Love a Dark Rider

by Shirlee Busbee

  Annoyed at her train of thought, she turned away, only to be brought up short by the sight of her husband leaning negligently against one of the archways, watching her.

  His arms were folded across his chest, his legs crossed at the ankles, one shoulder braced against the stone of the archway. In the falling shadows, his chambray shirt had deepened to an indigo blue that was very attractive against the duskiness of his skin and his black hair. It really wasn't fair, Sara thought with giddy fondness, for any one man to be quite so attractive.

  The expression in his eyes hidden, a faint smile curling his mouth, Yancy pushed himself away from the archway and sauntered over to where she stood. "You look unhappy," he said huskily. "Are you?"

  Sara smiled at him and shook her head. "No, I'm not Mwhappy—I was just thinking about Margaret and Casa Paloma."

  "Don't!" he growled and bent his head and kissed her hard. "Don't think about her anymore. You're a bride of only twenty-four hours—you're supposed to think of nothing but your husband!"

  Sara put her arms around his neck, a twinkle in her

  green eyes. "And, of course, all you've been thinking about is your bride!"

  He laughed and lifted her off the ground and swung her gently around, her skirts and long hair flying out behind her. His white teeth flashing, his dark face laughing up at hers, he said frankly, ''Sf I have found of late that no matter what task I undertake, your bewitching image has the most damnable habit of appearing in my mind, making me forget instantly what it was that I intended to do!"

  It was a very satisfying answer and Sara showed him just how pleased she was at his words by impetuously kissing him. It was absolutely astonishing, she decided dizzyingly as his tongue brazenly met the thrust of hers, how extremely bold she was growing!

  Lost in their own world, they were oblivious of a third party entering the courtyard, until Esteban coughed delicately and brought them back to the present. Jerking her lips from Yancy's, Sara looked in the direction of the sound and felt her cheeks flush at the sight of Maria's husband standing there politely, not three feet from them, with his big sombrero held in his hands.

  As if it were the most natural thing in the world to be caught kissing his wife by his head vaquero, Yancy unhurriedly lowered Sara down his body, letting her feel how precisely aroused he had become during their embrace. Once her feet were firmly on the ground, and after dropping a brief, warm kiss on her mouth, Yancy glanced at Esteban.

  "Ah, good! Maria did find you," Yancy said easily. "I want you to send some people to Casa Paloma. My bride and I are thinking of removing there for the summer. Send along the necessary supplies and house servants to clean and prepare the place for us. We shall arrive there sometime Tuesday afternoon." He grinned at Sara, then looked back at Esteban. "We shall have

  a busy summer, mi amigo —my bride has informed me that we are to start raising cattle for the hungry bellies of the Eastern gringos. She is quite anxious for me to start rounding up cattle to breed to the fine blooded bulls I am to buy, and to begin constructing corrals in which to capture wild horses—^the best mares to be bred to the black thoroughbred stallions I am to select for her." His amber-gold eyes full of pride and something else that Sara could not name, Yancy pulled her next to him and, ignoring Esteban, briefly kissed her again. Watching with interest as the embarrassed color rushed up into her cheeks, he said softly, "I am to be doubly congratulated, Esteban, on my choice of a bride. Not only is she lovely and kind, but she is also a hardheaded businesswoman . .. and extremely clever.'*

  Not certain that he would like to be married to a clever woman, but satisfied that his patron was pleased with his bride, Esteban beamed at them. ''Si, senor! She is indeed muy bellal As for the people for Casa Paloma—it shall be done!"

  As soon as Esteban had departed, Sara scolded, "What were you thinking, kissing me that way in front of him! Have you no shame?"

  Yancy grinned at her and then kissed her leisurely. Only when her head was spinning did he murmur, "Where you are concerned, chica, absolutely noneV

  Sara made a face at him and stepped demurely out of his arms. "Is Casa Paloma really in terrible condition?" she asked abruptly.

  Yancy shrugged. "No one has lived in the place for well over twenty-five years, and quite frankly, I have no idea what we will find. It has simply been left to go to rack and ruin, and while adobe is built to last, it could simply be a pile of rubble. Casa Paloma is a very old rancho. It is where my ancestors first settled in Texas almost a hundred and fifty years ago."

  Sara looked surprised. "Not del Sol?"

  Yancy shook his head. "No. First came Casa Paloma and then, about eighty years or so ago, my greatgrandfather built del Sol."

  Ann's tinkling laugh rang out across the courtyard and Yancy and Sara both mmed in that direction. Tom and Ann Shelldrake were strolling toward them. As they came closer, Ann said easily, "And what were you two talking about so seriously?" She looked arch. "Or is it something that is none of our business—^perhaps a secret between newlyweds?"

  Yancy saw that Sara was seated on the rim of the fountain before he turned back to Ann. "Nothing quite so exciting, I'm afraid. We were simply discussing Casa Paloma. I intend to stay there for most of the summer while gathering cattle and horses." He glanced at Sara and smiled. "Sara is coming with me."

  Both the Shelldrakes appeared dismrbed by this news. Tom looked faintly concerned, but Ann's face was the picture of dismay and she exclaimed, "Oh, but you can't! I mean, why would you want to take her to that ramshackle place?"

  "And how do you know that Paloma is a 'ramshackle place'?" Yancy asked quietly, his eyes fixed on Ann's face.

  "Oh, I don't know what condition the place is in, but surely Sara would be more comfortable here while you are gone."

  Yancy shrugged his broad shoulders. "I'm certain that the place can be made quite habitable. Besides, I don't wish to be separated from my bride for the entire sum-mer.

  Ann flushed angrily and snapped, "Of course! I forgot! There is the heir for Casa Paloma—naturally you'd want her with you!"

  Yancy's eyes darkened and his mouth tightened. But

  it was Tom who muttered, "A/i/i! I think you presume too much! You forget that we are Yancy's guests and that we owe him a great deal."

  Sulkily settling herself in one of the courtyard chairs, the skirts and petticoats of her blue silk gown billowing out around her feet, Ann said with a pout, "Oh, I know! I shouldn't have said such a thing. But why should we all pretend that we don't know why they got married in such a hurly-burly fashion?" Ignoring the taut silence that had fallen, Ann rattled on disagreeably. "Everyone knows their marriage is simply to fulfill that wretched requirement of Sam's will! As soon as Sara is pregnant, they won't have to bother about each other!"

  Ann's cruel words went through Sara like a knife and she waited desperately for Yancy to refute Ann's statements. To her great pain, he did not. Leaning negligently against one of the archways, he said coolly, "How amazing! Have you always had this gift? The ability to see right into my thoughts and to understand precisely what is in my mind?"

  Ann grimaced. "Oh, stop! Don't tease me! You know what I mean and you know that I believe in plain speaking."

  It was Tom who surprised them all by saying dryly, "Ah, but only when it suits you, my dear. Only when it suits you."

  Ann sent him an uncertain glance and laughed a little nervously. "Well, since I seem to have put my foot wrong, allow me to apologize. I'm sorry, and I'll try not to let my tongue run away from me in the future." She smiled sunnily at Yancy. "There! Have I redeemed myself?"

  Yancy murmured something polite and Tom hurriedly injected a different subject for conversation, commenting jovially on his pleasure in the new quarters which they would be moving into within the next few days. Per-

  haps realizing that she had overstepped herself, Ann ably joined him, and the unpleasant topic of the reason for Yancy's marriage to Sara was left behind.

  Sara smiled and c
ontributed to the conversation, but she could not get Ann's words out of her mind. Or Yancy's reply to them. She hadn't actually expected him to suddenly declare that their marriage had had nothing to do with the need for an heir for Casa Paloma, but she wished miserably that he had said something that would have disclosed what he really felt about her. She and Yancy had come so far in the brief twenty-four hours they had been married, but Sara was realizing unhappily that not a great deal had changed. She still didn't know if he had married her simply to get his hands on Casa Paloma, and there was a growing ache in the region of her heart and many of the doubts she had held about him came rushing back. Oh, not about the murder—she would never again have any doubts about that —but she couldn't help wondering if she hadn't let her feelings for him and her body's blatantly joyous response to his blind her to cold reality.

  Just because he was kind to her, just because his very touch sent her spinning into near ecstasy, didn't mean a damn thing! she admitted hollowly. He could be kind to her, make wildly passionate love to her and yet feel nothing but a solicitous fondness for her. Sara felt slightly sick just thinking about it and she wondered how her earlier happiness could have vanished so swiftly.

  If Yancy noticed that Sara seemed rather quiet during their evening meal, he kept it to himself, but there was a thoughtful expression in his eyes every time they rested on her face, which was often. Occasionally his cool glance would fall on Ann. He was going to have to do something about Ann. Her cruelty and conniving couldn't continue unchecked, and if he didn't want her to cause irreparable harm, he was going to have to see

  that she and Tom were removed as far away from him and Sara as possible. With all his holdings, surely there was a suitable house somewhere within miles, weeks, months of travel from his and Sara's vicinity? It was a pleasant idea, one he would have to look into more thoroughly. . ..

  After Ann and Tom had departed, Yancy noted grimly that Sara was quick to take her own leave of him, and somehow he doubted it was because she was so eager to seek out their marriage bed! His mouth thinned. Surely she hadn't taken Ann's spiteful words to heart! Surely she knew that he— He stopped abruptly. That he what? Loved her? He shook his head vehemently, denying it. He had loved Margaret. During those first heady months, he would have given Margaret everything that was his to give, and look where that had gotten him! How did he know that Sara wasn't the same? After all, like Margaret, she had married his father, hadn't she? In what other ways was she like Margaret? Suddenly furious with the situation and the train of his thoughts, he finished off his brandy in one gulp. Womenl he thought disgustedly as he got to his feet and walked to their rooms. They wanted a man to lay bare his soul, and then when they held his heart in their soft little hands, they'd gleefully rip it apart! Well, he'd had that done to him once—he'd be damned if he was going to let it happen again, no matter how beguiling and enchanting he found his bride! He was not ever going to be fooled by another woman again. Not everl

  PART FOUR

  By the Light of Day

  Time's glory is to calm contending lyings, To unmask^ falsehood, and bring truth to light.

  The Rape of Lucrece -William Shakespeare

  20

  Yancy's black mood was not lessened when he discovered, upon entering their rooms, that his bride was sleeping in her own quarters . .. with the connecting doors between their bedrooms firmly closed and lockedl For a long moment he scowled at the door and then, cursing under his breath, he flung himself down on his bed—^his very empty bed. Of course, he could smash down the door that separated them, but he was in no mood for a confrontation.

  His mouth set in a hard, grim line, he quickly shed his clothes and climbed into bed. Lying there naked on the cool sheets, the scent of their lovemaking mingling with the remnant of Sara's own sweet perfume evoked vivid memories of the previous night and he wasn't surprised that his body instantly hardened and began to ache in obvious places. No, he wasn't in the mood for a confrontation, but he was in the mood to make love to his wife, his very new wife, dammit!

  It didn't take a lot of sleuthing on Yancy's part to discover what was behind Sara's actions—^that damned, prattling, troublemaking bitch Ann! He could have throttled her with her ugly reading of the situation and he didn't doubt that it was all her fault that he was lying here alone and not in the arms of his bride. He grimaced. Well, perhaps it wasn't all Ann's fault—he certainly

  hadn't helped his cause by replying as he had, but what the devil was he supposed to have done? Told Ann that she was so far wrong that it was laughable—that Casa Paloma had nothing to do with his marriage to Sara, that he had simply seized it as a convenient excuse to force her to marry him? And whether he and Sara ever had any children didn't concern him in the least; as long as she was his wife, and in his arms and in his bed, he didn't give a damn about anything else? Hell no!

  He smiled mirthlessly in the darkness. Jesus Sara already befuddled him, enchanted him, drove him half mad and tied him in knots as it was—she certainly didn't need to be handed any more weapons to use against him!

  At least, he decided coolly, at Paloma, except for his own people, there would just be the two of them, and without Ann around to stir up trouble, he was positive that he could smooth things over with Sara. And as for Ann . ..

  He scowled blackly as he considered Ann Shelldrake. The news of the affair between Ann and Hyrum Bumell had come as a decidedly unpleasant shock, and he was doubly glad that he had had Esteban set someone to watch over Sara—otherwise he would never have known of it. He knew Sara well enough to know that she would never reveal what she had seen down by the creek. Fortunately, the young boy who had been assigned to watch over the senora while she was on the hacienda grounds had had no scruples about relating all that he had seen to Yancy. The affair was a complication that Yancy didn't want or need, and he sighed.

  He wondered if Tom had any idea what was going on right under his nose. From Tom's comments tonight, one could surmise that he had a good understanding of his wife . . . perhaps even of her adulterous proclivities?

  Yancy had always found Tom Shelldrake to be a pleasant and genial companion, but for various reasons,

  he didn't know the man all that well. Perhaps Tom did know about the affair and condoned it. That seemed unlikely, but it was possible. It was also possible that the war had left more scars and wounds on Tom than just his bad arm—it could be that he was no longer capable of physically satisfying his wife and, consequently, turned a blind eye to her discreet liaison with Hyrum.

  The situation troubled Yancy, not so much because of Ann's infidelity as because of the danger it represented.

  He had told Sara that he didn't give a damn about who had murdered Margaret, but that wasn't strictly true. He wanted to know who was capable of such violence so he could prevent others from falling victim to it. And though he had never thought a great deal about why Margaret had been killed, the notion that her infidelities had played a large part in her death couldn't be ignored. And if Ann was following the same path as her sister ... He frowned. He sure as hell didn't want to be confronted by another murdered woman!

  Knowing he wasn't going to fall asleep any time soon, he got up and fumbled to light the lamp by his bed. The flame of the lamp glowing golden, he shrugged into his breeches and, grabbing a cheroot, lit one and ambled bad-temperedly out into the private courtyard off his rooms.

  Settling himself in one of the chairs, he smoked his thin black cheroot, letting the silence of the night, broken only by the brassy croaks of frogs and the high-pitched chirps of insects, flow around his body. The darkness enfolded him and the scent of jasmine surrounded him, but Yancy was in no mood to appreciate either the sounds or the scents of the night.

  He took a deep drag of his cheroot, not even enjoying the rich taste of the fine tobacco in his mouth. What he wanted, he decided grimly, was the taste of Sara on his tongue and the feel of himself tightly buried within her

  body! And since that wasn't going
to happen tonight, he had better set his mind to figuring out what he was going to do about Ann and Hyrum. The situation could get explosive, and he sure as hell didn't want it blowing up in his face!

  Hyrum would just have to accompany them to Casa Paloma, he decided sourly. With Ann at del Sol and Hyrum at Casa Paloma, at least they wouldn't be sharing any more ultimate rendezvous any time soon. It wasn't the best solution, but Yancy wasn't quite ready to lay down an ultimatum to the pair, nor was he particularly eager to reveal to them that he knew about their relationship.

  What he found most disquieting about the affair was the fact that only weeks ago, Hyrum had been begging Sara to marry him. When had the affair started and for how long had it been going on? Yancy wondered uneasily. It seemed to him that there was more here than met tfie eye, and before he charged in and started issuing non-negotiable demands, it seemed only logical that he find out a whole lot more than he knew right now.

  He briefly considered ordering Hyrum off the place, but that action might precipitate the very thing he was hoping to avoid. He scowled. He had been looking forward to having Sara all to himself at Paloma—all the more so after Ann's vicious words this evening—and he wasn't at all happy about Hyrum's accompanying them. Yancy smiled nastily. He'd just keep Hyrum so damned busy that the other man wouldn't have time for anything but eating and sleeping—and that would be in the quarters with the vaqueros! No special treatment for Mr. Bumell!