He’d never thought he suffered from vertigo, but every step of the way he had to fight dizziness and the feeling he was about to fall. At one point, he was afraid he would have to get down on his knees and crawl, but he couldn’t bring Luis back if he were on his hands and knees. He refused to look down, refused to let himself think of the fall, refused to give in to the fear that pounded on the outer limits of his mind. Luis depended on him. He couldn’t fail.
Once he reached the beam that supported the crumbling piece of walkway on which Luis was perched, he was faced with another problem. He couldn’t step onto the walkway to reach Luis. It wouldn’t support any additional weight. Luis would have to crawl over to him. He could see the fear in the boy’s eyes. He gripped the walkway so hard that his knuckles had turned white.
“It’s okay,” Rafe said, hoping to reassure Luis. “All you have to do is crawl over to me and take my hand.” He wrapped one arm around the beam, leaned over, and reached out for Luis.
The boy didn’t move.
“I know you’re scared,” Rafe said, “but all you have to do is take my hand.”
“I can’t let go.” The swaying of the walkway under him had terrified the child so badly, his body had frozen.
“I’m not going to leave until you’re standing on this beam with me. Now let go and start crawling very slowly toward me.”
Rafe could see Luis’s fingers gradually loosen their grip on the walkway. The shift in weight when the boy started to crawl toward him caused the walkway to sway still more. Luis froze.
“I know it’s frightening,” Rafe said, “but it’s just swaying back and forth because your weight shifts when you crawl. The sooner you reach me, the sooner I can take you back to Maria.”
“That man killed Mama.”
“He didn’t kill her.”
“I saw him stick a knife in her.”
“Maria and Broc are looking after your mother. As soon as you come to me, I’ll take you to her.”
“Mama didn’t want me. She just wanted the money.”
“Your mother does want you. Laveau is an evil man. He made her say things she didn’t mean. Now don’t think about that anymore. Just concentrate on coming to me. Maria and I love you as much as your mother does.”
“Does Broc love me?”
“Of course I do, brat. Now come on down from there before you give me a heart attack.”
Rafe looked over to see Broc turn his gaze from them back to Dolores. Maria was holding Dolores in her arms and pressing a piece of folded cloth against the stab wound. Broc had placed his hand over another spot. Rafe could see blood oozing from between Broc’s fingers. Apparently Laveau had stabbed Dolores twice.
“Come on, Luis,” Rafe coaxed. “We need to get your mother to a doctor as soon as possible.”
Luis released his grip, but the walkway swayed worse the closer he got. Rafe leaned over as far as he dared. “Come on. Grip your fingers around my wrist and I’ll do the same.” He needed the strongest grip possible to swing Luis over to the timber.
The walkway lurched crazily as Luis covered the last bit of distance. Rafe breathed a sigh of relief as he felt Luis’s little fingers attempt to close around his wrist. He’d just secured his grip on Luis’s wrist when the walk broke loose with a loud crack and crashed to the floor fifty feet below.
Its collapse left Luis dangling in midair.
“Don’t panic,” Rafe said as calmly as he could. “I’m going to pull you up. As soon as you can, reach out and hold onto my belt. I won’t let go of you until you’re standing on the timber.”
Rafe had always had enough strength to do anything he needed, but he’d never tried to lift a one-hundred-pound boy with one arm. It took all his strength to keep his hold on the timber and pull Luis up. When the boy grabbed hold of his belt, he pulled so hard that Rafe had to dig his fingernails into the wood of the support to keep his hold from slipping. With one final effort, he swung Luis onto the timber. Once both his feet were on the beam, Luis wrapped his arms around Rafe’s stomach, held on hard, and buried his face in Rafe’s chest.
“I was scared.”
Rafe didn’t say it, but he was scared, too. The worst part was over, but they still had to cross three timbers before they would be safe.
“You don’t have to be frightened any longer,” Rafe said, hoping to ease some of Luis’s terror. “Here’s what we’re going to do. You’re going to get on my back. Once you’re there, you’re not going to move even one inch no matter what happens. Remember, you’ve got to be absolutely still so I don’t lose my balance. Do you think you can do that?”
“Yes.”
The boy sounded badly frightened, but Rafe gave him credit for being brave enough to act as if he weren’t. He knelt down so Luis could climb on his back. Once the boy’s arms were around his neck and his legs around his waist, Rafe slowly rose to his feet. “Remember, you’re not to move until we reach the support.”
Rafe took a steadying breath and started across the timber. He couldn’t tell whether it was the extra weight, his imagination, or dizziness, but the beam didn’t feel as steady under his feet this time. He forced himself to remain calm, to walk slowly and deliberately. He breathed a huge sigh of relief when he reached the support. Luis’s arms had tightened around his neck until they threatened to choke him.
“Now, this is what we’re going to do next,” Rafe said to Luis as he knelt. “You’re going to get off my back and squat down on the timber. I’m going to hold on to the support and step over to the next timber. After I do that, you’re going to stand up, grip my arm like we did before, and I’m going to swing you onto the timber in front of me. Understand?”
He felt Luis nod his head.
Rafe knelt, and Luis hesitatingly slid off his back. When Rafe reached out to put his arm around the support, he felt sharp pains in his fingers. When he pulled them back, he saw several splinters. He’d gripped the aging support so hard he’d driven pieces of the decaying wood into his fingers. He pulled out the biggest splinters. He’d dig out the rest later.
They managed to make the transfer to the next timber without incident, repeating the process twice more before he and Luis reached safety. He supposed it was a reaction to all the stress and fear, but the moment he stepped onto the solid floor, he wrapped Luis in a bear hug and held on hard. In the moments that followed, while Luis held Rafe as hard as Rafe was holding him, the horror of all the possible consequences struck him with stupefying force. Luis could have fallen to his death, or Laveau could have used so much chloroform, Luis would never have regained consciousness. If Laveau had carried a gun, he could have shot Maria for turning Dolores against him. If Rafe’s dizziness had been any worse, he could have fallen. The beams could have—
Broc must have been talking for a while before Rafe heard him.
“Dammit, Rafe, haven’t you heard a word I’ve said? If we don’t get Dolores to a doctor soon, she’s going to bleed to death.”
Rafe hoped he’d never have to spend another such week in his life. It would be a relief to get back to Texas and the even tenor of his life there. If nothing else, people would no longer look to him for a solution to every problem.
Okay, that wasn’t fair. He and Broc had been responsible for getting Dolores to Cíbola and to a doctor. The doctor had been responsible for keeping her alive and Maria had been responsible for nursing her sister. Dolores’s injury had given Rafe a new reason to be angry at Dolores, because taking care of her kept Maria so busy that she didn’t have nearly enough time to spend with him. Dolores was also back at the ranch, and Rafe wasn’t sure how he could get rid of her.
Rafe didn’t fully understand how a kidnapping could affect a child, but Luis wanted to be at Rafe’s side from morning to night. Broc had been a great help, taking him riding, spending hours telling him stories, even helping him with his studies. Luis had suffered from mood swings over the last several days. Broc always seemed to know just what to do to coax him back to a more even t
emperament.
The accountant he’d hired to look into Henry Fielder’s accounts had made his first report, one that promised to create even more responsibility for Rafe. It seemed Henry had kept meticulous records of all his financial dealings. They provided a detailed road map to the embezzlement he’d been involved in throughout much of his life. He had cheated most of his clients in one way or another, which promised a lengthy disposition of the estate. Rafe wasn’t surprised to find Henry had embezzled large sums from his father. He was surprised to find he’d been doing it for years. The amount of money in the collective bank accounts in Sacramento and San Francisco was staggering. His father must have been incredibly rich and incredibly uninterested to have missed that. Most of the embezzling had occurred after Rafe had left, so maybe his father just hadn’t cared anymore.
One adjustment Rafe didn’t mind making was spending many hours each day riding over the ranch and talking with Miguel. He had expected that to be the most wearing of his responsibilities. Instead it had turned out to be the most rewarding. He couldn’t pinpoint any one thing that had caused the change, but his anger at his father and Dolores was gone. It could be the transformation he’d noticed in Dolores. Coming close to death had wrought a change in her. She seemed to understand that she had been at least partially responsible for her own misfortunes. She would never be a person Rafe could like, but he no longer hated her. He finally understood that she must be a frightened and insecure woman to have behaved as she had most of her life. Her behavior had deprived her of any chance for love.
The kind of love he’d found with Maria.
Just thinking about Maria caused him to smile. He could be riding over the ranch, in the middle of a discussion about crops, or going over ranch records, and something would pop into his head that made him think of her. He’d spent too many years convinced he would never smile again, that he would never have any reason to smile. Now he welcomed every opportunity. Thinking of what Pilar would say if she knew he was sitting in the rebuilt gazebo waiting for Maria to join him made him chuckle. Watching Maria come down the path toward him, moonlight bathing her in its lustrous glow, caused contentment to spread through him. It was a feeling he’d never known, one he hoped he would experience for the rest of his life.
He didn’t allow Maria to speak until he’d properly welcomed her. Since that involved numerous kisses, assorted hugs, and repeatedly telling her how much he’d missed her, quite a few minutes had passed before he finally got around to letting her speak.
“I want to convince you to stay in California…with me and Luis.”
Chapter Twenty-eight
Rafe had looked forward to a romantic interlude. He’d chosen to meet Maria in the gazebo because the evening was cool and the sky littered with stars. A lone rose that had survived the destruction to the garden added its delicate fragrance to the gentle breeze. A night bird’s call brought to mind the melodious timbre of Maria’s voice. He hadn’t gotten to the point where he could wax poetic on the beauty of Maria’s eyelashes, but he never tired of looking at them. He knew her hands were strong and capable, but in his eyes they were dainty and fragile. Their touch was the best medicine he knew. Moonlight glistening on her hair made him want to run his hands through it. Everything about her mouth made it eminently kissable. Maybe he’d try to put his feelings into words someday, but he doubted it. It was more fun to just kiss her and forget about trying to explain why he liked it so much. Anyway, he thought she probably knew.
He wasn’t upset that she didn’t want to go to Texas. He’d had his doubts about that almost from the beginning. Then he’d had what he thought were excellent reasons why he had to return to Cade’s ranch. Now he wasn’t sure.
Despite everything that had happened in the past, he’d enjoyed the past week. For years Rafe had told himself he didn’t want anything to do with the ranch, but he had no sooner returned than he’d started having ideas about improvements he wanted to make. Money wouldn’t be a problem. The money Henry Fielder had embezzled would cover the cost of everything. He could even set up the extensive irrigation system he believed could increase production as much as three to four times.
“Have you prepared a long list of reasons why I should stay here?” Rafe asked Maria.
“No.”
That surprised him. “How do you expect to convince me if you aren’t going to give me reasons to change my mind?”
“I think you’ve already changed it, but I’m not sure you know it.”
“And what if I still want to return to Texas?”
“You know I’ll go anywhere you go. It will never matter where that is as long as I’m with you.”
Rafe wasn’t sure he’d suffered enough to deserve a woman like Maria, but she was his now and he intended to keep her whether he deserved her or not. A sudden breeze bearing the scent of pine from higher up the mountain ruffled the strands of her hair, causing them to glisten like sable in the moonlight.
“There are many reasons for me to go back to Texas,” he said to Maria. “For one thing, my life would be a lot simpler there.”
“Now that your mind is clear of anger and bitterness, you’d soon be bored with simplicity.”
He stroked the softness of her cheek with his thumb. “All of my friends are in Texas.”
“There’s no reason you can’t visit them from time to time. Or have them come here.”
“I have a stake in Cade’s ranch.”
“Which you have no intention of cashing in. Broc tells me you adore Cade’s son, Carlos. Why don’t you make it a gift to him?”
“There’s another reason I have to go back to Texas.” He cupped her face with his hands so she would have to look at him with her dark brown eyes glistening in the moonlight. He could sit here looking into them forever. “Pilar would never forgive me if she didn’t get to meet my wife.”
“I have no objection to going to Texas for a visit.”
“I let Laveau get away, so it’s up to me to find him. I don’t know where he is now, but he’ll return to Texas sooner or later.”
“I don’t intend to wait patiently here or anywhere else while you chase after a lying, cheating, thieving, murdering traitor.” She pulled back, gazing at him with a hint of mischievousness. “If he’s more important to you than Luis and me, then you’d better start for Texas first thing in the morning.”
Maria had many moods, all of which Rafe liked, but he particularly liked it when she got feisty. It made him want to laugh, to hug her, to kiss her until she laughed as hard as he did. It made him feel alive in a way nothing else did. It connected her to him because the emotional response formed a direct link between the two of them. The stronger the emotion, the stronger the link. And he wanted to be linked to her.
Forever.
“There will be problems if I stay here,” Rafe told Maria. “I’ll have responsibility for this whole ranch on my shoulders. And for the hundreds of people who depend on it. I’ll be gone long hours every day overseeing the regular work as well as the changes that need to be made. When I’m home I’ll be tied up many evenings with account books and meetings with engineers and construction managers. Worse, I’ll be cranky and tired.”
Her eyes narrowed and she gave him an impish grin. “I’ll send Luis to keep you company on your rounds. His excitement and enthusiasm will keep you in a good mood. And Miguel will help with those accounts and changes. As for being cranky, I think I can take care of that.”
Time for the clincher, but he suspected she’d have an answer for that, too. “Dolores is still here. You know we’ll never be able to live under the same roof.”
She leaned against him, pulled his arm tighter around her. “Dolores understands she can never live with us. I would like you to build her a modest house on a part of the ranch nearest Cíbola. She would be close enough to see Luis, for me to keep an eye on her, and close enough to Cíbola to begin to build her own circle of friends. She’d be far enough away that you and she won’t have to run into
each other more than a few times a year.”
Rafe didn’t need more reasons to be in love with Maria, but she was fast providing him with new ones. For the first time since the rupture with his father, he had someone who could share decision making with him. He hadn’t thought he wanted that. Now he couldn’t imagine doing without it. “Do you have any more reasons why I should stay here?”
“Only the most important one.”
“What’s that?”
She turned in his arms to face him. “You’ve started to think of the ranch as your home again. I can see the love you used to feel beginning to resurface.”
“You’ve been listening to Miguel.”
“I didn’t need to. I can see it in your eyes when you look out over a field that’s ready to harvest. I can hear it in your voice when you talk about what you’ve done each day. Even Luis can sense your excitement when you talk about the new irrigation system. I found him explaining it to Dolores this morning when he should have been doing his lessons.”
“Did she have a relapse?”
Maria pinched him. “No, but she was beyond her depth. I’m afraid my sister has allowed herself to become a very shallow woman.”
Rafe didn’t want to talk about Dolores. He wasn’t particularly interested in talking about Luis, either. This was his time with Maria, and he selfishly wanted to share it with no one. He wrapped her in his embrace and planted a kiss on her head.
“Is that like a pat on the head before you tell me I’ve got it all wrong?”
He squeezed her a little tighter and kissed her on the head again. “No. I just wanted to kiss you.”
“Good answer.”
He chuckled. He looked at the big house silhouetted against the night sky, at a vineyard growing up the side of the mountain, caught the scent of lime trees in the distance, and realized that no matter how much this place meant to him, it represented only a fraction of what Maria meant to him. He even had a little brother thrown into the bargain. He was one lucky devil, something he’d never thought he’d say about himself. He felt a catch in his throat and he buried his face in Maria’s hair. “There’s a lot about life in Texas that I’ll miss, but I do belong here. When I came here, I never thought I could feel that way again, but falling in love with you changed everything for me. You gave me back myself. I’ll never be able to thank you enough for that. Now you’re all I need to be happy.”
Someone Like You (Night Riders) Page 31