The Outlaw and the Lady (11 page)

But his quest for revenge would ensure that he
never had her. She was not the type of woman to give herself lightly…to lift her skirts for him. Only he did not want her to merely lift her skirts. He wanted her to bare her body, every inch of flesh revealed so his gaze could feast on her perfection.

The water had teased her nipples into hardened buds that he had longed to close his mouth around, to run his tongue over, to tempt his lips with. Bared, with no cloth to separate their flesh this time. The water had not been clear enough for him to see anything else, but his imagination had not stopped with only what he could see. He had held her for so many nights that he could envision every curve, every dip, every slope that promised a man heaven…especially a man who lived in hell.

He dropped the bucket into the well and began to crank the handle to bring it back up. He doubted that a fourth dousing would cool his heated flesh, but he could always hope.

“What are you doing?” Alejandro asked.

Lee released the handle and glared at his brother. “Taking a bath.”

“I thought I saw you bathing earlier.”

But then he’d gone to his room to get a clean shirt…“So? Now I am taking another one. Is there some law that says a man cannot take two baths in one day?” he demanded.

Alejandro lifted a brow in speculation as he planted his butt on the stone ledge of the well. “I remember Ramon used to spend a lot of time in the river after Christine caught his eye.”

Lee plowed his hands through his drenched hair, flinging out droplets. “Will you stop comparing this situation to Ramon’s? It is nothing like his. He loved Christine, she loved him. Even if I loved Angela—which I do not—but if I did…I know”—with a heavy sigh, he sat beside Alejandro, barely aware of the hard edge biting into his backside—“I know she is a fine lady, and I…I am an outlaw. She could never love a man such as me.” He looked toward the house and swallowed. “I have to take her home. Tomorrow.”

Alejandro slapped his back. “Good. When you return, maybe we will go to Laredo. Visit a cantina, find a lovely
señorita
—”

Lee reached for the shirt he’d snatched off a peg by the door when he’d walked out of his room. “Another woman will not satisfy me.” Slipping the shirt over his head, he acknowledged that unfortunately, he couldn’t have the one who would.

“So you have fallen in love her.” Alejandro’s question came out as a statement.

“I don’t know. I just know that sometimes it is like there is a hole in me, and when she is near, it is no longer empty.”

“You have always been too poetic. You are a man; she is a woman. It is that simple.”

“If it were that simple, I would have already bedded her. But nothing about Angela is simple. She is incredibly brave.”

“She tried to slow you down, get you captured.”

“Would you have not done the same thing in her place?”

“She shot you.”

A smile played at the corner of his mouth. “That, I think was a mistake. She would not have sewn me up otherwise. When I told her that I had to delay taking her home, that I had to come here first, she did not protest.”

“She is blind.”

“She sees more than I do.”

Alejandro released a great gust of air. “Then keep her.”

“I cannot do that. Do you remember how Christine grieved when Ramon died? I could not ask Angela to endure that suffering. And she would, for a day will come when my luck will run out.”

“No one knows what you look like. I could become Lee Raven.”

Lee stood, faced his brother, and held his gaze. “No,
hombre
. It is my price to pay. I knew it when I squeezed the trigger.”

“Lee!”

Turning, Lee smiled as Miguel’s churning legs brought him nearer. Everything in his life was done in such a hurry. As soon as the boy was within range, Lee scooped him up and held him high above his head. The child squealed with delight. “What is it, little Miguel?”

“Juanita says it is time to eat.”

Lee swung him around and settled him on his shoulders. “Then we must go eat.”

Miguel dug his fingers into Lee’s hair. “Your hair is wet.”

“I was bathing. Perhaps you need a bath, heh?”

“No!” The child laughed, a delightful sound
that caused Lee’s chest to ache. Ah, to possess such innocence again.

“Lee, when will Hector have his babies?” Miguel asked.

When they’d let Miguel name the cat, they hadn’t known how to explain about its gender, but apparently that didn’t matter to a child. Since Lee had not yet looked in on the critter, he cast a glance at Alejandro, who shrugged and mouthed, “Soon.”

“Any time now. We will check on him after our
siesta
,” Lee assured him. The boy was almost jumping on his back with anticipation.

They caught up with the others as they neared the front porch. Lee swept Miguel off his shoulders and set him on the porch.

With his brothers in his wake, Lee followed Miguel inside, to a room that housed a large oaken table and several chairs. He stumbled to a stop at the arched doorway, and his brothers rammed into him one by one like a line of dominoes being knocked down.

“
Dios mío
,” someone whispered, accurately echoing his thoughts.

Angela gingerly walked around the table, skimming her fingers over a plate, setting a fork and knife on either side, before moving on to the next. She wore one of Juanita’s blouses with puffy sleeves and a scooped neck, revealing the barest hint of the swells he’d seen before. One of Juanita’s skirts was cinched in tightly at her waist, a bright red sash emphasizing its narrowness. And her hair. Her glorious hair. On either
side of her head, one of Juanita’s combs kept it from falling into her face, allowing every strand to cascade down her back past her waist.

“You’re welcome to sit down,” she said, when she had completed her circle of the table.

Miguel scrambled into his chair. “You can sit by me,
señorita
.”

She bestowed upon him the most beautiful smile that Lee had ever seen, more lovely than the one she’d given Juanita that morning, so full of happiness and joy that it caused a profound ache in his chest. He had yearned to see such a smile grace her face; now he knew he would have been better off never setting eyes on it.

“All right,” she told Miguel. “Keep talking until I find you.”

“I am here, I am here…” Miguel repeated over and over while her laughter filled the room with the sweetest lyrical music.

As she walked around the table, she moved her hand from chair to chair until it lighted on Miguel’s shoulder. Beaming with triumph, she pulled out the chair and sat gracefully. That the one she’d taken happened to be right beside Lee’s usual place at the head of the table was unsettling.

Juanita walked in from the kitchen carrying a crock of beans. “What are you waiting for?” she asked. “Sit.”

His brothers eased past him, taking chairs, leaving the one beside
her
empty.

“Are you going to join us, Lee?” Angela asked innocently.

He narrowed his eyes. “How do you know I am not already sitting at the table?”

“Because you have big feet, and I know the sound of your footsteps. They always sound angry.”

“They do not sound angry.” He started toward his chair and stopped. His footsteps did sound angry. Treading more lightly, he reached his chair and sat. “And I do not have big feet.”

“Yes, you do, Lee,” Jorge said. “You are bigger than all of us. That is why you could never wear anyone’s hand-me-downs.”

“Jorge! You have said too much.”

“You’re a little over six feet tall and weigh approximately one hundred and seventy-five pounds,” Angela said calmly.

Anger boiled within Lee. “Who told you this?” He glared at each of member of his family. “Who has been telling her these things?”

“You told me,” she said with irritating tranquillity.

“I told you nothing.”

“When you held me…I know where my head comes against my father’s chest and how tall he is. I know where the top of my head touches your chest. I merely had to calculate the difference. He’s not quite as tall as you are. I’m familiar with the breadth of your chest, the width of your shoulders, the corded muscles in your arms—”

“Enough! You have made your point.” He reached for the basket of tortillas and extended it toward her. “Take a tortilla. Tomorrow we leave for Fortune.”

She took it, removed a tortilla, set it on her plate, and handed the basket back to him. He reached inside.

“I can’t do that,” she said softly.

He stilled and glared at her. “What do you mean, you cannot do that?”

She took the bowl Eduardo offered her and began to scoop beans onto her tortilla. “I mean I can’t leave. I promised Miguel that I’d be here for his birthday.”

“That is not for two more weeks!”

“Then I guess I’ll be here for two more weeks.” She set down the bowl.

“I thought you wanted to go home.”

“I do, but I keep my promises.”

“What about your mother and father, who are supposedly worried about you?” he asked sarcastically.

“We’ll send them a telegram to let them know that I’m all right.”

He slapped his hands on the table. “Why did I not think of this before? We’ll send a telegram telling them you are here and then everyone will know. The posse, any men your father hired, the Texas Rangers…they will all know right where to come.”

She sighed as though she were dealing with a dull child. “The telegram will simply say, ‘The two of hearts wins all.’ Then no one will know that I’m here.”

“What does that mean? ‘The two of hearts wins all’?”

She turned her head so that if he didn’t know
better, he would have sworn she was looking at him. “My parents know what it means and they’ll know that I’m safe.”

“But you will not tell me what it means?”

“I was under the impression that our relationship was one of secrets.”

“We have no relationship,
querida
.”

“Then don’t call me ‘
querida
.’”

“I don’t call you—” But he did…God help him, he did, without thinking, because somewhere along the way she had become a part of his heart.

“Lee, I could send the telegram tomorrow when I go to town for supplies,” Roberto said.

“You are not sending the telegram, Roberto. She is not staying.”

“But I want her here for my birthday,” Miguel said.

Lee shifted his gaze to Miguel. The boy had such large expressive chocolate-colored eyes, just like his mother’s. “We cannot always have what we want, Miguel.”

“Why?”

“Because there are mean men—”

“But you are not mean.”

Miguel looked at him with innocence, trust, and the belief that he was a better man than he was. He didn’t know about the wanted poster, the bounty, or the man Lee had killed. The boy would probably hate him when he did learn everything, but right now, he simply wanted to believe that Lee was a good man.

His brothers’ and sister’s gazes bore into him. No one ate. He wasn’t even certain anyone breathed. “I will not risk my family by sending a telegram. For Miguel, though, we will have the birthday celebration early.”

“When?” Miguel asked, with the naïveté of a child who could not detect that much more was at stake.

“When I decide.” He shifted his gaze to Angela. She wore a satisfied smile as she rolled her tortilla. He wished he did not enjoy her smiles so much. A man could easily be convinced to do anything to have one directed his way.

A
ngela lay on the bed with Juanita stretched out beside her. Lee’s family apparently had an afternoon ritual of taking a
siesta
after the noonday meal. She knew this room belonged to Juanita because her vanilla fragrance hovered in the air. She supposed that when one could not afford perfumes, one made do with what could be found. With all the money Lee had stolen, he could at least have purchased his sister a bottle of scented water.

Miguel had walked her around the bedroom so she could become familiar with it. Angela hadn’t been surprised to discover that Miguel slept in the same room. Juanita was the only woman in his life, a sister who was more of a mother.

As quietly as she could, she eased off the mattress and slipped across the room to the small bed
where Miguel slept. She inhaled his child’s innocent scent of milk, cat, hay, and earth. It was reckless, agreeing to attend his birthday celebration. She didn’t know why she’d been determined to accept his invitation, unless it was because she feared she’d never have children.

Maybe Lee was right and her blindness wasn’t a punishment; it had simply been a means to achieve her true penalty: a life without children of her own. For what man would trust her to bear his children and raise them? She’d failed when she had sight; how could she possibly succeed now?

With a feathery touch, she skimmed her fingers over Miguel’s hair. She refrained from touching his face, although she dearly wanted to know the contours. Children were such a joy. How would she manage to live without her own to hold close against her bosom?

Slowly, she rose and carefully tiptoed from the room. She felt her way along the hall. She considered going into Lee’s room, but for what purpose? She simply had a strong need to be held, and he was so damned skilled at holding. She hated to admit that she would indeed miss him once he returned her to Fortune. Was that the reason that she’d quickly agreed to stay? Because in truth, she didn’t want to leave Lee?

Cautiously, she made her way across the front room, searching until she finally found the door. She opened it slowly and slipped onto the porch. She walked to the edge, located the beam, and wrapped her arms around it. Although it was
warmed by the afternoon sun, it provided little solace.

“Why are you sad?” A deep voice reverberated behind her.

With a tiny squeal, she swung around. “Why aren’t you taking a
siesta
?”

A rocker squeaked. Apparently Lee had stilled when he’d heard her open the door. She listened to his footsteps; he needed only three to cross the porch. Hearing the rasp of cotton against wood, she could envision him leaning against the beam opposite hers, his arms folded across his broad chest.

“I wasn’t tired,” he said.

“When Miguel voiced that same objection, you said that it didn’t matter. It was time for a
siesta
.”

“Miguel is a boy. I am a man.”

His tangible presence made that fact obvious. Her mouth suddenly went dry. She wound one arm around the beam and skimmed her other hand across the rough wood, anything to distract her thoughts. “Your brothers are sleeping, and they’re men as well,” she pointed out.

“Sleep brings them peace. They are welcome to it.”

She stilled. “It doesn’t bring you peace?”

“No.”

She swallowed hard and asked hesitantly, “Do you dream about the man you killed?”

“You are searching for a conscience within me when none exists. I would kill him a hundred times if I could.”

“It sounds as though he did more than
aggravate
you.”

“He is not worth the breath it takes to discuss him. Why are you intent on staying?” he asked quietly.

“I don’t know. Tired of traveling I guess.” A lie. When he returned her home, she would never again hear his deep intriguing voice. She wished she could identify what it was about his accent that fascinated her. The manner in which he spoke, while carrying a Mexican accent, was still subtly different from his brothers’. She knew dwelling on his past would get her nowhere so she decided to try a different tactic. “I think my father would like you.”

“I am just what every father wants for his daughter,” he said, self-derision in his voice.

“More, I think you’d like him.”

“A gambler who lets his daughter walk the streets at midnight, use profanity, play with marked cards—”

“They’re only marked because I can’t see them.” She smiled with the fond memory. “Although before my blindness, he’d promised me that I could be a dealer at the Texas Lady.”

“The Texas Lady…” His voice trailed off.

“My father’s saloon.”

He took a step closer as though suddenly intrigued. “I read a story once about a cattle drive and the venture was called Texas Lady.”

“That was my father and mother…and Kit Montgomery. They were part of a handful of
drives that successfully got cattle north in 1866. They wrote a dime novel about their adventure.”

“Bainbridge.”

She could almost hear the wheels clicking in his mind.

“Bainbridge.” He snapped his fingers. “I knew the name was familiar the first time you told me. I read a story about a gunfight—”

“
Duel Under the Sun
.”

“
Sí!
It was Bainbridge and Montgomery and another man—”

“Rhodes.”

“Do you know him as well?”

“Of course, Grayson Rhodes is a very good friend of the family’s. He, Kit, and my father came here together from England.”

Lee chuckled low. “You should have told me that you know such legendary men. I would have thought twice before hauling you away.”

“How was I to know you’d even heard of them? I certainly never would have considered that you were well read.”

“I love to read. Anything I can get my hands on.
Mi madre
would tease me and say that I was like the ground in the desert when the rain comes, absorbing every drop of knowledge that came my way.”

A description that suited her as well, because she was desperate to gain any scrap of knowledge about him. “Were you a good student in school?”

“The best. Alejandro and I had plans to attend the University of Texas together.”

“What would you have studied?” she asked quietly.

“I don’t know. Everything.”

She suddenly realized with startling clarity that the night when his family was attacked, the men not only had killed his brother, father, and mother, but they had murdered his dreams. She ached for the young man who had wanted to learn, had desired a higher education. Now, he knew how to sneak into banks, steal money, and kidnap women.

“Since no one knows what you look like, you could still go.”

“I am living on borrowed time,
querida
. Now that you cannot be a dealer, what are
your
dreams?”

She scowled in frustration. “You’re very skilled at turning the subject off yourself.”

“I am a man of many talents. Share your dreams with me.”

She shrugged. “Now, I have no dreams.”

“You must long for something.”

She couldn’t bare her heart to a man who was little more than a shadow in her mind. Shaking her head, she skimmed her hand along the pillar and felt the bite of a splinter. “Oh!”

The porch reverberated as he stepped nearer. “What is it?”

She moved her finger over her palm. “I caught a little sliver—”

“Here, let me see.” He took her hand.

“Really, it’s all right. It’s just so small that I can’t find it.”

He pressed his fingers against hers, opening her hand fully. “Did you know that the tongue is more sensitive than the fingers?”

She felt the tip of his tongue trail over her palm like damp velvet. His hot breath created a silken mist over her flesh. If his hold hadn’t been so firm, she would have curled her fingers against his mouth. His tongue roamed slowly, resolutely, sensually. She leaned back against the beam, seeking support as her knees weakened. Each stroke of his tongue sent desire cascading through her. She considered pulling her hand loose of his hold. Instead, she lifted her other hand.

He grabbed her wrist, and the sensual haze lifted like fog touched by the sun.

“Please?” she rasped. “Let me touch you.”

“I’ll take you inside.”

She jerked her hands free. “Don’t you realize that you’ve already given me enough information to betray you?”

“Enough perhaps, but I haven’t given you everything.”

“No,” she croaked past her tightening throat. “You didn’t give me everything.” She moved away from him, her chest aching because for the smallest of moments, while he’d trusted her with his dreams, she’d forgotten that he didn’t trust her with his face. “I can find my way back inside. But you, Lee Raven, you’re more lost in the darkness than I am, and when they slip that noose around your neck, I hope you won’t regret all that you sacrificed for revenge.”

She turned on her heel, strode forward,
bumped her shoulder against the doorway, but kept marching on. She wouldn’t let him see how much he had hurt her, how she longed for what he wouldn’t give her.

Kneeling in the dirt, Angela skimmed her fingers over the vine until she located the tomato. She cradled it between her hands, gently feeling for its ripeness. She’d offered to help Juanita in the garden because she’d desperately needed something to do. Like her mother, she’d never been one for standing still. When her finger touched a squashy portion, she grimaced with revulsion. There was something about the slimy feel of rotten vegetables that curdled her stomach. She plucked it loose and gauged its weight. It might work.

“That one is rotten,
señorita
,” Juanita said.

“I know. I’m trying to decide if I want to throw it in your brother’s face.”

“Lee has made you angry.”

Angela tossed the vegetable aside before beginning another search for a ripe tomato. “He has a habit of doing that,” she mumbled.

“During the midday meal, he was upset that you did not want to leave.”

Upset? Not angry?
Angela was curious to know the reason Juanita thought he was merely upset that she wanted to stay. His voice had conveyed irritation, but she’d also noted something she couldn’t quite identify. Angela rocked back on her heels. “Upset in what way?”

“I’m not sure. He almost looked as though he
was…afraid, and I have never seen him look like that. He is the bravest of men.”

He was also an outlaw, but his family seemed unable to acknowledge that. “He’s worried that I’ll discover what he looks like.”

“
Sí
, he has told me many times not to tell you. But then, his appearance has always bothered him.”

Her attention sharpened. “Why?”

She heard Juanita plowing her trowel into the ground.

“I have said too much already,
señorita
.”

Reaching out, she stopped Juanita’s frantic efforts to dig herself a hole in which to hide. “I wish you’d call me Angela.”

Juanita stilled. “It would not be right.”

“But I’d like for us to be friends.” She could sense Juanita’s hesitation. “I promise not to ask you anything else about Lee.”

Juanita released what sounded like a self-conscious chuckle. “I have almost forgotten how to be a friend.”

“So no one visits you here?”

“You are the first. Alejandro is not happy that you are here.”

“I don’t think anyone is glad except maybe Miguel.” She turned back to the plant, searching for another tomato. “I take it then that you don’t have a beau.”

“Oh, no. I would not want a beau.”

Astonished by the determination reflected in Juanita’s voice, Angela asked, “Ever?”

“I never want a man to call on me.”

“What about getting married and having children?”

“I have Miguel.”

Furrowing her brow, Angela turned her attention completely on Juanita. “But he’s your brother.”

“But I am able to love him and care for him as though he were my son. He is all I need. What about you,
señorita
…Angela? Do you want children?”

A soft smile played across Angela’s mouth. “Very much, but first I have to find a man with the compassion to look beyond my blindness.”

“I do not understand. If I did not know you were blind, to watch you pick tomatoes, I would not know you were blind.”

“In Fortune, everyone knows, and my blindness tends to make men apprehensive. One man—his name was Marcus—took me for a stroll through town, but he was so nervous that I’d bump into something and embarrass him that he was the one who ended up bumping into something.” Her smile broadened at the memory. “I guess he was watching me instead of where he was going, and he bumped into the wooden Indian statue that’s outside the general store. It toppled over onto the bench that sits in front of the store. Mr. Farrington was sitting on the bench, and apparently he leapt up and backward to avoid being crushed by the statue…and he went through the window of the store.”

“Was he badly hurt?”

The compassion Juanita exhibited touched An
gela deeply. “No, miraculously, he came away with only a couple of scratches, but there was a stack of canned goods in front of the window. Every can crashed to the floor and rolled through the building. People were scrambling to get out of the way…thuds, bangs, and curses echoed into the street…I’d never heard so much commotion in my entire life.”

“How awful! You must have been embarrassed.”

Angela shook her head. She imagined that most women would appreciate how incredibly solicitous men were around her, but she was more often insulted by their constant hovering and quickly lost interest in them. They spoke to her as though she were a child. Lee had certainly never done that. “I wasn’t embarrassed. It wasn’t my doing. I knew the statue was there. I would have avoided it. But poor Marcus. He had to pay for all the damage.”

“Did you see him again? I mean, did you—”

“It’s all right, Juanita. I know what you meant. And no, he never called on me again. He said I was an expense he couldn’t afford.”

“I think he was just a clumsy oaf.”

“My sisters thought the same thing. He asked permission to call on my youngest sister, Crystal, but she refused his suit.”