Something flickered in her eyes. She looked at him as she never had before. “Thank you.” It was little more than a whisper.
Ramon said nothing. For a while she watched him, studying his face as if she tried to read his thoughts, then she rose and crossed the clearing toward the bedroll she had placed some distance from his.
Tonight he was grateful she would not be sleeping so near. With each step she took, her small ankles showed beneath the hem of her simple cotton skirt and he recalled her shapely legs, the way she had shivered when his hand ran up her thigh. Her full breasts quivered against her blouse, reminding him how round and full they had felt when he had cupped them. His shaft grew harder still, and with every movement of her hips, a painful ache throbbed at the front of his breeches.
It took all his effort at control not to go to her, to drag her beneath him, push up her skirt, and drive himself inside her. She was a hunger he couldn’t assuage, a fever in his blood that nothing seemed to ease. And yet he could not take her.
He felt tied in knots, mired in lust, felt the same hot roiling frustration that he had once felt for Lily. But Lily was a woman, not a girl, a vixen practiced in the ways of a woman. Finally she had come to him, welcomed him into her bed. Beneath a pale Seville moon, he’d had four glorious weeks with Lily, most of it spent between her long, white, shapely legs. He’d been nearly obsessed with Lily—until he discovered he wasn’t the only young fool who shared her bed.
CHAPTERTEN
Sitting astride the bay, Carly surveyed the split in the trail ahead, one branch leading farther north, the other heading west, down into the oak-covered rolling hills and on into the lowlands. Wistfully, she thought of Rancho del Robles, which must lie somewhere in that direction. In front of her, Ramon paused at the top of the steep descent that led down the mountain into a small, secluded valley. She couldn’t help admiring the sight of his narrow hips and broad shoulders, the easy grace with which he sat his horse.
Carly smiled. She was feeling better today, her legs growing used to the long hours on horseback. The salve Ramon had used had worked wonders. Her cheeks burned to think of the fire that had blazed from the spot where he had touched her, the gentle stroke of his long, dark fingers over her skin. He turned his horse and rode back up the trail to the place beside her, and Carly forced the memory away.
“Are we close to the stronghold?” she asked. “Surely we are. At least I fervently hope so.”
Ramon ignored the question. “There is something I would know. It is important that you tell me the truth.”
Her head came up at the serious note in his voice. “All right.”
“The day you left the stronghold with Villegas… when you tried to run away… why did you leave?”
Carly’s stomach churned.Because you make me feel things I don’t understand.“Because I was frightened.”
“Frightened? Surely you were no longer frightened of me.”
Carly shifted in the saddle, looked him square in the eye. “I was your prisoner, Ramon. You could do anything you wanted with me. Anything. Of course I was afraid of you.”
His dark gaze held hers, probing, searching for secrets. “And now,chica?Are you still afraid?”
There was something in his face, something she couldn’t quite read. “Back there—in the mountains with Villegas—you saved my life. You risked your own life to do it. You promised I would be safe, and you’ve kept your word. No, Ramon. I’m no longer afraid of you.”I’m only afraid of myself.
For a long, tense moment he said nothing. “The trail splits here,” he said. “The path leading west would carry you to Rancho del Robles. If I could be certain you would not lead your uncle to the stronghold, I would consider letting you return to your home.”
Her heart began thudding, pounding inside her chest. Dear God, he might let her go! “I have no idea where the stronghold is. I stayed under the tarp when I left there with Villegas, otherwise your guards would have seen me. Besides he went south. I don’t know this country and I couldn’t begin to retrace our path.”
“And the night of the raid?”
“It was dark and I was frightened. I have no idea the trail you took; I was just worried about staying alive.”
“That is what I thought, but I wanted to hear you say it. I could not risk the lives of my people.”
She looked into his handsome face, at his long black lashes and high cheekbones. “What about you, Ramon? If you let me go, you’ll be putting your life in my hands. I know who you are, that you live at Las Almas. You’d have to accept my word that I wouldn’t turn you in to the authorities.”
“Si,Cara, that is so. As you said, you know who I am. My rancho lies just miles from your uncle’s hacienda. If you wish tosee me dead, you need only tell him that Ramon de la Guerra is El Dragón.”
Her stomach clenched, tightened at the thought of him lying in the dirt like Villegas. “El Dragón was mostly your brother. Serafina told me this was his idea to begin with. That he led more than half of the raids. She also told me El Dragón didn’t rob the stage the night I met you at my uncle’sfandango.She says there are a number of bandits who rob travelers in the gold fields, but it’s El Dragón who usually gets the blame.”
“As I said, you are not a stupid woman. And I have come to respect you. If you give me your word that you will not tell them who I am, then I will let you go.”
Something twisted inside her. He had risked his life to save her from Villegas. He was risking it again. “Why? Why would you take such a chance?”
“There are many reasons, Cara. Perhaps it is simply that I want you and cannot have you.”
Could that truly be enough? She would never know, she guessed, but it didn’t really matter as long as she got home. “If everything you’ve told me is the truth, then I give you my word. Your secret will be safe with me, Don Ramon.”
The Spaniard merely nodded. “Tell them we were moving our camp, taking you south when you escaped. Tell them you were blindfolded much of the time and that you saw nothing that could help them find us. Tell them we meant to ransom you. That is the reason you were left alone, the reason El Dragón did not take you to his bed.”
