Showdown

by Deborah Chester

  Don Emilio opened a tall armoire of heavily carved walnut and took out a decanter and a pair of glasses. “For a man who recently suffered fever, perhaps brandy is not good. But I need some for myself. Will you join me?”

  Brandy on an empty stomach. “Sure,” said Noel. He accepted a glass of the amber liquid. It slid like mellow fire all the way down. He sighed. In the twenty-sixth century, fine old cognac—as well as most wines—were synthesized mixes. No one possessed the land or the patience to grow, bottle, and ferment according to the old methods.

  “When’s dinner?” asked Noel.

  Don Emilio laughed. “Ah, now I believe it is true. A ghost does not get hungry, eh? Do you feel up to getting dressed, or do you wish a servant to bring a tray here to your room?”

  Before Noel could answer, Lisa-Marie came hurrying inside. Behind her walked an elderly servant with a tray laden with food. Noel muttered an oath and pulled the bedcovers to his waist. He noticed she had managed to pin up her hair into a soft chignon that made her look older, and she had changed into a pale blue dress with ruffles on the bodice. A shawl of delicate lace hung off her shoulders.

  “Isn’t it wonderful, Don Emilio?” she said, her eyes only for Noel. “All my prayers were answered.”

  Don Emilio raised his brows. “Er, yes,” he said carefully. “We are of course delighted that Senor Kedran is so much better.”

  “Cody doesn’t believe me,” she said, tossing her head. “I told him to come and see for himself, just as soon as you’ve eaten.”

  “I think perhaps it is better not to rush things,” said Don Emilio sternly. “Visitors tomorrow.”

  “But why?” she asked, gazing at Noel with an incandescent smile that almost made him lose interest in the aromatic food being uncovered by the servant. “Cody likes him, too. After all, Noel saved both our lives. Only, I think my rescue was more dramatic. I mean you nearly died yourself on my behalf, Noel. I can never forget that. Nor can I forget what I owe—”

  “You don’t owe me anything,” said Noel sharply. “Leon caused the trouble. I was just taking care of it.”

  She lifted her chin and gave him a smoldering look. “You’re very modest, Noel.”

  He nearly choked on a bite of tamale. Coughing, he reached for his glass, but she was quicker to pick it up. She handed it to him with a smile. Gulping the wine, he shot Don Emilio a glance of appeal.

  Don Emilio, however, was watching Lisa-Marie with a frown and did not notice.

  Lisa-Marie took the knife and fork from Noel’s hands. “Let me cut your food for you.”

  He snatched the utensils back. “I can cut my own. I’m not an invalid.”

  “Let me pour some more wine for you.”

  He took his glass from her hand, causing her to spill the wine. “I’ve got enough.”

  “Oh, dear. I’ve spilled wine on your food. Let me get you some more.”

  Exasperated, he thrust the whole tray at her. “Please do.”

  She smiled, and made sure their fingers touched as she took the tray.” I’ll be right back.”

  He smiled in return until the door closed behind her, then he threw off the bedcovers. “Where are my trousers? Lock the door, would you please, Don Emilio? And for God’s sake don’t let her back in.”

  Don Emilio did not stir from where he stood with his shoulder leaning against the armoire. “It must be pleasant to have the adoration of such a lovely young senorita.”

  Noel grimaced. “Wrong. The last thing I need is to be chased by a girl young enough to be my daughter.”

  “Chased? You use an unkind word, my friend. You imply that she is less than a lady.”

  “She’s a child.”

  Don Emilio almost smiled. “Hardly. She is on the verge of womanhood, and you have not been kind to her. If you hurt her, then—”

  “I’m not going to hurt her,” said Noel, shoving his hand through his hair. “I’m not going to do anything to her. All I want is to find my pants.”

  “And then what will you do?”

  Noel pointed at the shutters. “Climb out that window.”

  Don Emilio laughed. The sound was rich and full-throated. Amusement returned to his hazel eyes. “I can see the little dove does not have your heart.”

  Noel stopped rummaging in the chest and glared at him. “Of course she doesn’t. Didn’t I suggest once before that you marry her? I mean, you’re not married already or anything like that?”

  “We have had this conversation before. Why do you insist?”

  Noel wished he could explain. But he figured he was already strange enough to these people without claiming he could see into the future. “I, uh, just think it would be wise.”

  “In the business sense, perhaps. It would soothe an old enmity reaching back thirty years. You see, the Double T was once part of my father’s rancho before the Americans took it for their own territory. Many times my father tried to reclaim this land. I regret to say that some of his methods were unscrupulous. He and Senor Trask became bitter enemies. I myself have no quarrel with the old man, except that I, too, would like to have the land back under the Navarres name. I have offered many times to buy it, but the old man will not sell.”

  “Did you hire El Raton to burn him out?” asked Noel. He might as well have thrown oil on a burning fire. Don Emilio’s eyes blazed.

  “You dare accuse me of that! I will have you know that if I wanted to use the methods of bandidos I would not need the riffraff El Raton leads. No, my own men could force the Trasks off their land. They could shoot all the Double T cattle. They could poison the water holes. They could cut down the fences. Yes, and then the Yankee soldiers would come, and perhaps America and Mexico would have another war.”

  Noel’s clothes were folded neatly in the bottom of the armoire. He put his trousers on in silence and decided his back was still too sore to endure the shirt. While he fiddled with the clothes, he avoided looking at Don Emilio. The silence spun out in the room, then someone knocked at the door.

  “Noel?” called Lisa-Marie’s voice. “I’m back.”

  Noel groaned. He glanced at Don Emilio and made one last try. “If you married her, you’d not only have a beautiful wife, but you would have her grandfather’s ranch…eventually.”

  Don Emilio’s brows drew together. “You are confused, my friend. There is her uncle—”

  “He may be dead by now.”

  “And there is her brother. She will not inherit.”

  “She might—”

  “No, no. Stop this. I am a ruthless man. It is necessary in order to run a rancho as large as mine. But I am not without principles. To coldly plot the life of this young girl, to take her solely for my own monetary gain—no, I am not that desperate.”

  “But I thought arranged marriages were common in this century.” Too late Noel realized what he’d blurted out.

  Don Emilio gave him a peculiar look. “True, it is often the custom for parents to make the marriage arrangements. But Thomas Trask would never agree to give me his granddaughter’s hand, even if I asked for it.”

  “Just what’s so special about the Double T anyway?”

  Lisa-Marie knocked on the door. “Noel? Are you all right? Aren’t you going to let me back in?”

  Don Emilio said, “Aren’t you going to let her back in?”

  “No,” said Noel. “Why is the ranch so important?”

  “Sentiment. It once belonged to us.”

  He was lying, Noel realized. Noel shook his head. “It’s small, isn’t it?”

  “Si, not even ten sections.”

  “And you already have how many?”

  Don Emilio shrugged and poured himself some more brandy. “If you were to stand on the rooftop in the morning, as far as you could see in any direction would be my land.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought. Hundreds of sections, thousands of acres…so why the Double T? You shouldn’t even miss it, yet your father nearly caused a war trying to get it back, and you keep raisi
ng your offers every year.”

  “It is rude to ask such insistent, personal questions,” said Don Emilio coldly. “You are a guest beneath my roof, and that gives you many liberties, but I warn you not to push into matters that are not your concern.”

  “It is my concern,” said Noel. “I’m not going to explain how, but I have an important stake in how this comes out. If you don’t tell me, I’ll persist until I have the answer.”

  “My peons will tell you nothing. They are completely loyal to me.”

  “Sure they are.”

  Don Emilio gripped his arm hard, and his hazel eyes bored into Noel’s with a menace that was unmistakable. “I have warned you once. I shall not do so again. Do not meddle. Buenas noches.”

  He walked out past Lisa-Marie, who was still waiting for admittance. The elderly servant stood patiently at her heels with a fresh tray.

  They came in together. Lisa-Marie chattered incessantly while Noel ate, but he paid her no attention. Before he was finished, Cody came hesitantly to the doorway and peeped in.

  “Cody!” said Lisa-Marie. “Come on in. Can you believe how well he looks? It’s just a miracle.”

  Cody turned so red his freckles disappeared. He scuffed his boot toe shyly on the tiled floor. “We sure were worried about you. The way everyone was acting around here, I figured you were a goner.”

  “Well, I’m not,” said Noel, polishing off the last of his refried beans with a folded piece of tortilla. “Thanks, Lisa­-Marie. That was delicious.”

  She beamed at him, and he glanced at Cody to keep from being blinded. “Come in. I have some questions to ask.”

  Cody shuffled in, still red-faced and tongue-tied. “We owe you a lot—”

  “Now don’t you start,” said Noel hastily and switched the subject. “Do you know why Don Emilio wants your grandfather’s ranch?”

  The twins suddenly looked very much alike. Even Lisa­ Marie lost some of her glow. They exchanged a quick look, then faced Noel and shook their heads.

  He sighed. They were lying to him, too. He decided to take off the kid gloves. “Okay, you two,” he said sharply. “You keep saying how much you owe me for saving your lives, both your lives. So pay up by telling me the truth.”

  Lisa-Marie set her jaw stubbornly and stared into the distance.

  Cody met Noel’s gaze briefly and grimaced. “I’m sorry,” he said. “We can’t.”

  “Cody,” she said in warning.

  He shrugged. “We gave our word to Grandpa.”

  “Which is more important, your debt to me or your promise to the old man?”

  Cody stared at him in shock, and even Lisa-Marie looked as though her hero-worship was fading fast.

  “That’s an awful thing to ask,” whispered Cody hoarsely.

  Noel went on staring at him. “There are choices in life. Some of them are unpleasant.”

  “Now you sound like Skeet.”

  “Good old Skeet,” said Lisa-Marie as though eager to change the subject. “I wish you had stayed with him, Cody, instead of hooking up with Don Emilio. Now look at the mess we’re in.”

  “What mess?” said Noel quickly.

  “Nothing,” said Cody.

  “He’s keeping us here and won’t let us go home,” said Lisa-Marie. “He wants Grandpa to come here. I guess he’s trying to make Grandpa feel beholden to him for rescuing us. But Don Emilio didn’t save us. You did, Noel.”

  Noel sighed. The chances for nuptials were getting slimmer all the time. “That’s right. But Don Emilio’s not so bad. He’s been kind and—”

  “Yeah, the way a snake coils up afore it strikes!” said Cody.

  “Before,” said Lisa-Marie. “Before it strikes. Cody, you’re sounding more and more illiterate.”

  “And you’re pretty stuck up these days,” he retorted.

  “Children, stop it,” said Noel.

  That got their attention. Both of them glared at him.

  “We are not children,” said Lisa-Marie icily.

  “Then don’t act like it. And let’s get back to your grandfather’s ranch. Why does Don Emilio want it so much?”

  The twins stared at each other a moment, and Noel got the impression they were communing.

  “We promised,” said Lisa-Marie.

  “Yeah, and maybe it’s time we thought about that promise. If Noel can help us—”

  “But will he?”

  Tired of listening to their argument, Noel cleared his throat and raised his brows.

  Lisa-Marie sent him a sharp look and said, “I guess I trust you.”

  “Well, thanks,” he said, irritated. “Considering I’ve given you every reason to so far—”

  “You don’t understand,” she broke in with a blush that made her look very pretty indeed. He wondered if she could do that at will. “You see, I think you’re perfectly wonderful, but Uncle Frank taught us to always make certain a man has all his cards on the table. Don Emilio is handsome and charming, but we know he’s a snake.”

  “He sure is,” said Cody. “A double-tongued, double-dealing, two-faced, underhanded, great big snake in the grass. I never could see why Uncle Frank fuzzed up like an old tomcat whenever Don Emilio came by the house, but now that he’s keeping us prisoners here I understand. It’s like a ransom or something. I don’t like him having Grandpa over a barrel.”

  “Okay, okay,” said Noel. “I get the message. You want to make a deal with me, right?”

  “That’s right,” said Lisa-Marie sweetly. “If we tell you why Don Emilio wants our ranch, you have to help us escape—”

  “—and get home to Grandpa and Uncle Frank,” said Cody.

  “—and get home,” said Lisa-Marie. She smiled radiantly at Noel and batted her lashes. She looked innocent and demure, but she was just as stubborn and flint-hearted as the rest of the Trasks. “Is it a deal, Noel?”

  Noel hesitated, his old training about noninvolvement coming to the fore. His training was to be an observer, to stand aside from the events of history and merely record them for analysis and example in his own time. But since his LOC had been sabotaged, he found himself unable to avoid meddling. The last time it had been Leon who changed history, and Noel had to work hard to change it back. This time he had changed history himself by saving Cody from drowning. It was beginning to look like he had changed things for the better, because no matter how much he told himself not to interfere or alter history, he couldn’t see letting this boy die just so his sister could marry a man who didn’t love her. Maybe the LOC was mistaken. Maybe its data banks had been damaged, and it was feeding him false information.

  Noel flinched from the thought. If he lost faith in his LOC, then he lost all hope of ever getting back.

  “Well?” said Lisa-Marie.

  “Well?” said Cody.

  Shoulder to shoulder, they stared at him with identical intensity in their blue eyes.

  Noel frowned. If he helped this pair escape Don Emilio, then it looked like his change of history was going to stand. That violated his code, his ethics, and his oath as a traveler.

  Noel rose to his feet. “It’s a deal.”

  Chapter 12

  “Mighty fine!” said Cody with enthusiasm. “Let’s go—”

  “Wait a minute,” said Noel sharply. “You tell me what I want to know first.”

  “Nope,” said Cody. “We’ll tell you when we’re safely away from the hacienda and on our way to the border.”

  Noel sat down, wincing as the waistband of his trousers rubbed across a low-reaching welt. “You’re going to have to trust me, Cody.”

  Cody’s face wrinkled with uncertainty, the way it had when he’d chosen to go with Don Emilio instead of Skeet. “I do, Noel, but it’s just—”

  “I’m being treated fine here,” said Noel. “Why should I be rude to my host and sneak out?”

  “Now you’re trying to hold us over a barrel,” began Cody hotly, but Lisa-Marie put her hand on his forearm.

  “Cody, hush up,�
�� she said. “We’ve already made the deal. Go close the door.”

  Muttering, Cody did so.

  Lisa-Marie faced Noel and said in a low, rapid voice, “There’s a large vein of silver that runs diagonally through the Double T. It’s pretty much played out on the south side of the border. Don Emilio’s father mined it heavily. Now he wants ours.”

  “Why isn’t your grandfather mining it?” asked Noel.

  “Access,” said Cody. “We got no railroad close by. Not close enough for a spur to be built out to it. You need the railroad for shipping out and for bringing in equipment. Either the Arizona & New Mexico line or the Southern Pacific would want a big share. We might bid them against each other, but the nearest smelter is in Silver City and only the Southern Pacific goes up there. Then, you got to hire miners and overseers and assayers and geologists.”

  “Does Don Emilio have a railroad?”

  “Don’t need one,” said Cody.

  “Doesn’t,” said Lisa-Marie. “He doesn’t need one.”

  “Look,” said Cody with irritation, “quit correcting me like some old-maid schoolmarm.”

  “Old maid! I’ll show you who’s an—”

  “Cut it out,” said Noel impatiently. “What does he use instead?”

  “Wagons. Don Emilio’s got peons and Indians working like slaves for him. Leastways, that’s what Uncle Frank says. And he’s got enough vaqueros to guard his wagon shipments. We ain’t set up for no big operation like that. Grandpa says it’s more headache than it’s worth and that we ought to stick with cows, which is a business we know.”

  “But if your grandfather brought in investors,” began Noel thoughtfully, “he’d have enough capital to—”

  “Nope!” said Cody. “The Double T stays in the family. No outsiders.”

  Noel thought it was a shortsighted stance, considering the wealth the family could accrue if they developed their mineral holdings, but it wasn’t his business. At least now he understood why the little ranch was so valuable.

  He drew a deep breath. “What’s the layout of this place, and what’s the best way out?”