He took a long draw on his hand-rolledcigarillo,let the smoke curl out through his slim, straight nose.
So this was Ramon’s blushing bride.
Not bad… for agringa.But then his cousin had always had good taste in women.
And he had been enjoying them freely for the last five years while Angel had been rotting in an Arizona prison. He thought of how many times he had wanted a woman only to have that woman choose his cousin over him. They had always been competitive, even as children. And even in the early days, Ramon had bested him in everything they’d done.
Angel scoffed. Why not? Diego de la Guerra was richer, more powerful than his own father was. Ramon was better educated. He was taller, and by far the better horseman. Women were drawn to his good looks and charm even as they scoffed at Angel’s less skilled attempts to woo them. When it came to Ramon de la Guerra, Angel had always come out second best.
Even Yolanda, his childhood sweetheart, had secretly pined for Ramon. She had told him so once, that she couldn’t marry him because she was in love with someone else. The fact Ramon didn’t want her hadn’t changed the fact that she wanted him.
Angel took a last draw on hiscigarilloand tossed it into the street, sending up a small puff of dust that extinguished the flame. He thought of the copper-haired woman and felt himself grow hard inside his buckskin breeches. He wasn’t the same callow boy he had been the last time Ramon had seen him. The last five years had seen to that.
He wanted the woman. He was a free man again and he meant to take what he wanted. It was time he evened the score.
***
Carly borrowed a leather-bound book,Pilgrim’s Progress,from a shelf in the hotel lobby, then returned upstairs to her room. She had meant to eat supper there, but the minutes seemed to drag and finally she gave in to the urge and went downstairs. The dining room wasn’t large, just a single long table down the middle with benches on each side and a few small tables around it, each with two spindly-legged chairs. She sat down in the one nearest the corner, and a buxom, smiling Mexican woman appeared.
“Senora de la Guerra. Your husband said you might join us. He said that we should take very good care of you while he is away.”
Carly smiled. “I know I should probably eat upstairs, but I… well, I thought it might be more interesting down here.”
“Of course, senora. Why should such a beautiful woman lock herself away in an empty room?”
Carly’s smile broadened at the encouragement.
“You are hungry, senora?” The buxom woman wiped her thick-fingered hands on the apron she wore over her robust hips.
“I’m starving. The walk I took earlier must have stirred up my appetite.”
“We will fix that, you will see. How would you like some nicechilenapie? The corn crust is golden, baked exactly right. I promise you it is delicious.”
“Thank you, that sounds wonderful.”
The woman scurried off to ready the meal while Carly surveyed the rest of the people in the room. Four of them were Spanish, a man and his wife and their two children; two were dressed as miners, in canvas breeches and flannel shirts, Americans down from the gold fields. Several men wore tail coats, businessmen or government officials. At a small tablenear the door, a lean, tough-looking man with wavy black hair and dark eyes sat with his back to the wall. She noticed he was watching her.
He smiled when her eyes caught his. Then he lazily came to his feet and began to walk toward her, his long strides easy and sure. He looked enough like Ramon that it took only a moment for her to realize exactly who he was.
“Senora?”
“Yes?”
“I am your husband’s cousin, Angelo. Do you mind if I sit down?”
“Why… no… of course not. I had heard some of his family was in town. I’m very glad to meet you.”
He pulled out a chair and sat down. He was shorter than Ramon, a little more slender, but wide-shouldered and hard-muscled, obviously well built. As Mac had said, the man was handsome, in a different, more austere way than Ramon, but attractive just the same.
“My cousin has left you here alone? It is not like Ramon to leave such a beautiful woman to fend for herself… especially not one who is his wife.”
“Something came up. He had to leave rather unexpectedly. I told him I’d be all right while he was gone.”
Angel smiled, his teeth flashing white, but it didn’t hold the kind of warmth Ramon’s smile did. “I am sorry I missed him. I only just arrived in town this afternoon.”
That wasn’t the impression she’d gotten from Mac. “Then your sister doesn’t know that you’re here?”
“Not yet. There was some business I needed to attend to first.”