Now there was time to make up for the lost weeks, for the fact that they had nearly lost each other forever. They stayed in their private room. They had bathed here, had eaten here, had not even dressed to go out and enjoy the view. How many times they had made love over the past day and night, Nina could not remember. She leaned up and kissed at Clay’s neck. “Do not go to the coast again without me,” she asked. “Do not go anywhere without me.”
He took her face in one hand. “Sometimes I’ll have to, Nina, but the danger is over now. I’m sorry about Emilio, but at least there is no one left to bring you harm. As long as we remain in Mexico, we’re safe.”
“Still, do not go far.”
Her big, dark eyes pleaded with him. He kissed her full lips, licking at them lightly. “I won’t. At least not for a long time, certainly not until after our baby is born.”
“I am sorry you can never leave Mexico, mi querido.”
“I’ve grown to love it, Nina. And I love the people. Besides, it doesn’t matter where I am, as long as I have you with me.”
She reached up and touched his hair, studying the melting blue eyes. “Emilio said you would not come for me. He said you only used me to steal my land and build an empire in Mexico with your American money.”
“Well, Emilio was wrong, wasn’t he? And I built that place for you, Nina, not for me. That ranch was your dream before it was mine. Someday it will be even bigger, and it will belong to our children. I consider myself a Mexican now.”
She smiled. “You? My blue-eyed gringo soldier a Mexican?” Her eyes teared slightly. “I have made my querido a wanted man in his own country. It is said a woman should leave her family and her country for her husband, but in our case, it is the husband who has left his country for me.”
“Neither one of us belongs to the land, Nina. We only belong to each other. Wherever we have to live, that will be home for us. If anything goes wrong for us in Mexico, problems with the government, we’ll just find another place to live. We can manage anywhere, as long as we have each other.”
“Sí, mi vida.” She smiled wider. “I never thought that when I saw you unloading the camels, one day such a beast would save my life.”
Clay grinned in return. “I hope that old girl lives a good, long time. I felt kind of bad letting her go, but she’ll survive. Camels are pretty adaptable beasts.”
She ran a finger over his lips. “Sí, like my gringo man. He can survive anywhere. He is strong and sure, and I love him with my very life.”
He leaned down to meet her lips, moving on top of her to again remind himself she really did lie here in his arms, in his bed. So many times they had done this, yet each time was better than the last.
“Yo te quiero,” Clay whispered.
With secret delight Major John Keller listened attentively to Ranger George Tibbs’s story, hiding an urge to laugh. Over a year ago Keller had denied knowing anything about any orders to have a Nina Juarez extradited to Texas. Since the sheriff in Santa Fe could not remember Clay Youngblood’s name, Keller was not about to offer it. The matter had been dropped. Nina had disappeared with a soldier, and that was that.
Now her name had come up again. A blue-eyed man posing as an Arab and riding a camel had again helped Nina Juarez escape the law. The Ranger had mentioned the woman was pregnant this time. Clay’s child? Keller didn’t doubt it. What the real story was, he would probably never know. He only knew that if Clay Youngblood thought that woman was worth risking life and reputation for, there must be something good about her.
“I can’t help you, Mr. Tibbs,” he told the Ranger. “We’ve turned lots of camels loose. Congress is getting all wrapped up in a possible civil war, and our camel experiments have not gotten the financial support we had hoped for. Anyone could have used that camel to help that woman escape. It certainly wasn’t any of my men.”
“How the hell many men are there who can manage one of those beasts?”
Keller shrugged. “Arabs can. Some of them stayed, too. Hell, maybe the man wasn’t in disguise at all. Maybe he really was an Arab. Maybe he whisked that woman off like a piece of property. The Arabs have strange attitudes about women, you know. Maybe the Mexican woman decided it was better to run off with an Arab than to be hanged.”
Tibbs scowled at him. “I don’t believe any of this. If it was really an Arab, he wouldn’t have abandoned the camel.”
“Hell, he knew you’d be looking for it. Why shouldn’t he abandon it?” Keller rose. “I’m afraid I can’t help you, Mr. Tibbs. I’m sorry. I guess this is one case where you and your Rangers lose, isn’t it?” Keller’s eyes sparkled. There was a silent competition lately in Texas between Rangers and the Army, each faction trying to prove it was more effective than the other. “Can’t win them all, can we?” Keller added in amusement.
Tibbs scowled at him and stormed out of the man’s office. Keller watched after him until the door closed, then broke into laughter, shaking his head. “You’re still a damn good Army man at that, Youngblood,” he said to himself. “May God be with you, wherever the hell you are.”
Somewhere on the Texas plains a camel grazed quietly, eyeing a herd of buffalo nearby. One buffalo in particular glanced in her direction, staring for several long minutes, as though contemplating whether to charge the strange beast or leave it alone. It finally returned to grazing, deciding that this odd, new creature of the plains seemed harmless enough. After all, this was a big country, and there was plenty of grass for buffalo and the wild mustang…and that goofy-looking, long-necked creature with the bulging eyes and toed feet that was loping away now. Perhaps it was some kind of relative. After all, it, too, had a hump on its back.
Dear Readers
In 1855, Congress authorized thirty thousand dollars to import thirty-three camels for experimental use by the Army in the arid West. This endeavor failed, mainly because the experiment was overshadowed by the impending civil war. Most of the camels were turned loose in the Southwest to fend for themselves. This camel experiment, and the humorous episodes it created, serves as a backdrop for Shameless and is a true event; however, the major characters in this story are entirely fictitious.
Also by Rosanne Bittner
The Bride Series
Tennessee Bride
Texas Bride
Oregon Bride
Caress
Comanche Sunset
Heart’s Surrender
In the Shadow of the Mountains
Indian Summer
Lawless Love
Love’s Bounty
Rapture’s Gold
Shameless
Sweet Mountain Magic
Tame the Wild Wind
Tender Betrayal
The Forever Tree
Unforgettable
Until Tomorrow
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