Untamed Fire (30 page)

The impossible thought appealed to Rafael.
“That sounds tempting.”

Gaby sat up and sniffed back her tears in
between sobs. “Will you sail away with me, Gaby Alvardo, or do you
wish me to be one of the Galvez twins... the one you were betrothed
to?”

It would be so easy if she were Annabelle
Galvez. All his problems would be solved, or would they be just
beginning? Gaby thought herself a peasant and that was the way she
wished to be accepted. Could he accept her? Or would he hope she
was the twin thus settling the problem?

A large, fat tear fell and splashed on
Gaby’s cheek. “You are set in your ways, Rafael, you will accept no
other. You torture yourself over a past that was not your fault.
You follow a way of life that brings you only heartache. And you
refuse to see the truth in people.”

“You mean I’m as stubborn and thickheaded as
you?” he asked with a laugh and reached out to wipe away her tear
wishing he could wipe away their problem so easily.

Gaby smiled, against her better judgment.
“In some ways we are alike.”

He slipped his hand around the back of her
neck. “Come here,” he said softly and urged her to him.

She accepted his comfort. After all, she had
gone there for it, hoping he would follow, would care enough to
seek her out. She snuggled her cheek against his ruffled shirt and
settled in the shelter of his arms.

“You do not wish to be the Galvezes’
daughter?”

“Do you wish me to be?”

He held her firmly as though his answer
would disturb her, and she would take flight. “It would make things
easier for us.”

“You mean it would be permissible for you to
marry me than, for I would no longer be of peasant stock and, of
course, no longer a thief.”

He wanted to shout at her that he wanted to
marry no one but her. That with time and patience he would change
the ways that had been drilled into him since childhood. That she
had taught him that he could love and love deeply. Now, however,
did not seem the appropriate time to say all those things. She
would only assume that he was attempting to placate her.

“I don’t think we should jump to
conclusions,” he offered, hoping to appease her, yet knowing she
needed to hear more, so much more.

“And what conclusions are they? That it is
permissible for you to marry me, or that I am no longer a thief in
your eyes?”

“You are not a thief, Gaby.”

She sat up, pushing away from him. Her dark
eyes were shiny with tears, and they held a spark of defiance.
“Why? Because I now may be of noble blood and noble people don’t
steal?”

He shook his head and grinned. “No. It is
because your brother Juan told me how he faked an accident and
frightened his sister Teresa, who in turn frightened you. He was
quite brave. He even told me he was willing to take his punishment
like a man.”

“When did he speak of this to you?” she
asked, surprised.

“At the Holy Day Festival.”

“And all this time you knew I didn’t steal
your horse?”

Rafael reached out and ran his finger along
her lower lip. “I didn’t need Juan to tell me what I already knew.
You could never steal,
querida
,” he whispered as he pulled
her close and kissed her.

It was a soft yet hungry kiss, followed by
more of the same.

“I hate to see you cry,” he murmured between
kisses.

“I don’t—”

He kissed her words away, but she
persisted.

“—usually cry—”

He kissed her again, though hungrier.

“Rafael, we need—”

“Shhhh,” he demanded.

“We must—”

“Make love,” he finished and pulled her down
along the bed next to him.

“But what if I’m—”

He stopped kissing her and cupped her face
firmly in his hands. “Tonight, I make love to Gaby Alvardo. The
stubborn, willful, disobedient—”

She silenced him with a quick kiss. “Peasant
girl who loves you with all her heart.”

The words stabbed at his heart. He had so
wanted to hear them, waited to hear them and had hoped he could
return them. But now wasn’t the time. He doubted she would believe
him. So he showed her how much he loved her.

His hands were gentle, his lips tender as
they touched every inch of her body with precise slowness. He was
extra gentle when he roamed her backside and pleased to see that
the welts were already healing nicely. He lingered over her neck,
her breasts, her belly, her legs, her ankles, and then he retraced
his path.

By the time he moved inside her she was
close to tears. But he kissed her eyes closed, shutting them away
and whispered, “Feel me,
querida,
feel all of me.”

And Gaby did. She felt his strength, his
power, and something else that she hadn’t felt before... his
love.

~~~

Raphael spent most of the morning cloistered
in his study with Felipe and Padre Jose, attempting to make some
sense of the whole mess.

“I tell you she’s my daughter,” Felipe
demanded for the hundredth time. “I can feel it.”

“There is always the possibility,” Padre
Jose agreed and added. “God does work in strange ways.”

Rafael rubbed his forehead with the palm of
his hand, trying to ease the ache. “And you say Dona Isabel feels
as you do?”

“Of course she does, and what difference
would it make if she didn’t? She’s my wife. She obeys me,” Felipe
stated irritably as though Rafael was a child who needed
reminding.

Rafael shook his head. He could just imagine
what Gaby would have to say about that. “It is possible that the
cross was stolen and placed—”

“Nonsense.” Felipe cut him off with a wave
of his hand. “The twins are my daughters and I want them reunited
so you may marry Annabelle, and Calida may return to Spain with
me.”

Rafael suddenly became defensive. “How in
heaven’s name will you be able to tell the twins apart after all
these years?”

To Rafael’s surprise, Felipe blushed. “I’ll
tell you later when we’re alone.”

“I could leave,” the padre offered.

“No. No, I insist we make the necessary
arrangements now to bring the other girl here,” Felipe said.

“Can you arrange that, Padre?” Rafael asked,
curious to speak with Felipe later and discover how he could put
his mind to rest once and for all about which twin Gaby supposedly
was.

“Yes, I can take care of that,” he
agreed.

“Good,” Felipe said, standing. “How long
will it be before she arrives?”

“I’m not certain, a week perhaps two weeks.
I don’t even know if she still lives there, or if she’s married, in
which case her husband will decide if she can come.”

“Make certain she is aware that there is a
large sum of money involved if she comes,” Felipe said with a
smile. “Money always talks, especially to peons. And of course,
Padre, if she is married to a peasant the church will have it
absolved.”

It wasn’t a question. It was a command, and
the padre nodded his consent.

The show of such blatant power with
disregard to anyone but what Felipe wanted irritated Rafael. The
man didn’t care if the other twin was married and loved her husband
or had children with him. Felipe’s only thought was to take her
away from the only life she had known and the people who loved
her.

Suddenly Rafael couldn’t stand being in the
room with him any longer. He wanted to find Gaby, see how she was,
hold her tight and never let her go.

“The noonday meal should be ready. Let us
eat,” Rafael said, standing and forcing the other two men to do the
same.

They walked toward the courtyard, the sound
of excited voices drifting back at them.

“This is ridiculous. She cannot serve the
meal,” Dona Isabel screeched.

“Gaby, please change into the clothes that
were left in the room next to mine and join us,” Dona Maria
directed as calmly as possible.

Gaby continued to serve the fruit salad. “I
cannot do that.”

“I order you to do it,” Dona Isabel
yelled.

“I do not take orders from you,” Gaby
responded.

“If not from your mother then from whom?”
Dona Isabel angrily demanded.

“From me,” Rafael said quietly, but with
great authority.

Dona Isabel turned a stinging look on
him.

Rafael’s hot blue eyes sent a chilling
threat her way and Dona Isabel immediately took her seat.

“Felipe,” Isabel said more calmly. “Please
see to this.”

“Don Felipe,” Rafael said, preventing the
man from speaking. “I have great respect for you, but this is my
home and my word is law here.”

Felipe nodded. “Then I request, out of
respect for my wife’s feelings, and as you yourself agreed last
evening, that Gaby’s position in your household be changed.”

Rafael was reluctant to agree, but felt he
had no choice. “Gaby you will do as my mother asks and then join
us. And from this moment on you shall be a guest of the
hacienda.”

“No!” Her statement was so abrupt and final
that all eyes turned to her.

Rafael tried to remain calm. “I know this is
upsetting, but it’s for the best.”

“
No
!” she said more emphatically.

Rafael tried hard, very hard, to remain
calm. “You will do as I say, Gaby.”

“I will not!”

“You will too!”

“You can’t make me.”

“Yes, I can.”

Gaby slammed the platter of fruit down,
sending the sweet slices flying across the table. She placed her
hands on her hips and swung her head up, sending her long braid
flying behind her back.

“Then make me.”

Rafael’s hands were clenched at his sides.
He had to remember there was a possibility she was a Galvez and not
plain Gaby Alvardo, and treat her as such.

“Well?” she taunted. That was it, she did it
this time.

Rafael descended on her like a raging bull,
fists clenched, nostrils flared.

Gaby refused to back down and show her
fright. She stood her ground, even though she trembled.

“You can’t—”

The wind was knocked out of her in an
instant as he hoisted her up and tossed her over his shoulder.

“I can and I will!” Rafael stated firmly,
his arm hooked securely beneath her rear.

“I must protest my daughter’s treatment,”
Felipe said, standing away from the chair he had just sat in next
to his wife.

Dona Isabel nodded. “I must agree with my
husband. She may act like a peon, but that is no reason to treat
her as one. After all, she doesn’t know any better.”

Rafael didn’t have to see Gaby’s face to
know she was about to speak. He prevented her response with
whispered words of warning. “Open your mouth and your backside will
feel the sting of my hand.”

To Dona Isabel he spoke with a little less
harshness, but just as much authority. “She does know better and
if,” —he paused for a moment not believing his own words—“she does
turn out to be my betrothed, then she better learn to be
obedient.”

Gaby opened her mouth, but Rafael knew her
too well. He whispered only one word this time, but with enough
force to still her. “Don’t!”

“Rafael, I protest adamantly your
uncivilized actions,” Felipe argued.

“Yes, really, Rafael,” Dona Maria
reprimanded. “Your manners—”

“Have been sorely tested,” he finished and
walked out of the room.

“Lupe!” he shouted as he walked down the
hall toward the room that had been prepared for Gaby to use.

The plump woman scurried after him, hurrying
along behind and watching Gaby’s face grow red with anger with each
step he took.

He threw her on the bed and directed his
orders to Lupe, ignoring the angry glare Gaby gave him. “Make
certain she dresses appropriately, then have her join us in the
courtyard. We shall hold the meal for her.”

He left the room without even glancing at
her.

“How dare he—”

“He is the don of this hacienda. He can dare
to do anything,” Lupe reminded her. “Now calm yourself and think of
him.”

“Think of him?”

“Yes, him,” she repeated and began to help
Gaby undress with more than a bit reluctance on her part. “He is in
a difficult situation. And he needs you to help him, to help both
of you. Think of what this could mean for you. There may actually
be a chance for you to become his wife.”

Gaby sighed and dropped to the bed. The pale
blue dress hung half off, half on her. “Oh, Lupe, I would love to
be his wife, but I want him to love and marry
me
, Gaby
Alvardo, not Annabelle Galvez.”

Lupe took Gaby’s face in the palms of her
hands. “
Nina,
we take what God gives us. If you can have Don
Rafael no way but this, you would turn him down?”

Gaby tried to understand what the older
woman was saying. Did she love him enough to accept him anyway she
could? Or would she allow her foolish pride and romantic notions to
lose him. After all, she didn’t have a choice, but a nagging voice
kept reminding her that Rafael did.

~~~

Gaby stood uncomfortably still in the
archway, reluctant to approach the people whom yesterday considered
her a servant. She didn’t like the feel of the blue dress she wore.
It was too confining, being tight across her breasts and down her
slim waist where the blue silk gave way to mounds of blue lace. Her
feet protested their pinched confinement while her arms itched from
the lace of the long sleeves that ended at each wrist. She didn’t
care for a noblewoman’s clothes and she didn’t think she ever
would.

Rafael saw her before the others. In the
instant his eyes caught her standing there, he realized that he
loved Gaby Alvardo, the free-spirited peasant girl that had stolen
his heart. Not Annabelle Galvez, the noble beauty who stood before
him.

Felipe jumped from his seat and walked to
her, extending his arm. “Please join us, my dear.”