Something flickered in the don’s dark eyes, a cool look of scrutiny or perhaps disappointment, then it was gone. “It would be my pleasure, senorita.”
Her uncle cleared his throat. “Gentlemen, I’m afraid you’ll have to excuse us.” She felt the pressure of his hand on her arm. “I’d like a word with my niece, and there are other guests she needs to meet.”
“Of course,” said sandy-haired Vincent Bannister, smiling at her warmly. “Perhaps Miss McConnell will save me a dance later on.”
“Of course she will,” her uncle said.
Carly just nodded. Her eyes were locked with the deep brown orbs of the don.
“Hasta luego,senorita.” He bowed just slightly and flashed one of his devastating smiles. “Until we meet again.”
Her uncle’s expression turned grim and his hold on her arm grew tighter. “Gentlemen…” Wordlessly he led her toward the majestic adobe house, through the heavy oak door leading into thesala,down the hall and into his study. He firmly closed the door.
At the stern expression on his face, Carly grew suddenly nervous. She began to chew her bottom lip, wondering how she might have upset him. “What is it, Uncle Fletcher? I hope I haven’t done something wrong.”
“Not exactly, my dear.” He indicated she should have a seat in one of the carved wooden chairs in front of his huge oak desk, its thick wood darkened with age and wear. Fletcher moved behind it and sat down in a brass-studded black leather chair. Leaning forward, he opened a heavy cut-crystal humidor and pulled out a long black cigar.
“You don’t mind, do you?”
“Of course not, Uncle.” She didn’t. She actually enjoyed the stout aroma. It reminded her of her father and the men he had worked with in the mine, and a sudden pang of loneliness slid through her. Carefully smoothing her lace-trimmed skirts, she glanced at her uncle, wondering at his change in manner, trying to imagine how she might have displeased him.
He sighed into the silence. “You’re new out here, Caralee. You’ve been here only three weeks. You haven’t had a chance to learn the way of things, to get used to the way things work out here. In time, of course, you will, but in the meantime…”
“Yes, Uncle?”
“In the meantime, you’re going to have to trust me to guide you. You’ll have to do exactly as I say.”
“Of course, Uncle Fletcher.” How could she not? She owed him everything. Her education, the beautiful clothes he had bought her, the chance for a new life out west—the very food that had filled her stomach for the past four years. With her parentsgone, if it hadn’t been for her uncle, she would have ended up in an orphanage—or worse.
“Try to understand, my dear. A man like myself meets a lot of different people. Some of them are business acquaintances, like Royston Wardell and William Bannister, people who do me a great many favors. Others are neighbors, like the Hollingworths, or people I value for their social connections, like Mrs. Winston and her husband, George.” A couple she had met earlier in the evening. “Then there are influential Californios like the Montoyas… and those like Don Ramon.”
“Don Ramon? Wh-What about him?”
“My acquaintance with the don is of an entirely different nature… more an obligation of sorts. The de la Guerra family has lived in California since the earliest days of Spanish influence. There was a time they were wealthy and powerful, when they knew every important political persona for a thousand miles around. Which means socially Don Ramon cannot be ignored.”
“I see.”
“Unfortunately, the fact is, the man no longer commands that sort of power. These days, he has very limited finances, and even less land. He supports his mother and an aging aunt, to say nothing of the laborers he refuses to turn away. What I am trying to say is that the man is hardly your social equal. I hoped that you would see that and behave accordingly.”
“I didn’t realize.…” But she was thinking that except for her fancy clothes and the education her uncle had bought and paid for, it was far more likely that she was not the social equal of the don.
“I’m sure you didn’t.” His tone grew more firm. “Fortunately, now you do. From now on, Caralee, I expect you to use that expensive education I’ve been providing for the last four years. I expect you to play the part of the sophisticated lady you havebecome, but mostly I expect you to socialize with the people I pick and choose.”
He came up from his chair and leaned toward her over his desk. “Do I make myself clear?”
“Y-Yes, Uncle Fletcher.”
Some of the tension drained from his heavily muscled shoulders. “I don’t mean to be harsh, my dear. But after all, I am your legal guardian. It’s my duty to decide what is best for you.”
Perhaps it was. It was certainly her obligation to do as he wished. “I’m sorry, Uncle Fletcher. I guess I just didn’t understand. I promise it won’t happen again.”
“Good girl. I knew I could rely upon your good judgment. You are, after all, our beloved Lucy’s daughter.”
Carly smiled. It was obvious her uncle and her mother had once been very close. It made things easier just knowing that.
As he walked beside her toward the sounds of thefandango,the strum of guitar, the smell of roasting meats, the vaqueros rowdy laughter and that of her uncle’s friends, she vowed she would do whatever it took to please him, vowed she would forget the handsome Spanish don.
But when she saw his tall figure leaning with casual grace against the rough adobe wall of the hacienda, when she caught the flash of silver and found his dark eyes studying her so intensely, she realized forgetting him wouldn’t be an easy thing to do.
