Marquis felt his stomach heave. He doubted he would ever have been able to make love to this woman. "I will leave you to wonder what is right and wrong for the sexes, Isabel. I have only one request to make of you."
Isabel looked into dark eyes that were icy cold. "You are the one with the bargaining power, Marquis. I am at your mercy, for the moment."
Marquis reached out and plucked a bit of straw from Isabel's hair. Smiling slightly, he pressed it into her hand. "I want you to go to my grandfather today and tell him you have decided you do not want to marry me. Make up any excuse you want to, but do it today."
She did not miss the silent threat that laced his words. "And if I refuse?" she asked in a final act of bravado—a bravado she did not feel.
"If you refuse," he began slowly, "I shall tell my grandfather what I saw here today. It is my belief that he will not be amused by my little story of today's happenings."
Isabel could feel the trap door slamming in her face. She was losing Marquis and there was nothing she could do to prevent it. "What if your grandfather does not believe you, Marquis?"
"It is highly unlikely that my grandfather would dispute my words. But in the event that he might question your virginity, I could always call in our family doctor. His examination should prove you are not a maiden."
Isabel could feel Marquis slipping away from her. She had ached for months for him to bed her. She had dreamed of the paradise a woman would find in his arms. Since their first meeting, Marquis had been arrogant and elusive. He had all but ignored her, forcing her to take a lover to soothe her passions. She was defeated and she knew it. She would have to back down for now, but Isabel was not a quitter; she would live to fight another day. She did not easily let go of something she desired, and she desired Marquis Vincente with all her being. Now that he was so distant, he was even more appealing to her.
"Must I go to your grandfather today?" she asked in a breathless voice.
Marquis's eyes turned hard. "I insist that it be done as soon as possible. I do not want the sundown to find you still betrothed to me."
"You are a cruel, cold man, Marquis. I know you have every right to be disgusted with me. I can understand your not wanting to marry me, but what I do not understand is why you have been so distant right from the start. I sensed in you a reluctance long before today."
He was leaning back against a partition with his arm propped against a saddle that hung over the top. "I suppose I felt we were incompatible from the beginning. Perhaps I detected some of your true nature," he suggested airily.
Isabel's eyes blazed with anger. "This is not over, Marquis. I think we will play out other scenes before we are through with each other."
He looked down his nose at her and spoke in a bored tone. "As far as I am concerned, you do not exist. I will always carry within my mind the sight of you rutting in the hay with one of your father's underlings."
Isabel's face reddened, and she reached for a leather whip that hung on the wall. Before Marquis guessed her intention, it snaked through the air and, with a loud snap, licked at Marquis's face. At the last second he crossed his arms in front of him, and the lash cut into his black leather jacket.
"I will kill you," Isabel screamed as hatred and rage distorted her face. "If it is the last thing I ever do, I will destroy you or something you love!"
Marquis jerked the whip from her hand, tossing it aside. "Just see that you talk to my grandfather today. If you do not, you will rue the day you ever heard the Vincente name." His warning hung heavily in the air. Marquis's eyes were so cold, and his superior air deflated Isabel.
She watched helplessly as Marquis turned and walked away. She had never loved a man before, but she came as close to loving Marquis in that moment as she had ever come in her life. "I will have you back," she whispered, raising her fist and shaking it in the air. "I will have you back or I shall see you dead!"
Valentina heard the knock on the door of her dressing room and pulled her veil into place. When she saw it was Tyree, she motioned him into a chair.
"You were exceptionally good tonight, Jordanna. I never saw you dance better. You had the audience in the palm of your hand."
She sank down in a chair and took the pins from her hair so that the golden curtain spilled down her shoulders. "I thought I was clumsy and missed a step several times."
"If that is so, no one knew it but you." His eyes sought hers in the mirror. "The Southern Cross came into port this afternoon."
She spun around to face him. "Was my father on board her?" She hardly dared to breathe as she waited for Tyree's answer.
"No. I found out from a reliable source that your father was never taken aboard her."
Valentina felt her hopes dashed into nothingness. For so long she had convinced herself that she would find her father aboard the Southern Cross. "Are you very sure, Tyree? Can there be no mistake?"
Tyree's heart went out to her. He wished with all his heart that he could give her a grain of hope. "There is no mistake." He watched her eyes cloud over. "I wish I could have brought you good news, Valentina." He had forgotten his resolve always to call her Jordanna when she was at the Crystal Palace. "I do not want you to give up hope. I will continue to search for your father until I find out something."
Valentina felt tears of hopelessness sting her eyes. "This is the worst day of my life. I do not know what I will do. There is nowhere to turn. Everything seems to be going wrong."
In a flash, Tyree was across the room and down on his knees before Valentina. When he raised her chin, forcing her to look at him, the sight of her tears caused his heart to ache. "There is more here than not finding your father, Valentina. What has caused your tears?"
"I . . . can't talk about it. Not with you, not with anyone."
"Honey, don't cry," he said, wiping her eyes with his handkerchief and handing it to her to blow her nose. "Don't you know you can tell me anything? Don't you know by now that you can trust me?"
"You will hate me if you know my guilty secret, Tyree." Again the tears spilled down her cheeks. "I . . . don't want you to hate me," she sobbed.
He gathered her close to him and stroked her hair as if she were a baby. "I think I know, or at least I can guess." He felt a knife twist in his gut. "Does this concern Marquis, Valentina?"
She nodded her head as sobs shook her slight body. "Are you going to have a baby?"
He felt her stiffen. "How . . . did you know?"
His face was grim as his arms tightened about her. "Just a lucky guess," he murmured. "Cry it out and then we will decide what to do about your situation. You are not alone in this. I will stand as your friend."
Valentina's shoulders shook as dry sobs racked her body. She had suspected for weeks that she was carrying Marquis's child. Now, with her getting sick to her stomach every morning, she was sure of it. She did not know where to turn. She could not even bring herself to tell Salamar about her predicament.
When her tears had subsided, Tyree gazed at her kindly, noting the look of shame on her face. "No, Valentina, never be ashamed with me." His smile brought a slight answering smile from her. "Marquis doesn't know, does he?"
Valentina shook her head. "No. I could never tell him."
"What if I tell him so he can do the right thing by you? Don't you think it's time you put a stop to this deception? Let him know that Jordanna and Valentina are one and the same. It's my guess he will want to marry you and give the child his name."
"No!" Her eyes took on a look of silvery fire. "Marquis made it clear from the beginning what I could expect from him. Marriage wasn't a condition. I do not want you to tell him that I am Jordanna; let him believe that Jordanna just disappeared."
His voice was soothing, his eyes sparkling with sympathy. "I think you are making a mistake. Marquis would never offer Jordanna marriage, but he would Valentina."
"No, Tyree, no." She shook her head. "I'll never tell him I'm Jordanna. And as for making a mistake, it won't be the first one I h
ave made. Knowing me, it probably won't be the last."
His eyes suddenly softened as he looked at her. Standing up, he spoke almost hesitantly. ". . . I'll see you through this, Valentina. If you don't want to tell Marquis about the baby, would you consider marrying me?"
Her eyes brimmed with tears as she stood up. Reaching out, she touched his face. "My dearest, sweet friend, I would never place my burden on you. How dear of you to offer to make a respectable woman of me, but I would never lay my shame at your feet."
"Suppose I told you I wanted to marry you?"
"Then I would say that you give too much to a friendship. I will always remember your unselfish offer of marriage. I love you too much as a friend to accept such a sacrifice from you."
Tyree wanted to hold her and let the words of love roll off his tongue, but somehow he could not confess his love—it would leave him too vulnerable, strip him naked. "I care deeply about you, Valentina. I would do anything to make you happy."
She pressed her cheek to his, and he felt the wetness of her tears. "Leave me this one shred of decency, Tyree. I love Marquis, but I know he will never love me. I cherish your friendship and would never find a solution to my problems at the expense of your feelings."
"Valentina, I—"
She laid her hand over his mouth. "I will always remember that you are the dearest friend I could ever have, Tyree. Your friendship means more to me than you will ever know."
He moved back a step, carrying her with him. He realized Valentina would never change her mind. She loved Marquis, not him. "Have you seen a doctor?"
Valentina's face reddened. "No!"
"Then how can you be sure?" 1 m sure.
"Do you have any plans?"
"Not past finding my father. I don't have time to dwell on my problems. If I don't find out something about my father soon, I may have to bury my mother."
He frowned for a moment, then gave her a lopsided smile. "I stand ready to help you in any way I can."
Tears blinded her as she touched the face of this dear friend. "I know you do, Tyree. That's why I'm asking you if you will accompany me to my father's mine. Will your friendship stretch that far?"
He hugged her to him, knowing she would never consider him anything other than her friend. "I have this craving to see the countryside. When would you want to leave?"
Smiling brightly through her tears, Valentina spoke. "In the morning, bright and early."
"I'll be there."
Valentina stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek. "Thank you, my dear, dear friend. I fear I have used you sorely."
Again he smiled, never letting her know his heart was hers for the asking. "What is a boss for if not to help his little dancer when she needs it?"
Valentina pulled a heavy black scarf over her face and walked toward the outside door. "I'll be waiting for you tomorrow morning."
Tyree stared at the door long after Valentina had gone. Taking a deep breath, he stalked out of the room, knowing he must face Marquis. Valentina had asked him not to tell Marquis that she was Jordanna, but she had not said anything about telling Marquis that the dancer was carrying his child.
As luck would have it, Tyree did not have long to wait to face Marquis. When he entered his bedroom to pack his saddlebags for the trip to the mine, Marquis was sitting on his bed, waiting for him.
"I thought you were bored with town living, Marquis," Tyree said by way of greeting.
"Not entirely. I just had some unfinished business to settle. You might be interested to know that I no longer have a betrothed."
Tyree was not feeling very charitable toward his friend. Cramming an extra shirt into his bag, he raised his eyebrows. "How awful for the poor lady. How did you manage to detach her?"
Marquis caught the sarcasm in his friend's voice but took it for teasing. "Well, I would not want to go into the details, not wanting to damage the woman's reputation. Suffice it to say I saved myself just in time."
Tyree turned to Marquis. "Good. This will work out better than I thought. You can marry Jordanna and make a respectable matron of her."
Marquis frowned. "How did you find out I had been to bed with Jordanna? Did she tell you?"
"She didn't want to, but she has a little problem and needed a friend, since you impregnated then deserted her."
Marquis's eyes narrowed to slits. "What in the hell are you talking about?" he demanded to know.
"You heard me. I said Jordanna is carrying your child. What are you going to do about it?"
Marquis stood up slowly, not once taking his eyes off his friend. "Whatever I decide to do about it is no damned business of yours. I just escaped one designing female. I do not intend to be caught by another."
"You don't have a very high opinion of the fair sex, do you?" Sarcasm laced Tyree's words. "I wonder what happened to make you so suspicious and cynical."
"Call it caution."
"Well, you can mark Jordanna off your list of designing women. She doesn't even know I'm talking to you about her. She was just going to disappear and let you guess what happened to her. She's asking nothing from you.
Marquis glanced at Tyree. "Why do you feel you must defend Jordanna to me? Did she go right from my bed to yours:
Tyree's anger had reached the boiling point. With rage in his heart, he swung his fist at Marquis, grazing him on the lower jaw. Marquis caught Tyree's arm and spun him around, pinning the limb behind him. "What in the hell has brought all this on? I intend to see that your dancer has money to ensure her and the child's comfort for the rest of their lives. Surely you cannot be implying that I should marry her? A Vincente does not marry soiled goods."
"Damn you, Marquis!" Tyree shouted, trying to wrestle his arm free but finding Marquis the stronger.
"Tyree, do not let some woman come between us," Marquis pleaded. "We have been like brothers." Marquis was puzzled by his friend's attitude until he realized that Tyree must love the dancer. "Perhaps you will want to marry her yourself?" he asked, releasing the arm at last.
Tyree rubbed his shoulder to restore the circulation. "I already asked her to marry me—she turned me down."
Marquis was still reeling from Tyree's announcement that he had fathered a baby by the dancer. His feelings were still too raw to examine. "I will go to the bank tomorrow morning and withdraw a substantial sum, and you can turn it over to Jordanna. You might hint to her that the climate in San Jose is most healthy and enjoyable this time of year."
"To hell with you, Marquis. You are a coldhearted bastard. One day you will meet your match, and I will laugh as she brings you down off your lofty perch. The Vincentes aren't gods, and they don't own the world. You think yourself too good for Jordanna—in my estimation she is a better person than you will ever be."
Marquis shook his head, knowing Tyree was speaking out of anger. He did not want to fight with him. "Watch out what you say, Tyree," Marquis warned. "I would not want to lose your friendship."
"One day you will meet the woman who will turn you inside out. I pray that I will be around to witness your tumble from sainthood."
"I would not wait until that happened, Tyree. I have no intention of allowing some scheming female to get her hooks into me."
"I have heard that even the mighty can fall from grace. You may just prove that one day, Marquis." Tyree pulled his holster and gun out of a drawer and pushed it into his saddlebag.
It now occurred to Marquis that Tyree was packing. "Are you going somewhere?" he asked curiously, hoping to move on to a safer subject.
"Yes, I am going to take Valentina to her father's mine."
"I thought we agreed I would take her and only if the lead on the Southern Cross turned out to be false."
"I didn't agree to anything like that, but for your information, the Southern Cross story turned out to be a hoax. Valentina insists on going to her father's mine to talk with his partner, and I'm going with her."
"You do not know how to get there," Marquis challenged.
"I'll find it. You forget I know this country as well as you do."
Marquis was beginning to tire of Tyree's sarcasm. Moving across the room, he spoke. "Tyree, for some reason you think I have wronged Jordanna. I may have made mistakes with her, but I will make it right. I do not want you to think this excuses you where Valentina is concerned. I will never allow you to ruin Valentina's reputation."
Tyree's lip curled. "I leave the ruining of young ladies' reputations to you."
"I will take Valentina to her father's mine. If you want to come along, I have no objections, but you cannot keep me from going."
Tyree was thoughtful for a moment. Perhaps Valentina and Marquis needed this time together. Valentina loved Marquis and Marquis also loved her. He damned sure didn't want to get in their way. Perhaps if they were alone, Valentina would tell Marquis she was carrying his baby.
He tossed his saddlebag on the bed. "Yes, perhaps it would be best if you took her to the mine instead of me. I find that I am very busy at this time and need to stay around the Crystal Palace."
Marquis looked puzzled. It was out of character for Tyree to give in without a fight. "What are you up to?" Marquis asked suspiciously. "Are you thinking you can have Jordanna to yourself with me out of the way?"
"Let's just say that one of us needs to look after Jordanna's interests."
Marquis felt a prickle of jealousy. There was a painful ache in his chest and a dryness in his throat. He had spent one unforgettable night with the dancer. He did not like the thought of Tyree bedding Jordanna. "Will you take her for yourself?" he could not help but ask. Marquis was disillusioned by women at the moment; the sight of Isabel rolling in the hay with her father's gran vaquero was still painfully fresh in his mind.
"I believe I'll let you stew on that one for awhile." Marquis was further puzzled when Tyree laughed deeply. "Yes, indeed, I think I'll let you wonder about that."
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