Her head came up, golden lamplight shining on her fiery auburn hair. His body stirred at the shapely curves outlined beneath her thin white nightgown.
“You speak of the past so lightly,” she said. “But it is more important than that. Have you considered that if I came back, sooner or later, there would be children? Mixed blood children, Ramon, part Anglo, part Spanish. How would you feel about that? Would you love them less because their mother was agringa?”
He moved toward her, gently gripped her shoulders. “Madre de Dios,I cannot believe I have done this to you—made you doubt the very heart of me. Do you really believe I would not love our children?Santo de Christo,I cannot imagine a sweeter, more beautiful child than a little girl like her mother. Or a son with your courage and strength.”
A sheen of tears appeared in her eyes. She blinked and pushed them away. “I’m not courageous, I’m a coward. I’m frightened that if I come back I might lose you again, and if I did, I wouldn’t be able to bear it.”
He pulled her back into his arms, kissed her eyes, her nose, pressed a soft kiss on her mouth. “You will not lose me. I have made mistakes, but I am not a stupid man. I will not make those same mistakes again. I love you. If you will come home, I will prove how much every day for the rest of our lives.”
The wetness reappeared. A single tear slid down her cheek. “I need time, Ramon. I keep hearing those things you said, those terrible names you called me. I keep thinking—”
“Do not say it. I know the kind of man I am. I know that I can be ruthless, at times I can even be cruel. I have learned to be as I am, but it is not truly my way.” He raked his hands through his hair, his muscles taut with frustration mixed with rising desire. “I am not saying I am an easy man to live with. I know I have a very bad temper and I can be arrogant at times.”
A corner of her mouth curved faintly. “Yes, you can be quite arrogant at times.”
“Am I really so bad, Cara?”
She looked into his eyes, seemed to probe deeply inside him. “You’re obstinate and overbearing. You’re demanding and nearly insatiable in bed. And you’re the most wonderful man I’ve ever known.”
“Cara…” His heart expanded with love for her. He wanted to carry her over to the bed, to take her as he had the last time he had been there. He wanted to bury himself in her tight, damp heat, to feel her trembling beneath him. He wanted to claim her, possess her, make her admit that she was his. Instead he ignored the pulsing in his loins and forced his mind to think of the reason he had come.
“I will be back for you as soon as I have freed the men. When I do, I will not let you refuse me, even if I have to carry you away.”
She cupped his cheek in her palm and he felt the trembling of her hand. “Be careful, Ramon. I wouldn’t want to live if you were killed.”
He drew her against him and kissed her with savage force, thrusting his tongue into her mouth, claiming her as his. She belonged to him and he wanted her to know it. “I will come back for you,” he said in a voice gone rough, “I swear it.”
He wished he could stay, but his men were depending on him. He shouldn’t even have come, but he’d had to see her one last time. The plan he intended was bold and dangerous. The odds were greatly against him. Yet his friends’ lives depended upon him, and he meant to save them if he could. He kissed her again, quick and hard, then crossed the room, went over the sill, and slipped quietly to the ground. In minutes he had disappeared into the darkness.
If he rode hard, he would reach the cave at Arroyo Aguajes by midday tomorrow. The others were there, he knew, word had come through one of his vaqueros. Just as a message had arrived from Alejandro de Estrada, telling him his efforts in finding the old church records had all been in vain.
After examining the documents, the Land Commission refused to alter their findings. They would not reopen the case. There was no legal way, Don Alejandro’s missive said, the de la Guerras could win back Rancho del Robles.
And illegal methods had not worked. The raiding they had done had not begun to weaken Fletcher Austin’s power or that of the other Anglos in the area. Though Andreas had believed they had a chance, Ramon had known from the start they could never defeat their enemies that way.
The past was over. One way or another, El Dragón’s days were at an end. Just one last foray into the night, one last raid to free his men, and his outlaw days were finished. If he could survive one more night—and if Angel had not betrayed him again—he had a chance to put all of this behind him. He could fetch his wife home and make a life for them at Las Almas. It wasn’t the life they would have had at del Robles, but Carlydidn’t seem to mind and if she could be happy, then so could he. Together they would build a future, have children, be content.
One more raid, he told himself as he swung up on the saddle of the big blood bay that would carry him to Arroyo Aguajes where his tall black stallion stood waiting.
Just one more raid.
If he could somehow manage to stay alive.
***
Carly barely slept that night. She was too worried about Ramon. He would be riding into San Juan Bautista, confronting the sheriff, risking his life to save his men. She had not tried to stop him. She knew him too well for that. He loved Pedro Sanchez like a father, and the other men were his responsibility as well. At least that was how he would see it.
She dressed in the sapphire blue riding habit that came with the things Two Hawks had returned, but much of her clothing and personal items remained at Las Almas. Why Ramon kept them she wasn’t sure. For herself, she had left them there on purpose, unable to sever her ties with him completely. It was a small thing, yet it gave her some connection with the place she still thought of as home.
Thinking of the people she missed at Las Almas, Carly left the house and made her way to the stables. She needed some time to herself and riding had become the means to that end.
“Jose, are you in here?” she called out, and the tall vaquero who worked with the horses stuck his head out of one of the stalls.
“Si,senora. I am here.”
“I wish to go riding. Would you saddle me a horse?”
He grinned so wide, she could see the white of his teeth even in the shadows of the barn. “Si,senora, I have just the one.”