Someone Like You (Night Riders) (17 page)

Maria looked shocked, horrified, and embarrassed. Rafe hadn’t realized she was an even better actress than Dolores.

“I didn’t do any such thing. I’d
never
do anything like that.”

He had to give her credit for staying in character. How did a woman project such hurt, such honest incredulity, when she had a heart as black as coal? Wasn’t there supposed to be some sign, some small but significant detail to indicate a person’s true nature? If so, he’d missed it with both sisters. “It doesn’t matter what you would or wouldn’t do. I’m not going to marry you.”

“I wouldn’t marry you if you asked me.”

“He won’t have to ask you,” Dolores declared. “I’ll make sure the sheriff has him at the church if they have to put him in chains.”

It was time to end this charade. “You miscalculated when you attempted to catch me in your trap,” he said to Maria. “I don’t intend to take as much as a penny from my inheritance. If you’d managed to force me to marry you, you’d have been married to a pauper.”

“As your wife, Maria will be entitled to anything you inherit, whether you want it or not,” Dolores told him.

Maria turned impatiently to her sister. “Be quiet, Dolores. Rafe did not dishonor me, and he didn’t force me to kiss him. To my eternal shame, I kissed him back.”

Rafe was too disgusted with himself, with the whole situation, and too mistrusting of both sisters, to believe Maria’s words were any more than an attempt to save face.

“You can stop the playacting. It won’t do either of you any good.” His gaze narrowed on Maria. “Here I was telling myself that Luis was lucky to have you, that I could leave him in your care with a clear conscience, and all the time you were plotting to get control of the ranch.”

He had to give Maria credit for carrying on the pretense.
Her show of anger and wounded innocence was worthy of a professional actress.

“Luis
is
lucky to have me, and you
can
leave him in my care with a clear conscience. In fact, the sooner you leave the better. I don’t know what came over me to allow you to kiss me. Your past behavior is not something I can admire or accept.”

“The prospect of a large fortune can make a woman overlook a lot of sins.”

“Nothing can make me overlook rape.”

It took a moment for Rafe to realize Maria wasn’t acting, that she meant what she said. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about your raping Dolores to try to force her to marry you. I’m talking about your being Luis’s father but having run off and left your father to marry Dolores to give the boy a name.”

Rafe didn’t allow himself to move for several seconds. His understanding of the situation was changing so rapidly, it was like trying to walk on quicksand, but one thing was abundantly clear. Dolores had lied—again.

“I told you never to say anything about that.” Dolores was clearly agitated.

Maria threw Rafe a contemptuous look. “I’m sure Rafe would be the last person to want this secret to become public knowledge. I’m sure rapists aren’t welcomed even in Texas.”

Rafe got his rage under control by intentionally closing Dolores out of his range of vision and focusing on Maria. “I didn’t rape Dolores. Except for a few kisses, she never let me touch her.” He held up his hand when Maria started to object. “I found my father in her bed in the act of…” He couldn’t complete the sentence. The image still had the power to nauseate him. “You don’t have to take my word for it. I created such an uproar, half the servants in the house had reached the room before they could separate.” He took a deep breath to slow his racing heart. “I left when my father told me he was going to marry Dolores and that I couldn’t
remain on the ranch unless I could treat her with respect.” He glanced at Dolores and was pleased to see her looking scared and unsure of herself. “I think I could have forgiven them if it had been the only time, but apparently Dolores’s notion of helping my father through his grief had been to take him to her bed as often as possible.”

During his recital, Maria’s gaze had swung back and forth between him and Dolores. He didn’t know if she was finally realizing her sister had lied to her, but he was so disgusted with himself that he didn’t care what she thought. He did, however, wonder about Dolores’s motivation. “Why did you tell your sister I raped you and I’m Luis’s father?”

“I didn’t lie.” It was a feeble denial, but everything about it convicted her.

“Rosana and Juan will back me up. Miguel didn’t see the actual evidence, but my father told him what he’d done.”

“Is this true?” Maria demanded of her sister.

Dolores didn’t answer.

“Why did you lie to me? I hated Rafe for what I thought he did to you.”

“But you changed your mind when you thought you saw a way to get control of the ranch,” Rafe accused.

Maria rounded on him. “I changed my mind when I got to know you. You were completely different from what I expected. Broc admires you, Luis thinks you’re perfect, and everybody on the ranch thinks you can do no wrong. I convinced myself you’d run away because of what you’d done to Dolores. I didn’t know your father had…” She didn’t finish the statement. “Everything I saw in you led me to believe you regretted what you’d done, would have changed it if you could, would never allow yourself to lose control like that again. It wasn’t easy, but I was willing to try to forget what I believed was a momentary and uncharacteristic aberration in your behavior.”

Rafe wasn’t sure how he felt about what Maria had said, but he was certain how he felt about Dolores. “You’ve always
been a liar and a manipulator,” he said, turning to her, “but this time you’ve gone too far. I’m giving you one month to leave the ranch. I don’t care where you go, but if you’re not gone by then, I’ll have you thrown out.”

“I’m your father’s widow,” Dolores protested. “I have a right to live in this house.”

“That’s not in the will.”

“I can barely dress myself on the allowance your father left me. I’ll starve if I have to move out.”

“You’ve got enough clothes for five women, and the allowance is sufficient to house and feed you in reasonable comfort.”

“You live in Texas and herd cows. You have no idea what reasonable comfort is.”

That amused Rafe.

“Rafe, you don’t have to—”

Rafe turned to Maria. “I should have done this as soon as I saw she was bringing men like Laveau di Viere to the house.”

“Laveau is more of a gentleman than you’ll ever be,” Dolores exclaimed.

“Laveau is a traitor. One day he’ll be brought to justice. Now get out of my sight before I do something I’ll regret.”

“I’ll see a lawyer,” Dolores threw at him.

“See anybody you want.”

“Come on,” Dolores said to her sister. “You have to help me figure out how to stop him.”

“I have something I need to say to Rafe.”

“What can you possibly have to say to him when he’s trying to kick us out of the house?”

“I’m not kicking Maria out. Just you.”

“She won’t stay here without me. You’ll see. We’ll take Luis, too. He’s my son, not yours.”

Rafe didn’t bother to argue with her. He wouldn’t allow Dolores to take Luis with her even if Maria went with her to take care of him.

“Don’t believe anything he tells you,” Dolores said to her sister. “He could talk the devil out of his horns.”

That was an odd thing to say when he hadn’t been able to talk her into marrying him or his father out of marrying her. He and Maria waited in silence until Dolores left the room.

“I don’t know why Dolores lied about you,” Maria said to Rafe when the door closed behind her sister. “I’m sorry I believed her, but her story fit too well with everything I’d been told.”

“It wouldn’t have if you’d listened to Rosana and Juan.”

Maria looked stricken. “Dolores wasn’t always like this. You should have seen her before my father lost his land, before her fiancé jilted her. She really loved him.”

“Lots of women suffer tragic losses without losing their sense of right and wrong.”

“Women don’t have the same opportunities men have to rebuild their lives. We have to wait for some man to offer to do it for us.”

Rafe didn’t want to talk about Dolores. “Is that all you wanted to say?”

“Just that I’m sorry. In the future, I’ll base my beliefs on what I see rather than what I’m told.”

“Don’t worry about it. Go rescue Broc from Luis. He’s still not completely recovered from his wound.”

Rafe could tell she wanted to say more, but his anger at Dolores was too strong for him to be able to deal with his conflicted feelings for Maria. He needed time to calm down, to work through his anger so he could regain his equilibrium. He had a lot to think about.

It had been hard for Maria to pretend nothing was wrong when she went down to send Luis off to bed, but it took every bit of her strength not to lose her temper when Dolores started raving about the unfairness of Rafe’s edict.

“How can you say it’s unfair when you made an accusation that sheds doubt on the very heart of his character, his
fitness to be accepted by others, to be a part of any community?” She shuddered at the thought of what could have happened had Dolores been unwise enough to spread her lies when she’d been drinking in town.

“It didn’t matter because I didn’t think he was coming back.”

Maria had difficulty catching her breath. “Of course it mattered. What if I’d said something to someone who knew the truth?”

“I knew you wouldn’t say anything.”

Maria found it difficult to accept that while she was horrified she’d harbored such unfair thoughts about Rafe, Dolores could face her without a shred of remorse, not even mild chagrin, at having been caught in such an enormous lie. “I’m so embarrassed, I don’t know if I can face Rafe again. If it weren’t for Luis, I’d leave this house first thing tomorrow.”

Dolores came out of her sulk in a flash. “You can’t leave. You’ve got to help me convince Rafe to change his mind.”

Maria gaped at her sister. “You must be crazy! If it hadn’t been for Luis, I’m sure he’d have told me to leave along with you.”

Dolores jumped up, grabbed Maria’s hand to force her to listen. “He won’t throw you out because he likes you.”

“He may have before, but I imagine he can’t think of me now without cringing.”

“Rafe was kissing you. You can’t deny it because I saw it.”

Maria flushed hot to think of herself in Rafe’s arms, returning his kiss, wanting even more. “You can be sure he won’t kiss me again.”

“You haven’t done anything. He’ll let me stay if you tell him you won’t remain here without me.”

“I can’t do that.”

Dolores stiffened with anger. “Why not? Are you hoping he’ll marry you after I leave? What kind of sister are you?”

“A gullible one; one who felt so sorry for you, I refused to see what you had become.”

“
You
sorry for
me
!” Dolores looked as if someone had slapped her. “I’m more beautiful than you will ever be.”

“And what has it done but made you miserable?”

“I’m not miserable. I’m a rich widow, courted by lots of handsome men who can’t do enough for me.”

“You’re angry and selfish. You don’t seem to care who you hurt as long as you get what you want.”

Dolores assumed her poor-little-me pose, the one that never failed to bring strong men to their knees. “I just want someone to love me.”

“I believed that once, but I’m not sure anymore. I am sure you’re still trying to get back at Vicente for jilting you.”

“Don’t say that!”
Dolores looked wild-eyed. “I don’t want to hear that man’s name ever again.”

“He turned his back on your lack of a dowry, not on you,” Maria told her sister with a softened voice. “He couldn’t have loved you as much as you loved him. You’re better off without him.”

Dolores’s face twisted in anger. “Better off to end up with an old man who locked himself away in his room for years? Better off a virtual prisoner in this house with nothing to do but embroidery? It’s like a living death. You’ve got to convince Rafe not to make me leave.”

“I don’t know Rafe as well as you, but I know he’s not a man to change his mind once it’s made up.”

“You don’t know Rafe at all if you think that,” Dolores snapped. “If he likes you well enough to kiss you, he’ll do anything you want.”

“Even if what you say is true, my conscience wouldn’t let me take advantage of him in such a way.”

“Don’t try to play the innocent with me. You like to give the impression of the sweet, kind sister, the one who stays in the background and does all the work.”

“I
do
stay in the background and do all the work.”

Dolores barreled ahead without pausing. “Do you remember what your life was like before I brought you here?”

“I remember it very well. I’ve always been grateful to you.”

“Then show it by helping me with Rafe.”

“Dolores, he’s not going to change his mind. He gave up a fortune to stay away for ten years. He abandoned an easy life to work as a cowhand. He plans to go back to Texas. He won’t be here to know or care if you’re miserable or in debt.”

Dolores pierced Maria with a flinty look. “Then you’ve got to help me kidnap Luis.”

A
nger such as Maria had never known swept over her with the speed of a wildfire. Before she knew what she was doing, she slapped Dolores. Shocked, she drew back her hand, stared at it in stunned disbelief.

Dolores was so furious she turned white. “How dare you strike me?”

Maria was too angry to feel remorse. “I was trying to bring you to your senses. I thought I knew you, but now I realize you’ve always been putting on an act. You’re selfish, conniving, and manipulative.”

“It’s not me; it’s Rafe. He has never liked me because I fell in love with his father.”

“You don’t know what love is.” Maria had spent years defending Dolores because she believed her sister had loved Vicente so deeply she still hadn’t gotten over the pain. Now it looked as if it had been a matter of wounded pride and greed. When had Dolores changed so completely? Had focusing on her loss, an injustice she couldn’t forgive, robbed her of all ability to see the truth?