Untamed Fire Page 29

  Gaby wrapped her arm around Rosalita’s as they walked. “I had my doubts; I couldn’t help it. After all, who would think Rafael Cabrillo could love me?”

  “You’re wrong. It should be who would think Gaby Alvardo would love Rafael Cabrillo,” Rosalita corrected.

  Both women laughed.

  “Are you sorry you’re a Galvez?” Gaby asked.

  “No, I’m not. At least now I know who I am, after years of wondering.”

  “You know you weren’t really part of the family that cared for you?” Gaby asked incredulously. The Alvardos had never made her feel as if she did not belong. To them she had been their child and they treated her as if she had been their own. Gaby suddenly ached, feeling the loneliness Rosalita must have suffered.

  “They did their best,” was all she would say. “We’re supposed to meet Mother in a few minutes. Remember we promised her?”

  Gaby nodded. “Do you think she had anything to do with our abduction?”

  “You mean in trying to protect us in some way?”

  Gaby shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s just that I get a strange feeling that she wished we had never been found.”

  “That she’s more interested in herself?”

  “You get that feeling too?”

  “I certainly do,” Rosalita agreed. “She talks so much about Spain and its splendor that I wonder what is really important to her.”

  “And do you see the way she looks at Don Felipe when he orders her to do something?”

  “She looks as though she wants to kill him.”

  Both women stopped walking and stared at each other.

  Rosalita spoke first, expressing exactly what was on both their minds. “Do you suppose we presented some kind of threat to her?”

  “Perhaps money had something to do with it.”

  “Do you think she would have gotten more if we weren’t around?”

  Gaby bit at her lower lip for a moment. “I suppose our dowries—I should say your dowry—is substantial.”

  “But she probably still would have been well provided for,” Rosalita added.

  “Then it had to be something—when discovered—would have caused her great harm.”

  Rosalita nodded in agreement. “But want? What could be so harmful to her?”

  “I don’t know, but perhaps on our ride we can ask questions that will help us better understand her.”

  “Then let’s hurry,” Rosalita said, pulling Gaby along.

  ~~~

  Dona Maria poured each woman a cold glass of lemonade as they sat in the shade of the large tree whose branches hovered over the table in the courtyard.

  “Dona Isabel was extremely upset that she couldn’t keep the riding date with you girls. Her headache has grown worse and she has taken to her bed for the remainder of the day.”

  “I do hope she feels better tomorrow,” Rosalita said.

  “I’m sure she will. She asked me to have you both join her for the noon meal tomorrow. She wants to be able to speak with the two of you alone.”

  “What about you, Dona Maria?” Gaby asked.

  “You mustn’t worry about me any longer, Gaby. It is no longer your job, although I do appreciate your thoughtfulness.”

  Gaby hesitated a moment, not certain if she should speak what was on her mind. “Dona Maria, does it upset you that I will become Rafael’s wife?”

  The older woman reached her hand across the table to Gaby’s and squeezed it. “Child, I am proud that you are going to become my son’s wife. He needs someone like you and, most importantly, he loves you. I cannot wait for the grandchildren you both will give me. They are going to be little devils and I will love every one of them.”

  Gaby was pleased by her words and wished she could tell her a grandchild was already on the way. But she had promised Rafael the secret would be theirs until they decided otherwise.

  “I thought perhaps since I wasn’t exactly the type of woman you had in mind—”

  “Nonsense,” Dona Maria interrupted. “I was a foolish old woman set in her ways. You made me realize what beauty there is in all different people, and Dona Isabel only confirmed the reason I had wanted to leave Spain in the first place. Ramon and I had become discouraged with the ruling class in Spain. We both yearned for a more simple way of life. When Eduardo Ortega wrote us, detailing the beauty of the land, we didn’t hesitate. I love this land and its people. I just needed to be reminded.”

  “I knew there was a hidden strength in you the very first time I saw you.”

  Dona Maria wrinkled her nose in distaste. “That woman in the wheelchair was a pitiful sight. I cringe just thinking about her and am grateful that she no longer exists.”

  “She was strong. It didn’t take her long to realize what she was doing to herself,” Gaby said.

  “No, it didn’t, especially when she was given a gentle, but determined nudge,” Dona Maria added with a soft smile.

  “How nice to be loved so much,” Rosalita said tearfully.

  There was something wrong, Gaby could feel it. Rosalita remarked too often about being loved. Gaby had the distinct feeling love was one thing that was painfully missing in Rosalita’s life.

  “You must join us tomorrow, Dona Maria.” Rosalita insisted. “It isn’t fair that you will have your meal alone.”

  Dona Maria blushed. “I won’t be having it alone. Senor Serra is picking me up in the morning and we are going to his ranch for the day. He is having a few neighbors over,” she quickly added, making certain that the women knew that they wouldn’t be sharing the day alone.

  “How wonderful,” Gaby said. “He is such a nice man.”

  “Very nice,” Dona Maria said with a satisfied smile.

  “Gaby, I wish to speak with you!”

  She didn’t jump, startled by Rafael’s stern voice, as Rosalita and Dona Maria did. She was too accustomed to him by now to allow his stern manner to surprise her.

  “Rafael,” she cried and rushed to his side to give him a kiss on his cheek. “Thank you so much for allowing us to go to town this morning. We had such a wonderful time.”

  Rafael tried to hide the grin that was fighting to surface. She was purposely trying to divert his annoyance, and she was doing a damn good job of it. He had never expected her to openly display her affection for him and he found that he liked it... liked it very much.

  “I want to speak with you,” he said with as much sternness as possible.”

  “First join us for some lemonade,” she insisted, tugging him along beside her. “It is hot, and you should take a moment to have a cool, soothing drink.”

  He found himself at the table and suddenly deep in conversation about their wedding. He didn’t know how it happened, or how the subject got started, but there he was planning along with his mother and Gaby, while Rosalita kept commenting on how beautiful the wedding would be.

  “Enough!” Rafael finally yelled.

  Gaby couldn’t help but grin sheepishly.

  He leaned over to her and whispered. “You’re going to pay for this.”

  “Promise?” she whispered back, and Rafael felt himself harden.

  “Mother, Rosalita, will you please excuse us?” he said and prepared to stand.

  “Stay, Rafael,” his mother said. “Rosalita and I haven’t had a chance to talk. We’ll go to my sitting room.

  “He won’t hurt her, will he?” Rosalita whispered to Dona Maria as they left.

  “He loves her. He would never hurt her.”

  “Even when someone loves, he can hurt,” Rosalita said, and Dona Maria wondered who had loved the young girl and hurt her all at once.

  “What have I done now?” Gaby asked in a resigned tone.

  “You upset Padre Pablo.”

  “You mean I finally got the truth out of him.”

  Rafael shook his head and ran his hand across his face in frustration. “You were to stay out of this and leave everything to me.”

  “You lied to me,” she said.<
br />
  “It was necessary.”

  “I have a right to know who I am.”

  “I agree.”

  “You should have told me.”

  “When the time was right, I would have.”

  “Is the time right?” she asked softly.

  He took her hand. “Come with me.”

  Gaby didn’t ask where. Rafael didn’t think she would, and he was glad for that meant she trusted him.

  He took her into the grape arbor, deep into the center. It was cool and silent. They sat on the stone bench that bordered the trellis where the grapes hung the heaviest.

  Rafael sat next to her, holding tightly to her hand. He looked uncertain, yet so handsome. His white shirt was open at the neck and Gaby wanted to touch her lips to his throat and taste the heavy pounding of his pulse. But she refrained herself and sat silently, waiting.

  “I lost Annabelle Galvez a long time ago. There was nothing I could do to save her. I was too young, too full of dreams. At first I thought if you were Annabelle it would solve all our problems, but then I realized it would only create more.”

  He turned and looked at her. “I fell in love with you, not the tiny baby who had long ago clung to my finger. She was gone, lost long ago, and through no fault of mine.”

  “Rafael—”

  “Shhh,” he said, pressing his finger to her lips. “Let me finish. I have thought much about the things you have said to me. We do make our own choices, for whatever reason. Anna chose to protect our son with her life. I chose not to go that day, and if I had, I would have chosen to die protecting them. I cannot go on thinking of what would have been; I can only think of what is now. And now means you and me. I will do all I can to protect you always... but I know,” —he stopped and smiled— “you will be obstinate and do as you wish thereby making your own choices, wrong or right. I ask only one thing now.”

  She waited for him to continue, feeling more love for him now than ever before.

  “You and Rosalita are in danger. Where this danger comes from I am not certain, and I ask that you be careful and take no chances.”

  Gaby squeezed his hand. “I can try.”

  “Trying may get you hurt,” he argued.

  “It may, but I need to help Rosalita. There is sadness about her and I don’t know why. But perhaps in uncovering her past she will be able to face her future.”

  “Then I will handle it.”

  “With my help.”

  “You are stubborn.”

  “I’ve been told repeatedly.”

  Rafael grabbed her by the arms and pulled her into his lap. He cradled her firmly in one arm while his other hand pressed against her belly.

  “I want nothing to happen to you or our child.”

  “I’ll be careful,” she promised.

  “Not good enough this time,” he insisted. “This time you will listen.”

  Thinking there was nothing he could do to stop her, she grinned and said, “What could you possibly do to me if I don’t obey you?”

  He brought his face close to hers. “I could lock you in the shed—tie you up—make love to you until you slept from exhaustion, and when you woke do the same to you again until I solve this problem.”

  She shivered from his suggestion. The thought of being locked and tied away angered her, yet the idea of him making love to her under forced circumstances held a touch of sensuality to it, and she couldn’t help but respond to the strange stimulant.

  “Sounds appealing?” he whispered near her ear.

  “Of course not,” she fibbed, squirming.

  “I like the idea of having you helpless beneath me, my hands free to do as they wish, my tongue free to—”

  “Stop it,” she warned him.

  “Why? Does it excite you?”

  “No, it doesn’t excite me to be held a prisoner,” she demanded while silently praying for forgiveness for her lie.

  He ran his hand down her thigh. “Then if I touch you, you won’t be wet and ready for me?”

  She shivered once again. Damn, but his words always managed to ignite her passion. “No, I won’t” she said stubbornly and slapped at his hand.

  He laughed and slipped beneath her skirt anyway.

  “I said, stop that,” she insisted, slapping at his hand again.

  “Shhh, querida, and think about yourself tied down, hot and ready beneath me.”

  She stiffened, unable to stop herself from envisioning the sensually seductive scene.

  “See the walls of the shed around you, feel your hands tied tightly above your head, your legs spread apart waiting for me.”

  His words were powerful intoxicants. Her body responded to each, and the coolness of the arbor suddenly became heated like that of the shed blistered in the afternoon sun.

  Gaby wasn’t certain how he did it and she didn’t care. She just knew she felt good naked against the earth, his body covering hers, her hands held tightly clenched in his above her head.

  He touched her with his hands, teased with his tongue, tormented with wicked promises, until she begged him to stop.

  “You don’t want me to stop, querida. Do you?” he whispered. “You don’t want me ever to stop.”

  He slid into her then, so slowly, so gently, that Gaby sighed.

  “You feel good,” he murmured. “So damn good.”

  Then he moved with more force, urging her to do the same.

  “Harder, harder,” he demanded, and she obeyed.

  He wouldn’t let her release right away. He wanted it to last. He wanted it to build. He wanted her total surrender.

  She gave it... and so did he.

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  “You want me to have it?” Rosalita asked in disbelief.

  “It belongs to you,” Gaby answered, holding out the Galvez cross to her.

  Rosalita sat on Gaby’s bed, staring at it. “But Padre Manuel gave it to you. He must have wanted you to have it for a reason. I cannot take it.”

  Gaby took Rosalita’s hand, placed the cross in her palm, and closed her fingers over it. “The only reason I can think of the padre giving it to me was for protection. He knew how obstinate I was and thought, rightfully so, that I would never let anyone take it from me. One day he knew I would find out and make certain the true Galvez twin received it.”

  Rosalita blinked back the tears that threatened to spill.

  Gaby squeezed her hand, pressing the cross into her palm. “Let me fulfill his unspoken request. Take the cross. It is yours.”

  Rosalita placed the gold chain around her neck, slipping the cross beneath her blouse. “I will keep it always and reflect often on the person who gave it to me and pray for a small bit of the courage she possesses.”

  “You have courage. You just need the self-confidence to use it.”

  “I am not as brave as you,” Rosalita said. “Although I wish I was.”

  “Do not be afraid to speak your mind,” Gaby said with a reassuring pat to her hand.

  Rosalita considered her words. “It isn’t always possible to do that.”

  “No, it can prove difficult, but you must not give up. You must be determined.”

  Rosalita stood and smiled. “I will think of your iron will when I face such a moment.”

  Gaby laughed. “Then you are sure to succeed. Now we had better go. It’s time to meet Dona Isabel.”

  Rosalita followed Gaby out the door. “I gave some thought to the kidnapping, since I found sleep difficult last night.”

  “I did too. And the only thing that haunted me was that four people who were present when it happened are present again.”

  “I was thinking the same thing. Dona Isabel, Don Felipe, Dona Maria, and Rafael were all present during the kidnapping. So it would seem sensible that one was involved.”

  Gaby agreed. “And we know Rafael and his mother had no part in it, and it’s safe to assume that Felipe was ignorant of the plan as well. That leaves one person.”

  “It also leaves the r
eason. Why would she want her own babies dead?”

  Gaby noticed Rosalita still referred to them both as the twins. Was she that hungry for love?

  “There’s one other thing we’ve overlooked.”

  “What’s that?” Rosalita asked.

  “She hired someone to find us, either recently, or has always had someone looking.”

  “We’re in danger, aren’t we?”

  “Not if we’re careful. Besides, I think it’s about time we confronted Mother and see her reaction,” Gaby said with a smile.

  “She may deny everything.”

  “I think we should take the chance.”

  “Yes, you’re right. And my time here is running short.”

  “You must return soon?”

  “Very soon,” Rosalita emphasized.

  They walked into the dining room and Isabel’s eyes opened wide.

  “How darling, dressing identically,” she said, her eyes fixed with annoyance on the bright yellow skirts and blouses they wore. They even had the same colored sash around their wrists, vibrant orange. Only their hair was different. Gaby wore her usual braid and Rosalita wore her waves tied back with a yellow ribbon.

  “We thought you would appreciate it,” Gaby said, twirling about to demonstrate the fullness of her skirt.

  “They suit you perfectly,” she said and stiffened her posture. Her appearance was far from plain. She wore a lilac dress with layers of lace from the waist down. A lilac mantilla sat over a pearl comb that hugged the back of the top of her head, and a pearl necklace hung to her waist.

  “The servants are lacking in their duties today,” Isabel said. “I have been here for several minutes and have not yet seen one.”

  “That’s because I requested them to hold the meal,” Gaby explained and took a seat opposite Dona Isabel while Rosalita took a seat next to Gaby.

  “Oh how wonderful, a mother-daughter talk,” she said with more sarcasm than enthusiasm.

  “We thought it was about time,” Rosalita added.

  “Yes, I think it is past time,” Isabel replied.

  Gaby didn’t wait. She had had enough of this cat-and-mouse game. “Why did you want us dead?”

  Isabel didn’t even flinch. “You mean you haven’t figured it out yet? I was sure I gave you enough time. You did seem extremely bright. I didn’t think it would take you long.”