word to Murdock to bring General Lazaro to stop Emilio's madness. I even tried bribing the guards. But in the end, I was powerless to stop their executions.

  "Paz, see that Hawk and his woman are taken to the caves," Emilio said. "Give them food and water and blankets—a last night of comfort. Then seal the entrance to the cave and post a guard. If Señorita Dean decides she prefers my company to Hawk's, she can tell the guard. Otherwise, she can live and die with her man."

  "I gave Hawk my word that she would be safe," Paz said. "Hawk understood that you might send him to his death, but he asked me to spare his woman's life."

  "His woman has a choice. If she chooses me, she lives."

  Rorie heard Emilio Santos's evil laughter. She understood every word of the Santos brothers' conversation. But a whirling sound and a queasy dizziness inside her head grew stronger and stronger. A rigid numbness claimed her body. When Hawk grasped her arm and pulled her along beside him as he followed Paz out of the room and into the hallway, she walked with him, her steps slow and awkward. Her legs felt heavy, her feet weighted down. She tried to think coherently, to reason, but her mind refused to cooperate. It was as if her brain had shut down temporarily.

  Once outside in the late-evening light, Rorie glanced around at the hive of activity in Mayari, but nothing held any meaning for her. As if in a trance, she allowed Hawk to lift her into Paz's jeep.

  Hawk squeezed her hand. "Rorie, honey, say something to me." When she stared at him with sightless eyes, he patted her cheeks. "Don't shut down like this. Don't let what Emilio told you weaken you. You're strong and brave and you can survive this."

  Rorie made no response by word or action. She knew she should say something, should ask Hawk a hundred questions, should cry and shout and rant and rave. But she felt only a deep, painful emptiness inside her.

  Following his brother's orders, Paz deposited Hawk and Rorie in a huge underground cave. He gave them a canteen of water, a small sack of fruit, two blankets and a couple of flashlights.

  They were being sent to their deaths. Hawk knew only too well what fate lay ahead of them if Emilio had his way.

  Standing outside the cave entrance, two soldiers at his side, Paz spoke to Hawk in English. "My brother does not know these caves as I know them. They run deep into the earth. When morning comes, find the river and follow it to the sea."

  Hawk nodded his understanding, thankful for Paz Santos's sense of honor, then he pulled Rorie away from the cave entrance. The soldiers and Paz rolled a large stone over the entrance, leaving only a few inches at the top exposed.

  Immediately, Hawk turned on one of the flashlights and set it on the ground, beaming it straight up at the foot-long stalactites hanging from the cave ceiling, their shapes reminiscent of large plant leaves. He spread out a blanket, clutched Rorie's arms and eased her down on it. Kneeling in front of her, he grabbed her shoulders and shook her soundly.

  "Snap out of it! Dammit, woman, we're not going to die in this cave. But I've got to have your cooperation to save us."

  "Is it true?" Crossing her arms over her chest, Rorie rocked back and forth.

  Hawk released his hold on her shoulders, then slumped down beside her. "Yes, it's true. I was on a mission in San Miguel. I was supposed to infiltrate Santos's renegade army and discover the whereabouts of a U.S. missile that had been stolen." He took a deep breath. "To make a long story short, I became an active member of the renegade army and took part in some things I'd prefer to forget."

  "Like kidnapping Peter and Cipriana?" The numbness in Rorie's body began to subside, leaving behind a tingling ache.

  "Murdock was my contact," Hawk said. "I got word to him as soon as I could that Santos planned to execute the princess and her husband. I knew that only Lazaro could stop Santos."

  "You didn't try to stop him?" she asked, her big blue eyes filled with tears.

  "Dammit, Rorie, I wanted to, but I knew that if I tried, all I'd wind up doing was blowing my cover and getting myself killed in the process."

  "So you did nothing? You let them kill Peter and Cipriana?"

  "I sent word to Murdock. I tried bribing the guards. I talked to Paz and together we tried to persuade Emilio to use Peter and Cipriana as a bargaining tool, the way he plans to do with Frankie now. But he wouldn't listen to anything we had to say. He was obsessed with beheading the princess and her husband and sending their heads to King Julio. Emilio's hatred for the king made him blind to reason."

  "The—the day they executed Peter and Cipriana, where were you? What were you doing?"

  The flashlight's glow filled the cave with wavy shadows. When Hawk looked at Rorie, his dark eyes begging for her understanding, the ghostly illumination revealed his shaded face. "I was bound and gagged."

  "Bound and gagged?"

  "Paz actually saved my life," Hawk said. "He suspected I'd do something foolish and get myself killed, so he had me bound and gagged and kept inside his house while the executions took place. He had no idea, at the time, that I was working for the U.S. government. He just thought I was a man with a conscience, who didn't want to see two young innocent people executed."

  "Why should I believe you?" Rorie asked. "You've lied to me all along—by omission. You should have told me the truth before you took the job as my bodyguard."

  The man she had trusted not only with her life, but with her heart, had been a part of the renegade army that had kidnapped and executed Peter and Cipriana. Hawk had allowed her to give herself to him, body and soul. He had taken her innocence and accepted her love. And all the while he had kept his horrible secret.

  "When I first agreed to this assignment, I didn't think it was important for you to know." He caressed her cheek with the back of his hand. She drew away from his touch. "I thought I owed you and your family something for not being able to save Peter and Cipriana. I thought that if I helped you save Frankie—"

  "You could ease your conscience."

  "I knew that sooner or later you'd find out. And I thought that if you could forgive me, I might finally be able to forgive myself."

  "You want my forgiveness?"

  "Yes. I want you to tell me that you understand why I did what I did. And I want you to tell me that you forgive me for not being able to save your brother and his wife."

  Elizabeth Landry's words echoed in Rorie's mind. I sense a true goodness in you. A goodness that can cleanse Gabriel's soul.

  Can my forgiveness cleanse his soul? Rorie wondered. No, forgi
veness alone did not possess the power to wash away the darkness hiding Gabriel's soul from him. Only love possessed that kind of power.

  "Can you ever forgive me, Rorie?" Hawk asked.

  Looking directly at him, she wiped the tears from her eyes. "You need more than my forgiveness. And I'm not even sure I can give you that much."

  * * *

  Chapter 15

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  Another person's opinion had never meant so much to Hawk. He hated the weakness in him that made him need Rorie's forgiveness and yearn for her love. He'd never given a damn what others thought of him. Had never given a second thought to how his actions might affect another—not until he'd been unable to prevent Peter and Cipriana Dean's deaths.

  And he hadn't wanted love. Hadn't needed love. He'd learned as a child never to depend on anyone except himself. Women came and went in his life. Disposable. Expendable. But Rorie was different. He needed her in a way he'd never needed anyone or anything.

  Why was it that when he'd finally found someone who mattered to him, she had to be the sister of a man he had helped Santos kill? Was this his punishment for a ruthless, destructive life? Was forgiveness as unobtainable for him as happiness?

  "Rorie?" Hawk reached down and lifted her hand in his.

  She jerked away from him, her eyes widening with anger. "Don't touch me. Please, don't touch me."

  The numbness in her body disappeared entirely, replaced by an unbearable emotional pain that consumed her. She was in love with a man who had been part of the renegade army that had executed Peter. Mentally, she could weigh every side of Hawk's situation when he had helped kidnap Peter, and she could understand that he'd done what he had to do. But emotionally, she could not accept his part in her brother's death.

  Rorie jumped up from the blanket and paced around in a wide circle. Wringing her hands together, she stopped and glared at Hawk. "How could you have made love to me? How could you let me fall in love with you? I hate you for not telling me the truth!"