Silver Surrender--Jarrett Family Sagas--Book Two

by Vivian Vaughan

  “Me? No way.”

  “You were the obvious choice,” Carson countered. “You know the business inside and out, the townsfolk apparently trust you, not to mention the most convincing reason of all: As the owner’s son, you are the heir.”

  Santos shook his head. “Someone has to run the ranch; that’s the business I know.”

  “I see your point. Enrique likely knows next to nothing about ranching.”

  “Enrique again?”

  “He’s president of the mint. If he marries Aurelia, after your father is gone, he will likely inherit his position at the mine.”

  “It will be a partnership.”

  Carson agreed. “But by virtue of living in Catorce, the man will have control.”

  Santos laughed. “Thought you would have learned by now that I’m good at keeping my eye on people.”

  Carson laughed.

  “So that’s what you see in Relie,” Santos teased after a while. “The Mina Mazón.”

  Carson turned serious. “I knew her before she had a centavo, partner. Wish to hell she still didn’t.”

  “She ought to have her backside whipped for hiding that fact from you.”

  They took lunch on the patio, with the fountain burbling in the background and streamers of bougainvillea dripping in fuchsia cascades from the balcony above—a romantic setting lost on the two of them, since the rest of the family had retired for siesta.

  Along with their lunch the maid brought messages for both men, which they promptly read.

  “Mine’s from Pia,” Santos said. “Appears she has found a way to capture my attention.”

  Carson glanced up from his telegram, his eyes vacant.

  “We have an appointment with Padre Bucareli at the cathedral in half an hour,” Santos explained.

  “During siesta?”

  Santos shrugged, grinning. “Guess Pia figured on the nuns being asleep.”

  “Enjoy yourself,” Carson muttered, his attention riveted to the telegram in his hand.

  Santos studied his friend. “Bad news?”

  “Yeah. My brother, the one who was missing when I came down here, has been found. Dead.”

  “Benjamin?”

  Carson nodded, fighting back tears.

  “I’m sorry. If you need to go back to Texas, I can handle the difficulties at the mine.”

  Carson shook his head, indicating the telegram. “This is from Kale. He’s taking care of things. The others are on their way to the ranch. He promised to let me know what comes of it.”

  They finished the meal in silence, then Santos scraped back his chair. “Hate to leave you at such a time, compadre. I won’t be long.”

  “Don’t rush back on my account,” Carson told him. In an effort to shake off his rising sense of loss, he added, “You can trust me today, partner.”

  Santos slapped him on the back. “Bueno. Like I told Pia, your word is good as gold. Besides, Relie is occupied. Seems this is the only time Señora Velez had available to fit that gown.”

  After Santos left, Carson turned to the message behind the telegram.

  Third floor, double doors at end of hallway.

  Santos arrived at Pia’s house to find her pacing back and forth in the front courtyard. She was attired in a proper riding habit; her horse was saddled and ready.

  The moment he started to help her mount, Señora Leal came hurrying out the front door. “I am trusting you, Santos. Ride at a proper distance. With just over a month before the wedding, we cannot have a scandal.”.

  “¡Mamá!”

  “Sí, señora,” Santos responded gravely. “I promise to remain conscious of Pia’s reputation.”

  The señora watched, hawk-eyed, while he assisted Pia onto the sidesaddle. “Padre Bucareli must have lost his senses,” she fussed. “A conference this time of day. Whoever heard of such a thing? A conference at the cathedral during siesta.”

  When they were out of earshot, Pia laughed. “Mamá decided it would be safer for us to travel horseback. More discreet than in a carriage like last time. One of her friends must have said something.”

  The idea of the town talking about Pia disturbed Santos as much as did the thought of those same wags gossiping about Relie. Of the two, of course, his sister was the one more likely to deserve any tales the town might come up with. Relie was entirely too much like he had been in his early days for him to have any peace of mind about her.

  On the way to the cathedral, he discussed his and Carson’s earlier conversation.

  “What do you think about Enrique?”

  “Relie won’t marry him. One way or another, she will get out of it.”

  Santos laughed. “I don’t doubt that. But what do you think of him as a man?”

  Pia turned to him with such affection that a familiar warmth began to spread through his body. “Remember what your mamá said,” he teased.

  She laughed. “You are a man, Santos. Enrique is…well, he seems more like a…like a pretender.”

  “Papá sets store by him.”

  “Enrique is good at persuading people of his importance. But he doesn’t seem sincere. And he isn’t a leader.” She sighed. “You would have made a better mint president.”

  “You are prejudiced.”

  She beamed at him.

  “Someone has to run the ranch, Pia. Like I told Jarrett, I can’t see Enrique running the ranch.”

  She laughed. “Certainly not. But what will happen to him when Relie marries someone else?”

  Santos shrugged. “He will still run the mint, I suppose. Papá would want that. I can see Jarrett’s point, though. Don’t need to tell you, the idea of Enrique in charge of things gave me pause.”

  “I wouldn’t mind if we had to move back to Catorce,” she told him. “I have never felt the way Relie does. She sees these mountains as walls, and you know Relie, when she comes to a wall, she has to climb it or break it down.”

  Suddenly, his thoughts returned to the situation between Aurelia and Carson. “She’s heading for trouble.”

  “You can’t fault her for the way she is, Santos. She is exactly like you.”

  “Don’t you think that’s what has me worried?”

  “I know. But you don’t understand her reasons for wanting to live in Guanajuato. She wants freedom, all right, but a different kind of freedom than you think. She doesn’t want freedom to run wild.”

  “Robbing trains isn’t running wild?”

  Pia sighed. “It was a stupid thing to do. We all agree on that now. But at the time…Don’t you see? Relie wants the freedom to make her own choices, to determine the course of her own life. Is that so wrong?”

  He shrugged, his jaws set.

  “I would probably have reacted the same way if I hadn’t been able to choose for myself.”

  Dismounting in front of the cathedral, he helped Pia down, then hitched their mounts to the rail.

  “Are you saying you chose me?” he teased.

  “I certainly did.”

  “Here I was thinking it was all my idea.”

  “It was, Santos,” she assured him with a coy smile. “But perhaps it took a little scheming to give you the initial idea.”

  He shook his head in amazement, reached to open the carved door of the cathedral, and she stopped him.

  “No.” Without further explanation, Pia drew Santos around the side of the cathedral along a path between the building and the graveyard.

  “Where are we going?”

  She skipped.

  He tugged her hand, bringing her to a stop. “Where is the padre meeting us?”

  She pursed her lips, her face coloring. “He isn’t.”

  “He isn’t?”

  “Oh, Santos, don’t be angry. I had to get you away. We haven’t had any time to ourselves. I thought—”

  “You lied to your mother?”

  “A small one.”

  “A small one,” he repeated. “It won’t seem so small when Padre Bucareli tells her there was no m
eeting.”

  Her eyes widened briefly, then she composed herself. “I considered that. But like she said, we have little more than a month left until the wedding. How much damage can we do my reputation in that short a time?”

  Santos let out a low whistle. “A hell of a lot, that’s how much.”

  “You wouldn’t back out, though,” she insisted. “You would marry me anyway, no matter how soiled my reputation.”

  “Women,” he wailed while she led him past the graves and behind a privacy hedge to a small place in the back of the garden he was sure the nuns had no idea they had left secluded. At the moment, he prayed they didn’t know about this place.

  “Here I’ve been hoping some of your good sense would rub off on Relie, and now I find the opposite has happened. You’ve become as outrageous a schemer as she is.”

  When they were finally out of sight of errant eyes, Pia stopped and looked up at him with such a sober expression that he melted. Taking her in his arms, Santos felt her respond immediately, felt her small arms encircle him, felt her body, encased in layers of protective clothing, snuggle next to his—a slender body he found all the more seductive for its lack of experience.

  “You don’t appreciate my schemes?”

  With awkward hands, he untied the ribbon on her bonnet and tossed it aside. “You know I do.” He kissed her. “But you women will be the ruin of us poor unsuspecting hombres yet. We have to get up before daybreak to keep up with you.”

  After another glance over his shoulder, he lifted her in his arms and carried her to a log that was large enough for him to sit on, but not for the two of them side by side.

  He sat with her on his lap, cradled her to him, and held her tight a moment, thinking how glad he would be when she was his wife. How whole he would feel. How complete. Lifting her face, he kissed her gently. “I’m a lucky man, Pia. In a month, I will be even luckier. You will be my wife.”

  She placed a quick, chaste kiss on his lips. Resting her elbows on his shoulders, she played her fingers through his unruly hair.

  Often he wondered how he had ever won the devotion of such a gentle woman. She had changed his life. She had made him a better man than he ever would have been without her. He wanted to protect her and cherish her. Once a hell-raiser with the best of them, all he wanted now was to take Pia to the ranch and love her. He wanted to sit with her at breakfast and walk with her at dusk. He wanted to rock with her in the twilight and…

  Suddenly, he wanted more—so much more. He kissed her with such passion her head swayed with the fervor of it. At length, she lifted her face to catch her breath.

  “I knew you wouldn’t stay angry,” she whispered against his lips.

  He kissed her again. “I would have come without being tricked.”

  She scrunched her face, considering, tracing the outline of his eyebrows with wispy strokes of her fingers. “You would probably have brought Carson Jarrett along, though. You’ve been so caught up in keeping him and Relie apart, you have forgotten about us.”

  “Never, little one,” he mumbled between kisses. But the reminder of Relie and Carson renewed his determination to resist Pia, a determination he was finding difficult to maintain with her in his arms.

  She tasted so sweet, like roses and honey, and he had always been fond of sweetness. He ran his hand up and down her back. Even corseted as she was, he knew she would be soft and firm underneath. Thoughts of such a combination began to play havoc with his willpower. Without intending to, he slipped a hand between them and cupped a small, firm breast in his palm. It seemed to fit in its entirety, a fact that intrigued him.

  When his kisses deepened, she responded with enough fervor to expunge a bit more of his determination. Before he realized it, Santos had unbuttoned her jacket. Drawing their lips apart, he stared at the gaping bodice, then back to her face. Even though her cheeks were stained with great blotches of red, she squared her shoulders, creating an even wider gap between the edges of her riding habit and the silky white chemise beneath it.

  His heart felt lodged in his throat, where it threatened to choke him. Great God in heaven, how was he supposed to resist her?

  He watched her cheeks flame, saw her eyes beg, and contrary to all his noble intentions, Santos slipped one hand inside and clasped a small breast in his palm. She felt exactly as he had imagined she would—firm and soft and pliant, even with the silky chemise and the hard bones of her corset intruding. The only thing he felt was her softness, her firmness, the heat of her breast against his hand, and the aroused tip of her nipple.

  Desire ripped through his determination. His thumb traced the rigid tip; his tongue, dry from wanting her, clung to his lips.

  Terrified, Pia watched the hunger in Santos’s eyes, felt the sensuously devastating touch of his hand on her breast. His eyes held hers, wide and black. What was he thinking? Was she too small? Was he repelled by her less than abundant figure? She had heard maids laugh about how men loved full-bosomed women. Was he disappointed?

  He watched questions form in her eyes, questions that restored enough of his determination to enable him to withdraw his hand. Clumsily, he began to button her bodice.

  “Don’t…” she whispered.

  He inhaled raggedly. “I may not be as strong a man as it takes to resist you.”

  Suddenly, she became desperate to prove to him that although she was small, she was still a woman; although her figure was less than abundant, she could still give him pleasure. She kissed him urgently, feeling herself flush with the forwardness of it. “Don’t resist,” she begged.

  He took her lips greedily, exploring, plunging, consuming, being himself consumed by unquenchable yearnings for this woman. Damn his little sister’s scheming brain. Damn friendships and brotherly love. With difficulty, he drew back, willing his heart to slow. “This isn’t the place, little one,” he whispered, his breath ragged. “Or the time.”

  “We can find a place. You said—”

  He shook his head. “We can wait another month.”

  “You said after Relie was safe…” Her words trailed off, and she ducked her head to keep from looking him in the eye.

  “I remember what I said.” His voice, though husky, was gentle. “Things have changed.”

  Abruptly, she raised stricken eyes.

  “No,” he corrected quickly, “not between us. It’s this thing with Relie and Jarrett. Worrying over them made me realize—”

  “They have nothing to do with us.”

  “I know, but…well, I’ve given it a lot of thought, and I think we should wait until after we are married.”

  Embarrassed beyond belief at having her boldness rejected in broad open daylight, Pia slid to the ground. “It’s time we were getting back.”

  Santos jumped up and pulled her to him. He held her tightly against his chest in a sheltering, protective embrace. “I’m sorry, Pia. Please don’t think I don’t want to. I do. I’m desperate to make love to you. I want it more than anything, except…”

  “Except what?”

  He took a long time before answering. “I promised to make it worth waiting for. I will. You’ll see.”

  Still too embarrassed to express herself coherently, she buried her face in his broad chest.

  “Look at me,” he whispered, tipping her chin. “You are more important to me than Relie or Jarrett or anyone else on this earth. Worrying about them has made me realize how much I love you. This gift you offer…It isn’t an act to be accomplished out here behind the hedge and forgotten. I want it to be a gift from me to you, too, something we can treasure all our lives.”

  Rising on tiptoe, she kissed his mouth. “I’ll think of a place, then. I will tell you where when I come to your house for the fitting.”

  “What fitting?”

  “Señora Velez wants me to be present when she fits Relie’s gown. She knows how finicky I am, and—”

  “I thought that’s what Relie was doing right now.”

  Pia’s eyes widened
.

  Santos glanced around the secluded glen. His eyes returned to hers. “You planned this to—”

  “To give us time together.”

  “To give them time together.” He pulled her along the path toward their horses. “I should have known you weren’t responsible for this…this scheme to seduce me.”

  “It isn’t like that, Santos. Please don’t be angry. Please.” She dug the heels of her riding boots into the soft earth. “You’ve gone mad where they are concerned.”

  He stopped, looking down at her, confused. What had his outrageous sister done to his sweet Pia? “Maybe,” he acknowledged. “But maybe not.”

  “Santos Mazón, you listen to me. I’m tired of you playing nursemaid to two grown people. And…and I’m tired of being neglected.”

  Her words needled his guilty conscience. “I didn’t mean to neglect you, little one. I love you.”

  She stood her ground. “I know that. But I still don’t like it.”

  “You shouldn’t.” He led her toward their horses. “Once this wedding is over, you will never have cause to accuse me of such again.”

  “Once Carson Jarrett is safely back across the Río Bravo, you mean.”

  “First things first,” he managed. “In the morning, Relie and I are leaving for Guanajuato. That should cool their romance down a bit.”

  Pia cocked her head, glancing up at him through squinted eyes. “And ours as well.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Third floor, double doors at end of hallway.

  After seeing Santos safely on his way to meet Pia, Carson followed the directions on the unsigned message, promising himself with every step that he would meet Aurelia, talk with her, look at her, and leave her untouched.

  The double doors opened into a great white ballroom with gold-leaf moldings, gilt-framed mirrors, and a good half-dozen golden medallions on the ceiling with a crystal chandelier hanging from each of them.

  He let out a low whistle. Here he had thought ballrooms were found only in hotels. Showed how lacking was his storehouse of knowledge—one more fact to add to the lengthening list of reasons he should avoid becoming involved with the lady who lived in this gold and white prison. One more fact to strengthen his resolve.