by Smith, Bobbi
In accord, the four men settled down in their secluded fortress to see what move Cazador intended to make next.
Jennie sawed back on her reins and turned quickly to her father.
“Did you hear that? Steve! Which direction did those shots sound like they came from?”
“They were pretty faint, but I think they came from this way.” Steve took the lead, picking up the pace, but always with cautious intent. He was too experienced a tracker to rush foolheartedly into the unknown.
Todd followed close behind Jennie and Mac, but not before he glanced back to make certain that Carrie was all right. When he saw that she was riding safely with the rest of the ranch hands, he hurried after Jennie.
Todd’s eyes traced her feminine form as she rode fearlessly ahead with her father. Jennie was tall and gently rounded, a direct contrast to Carrie’s slender, petite beauty. He admired the expert way she handled her horse but thought at the same time that Carrie had done well riding with them, too. Jennie had felt so good in his arms, and she had actually kissed him! Carrie fitted into his arms perfectly and when their bodies mated ...
Todd gritted his teeth as he realized the game his mind had been playing, subconsciously comparing the two beauties. He was going to marry Jennie and that was that. He didn’t know why Carrie kept haunting him. What had happened between them had been an accident, and he had promised her that it would never happen again. But why then was she constantly on his mind? Why did his body yearn for her touch? And why was he constantly worrying about her and checking to make sure that she was protected?
He couldn’t have Carrie; he had already proposed to Jennie. And just as soon as she would have him, he was going to marry her.
Turning his thoughts to the danger they might be facing at any time, he put his heels to his horse and rode up closer to Mac.
Carrie rode silently with the armed men. Her thoughts were in a turmoil as she watched Jennie leading the way like some Valkyrie and Todd riding so close behind her. At least, she thought with some relief, there had been an extra horse for Jennie so she didn’t have to ride double with Todd.
She wondered if there was anything at all she could do to take Todd away from her sister, but she knew it was a useless cause. If he had proposed to Jennie, then he meant to marry her.
Carrie sighed as she acknowledged the truth of the situation. She had hoped by making her play for Todd and showing him how much she loved him that she would win his love, but all she’d done was make a miserable mess of everything.
Not that Todd looked particularly miserable, Carrie thought with irritation, for he had been fawning all over Jennie ever since they’d found her hours before.
Carrie supposed it was natural for a man, when he loved a woman, to want to be near her all the time, but it didn’t lessen her pain as she was forced to watch them together—talking and smiling—knowing that once they returned to the ranch it would only get worse. Carrie began to plan a trip back East again. She knew that she would never be able to stand idly by and watch as Todd married Jennie—not feeling the way she did about him.
Keeping her thoughts on St. Louis and New York and possibly even New Orleans, she lost herself in daydreams of glamor and excitement and allowed herself to forget, for the moment, Arizona, the desert, and Todd.
“Have they moved?” Lucia asked as Rick and Juan peered from their vantage point.
“No. Not yet.”
“Where is Chica?”
“She didn’t hide with Malo and the others. She rode in the opposite direction, down the canyon.”
“Good. She’s safe then.” Lucia was glad that Chica had not been caught in the crossfire.
“For now.”
“What are we going to do?”
“Wait until dark. They’ve got us pinned down and they know it. If we try to move in any direction right now, we’re dead.”
Lucia paled at his bluntness. “We can’t just sit here. You know how limited our supplies are.”
“We aren’t going to. As soon as it gets dark, we’re going to move again. Malo’s expecting me to shoot it out with them, not make a run for it.” Rick’s smile was not pleasasnt as he thought of the outlaw’s surprise in the morning when he discovered them gone.
Juan agreed. “Do you want to head back the way we came?”
“It’s more familiar territory for all of us. I think we might make better time if we go back. I know it’s the most direct way out of these mountains.”
“You know these mountains that well, Cazador?” Lucia looked at him questioningly.
Rick’s gaze was serious as he met Lucia’s searching eyes. “Yes.”
“But how?”
“I suppose it is time for the truth between us now. We are, it seems, in this together.” He exchanged knowing glances with his grandfather. “I am Ricardo Peralta, Juan’s grandson.”
“But—Male accepted you as El Cazador. How can that be? He would not make such a foolish mistake.” She was confused by his astounding revelation.
“I am El Cazador, too,” he explained, leaving her even more befuddled.
“But why? You had a family and—”
Rick’s expression darkened when she mentioned “family” for the memory of his father’s and Antonio’s useless deaths still had the power to cause him great anguish.
“It’s a long story and one better not retold,” Rick said solemnly, exchanging a look of mutual pain with Juan. “I was very young and foolish, and at the time, I thought living by the gun seemed a good way to spend the rest of my life.”
Juan looked quickly away from him, remembering the pain he’d felt when Ricardo had told him of his decision to leave El Rancho Grande. He could still envision the tense scene between them when Ricardo had approached him one afternoon in his study.
“Grandfather?” he had said in a deadly, monotonic voice as he’d come to stand before his massive desk.
“Yes, Ricardo? Is something wrong?” Rick hadn’t been himself since his return from the mountains, but Juan had held onto the faint hope that his strange mood would pass as he came to accept what had happened.
“I have something important to tell you.”
“Yes?”
“I am leaving.”
Juan had looked up at him in astonishment. How could he leave? He was the sole heir!
“It is impossible,” Juan had stated in his usual gruff style. “You are needed here.”
“Grandfather, this time I am not going to obey you blindly. I have to go. I cannot remain here. Not any longer. I’m sorry.” And Rick had turned and left the room without a backward glance, leaving him standing there, alone, speechless.
After Rick had gone, his own life had become a living hell. A broken, lonely old man, he had lived alone in the big hacienda and had turned the running of the ranch over to his foreman. The vigor and excitement that had once possessed him had drained away, leaving him bitter and miserable. He’d felt he’d had no reason to go on, no reason to exist.
Juan smiled now as he recalled the day Ricardo had come back to El Rancho Grande. Ah, the thrill of seeing him again after all those long solitary months! And Rick had changed in so many ways. No longer was he the carefree young boy Juan had chosen to remember. Instead, he had become a man: strong and hard and, if his reputation was anything to believe, ruthless.
There had been no awkwardness between them upon his return. Juan had eagerly accepted him back, and Rick had been enfolded in his love once again.
“From the reputation you managed to build, it must have been exciting,” Lucia was saying as Juan brought himself back to the present.
Rick shrugged, not wanting to discuss those years any further. “Let’s just say that I had to be very cautious about who I turned my back on.”
The silence of the seemingly endless afternoon fell heavily upon them as they waited for nightfall, drinking sparingly from their canteens and keeping a careful watch on Malo to make sure that he did not attempt to rush them.
They were a part of the land: the bronze, suntanned lengths of their meagerly clad yet powerful male bodies blending perfectly with the rawness of the desert terrain. They stood in unmoving spendor near the top of the ridge, listening to the wind and reading its message with an accuracy that was shared only by the beasts of the wild. They did not speak but remounted their barebacked ponies and rode swiftly in the direction of the gunfire.
“Damn.” Steve muttered under his breath as sundown spread its possessive shadows across the land. “We can’t go any farther tonight.”
“But Steve! Juan Peralta might be in trouble!” Jennie desperately wanted to come to the old man’s aid.
The foreman turned to Mac for his opinion.
“Jennie, darling, I’m sorry, but Steve knows best when it comes to tracking.” At his daughter’s crestfallen look, he hastened to reassure her. “But we’ll ride out again at dawn. All right?”
She nodded briefly, but her expression reflected her concern.
“Don’t worry, sweetheart.” Jake rode up beside her. “We’ll make it in time.”
“I hope so, Jake,” she told him as she gazed about at the rugged terrain that surrounded them, wonderng at the shots that had been fired, and, yes, worrying, in spite of her determination to put him from her mind, about Cazador.
“We’re stopping for the night,” Mac directed as they searched out a suitably protected area to use for their campsite.
Once the site was chosen, they settled in quickly and, this night, they built a small, warming fire. They ate in relative quiet, each person lost in thought as they stared into the flickering flames.
Carrie sat across the campfire from Jennie and Todd, watching in concealed frustration as he appeared to cater to her every whim. She controlled herself admirably while they ate, but when they stood up and moved off for a moment alone away from the revealing brightness of the fire’s light, she knew she had to get away. Excusing herself, she went to lie down, hoping that sleep would claim her exhausted body and give her the rest she so sorely needed.
Jennie sighed as she stared out at the myriad of twinkling stars. “It’s hard to remember how cruel this land is when the nights are so beautiful.” She felt secure with Todd’s comforting presence beside her.
“Jennie,” Todd said as he pulled her easily into his arms. “I was so worried about you.”
“I know all the trouble I put everybody through and I’m sorry,” she said.
“But you have nothing to be sorry for!” he countered and lowered his head to kiss her softly. “Jennie.”
His lips moved gently over hers, testing her response, before deepening their embrace. Jennie gave herself up to his kiss, wanting to enjoy his touch, hoping for the same explosion of desire that Cazador had wreaked in her senses, but the caress of Todd’s mouth was only pleasant, stirring no exciting emotion within her. Frightened by the thought that only that despicable gunslinger could excite her, Jennie panicked. Looping her arms about Todd’s neck, she sought his mouth more fervently, pressing closer and wriggling her slender hips suggetively against his.
Todd was surprised by her sensuous moves and wondered at her behavior. Was this the same woman who’d responded so coolly to him back at the ranch? It seemed to Todd that he had longed for this moment for an eternity and yet now that he had Jennie, willingly in his arms and very responsive, he felt oddly unaroused by her eagerness.
“Oh, Todd.” Jennie leaned back to look up at him. “When I thought you were dead, it was just terrible. Todd—”
“What?” He was gazing down at her, admiring her dark beauty, yet thinking how much more perfectly Carrie had fit against him. Maybe, he thought with hope, there was still a chance he could be with Carrie. Maybe Jennie still didn’t want to marry him and, in due time, he could somehow extricate himself from this very delicate situation.
“If your offer is still open, I’d love to marry you.”
Todd was caught momentarily dumbfounded. As reluctant as she’d been to accept his proposal back at the M Circle C, he had not been expecting this total about-face in her attitude.
“Er, of course,” he answered as quickly as he could, so she wouldn’t think that he had any doubts.
“Oh, good!” Jennie hugged him tightly. “Shall we tell Pa right away or wait until we can tell both him and Hildago together?”
“I think it would be better if we wait until we get back to the ranch. Then we can make a real celebration of it. How does that sound?”
“Fine,” she agreed and for some reason, she felt a sense of relief.
Carrie had been unable to rest. No matter how tired her body was, her mind was still racing, filled with thoughts of Todd and Jennie. Try as she might, she had not been able to wipe out the picture of them in a warm, loving embrace from her memory.
Desperately needing to be alone for a while, she wandered a short distance from the encampment. Carrie had not wanted to run into Jennie and Todd; in fact, at the moment they were probably the last people on earth that she wanted to see, but as she rounded a small boulder she found them in an intimate kiss.
Agonizing pain tore through her heart and with it a renewal of her hatred for her sister. Carrie knew she should move away and allow them their privacy, but for some reason she stayed, watching as Todd held her so tenderly after the kiss had ended and watching how Jennie gazed up at him with such undisguised adoration. It was then that she heard her sister’s words, and her greatest fears were confirmed.
“If your offer is still open, I’d love to marry you.” Fleeing hurriedly, Carrie moved silently through the night, seeking out a hiding place where she could shed the tears that demanded release. Blinded by her anger, eyes downcast, she rushed on, and it was only when she heard someone call her name that she stopped.
“Carrie!”
Wiping furiously at her eyes, she glanced back to find Steve coming after her.
“What do you want?” she demanded of him sullenly.
A knowing smile split his face, “What do you think? I saw you leave camp and I thought you might be missing me—now.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Carrie challenged, facing him angrily, her hands on her hips.
“You know you shouldn’t be out here alone, and since your boyfriend is going to be busy with Jennie, I thought you might have time for me.”
She groaned inwardly at his words. Had her feelings for Todd been that obvious? Did everyone know how she felt? Were they all laughing at her now that Jennie had returned to claim Todd? With as much dignity as she could muster, she met his gaze levelly.
“I’m sorry, Steve, but what we had is over.”
“You little bitch!” he seethed, reaching out to grab her by her forearm. “Is that your game? Use any man available until a better one comes along?”
“No! I’m not like that at all!” she denied hotly.
“Hah!” he snorted derisively as he gave her a violent shake and then released her. “Then why have you been so hot after Todd since we’ve been on the trail. Don’t think I haven’t watched you two. Don’t think I don’t know what went on when you went with him back to that mine.”
Carrie gasped and Steve smiled coldly.
“You may have the others fooled, but I know you, Carrie.”
“No you don’t! I—”
Steve mocked her viciously. “I should have followed my instincts in the beginning and never touched you. You mean nothing but trouble for a man.” Giving her one last disgusted look Steve turned and walked away.
Carrie stood unmoving as the harshness of his words settled over her. Had all the things he’d said about her been true? Was she really the way Steve had perceived her? Did she use men? Her tears began to fall freely as she leaned against a nearby boulder. She had never thought of herself that way. She had always thought that she was just having a good time. It had never occurred to her that her behavior might hurt someone else. She had been so sure that no one cared about her that she had given little thought to the r
esults of her actions, living only for the day and nothing more. Little else had truly mattered to her until Todd.
When once again she was in control, Carrie made her way quietly back to her bedroll. This time, sleep came quickly.
Jake lay on his back staring at the night sky, his arms folded behind his head. His thoughts were serious as he pondered the wisdom of his earlier decision not to reveal Rick’s identity. He did not want his friend to be mistaken for one of the bandits, and he knew he should speak with Mac and Steve about him in the morning. They would probably catch up with them soon, and he wanted to make sure that Juan and Rick both came out of this uninjured.
Rick’s disguise, Jake mused, must have been very effective for Jennie had seemed convinced of his status, and she was certainly no fool. He wondered idly, just before he drifted off to sleep, what his little sister’s reaction would be when she found out that El Cazador was really Peralta’s grandson and his own good friend.
Chapter Twenty
The night’s black grip tightened on the mountains, strangling all light from the land. Its hold was unrelenting and while some cursed its power, Rick, Juan, and Lucia gave thanks for its coming.
The absence of the moon both hindered and helped them in their flight. Without its guiding brightness, they made very slow progress across the difficult terrain, yet the lack of that light is what made their escape possible. Staying close together, they crept along at a snail’s pace across the rock-strewn mountainside, taking care that each footfall was on solid ground. The huge saguaro cacti loomed grotesquely above them as they clawed their way across the arid land, and Lucia could barely control her tremors of fear as each monstrous shape took menacing form in the darkness. All precaution was taken to avoid any unnecessary noise that might accidentally alert Malo.
They had been on the move for long hours when it happened: The flat supportive rock that had first served Rick and Juan so well shifted under Lucia’s slight weight, and she fell heavily, tumbling wildly some distance down the rocky slope.
