Rio Page 23

  The senator scowled. “You Mexican trash. How dare you accuse me of something so vile? I could sue you for libel, but instead, we’ll duel.”

  “I told you to tell me when and where.”

  “Very well. Since you don’t even seem to know what a second is, I’ll set this up. Under the big oaks down by the river Monday evening at dusk. Tuesday is July Fourth and there’ll be so many firecrackers and rockets going off the day before, no one will notice if they hear pistol shots.”

  This was Thursday. Rio realized abruptly that he had four days to learn about dueling. “I’ll be there.”

  “Fine.” The senator stuck a fine cigar in his mouth. “I’ll bring the pistols.”

  Rio turned to leave, striding down the capitol steps. Behind him, he heard the newsmen peppering the politician with questions about the duel.

  One newsman ran to catch up with him. “Mister, are you loco?”

  “I don’t think so. Why?”

  “You don’t know that Senator Forester is considered an extraordinary pistol shot?”

  So of course that was why Forester had chosen pistols, Rio thought. Rio was pretty good with a rifle, but he’d never even seen a dueling pistol. “I can take care of myself,” he muttered and strode back to his horse, then rode out. His broken hand throbbed, but he rode to Fern’s ranch anyhow and dismounted as dogs ran out, barking a greeting.

  “Hello. Anyone home?”

  The front door opened and Fern and Turquoise came through the door.

  Turquoise looked anxious. “How are you?”

  “Fine, I reckon.”

  Fern looked him over curiously. “That hand looks bad, worse than Turquoise said.”

  Turquoise turned to Fern. “I think maybe Rio and I need to talk.”

  Apparently reluctant, Fern returned to the house.

  Rio tied up his horse. “I’ve got to tell you something.” He had to fight the urge to take her in his arms, but he must not think of that now.

  Turquoise looked up at him. She waited for him to hold out his arms to her, waited for him to say that he’d been wrong and they could make a go of it. Otherwise, why had he come? “You haven’t come to say good-bye, have you?”

  He shook his head. “I’m not leaving town, if that’s what you think.”

  Gently, she took his bandaged hand between her two small ones. “Whoever did this may burn your house next.” She stepped closer, looking up at him, seeing the pain in his dark eyes and the sadness.

  “By God, I’ll go down fighting. I’m certain Edwin Forester is behind all this.”

  “Edwin? I can’t imagine he’d have the nerve to—”

  “He hired bullies to do his dirty work.”

  “The trouble is, you can’t prove it.” She sighed. “And he’s got important friends.”

  “And he’s determined to have you.” Rio’s voice was bitter.

  “Must we discuss this again?” Her voice rose. “I told you, I’ve made my choice.”

  “Can we find a place to sit and talk?” Rio looked toward the house.

  She turned and saw Fern’s curious face peeking out from behind the curtains. “Sure. There’s a small grove of trees with a swing over to the left of the house.”

  They walked there slowly and sat down in the swing. The silence was awkward, no sound except the creak of the swing.

  “How’s your hand?”

  He shrugged. “I reckon it’s broken. I’ll probably never have full use of it again.”

  “Have you seen a doctor?”

  He hesitated, not wanting to tell her he didn’t have the money. “There’s not much that can be done except bandage it up and wait to see.”

  “Doesn’t it hurt?”

  He lied, shaking his head. “No, it’s all right. But I’ll admit I had a hard time getting dressed and saddling my horse.”

  She smiled up at him. “You’re as independent as a hog on ice. You’ll manage.”

  “A one-handed vaquero,” he said ruefully. “Yeah, I’ll manage to run a ranch, all right.”

  “You could with some help,” she said.

  Rio shook his head. “He said I was Mexican trash and I reckon he’s right.”

  “Who said that?” she demanded.

  “Senator Forester. We had a run-in on the capitol steps less than an hour ago.”

  Her lovely face went ashen. “Oh God. What happened?”

  “I went after him, just wanting to knock that superior grin off his face, and it’s turned into a duel.”

  “A duel?” She looked incredulous. “No one fights duels anymore.”

  “Apparently in upper society, they still do. It’s pistols at sundown.”

  “Oh my God, when?” She buried her face in her hands.

  “Monday, under the big oaks by the river.”

  There were tears in her eyes that she couldn’t hold back as she slowly raised her head. “I hear Edwin is a good shot with a pistol.”

  He shook his head. “I can’t help that and I sure wasn’t gonna back down.”

  “Your pride’s going to kill you,” she gasped.

  “Look, Turquoise, I’m a Texan and a proud one.” He put his hand on her shoulder. “I couldn’t knuckle under, and even if I was a good shot, I’d be in a spot with my right hand broken.”

  She began to cry. “That clever rascal has set you up to kill you in front of witnesses.”

  “I reckon he has.”

  “Isn’t there anything that can be done? Why don’t you just not show up?” she implored him.

  “And let him think I’m a coward? Turquoise, no man can call himself a man if he turns tail and runs when another man challenges him—especially a Texan.”

  “Men and their damned pride.” She laid her face against his chest without thinking and he stroked her hair.

  “Maybe I’ll get lucky. Maybe he’ll have an off day.”

  “You think Edwin would have accepted the challenge if he’d thought he couldn’t win?”

  “I’ve still got four days to learn.”

  She looked up suddenly. “I know someone who’s the best in Texas with a pistol, Trace Durango, and he’s due in on the train tomorrow morning. Maybe he can teach you.”

  “Not fast enough.” Rio shook his head. “Well, maybe he’ll at least be my second. That’s what the senator says we both need. I’m not sure what they’re supposed to do.”

  “This is a nightmare,” Turquoise said, sobbing. “I just can’t stand by and watch Edwin coldly shoot you down.”

  He pulled her close. “Turquoise, you are not to come to this.”

  “You can’t keep me from it. I’m my own woman.”

  “You’re my woman and I’m ordering you not to come. If I’m killed, I don’t want you to be there. If I live, I’ll see you Monday night and then we’ll celebrate the Fourth together.”

  She looked up at him, tears running down her face. “I’ve got to do something. I can’t just wait for you to get shot down.”

  “You can wish me luck.” He took her small face in both his hands and kissed her lips very gently.

  She clung to him. “So that’s it? I just wait for you to go honorably to your death?”

  “You don’t have much faith in my shooting.”

  “You told me yourself you were good with a rifle, but not with a handgun. And this time, you’ll have to shoot left-handed.”

  “I’ve got to go.” He pulled her close. “What time does Trace’s train get in tomorrow?”

  “Early. That doesn’t give him much time to teach you. His wife is due in on the train from Philadelphia late Monday afternoon.”

  “Good, then you can meet her train and give yourself something to do until this is over.”

  “You think I can go have tea and cookies and make small talk while you two are trying to kill each other down by the river?” She was almost hysterical.

  He kissed the tears from her eyes. “Please don’t cry. I warned you I’d bring you nothing but unhappiness and misery and
that we didn’t have a chance at a future.”

  “Let me decide that.” She reached up to kiss him and his mouth was hot and seeking the depths of hers as his good hand went to stroke her breasts, making her breathless with her own need. She clung to him a long moment. “Rio, I love you so.”

  “You’ll get over me if you must.” He shook his head. “You need to find someone better, Turquoise, some hombre who can give you social position, all that respectability you crave.”

  “You’re all I crave,” she insisted. “When I’m away from you, I think of nothing else but being in your arms, having your hot kisses on my bare skin.”

  “Forget me.” He stood up. “My four-leaf clover hasn’t brought me any luck. I’m doomed to die early like my father. Maybe the senator is right: I’m just a half-Mexican bastard who doesn’t deserve happiness.”

  “That’s not true.”

  “If the senator wins the duel, he’ll beg to marry you and you can end up as first lady of all Texas.”

  “Marry him with your blood on his hands? Damn it, no! I’d rather be your woman and live in an adobe hut than be Forester’s first lady.”

  He kissed the tip of her nose. “I’ll meet Trace’s train and see if he can teach me anything. You stay away from me until this is over. You distract me too much.” He turned and strode away.

  She started to call after him, but what good would it do? He was determined to fight this duel, even though he had almost no chance of winning. Men and their damned honor.

  She watched him leave and then she took a deep breath and wiped her eyes. She must not let the Lessup family know what was going on. She didn’t know if Fern’s father might try to stop the duel, but the coming together of these two stallions in battle was inevitable and if it weren’t Monday night, it would be some other time. It was pointless to interfere. And yet, she must do something.

  She went inside and did not answer much to Fern’s curiosity. Her night was sleepless. The next day, she put on her best turquoise dress with a wide-brimmed hat, perfumed herself, borrowed Fern’s buggy, and drove out to the capitol.

  Rio had told her not to interfere, but she had to try. She couldn’t let her lover be shot down in cold blood. With her heart beating hard, she tied up her buggy and walked toward the senator’s office.

  Elmer looked over his spectacles in surprise.

  She pasted a smile on her face. “Tell the senator Miss Sanchez is here to see him.”

  The secretary nodded and disappeared into the inner office. In a moment, he returned. “The senator will see you.”

  What was she going to do? Beg Edwin to call off the duel? Ask him not to show up? Ask him to deliberately miss when he took his shot? She wasn’t sure herself.

  As she entered the office, the senator rose and rushed toward her. “Turquoise, my dear, to what do I have the honor of this unexpected visit?”

  As always, he wore an expensive suit and a flower in his buttonhole. It was a pink rosebud. That meant he was still thinking of her.

  She let him take her hands. “I—I have been rethinking things, Edwin.”

  He smiled. “I knew you would come to your senses. With me, you would live like a queen.”

  She sighed and turned away. “Well, not if you get killed in some silly duel I hear you’re involved in.”

  “Oh, you’ve heard about that?” Now his voice was guarded. “If you’re worried about my safety, my dear, don’t. I am an excellent shot.”

  She turned back toward him. “But isn’t this sort of thing bad for your reputation? I mean, isn’t it against the law?”

  He laughed. “Maybe, but you know Texans. They’ll vote for the kind of real man who’d go toe to toe in a shootout.”

  She winced at the thought. “Edwin, I don’t think I could marry a man who would coldly shoot down another this way.”

  “Oh, I see.” His voice was cold. “So is your concern for me or for the other man?”

  She looked at him directly. “What difference does it make if I’m willing to end up in your bed?”

  “Hmmm.” He nodded. “I don’t know whether to call you a shrewd businesswoman or a scheming little slut.”

  “Again, what difference does it make if I end up in your bed?”

  He seemed to be picturing that in his mind. “You tempt me. You know how much I want you. There’s just something about you, Turquoise, something I can’t seem to put my finger on that draws me to you. You’re enchanting, bewitching.”

  “Then you’ll forgo this duel?”

  “Does that greasy Mexican vaquero really mean that much to you?”

  “I—I don’t want any blood spilled, that’s all.”

  “So if I call off this duel, you’ll marry me?”

  She didn’t look at him, imagining herself naked in his arms, letting him kiss and caress her naked body in his grand, silk-sheeted bed. “Yes. We’ll have to elope, of course, because you know my guardian won’t stand for it.”

  He laughed wickedly. “If we’re already married in the church and the marriage is consummated, there’s not much he can do about it.”

  She walked to the window and looked out at Congress Avenue. “Your mother will not be pleased if she can’t have a gigantic social wedding.”

  Edwin walked up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders and kissed the back of her neck. “So she can put on the biggest reception this town ever saw. That will make her happy.”

  She felt his clammy fingers on her shoulders through her thin turquoise dress and tried not to shudder. Worse yet was the thought of moving into the Forester mansion with the Iron Lady as her mother-in-law. “I’d better go. You probably have work to do.”

  “Don’t you want me to take you out and buy you the biggest diamond ring in Texas?”

  “Not today.” She shook her head. “We’ll talk later.”

  “All right, my dear.”

  She turned around and he tried to take her in his arms and kiss her, but she pulled back, turning her cheek, and he kissed her there. “I can hardly wait for our wedding night,” he gasped.

  “Please, Edwin, you embarrass me.”

  He laughed. “You are a prim little thing after all.”

  Prim? What would he have thought if he had seen her with Rio, clawing his back and bucking under him? Even now, her body ached for the virile vaquero, but she would do anything, even let this man mount her and enjoy her nubile body, to save Rio’s life.

  “Look, my darling, I can’t promise to call off the duel,” he said. “To do so would cause me to lose face with all the voters, especially after a dozen or so heard me accept his challenge on the courthouse steps.”

  “Then what—”

  “Maybe I could miss or fix the pistols so they misfire. A man doesn’t actually have to kill the other in a duel. He only has to go through the motions to show his bravery.”

  “But suppose something goes wrong?” she asked.

  “Let me show you.” He walked over to his desk and opened the bottom drawer, then brought out a leather case. “See? I own the finest pair of dueling pistols in the country. In fact, my father was killed with them.” He scowled at the memory.

  “In a duel?”

  Edwin nodded. “It was a long time ago. I was a boy.”

  She looked at the pistols. They were beautiful; burnished brass and walnut grips, obviously very, very old. “Could you really fake this?”

  He nodded. “For you, my love, I’ll do it. I promise on my honor as a gentleman.”

  She sighed with relief. “Then as far as I’m concerned, you can make wedding plans. I promise I’ll be a good wife to you, Edwin. We’ll talk later,” she said and fled his office, almost running past his secretary. She walked swiftly out of the building and got into the buggy. When she looked up, Edwin was staring at her through the window and he blew her kisses. She waved back and tried not to shudder.

  What kind of devil’s bargain had she just made? However, if it would save Rio’s life, it would be worth it.
A nagging thought haunted her as she drove away. Could she trust the senator to keep his end of the bargain?

  Behind her, Edwin smiled as he put the dueling pistols back in the bottom drawer of his desk. He wanted that beauty in his bed enough to promise her anything. However, he could never claim her completely as long as that low-class Mexican lived. Edwin might have her body, but that vaquero would have her heart and soul.

  Well, maybe having her body would be enough. He thought of her lush curves and took a deep, trembling breath. He was sure he could love her enough and spoil her enough that she would finally submit to becoming his wife, especially if he became governor or even president. No woman could turn down the chance for such prominence and wealth. They would have a good life with a house full of children and he would give her anything her heart desired.

  Just what was he to do about Rio Kelly? If the man lived, Edwin’s life would always be in danger, but just how could he kill Rio and still have Turquoise after the promise he had made? It was indeed a problem, but there had to be a way. To possess that very special woman, to have her obediently submitting to him in his bed was well worth anything Edwin had to do to get her.

  Chapter 16

  Turquoise drove her buggy to Rio’s ranch. He was feeding calves out in front of the burned barn. Tip ran to meet her, his stubby tail wagging.

  Rio looked up at her and frowned. “I thought I told you I didn’t want to see you again until this is over Monday night.”

  She didn’t answer him. Instead she said, “Aren’t you going to ask me to get down?” She looked at him, loving him, thinking it was worth anything to save his life.

  “Perdone, I forget my manners.” He came to the buggy, his right hand still swollen and wrapped in a soiled bandage.

  He put his hands on her slim waist and she saw the slightest wince in his dark eyes as he started to lift her.

  “Never mind, I can get down alone.” She brushed away his hands and got herself down quickly.

  He scowled. “I keep forgetting I’m only half a man now.”

  “You’re more of a man than most will ever be.”