She eyed him warily, trying to unravel his words. “I asked you what you want.”
He took a deep breath and released it slowly. “I came here to tell you I was wrong about what happened in Monterey.” Carly’s stomach tightened and suddenly she felt dizzy. “It was just as you said—I doubted you because you are Anglo. My hatred of thegringosblinded me to the truth.”
Carly swayed on her feet, felt Ramon’s long fingers reach out and grip her arm to steady her.
“You are all right?” he asked, his expression taut with concern. She nodded and he slowly released her, with some reluctance, it seemed. “It was not just losing Rancho del Robles, or the death of my brother… there were things that happened in my past.”
“Wh-what things?” Carly asked. Her stomach felt queasy and her mouth was dry. She dampened her lips with the tip of her tongue and saw Ramon’s eyes suddenly darken. With a force of will, he smoothed his features and the hungry look faded away.
“There was a woman,” he said, “a beautifulgringawoman. Her name was Lily. Perhaps I was in love with her. When I think of what I feel for you, I do not really believe it, but I cannot be sure. I was younger then, foolish. She meant everything to me, but I meant very little to her. One day I found her in bed with two young men from the university, friends I knew in school.” His eyes turned distant, hard, as if he could still see them. “After Lily, there were other Anglo women, only this time I used them.”
He shifted and glanced away, the subject obviously painful. “That night in Monterey… when I returned to our room… I saw what I had always believed one day I would see—my Anglo wife betraying me with another man.”
Carly stared up at him, her heart aching, tears of frustration burning her eyes. “How could you think that, Ramon? There was no one I wanted but you. From the first moment I saw you, there was never anyone but you.”
“I am sorry, Cara. I know that is not enough but that is what I came here to say. And to tell you that I love you. Perhaps that is hard to believe, but it is the truth.”
Carly bit hard on her trembling bottom lip. How she had longed to hear those words. Now that Ramon had said them, sherealized they couldn’t erase the doubts that still burned inside her. “Sometimes loving someone isn’t enough,” she said softly.
Ramon’s dark gaze scorched through her. “I do not believe that is true. If I did, I would not be here. I love you. You said that you loved me. You are my wife, Cara. I want you to come home.”
She looked into his beautiful brown eyes, remembered the fiery nights she had spent in his arms, and a hard ache rose in her throat. Just days ago that was exactly what she wanted. Since then she’d had time to think things through, to see matters clearly for the first time in weeks. “I-I can’t do that, Ramon.”
A muscle tightened in his cheek. “Why not? Rancho Las Almas is where you belong.”
She only shook her head. Inside, her stomach quivered and she fought to hold back tears. “We’re too different, you and I. Time and again you have shown me that. You knew it from the start, but I was too much in love with you to see. What happened in Monterey could happen again. Your prejudice runs deep, Ramon. I don’t think your loving me is enough to overcome the problems between us.”
“You are wrong, Cara. Already I see things as I had not been able to before. You are the reason. You are the one who has made me see.” The depths of his feelings blazed like a fire in his eyes. It made her want to touch him, to hold him and take away the pain. “Come back to Las Almas, Cara. Be my wife.”
Her gaze ran over his beloved face, the strong bones and hollows, the straight nose and hard jaw. She reached out to him, slid her arms around his neck, and he crushed her against him.
“I love you, Ramon,” she said, but as much as she did, she knew she couldn’t go with him. Something else might happen. She wasn’t willing to chance this kind of pain again.
She felt his long dark fingers in her hair, tilting her head back, forcing her to look into his eyes.“Te amo,”he whispered. I love you.“Te necesito.”I need you. He kissed her then, tenderlyat first, then with building force. Carly trembled at the heat of his mouth over hers and the strength of his hard arms around her.
She blinked to keep from crying. “I love you, Ramon, so much I think sometimes my heart will break in two. But I can’t go with you, no matter how much I might wish it. Something else might happen… and there are things about me you don’t know.”
She felt his arms stiffen around her. “Do not tell me there is another man. If there is I swear I will kill him.”
She gave him a faint teary smile. “It’s nothing like that. It’s just…”that I’m not what I seem. I’m not the daughter of some wealthy easterner, as my uncle led you to believe. I’m a poor ragamuffin from the mine patch.But Carly didn’t say it. She couldn’t force herself to utter the words that would make him look at her the way he had that night in Monterey.
“Please, Ramon, my uncle has already started the annulment proceedings. Once it’s final, you can marry a true Spanish woman—”
His kiss came swift and hard, bruising her lips with its force. Lifting her into his arms, he carried her over to the deep feather bed, rested her in the middle of the mattress, then followed her down, pinning her with his tall lean body.
“We can’t, Ramon. It isn’t safe for you here. If my uncle should hear us—”
“I do not care.”
“I do.” She struggled beneath him, determined to break free. “I won’t let you do this. I want you to go back where you’ll be safe.”
“You are my wife,” he said. “I do not want another. When I am finished, you will beg me to take you home.” He ravaged her mouth again, thrusting his tongue inside the hot moist cavern. His fingers worked the buttons on the front of her night rail, then he stripped it off over her head.
“I won’t let you, Ramon. You have to leave.”
Cursing softly, he left her, crossed to the dresser, jerked open the top drawer, rummaged inside then returned to the bed.
“What are you doing?”
