Deborah suspected that was true. “I guess it’s in his best interests if I remain unmarried.”
“He’ll do anything to keep his lands. I’m surprised he hasn’t been after you himself.” Her shock must have shown in her eyes, because Zack gave a slight shrug. “It’d be one way of keeping you—and the Velazquez lands—in the family.”
“How do you know so much about our business?”
“It’s pretty common knowledge. Besides, Diamond has made it his business to find out the terms of the legal settlement. I think he has more than a casual interest in the lands.”
“So Tía Dolores says.”
“Watch yourself,” he said softly, and when she just stared at him, he looked away from her. Saddle leather creaked as he shifted. His voice was rough. “I told you—no promises.”
“Yes, I heard you.” Pain closed her throat. He’d meant it, then. Even after . . . after what they’d done. It had meant no more to him than he’d warned her it would. She was indeed a fool.
Deborah kicked her horse into a faster pace, and they didn’t speak again.
Dexter Diamond was waiting on them in front of the low, sprawling adobe hacienda, his face like a thundercloud. It was obvious from his saddled horse and the men with him, that he’d been about to set out in search of them. “’Bout gawddamned time you two got back,” he growled, his dark gaze flicking from Zack to Deborah and back. “What took you so long, Banning?” Lantern light brightened the dusk, and Deborah saw the tension in Diamond as he stood with feet planted apart and braced, his eyes narrowed.
He reeked with hostility and suspicion.
Zack dismounted slowly, his posture sending out mixed signals of amusement and danger. “Got a burr in your britches, Diamond? Don’t be shy. Ask what you really want to know.” Diamond stiffened. “All right—you tryin’ to steal my woman?”
“Really!” Deborah exploded, anger and fear making her bolder than usual. “In the first place, Mr. Diamond, I am not your woman, and in the second—I resent any insinuation that I would welcome his advances.” For a moment, Diamond bristled with disbelief, but then he slowly relaxed. “Let him answer,” he said roughly, and Zack eyed him without speaking.
“You heard the lady,” he said finally. “I don’t know about the first, but even a fool can see she’s too much of a lady to go around inviting attention from strangers.”
That simple retort left Diamond with no choice but to accept it. To continue would make it seem as if he thought Deborah was no lady, and she could see his frustration.
“Now,” she said coldly, “if you are quite through insulting me, Mr. Diamond, I would appreciate being allowed to see my cousin. I assume you brought her back without molesting her in any way?” Diamond flushed, a deep, ugly crimson that was readily evident even in the shadows. “Guess I deserve that,” he said after a moment. His voice altered. “But I got worried, damn it all. You shoulda been back hours ago.”
“If you were that worried,” Deborah countered as she slid from her mount to the ground, “you should have left to find us hours ago. As it appears you did not, I can only assume that you have confidence in the man you hired to secure our safety.” Trapped again, Diamond muttered something under his breath, then moved as if to escort her inside.
“No,” she said. “I’m tired. It’s been a long, weary day, so if you will excuse me, I wish to retire. Good evening, sir.”
“Dammit,” she heard him say as she turned and walked toward the house, “she’s done gone and shut me out again!” Don Francisco, who stood with his horse’s reins in his hand, said softly,
“Perhaps it is best if you go now. It has been so soon since the tragedy, that Señora Velazquez is understandably delicate. Though I do not wish to insult you, Señor Diamond, she is not ready for what you desire.” Deborah paused on the tiled veranda and heard Diamond say roughly,
“You can’t stop me from seein’ her if I want to, Velazquez.”
“On the contrary, I not only can, I will.” Don Francisco’s smooth voice lowered to a menacing clip. “She is a part of our family, of which I am the patriarch. I rule here, and if you wish to press the matter, I will give orders that you not be allowed on my lands.”
“The hell you will!”
Don Francisco gave a soft command, and men stepped out from the shadows with rifles leveled. There was a series of clicks as the weapons were cocked. No one moved. Tension vibrated in the air.
Diamond muttered a curse. Then he stepped to his horse and into his saddle. “Come on, Banning,” he snarled.
Deborah watched from the hidden shadows of the doorway as Zack followed suit, moving with that slow, lazy precision that made him stand out from other men. There was none of the same haste that marked Diamond’s retreat. The two men wheeled their mounts and kicked them into an unhurried lope.
She was still standing in the doorway when Don Francisco approached.
His face was grave, his black eyes fastened on her with a narrowed stare.
“You will not see him again,” he said softly, and she turned to look at him. “You are not my guardian, Don Francisco.”
“You are wrong. I have allowed you to act on your own, and you see what comes of it. From now on, you will obey me or suffer the consequences.”
Rigid with anger, Deborah said as coolly as possible, “I feel no need to discuss this further. I’m going in to see my cousin.” He caught her arm when she turned away, his fingers biting into her tender flesh. “This is your only warning. If you value your freedom, do not force me into action.”
“A threat, Don Francisco?”
“A promise.”
She felt a sudden chill and swallowed the fear rising in her throat. He looked serious. And menacing.
“I will keep that in mind,” she finally said, and looked pointedly at his grip on her. He released her, and she turned without another word and went inside the hacienda to find Judith.
“This is intolerable!” Deborah turned with an agitated click of her heels against the smooth tiles of the patio, blinking against the glare of the sun. “He is keeping us prisoners!”
“No, no,” Tía Dolores said faintly. “You are wrong. He means well.
Francisco is a bit highhanded, that is all.”
“I call it more than highhanded to be followed wherever I go, and not allowed to go into town or even to church when I please!”
“He is concerned for your safety,” Tía Dolores protested, then sighed.
“And your reputation.”
“I believe,” Deborah said, “that my reputation was in shreds when I was returned by the Comanche. What else can harm it now?” Judith shifted position on the lounge chair where she rested in the shade, her ankle propped on a pillow. “Are you sure that Don Francisco is not more concerned with the interest Mr. Diamond is showing in your lands?” Tía Dolores looked distressed. “There are the rumors, of course.”
“But it seems to me,” Deborah said, “that if he does not wish to sell, there is no problem.”
“Normally, that would be true. But Miguel’s will left you a certain portion of the land, as required. Since there were no children to inherit the land, it reverts to you. No one thought, you see, that things would turn out as they have, and after it was presumed that you had been killed by those marauding savages, Francisco inherited.” Deborah fought back a wave of frustration. “I realize that my return was rather inconvenient for him. I have assured him that I have no intention of claiming your lands, nor do I want them.” She lifted her hands. “I just have nowhere else to go.”
The admission was painful. And she had offered to sign over whatever claim she had, but Don Francisco insisted that the Velazquez lands would then be vulnerable to American claimants, as no American would own a portion.
“You will remain here,” he’d said, fixing his dark eyes on her, “so that our lands are inviolate.” His mood had not invited argument, and she’d retreated into prudent silence.
She looked at Tí
a Dolores’s distressed face and sighed. “Why doesn’t he marry an American? That would solve all his problems.” Biting her lower lip, Tía Dolores looked down at her clenched hands.
“He says that no American woman is aristocratic enough to be his wife.”
“He certainly had no compunction in marrying me to his nephew!” Deborah retorted.
Dolores could not look at her. “That was not his idea. It was my oldest brother’s decision, Miguel’s father. Poor, dead Luis did not have the same . . .
aversion . . . to Americans.”
“Aversion?” Judith laughed suddenly, a strange, choked sound. “I’ve seen Don Francisco look at me with anything but aversion. Are you sure your brother feels that way?” Coloring, Dolores mumbled, “If he feels anything, it is an unwilling attraction. He would not offer you anything so honorable as marriage, chica.” Her meaning was clear. Shock silenced both Deborah and Judith.
Zack leaned against a support post holding up the roof of the bunkhouse.
It was hot. Waves of heat rose up from the ground, shimmering and distorting the landscape. Diamond owned two hundred eighty-six thousand acres of prime land, and was in the process of acquiring more. He ran cattle, had over two hundred cowhands working for him, and a small army of twenty professional gunmen. He’d come to Texas twelve years before and bought the ranch from the government. It had once belonged to a Spanish family, but after the boundaries were changed, the United States had sold it to him. Diamond liked to brag that he would soon own all of West Texas, and Zack figured he meant it. In the two months he’d been with Diamond, he’d seen three families sell out to him. Only one of the families had done it for the money. The other two had sold out for survival. Water sources had dried up suddenly, and wells had gone bad. Cattle died. Diamond had stepped in with offers, and had walked away with thirteen thousand more acres from the three. At a tidy little profit.
Now, the Double D brand rode the rumps of over twenty thousand prime beeves. At approximately seven acres of decent grazing land to feed each animal, Diamond ran his herd on the open range. Inevitably, cows wandered, and the recent roundup had produced open hostilities when other brands had been rounded up with the Double D.
“If it’s on my land eatin’ my grass, it’s mine,” Diamond had told one angry rancher. And when the man had seen the armed men backing him, he’d ridden away without his cows.
“You feel that way about your beeves?” Zack had asked when the rancher left, and Diamond laughed.
“Naw. If it’s got my brand on it, it’s mine.” Zack had shrugged. It wasn’t his problem. Living with the Comanche, he’d come to think, as they did, that animals were to feed all the people. If a man was a good hunter, his family ate well. If he wasn’t, or it was a lean year, they went hungry. There was no owning land or cattle for them. It avoided many unnecessary squabbles, as far as Zack was concerned.
He squinted against the bright prick of sunlight as he saw Diamond walking toward him. Since that day with Deborah, he’d felt a difference in the way Diamond viewed him. There had been speculation in his eyes when he looked at Zack, as if he knew there was something between him and Deborah.
Zack flipped his cigarette to the ground and waited.
“Banning,” Diamond said, stepping up to the porch, “hot enough to melt iron out here, ain’t it.”
“Yeah.”
Diamond’s brow lifted slightly, and his mouth set in a straight line. “Not very talkative, are you?”
“I don’t have anything to say.” He leaned back against the post again, eyes level with Diamond’s. “If you do, I’m listening.”
“Kinda surly, ain’t ya?” Diamond asked with a grunt, then lifted his hand palm-out. “Don’t get me wrong. I don’t give a damn. Some of the other boys are kinda nervous about you, though.” Zack didn’t say anything, just waited. He kept his eyes on Diamond, all the while aware of what went on around him. A horse snorted and stomped its foot in the nearby corral, and he saw shadows ranging along one wall of the bunkhouse that he knew were some of the hands. Listening at the open windows, no doubt.
“Look, Banning,” Diamond said finally when he realized that Zack wasn’t going to ask, “I heard that you’re the one who broke Charlie Raymond’s arm. That right?”
“Sounds right.”
“Damn, man. Why?”
“Raymond doesn’t know when to keep his mouth shut, and when to talk. I gave him a lesson in deportment.” Frustration heated Diamond’s brown eyes. “You also took one of my cowhands out of commission for a while. I don’t give a damn about fightin’
among my men. Hell, you can’t get a bunch of men together in one place without some kinda trouble once in a while, but I don’t like doin’ without one of my wranglers for a few weeks.” Zack met his gaze. “I could have made it permanent.” Diamond grunted. “I know that. And I told Charlie he’s a fool to prod you, but he’s just a kid.”
“If he wants to grow up, he’d better learn to keep quiet at the right times.
It’s a hard lesson for some.” Diamond eyed him silently for a long moment. Then he said, “You’re probably the best gun I’ve got. I want to keep you on, but I don’t want to lose any more ranch hands. If I get more land like I’m plannin’ on, it’s gonna take all I’ve got to run it. Think you can just bruise the loudmouths, and not break’ em?”
Irritated, Zack shrugged. “I didn’t hire on as a wet nurse for a bunch of yahoos. I can ride away just as easy as I rode in. If you don’t want trouble, you’re talking to the wrong man.”
“I don’t want you ridin’ out yet. Hell, this is just gettin’ started. Things are gonna get a lot hotter soon, and I need you.”
“I don’t make war on women and children,” Zack said flatly, and saw Diamond’s brow lift. “If you’ve got in mind that I’m going to help run off any families, you’re wrong.”
“Did I say that?”
“I’m just going by what I’ve seen.” Diamond flushed. “None of that would have happened if old Ledbetter hadn’t drawn a bead on Albright. Frank had to shoot.”
“Old Ledbetter was a mite put out that Albright said he intended to hump his daughter, the way I heard it,” Zack drawled. He noted that Diamond’s flush deepened. “Now, those are fighting words where I come from.”
“I admit Frank spoke out of turn, but he didn’t hurt the girl. I gave orders they were just to be put off the land, not hurt.” His brow crowded his eyes as he stared at Zack. “You with me, Banning? If you’re not, say so now.”
“I’m with you as long as you stay legal, Diamond.”
“Yeah, that’s your reputation. You’ve done more legal shootin’s in the middle of the street than most men do in the middle of a war.”
“It’s just worked out that way.” Diamond scraped a thumb over the half-grown beard shadowing his jaw, studying Zack for a moment as if trying to figure him out. “You’re cold, I’ll say that for you. But I ain’t never seen anybody as fast or accurate as you, either.”
Zack settled his spine against the rough wood of the post and shrugged again. “There’s always someone faster.”
“Maybe. Look, just do me a personal favor and ignore the hotheads, will you? I’ll say something to ’em, but I’d consider it a real favor if you overlook a few of the green ones.”
“I generally try to.”
“Yeah, I know. Charlie Raymond said things he shouldn’t have. He’s young and stupid.”
“And that can get you killed out here,” Zack said so softly Diamond tensed. Zack saw the doubt cloud his eyes, the faint, curious flicker of not knowing how far he could push. Then it faded.
“I know that,” Diamond said. “And now Charlie knows it. Just go easy on the rest of ’em, okay?”
“As long as they keep their distance.”
“I can almost guarantee that now.” Diamond shifted from one foot to the other. “I’m gonna need you to go into town for me tomorrow.”
Again, Zack waited. Diamond shook his head and p
ushed his hat back.
“Since you’re so curious,” he drawled with a look halfway between irritation and amusement, “I’ll tell you what I want you to do. There’s a man comin’ in on the noon stage that I need to see before he gets busy elsewhere. I want you and Jeb Braden to bring him out here.”
“Braden and I don’t get along.”
“Hell, you don’t get along with anyone here. You stick to yourself too much. The others don’t trust you.” Zack eyed him coldly. “Did you hire me to be friendly to the rest of your gunnies?”
Frustration marked Diamond’s face again. “No, but gawddamit, Banning, it’d help if you’d at least be civil!”
“I’m civil.”
“Barely. You and Braden are my two best men, and I want you to do a job for me. Do you think you can get this guy here like I want?”
“Is he going to come willingly?” Diamond took an envelope out of his vest pocket. “He will if you give him this. Watch your backs, though. There are some other people around here who’d like to talk to him before I do.” Zack took the envelope, glanced at the name on front, then tucked it into his vest pocket. “I can get him here.”
“You sound damn certain,” Diamond commented.
“I’m certain I can do my part. The rest is up to him.”
“Do you ever screw up, Banning? Lose a fight? Catch a bullet?” A faint smile curled Zack’s mouth, and he nodded. “Sure I do. You just don’t hear me bragging about it.” Diamond relaxed and grinned. “Glad to hear it. I was beginnin’ to think you ain’t human like the rest of us.” The faint smile faded, and Zack looked away. “I just hide it better.”
“Must be the Injun in ya.” Diamond intercepted Zack’s icy glance, and added, “No offense.”
When Zack didn’t reply, Diamond obviously decided the conversation was over. He stepped down from the porch and into the sunlight, then said over his shoulder, “I’m countin’ on you to get Macklin here, Banning.” Macklin. The name on the envelope. Obviously, a pretty important man to Diamond. It occurred to Zack to wonder why.
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