Bandit's Embrace (The Durango Family) (15 page)

When she came back to reality, he held her in his arms there in the swing, looking down at her, kissing her cheek. Reality crashed around her. “I—must have been out of my mind.”

“Sweet, you’re certainly driving me out of mine!” With a regretful sigh, he pulled out a handkerchief, wiped his hand. “If you only knew how close I came to throwing you down in the grass, mounting you—”

“You treat me like a common
puta
—a whore!” Tears of shame and humiliation came to her eyes.

He pulled her to him, kissed the tears off her lashes. “Don’t call yourself that!” He sounded angry. “Has any man touched you but me?”

“No.”

“If one did, I’d kill him!” His face was flushed with jealous anger. “Aimée, if you were a common whore, I’d have you down on your back in the grass. You don’t know what my body’s going through at this moment!”

She didn’t know what he expected her to say. She stood up, straightened her clothes. “We must get back, they’ll be wondering what’s keeping us.”

He stood up, looked down at himself. “I’m afraid I can’t go back right this minute,” he said sheepishly, “My desire for you is too plainly visible.”

She looked down. Even in the shadowy moonlight, she could see the bulge of his aroused maleness in the tight pants. “I . . . I’m sorry. I didn’t realize—”

“You’re too innocent to survive in this rough world,” he murmured tenderly, taking her in his arms. “But as Señora Tony Falcon, you’ll be protected.”

She looked from his gentle face to her ring. It was a loco idea that this drifting cowboy could just move into the heir’s place, into her bed. He must be using her to help him in his plot. “No,” she said, suddenly angry with herself for becoming a quivering, eager female in his arms. “I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I’ll not go along with this deception.”

His rugged face hardened. Strange, in a certain light, he really did resemble the Falcons. But of course it was just that he was big and blond and blue-eyed like that fine Castilian Spanish family.

“Aimée,” he whispered, “I’ve gone through a lot to claim you, and I may have to go through a lot more. But one thing I know, I intend to have you as my wife!”

“You mean as Tony Falcon’s wife, you fake!” she retorted, and with that, she turned on her heel, lifted her skirts, and marched grimly across the garden. She signaled the stout old
duenna
and together, they glided back toward the party.

Bandit sighed as he stood watching them go, heads high, backs stiff. Dammit! Why had he been so blunt? That wasn’t the way to treat a snooty little blue-blooded girl like Amethyst. He’d have to change his style, woo and win the haughty miss. Maybe what was so appealing about her wasn’t only her high-class background but her coolness; her denial made him want her even more. Beneath that ice was evidently a lot of fire, and he intended to enjoy the heat he’d aroused in her.

Yep, he’d have to react a little more gently, when his natural style would have been to sweep her up in his arms and overwhelm her with his virile masculinity. She was skittish as a new filly.

Bandit walked slowly back toward the noise and laughter. He wasn’t proud where she was concerned. If he couldn’t win her, he’d take her any way he could get her. Women had no rights except up in that territory of Wyoming where they’d just given the women the right to vote a couple of years ago.

Here in Mexico, women had no rights at all. As a result, Amethyst belonged to Tony Falcon, and Bandit would continue to be that man forever if that was what it took to keep her in his bed. Not that he was in any danger of discovery. He shook his head as he walked on. Certainly Amethyst would be afraid to expose him since that would send her back to the convent. And Romeros had a lot to gain by keeping his mouth shut. The secret was safe among the three of them.

No one else knew that he wasn’t really the missing heir, that the birthmark was a tattoo. Besides, he argued as he mingled with the crowd, wasn’t he doing the old Falcon couple a favor? Weren’t they happy their son had returned? He owed them that.

Bandit nodded and smiled in greeting as he walked through the crowd. Everyone liked him, was only too eager to accept him. It was a new feeling, but a good one. He’d always been an outcast before. He could be Tony Falcon forever, and with only the three of them knowing it, it could be a secret for eternity.

He rejoined Amethyst who stood chatting with Señora Falcon. Bandit bowed low. “
Señorita,
would you do me the honor of dancing to celebrate the coming wedding?”

Amethyst glared at him. If looks could kill, he thought with amusement, he’d be dead.

He saw the slight shake of her head, knew she intended to protest. But at that moment, Señor Falcon craned his neck, seemed to spot the couple, and came pushing through the crowd, dragging with him a plump, middle-aged Spaniard with a gray mustache. “Ah, Tony, I wondered where you were! Here’s Gomez Durango. You remember my old friend, don’t you?”

Amethyst said crisply. “Somehow, I doubt he does.”

Bandit took the plump man’s hand, pumped it. “I think what your dear daughter means, sir, is that I was stolen so young, I can barely remember what you look like.”

All three of the man’s chins shook as he pumped Bandit’s hand, tears welling up in his eyes. “Oh, Tony, if you knew what agony we’ve all been through with your father, always hoping for a word, some clue as to what happened—”

“Now, now, Gomez.” Señor Falcon patted his shoulder. “We went through all those painful times together: the loss of my brother, then of your other children and your dear wife, of my son, and finally of Miss Callie.”

Gomez took out a handkerchief, wiped his eyes. “
Sí,
we’ve had such unhappiness. But together, we weathered it.”

Señor Falcon nodded, gentle regard on his lined face. “Such honor you had, Gomez, insisting your daughter keep her vow of betrothal, insisting that maybe someday my son would come home when I long ago gave up hope.”

Gomez Durango shrugged and pulled at his mustache. “To break the betrothal would be to admit that the boy was dead and I couldn’t do that to you, my good friend.”

Bandit grinned. “And now I’ve finally returned to keep that vow,
señor
.”

Amethyst made a sound between a choke and a snort.

Her father peered at her anxiously. “Is something the matter, my dear?” Without waiting for an answer, Durango turned to Bandit. “You know, Tony, I didn’t quite know what to do with her. I met an elegant lady in New Orleans—Romeros introduced me to her when we were up there on a cattle-buying trip—and she has consented to marry me.”

Gomez Durango reddened sheepishly. “Two women in one household don’t get on too well, and I didn’t know how to deal with that problem until my lovely Monique came up with the wonderful idea of sending Amethyst to the convent to be educated.”

Bandit smirked. “Yes, she told me how much she loved the food there and how she just hated to leave the dear sisters. She’s been wishing she could return.”

Amethyst made a noise deep in her throat, then opened her mouth but didn’t say anything.

Señor Durango hooked his fingers in his vest. “Isn’t that wonderful! Monique said Amethyst might want to remain at the convent and become a cloistered nun.”

Bandit took Amethyst’s arm. It was as stiff as a branding iron in his grasp. “Ah, what a shame it is that marriage to me will take her away from that place. Didn’t you say you were beginning to feel right at home on your knees,
señorita?
”

He saw her bite her lip, and her arm went absolutely rigid with anger in his grasp. “By the way, Señor Durango, since you are to be married, maybe we could make it a double wedding.”

Amethyst made another choking sound.

Señor Falcon bent, peered into her face under the shadowy paper lanterns. “Are you all right, my dear?”

Bandit patted her arm with his free hand. “Perhaps I need to take her out for a breath of fresh air in the rose garden.”

“No, I’m fine,” she blurted out, “really fine. It is hot, though. Perhaps I could use some punch.” She peered over at the refreshment table as if she might pull away from Bandit’s hand and escape.

Señor Falcon said, “How thoughtless of me! I’ll get you some refreshments.” He turned and pushed through the crowd.

The plump, gentle Durango pulled at his triple chin thoughtfully. “Maybe a double wedding isn’t such a bad idea. . . .”

Amethyst made another choking sound.

The Señora looked at her with sympathy. “I know this has been as much of a shock to you as it was to us, my dear.”

“You’ll never know what a shock,” Amethyst said.

Bandit smiled solicitously. “My dear, you really do seem ill. Perhaps I should carry you into the house where there’s a bed to lie on.”

“And miss the party in your honor?” She said just a little too sweetly. “Why, Tony, I wouldn’t dream of it!”

Gomez Durango beamed at the two of them. “I’m so glad it’s turned out well. You know, Tony, I was so worried that things might have changed, that you two might not hit it off when you finally returned.”

“Hit it off?” Bandit raised one eyebrow, still holding on to her stiff arm. “Why,
señor
, you can’t imagine to what lengths I would go to be able to marry your daughter.”

“I’m sure he means just that,” Amethyst said crisply. “But since it has been a long time, perhaps we shouldn’t set a wedding date yet, Papa, so that Tony and I can get to know each other better. After all, we’ve been apart many years.” She looked at Bandit archly. “Why, we’re like perfect strangers. We might never have known each other.”

Her barbed words seemed lost on her father, but Bandit caught the sarcasm.

“On the contrary,” he retorted, “we’ve waited sixteen long years. I’d like to set the date as soon as possible.” He grinned down at her. “I can hardly wait to marry the playmate of my childhood.”

Amethyst looked about desperately. “I’d really like to dance,” she said, trying to disengage her arm from Bandit’s as she turned toward the dance floor.

Romeros danced by, a tall redhead in his arms. Her back was to Bandit but he got the most eerie feeling. And when the music stopped abruptly, leaving Romeros and his partner right there before them, although the woman had her back to him, Bandit had could have sworn that she looked familiar.

Señor Durango beamed. “Tony, I want you to meet my own fiancee.” So saying, he caught Bandit’s arm, drew the young couple over to the dance floor. “Monique,” he called out. “I want you to meet your future son-in-law.”

The tall redhead turned around. Bandit stopped short, blinked. Now it was his turn to make a slight choking sound as Señor Durango began the introductions. “Mademoiselle Monique Dupre, may I present Tony Falcon.”

Bandit looked into the green eyes of a beautiful, mature beauty, and felt his world come apart even as she stared back at him in surprise. He blinked again. There was no mistake. It was Mona Dulaney.

Amethyst looked from Bandit’s horrified face to her father’s fiancee. Monique stood gaping at him in speechless amazement. They know each other, Amethyst realized with bewilderment. In the past, these two knew each other.

But no one else in the little group seemed to catch the shocked looks of recognition that passed between the two. All the others seemed oblivious to this fact.

The ornery Texan recovered first. “Ah,
mademoiselle
,” he murmured, bending his head over her hand as he kissed it, “how very nice to make your acquaintance.”

Monique looked confused and baffled. “Why—Why, Ba—
Señor
, what was your name again?”

“I am Tony Falcon. You’ve no doubt heard the sad story of my kidnapping and disappearance?”

Amethyst would have sworn she saw Bandit wink at her father’s fiancée, but she wasn’t quite sure of it.

The color came back to the redhead’s pretty face. “Tony Falcon? Oh, of course! And you must call me Monique!”

Bandit kissed the back of her hand again. “But that would be so forward of me, seein’ as how we are meeting for the
very first
time.”

“But after all, Tony,” the elegant beauty purred, “we are all going to be family, are we not?”

Bandit let go of her hand, cocked his head ever so slightly toward Amethyst, and smiled that lopsided grin. “Why of course! We might even plan a double wedding!”

Señor Gomez smiled and linked his arm through Monique’s. “
Sí,
daughter, don’t you think that sounds like a fine idea?”

Amethyst opened her mouth to protest, but no sound came.

Then Bandit took her arm and smiled in an infuriating manner. “Isn’t that sweet? Amethyst is so overcome with excitement at the idea, she can’t even answer!”

Oh, I could answer all right, but I don’t dare
. No lady
should say what I am thinking!
Amethyst dug her nails into Bandit’s hand to let him know her opinion. He winced but didn’t say anything, and the cocky smile remained on his rugged face.

“Tony”—she smiled a little too sweetty—“the band is playing my favorite song. Wouldn’t you like to dance?”

Bandit looked around the circle, grinning as he shrugged. “My little love can hardly wait for any excuse for me to take her in my arms!”

Damn the cowboy!
Amethyst fought an overpowering urge to kick his shins, and instead, pulled him out onto the dance floor to the fast rhythm of the
jarabe
, the Mexican folk dance.

If she’d thought to make him look the fool, she was mistaken. He danced so well that people began to make way and to form a circle around the two as they moved to the quick steps. She had forgotten how lithe and handsome the gunfighter was until he gracefully executed the intricate movements and she saw the admiration on other women’s faces. When the dance ended, the surrounding crowd applauded.

Now the band played a slow, romantic waltz, and Bandit took her in his arms, pulled her close.

“Texas, don’t hold me so tight,” she said hoarsely, “it isn’t proper! ”

But he held her even closer so that he could whisper in her ear as they danced. “Everyone will think it’s so romantic, us being reunited after all these years. Besides, if I ruin your reputation, you’ll have to marry me.”

There was no point in arguing that with him now in front of a crowd of people. She relaxed and let him hold her close as they danced, feeling the hard, muscular length of him all the way down her body. “And just where did you learn to dance the
jarabe
so expertly?” she asked grimly.

He looked down at her and smiled arrogantly. “Well, I tell you,.there was a cute little
señorita
over at San Felipe one time and—”

“Never mind!” She had a sudden vision of him in the arms of some hot-blooded
puta
and for some reason that annoyed her.

Bandit shrugged, grinned. “Well, you asked!”

Now that she had him away from the little group that was family, she could ask what she really wanted to know. “Where have you met my father’s fiancee before?”

He looked down at her with such feigned innocence she had a terrible urge to raise her knee suddenly, catch him where it would really hurt. But of course she couldn’t do that in this crowd. “Mademoiselle . . . now what was it? I can’t quite seem to remember her name.”

“Monique!” Amethyst whispered furiously against his ear. “You don’t fool me, Bandit! I saw the look that passed between you! You know her from somewhere.”

He cocked his head and raised one sardonic eyebrow. “Now whatever made you think that?”

“You rotten liar! You both looked as guilty as two wolves caught in a sheep pen. Are you in this together? Do you plan to take control of both the Falcon and the Durango fortunes?”

He kissed the tip of her nose as they danced. “
Aimée,
I do believe you’re jealous. If you’re concerned that now that I’ve seen that long-legged red-haired beauty, I won’t want a little brunette, there’s no need to be uneasy. I intend to honor my papa’s words of betrothal.”

Amethyst put her face against his broad shoulder. She felt suddenly upset and bereft. Only a few minutes ago, he’d declared he’d marry her, no matter what. It had been thrilling somehow to hear a man plead such devotion. Now that he’d seen Monique, his words made her wonder if he was regretting the betrothal, if he’d rather have the elegant redhead?

She wished she had long, slim legs. “I wonder if she’s good in bed?”

“Who?” Bandit said against her hair.

“Monique. In spite of everything she says, I think she looks awfully experienced, and do you know what?” She looked up into his face. “I think she’s a lot older than she tells my papa she is.”

“How old does Miss Du—Miss Whatever—say she is?”

“Twenty-nine.”

“What is her last name again?”

“Dupre. Monique Dupre.”

Bandit laughed under his breath. “Twenty-nine, huh? I hear tell it’s a lady’s privilege to shave a few years off her age.”

“Like maybe chop it in half?”

“Tsk! Tsk! You sound like a jealous little cat.”

She listened to the music as they danced for a long moment and waited. When he said nothing else, she persisted. “You didn’t tell me where you know her from.”

“I didn’t tell you I knew her,” he parried. “Where did your papa meet her?”

Amethyst put her face against his wide shoulder as they danced, enjoying it in spite of her anger. Bandit was a good dancer, agile and lithe for such a big man. She wondered where he had gotten all that practice? “New Orleans. He was there buying cattle with Romeros and the foreman introduced them, said she was from a poor but fine old French family.”

“Romeros, huh?”

Amethyst shrugged. “Well, Romeros has been with the Falcons for years and so my papa trusted his recommendation. I had hoped Papa would marry my governess, Miss Callie. I think the Falcons hoped so, too.”

“I thought you said Miss Callie died?” He hummed a little in her ear.

“She did, quite suddenly of dysentery right after Mademoiselle Monique came to visit. Naturally, in all his grief and confusion, Papa turned to that redhead for comfort and ended up asking her to marry him.”

“Wasn’t it convenient that Monique was on the scene when Miss Callie died so suddenly? I’m sure she was a great comfort.” She couldn’t tell for sure whether he was just making conversation or being sarcastic.

“I don’t like her,” Amethyst admitted, slightly ashamed. It didn’t seem quite loyal to Papa not to admire his future wife.

Bandit laughed. “I’ll bet she feels the same about you, and that’s why she suddenly began influencing your papa to send you away to the convent school.”

“I don’t think she cares about Papa at all,” Amethyst complained. “I think she’s after his money.”

“Well, there’s no fool like an old fool,” Bandit said smoothly.

She relaxed in his arms, feeling the heat of his big hand on the small of her back. The other completely enclosed her small hand. Amethyst’s thoughts were troubled, confused. Was Bandit attracted to the lovely redhead? Well, she didn’t give a damn if he was!

The music stopped and he escorted her from the floor. With murmured compliments drifting around them, the couple went back over to their little group.

Monique ceased her animated conversation and smiled at Bandit with the sticky sweetness of honey dripping from the comb. “You two looked wonderful on the dance floor.”

The band struck up another tune. As Amethyst watched, Bandit bowed low before the willowy redhead. “If Don Durango will permit, I would be honored to dance with my future mother-in-law.”

Papa tucked his thumbs in his vest that covered his expansive stomach and smiled. “But certainly, my boy. We are all going to be just one, big happy family.”

Amethyst watched in helpless frustration as Bandit led Monique out onto the dance floor. She felt suddenly rejected as she watched the pair. They danced well together, as if they had done it many times before. Over the heads of the crowd, she could see the pair carrying on an animated conversation, but of course over the music and laughter, Amethyst couldn’t hear a word.
Santa María!
She’d give anything to be close enough to listen in on the conversation.

Mona looked back over her shoulder at the petite brunette, smiled a little too sweetly, then turned her attention to the man in her arms. “Bandit, dammit, why didn’t you let me know you were here? I about dropped my drawers when we were introduced!”

The big Texan laughed. “I was the one who almost fell over! Where’d you pick up that French accent and the name? When we knew each other, you were plain little Mona Dulaney.”

“Ain’t it a small world, though, handsome! Thanks for not giving me away. That Durango fella thinks I’m a high-class but poor aristocrat who’s all alone in the world, needs protecting. ”

“He’s the one who needs protecting, honey, if you’re after him.”

“I might say the same about you and his syrupy little daughter.”

“You two don’t like each other?”

Mona shrugged. “She thinks I’m trying to get her out of the way, that I’m after her old man’s money.”

The cleft in his chin deepened as he smiled. “Aren’t you?”

I was until you came back into my life, she thought, remembering how long she had loved the Bandit. “Anyway, handsome, thanks for not tellin’.”

He shrugged. “I figured if I gave you away, you’d tell on me, too. You gonna marry that nice old man?”

She looked up at him. She’d never loved a man like she loved Bandit. All these years . . . The first day she had seen him, he was four years old and she was almost nineteen. She had helped raise him. “You got objections?”

All he had to do was say the word and she’d forget this whole plan, money and all. Mona figured any woman who had ever shared the bed of the Bandit from Bandera would throw it all away if he’d just say, I want you, let’s run away together.

“No,” he said. “It don’t make me no never-mind. Remember I’m scheduled to marry his daughter.”

Mona winced inwardly. That petite, stubborn little bitch! Amethyst had seen through her like a windowpane and had voiced objections. “Well, thanks anyway for not letting on about . . . well, you know, my past.”

“You’ll be lucky if he never finds out. But I was never one to smear a lady’s reputation.”

She looked up at him, loving him as always although it had been four or five years since she’d last seen him. “You were the only one who ever treated me like a lady, Bandit. The others always treated me like a whore, a bought-and-paid-for object for their pleasure.”

He smiled gently, sympathetically. “Last I saw of you, you were still at Miss Fancy’s in San Antone.”

“A gunfighter there started giving me trouble, so I left. He was crazy jealous and I gót scared, went back to New Orleans where I grew up. Sometime you’ll have to tell me how you got yourself into this Mexico mess.”

“How did you?”

She sighed. “I’m almost forty, getting a little long in the tooth to work the best places anymore.”

“You don’t look a day over twenty-five, Mona,” he said.

“Liar! But you was always so kind to the girls at Miss Fancy’s, Bandit. We all remember how kind you was.”

He didn’t say anything for a long moment as they danced. “I know how rough life can be for the girls of the parlor house,” he said softly.

Mona didn’t look into his eyes. She had never told him she had been responsible for getting his mother a job in a whorehouse back in Gun Powder. Lidah Anton had been a pretty, half-breed girl struggling to support her little boy by working as a maid when Mona met her. The night Lidah died by her own hand was the night Mona first took the mature, twelve-year-old boy to bed and made a man of him. Thinking of Lidah made her think of Miss Callie. . . .

Bandit interrupted her thoughts. “You’re awfully quiet, Mona. What’re you thinkin’ about?”

Mona started guiltily. “Nothin’. Nothin’ at all. You intend to go through with your masquerade? Marry Amethyst?” She half hoped to hear
Not now that I’ve
found you again. Why don’t we forget all this and run off together?

“Yes. And you?”

Her heart turned over. How could she bear to spend the rest of her life so tantalizingly close to him, knowing he slept each night in that little brunette’s arms? Probably the old man was impotent. He’d been so respectful, so careful of her reputation, he’d insisted on her bringing a chaperone along to Mexico. If he only knew . . .

“Mona?”

She was jolted out of her thoughts. “What? Oh, yes, I guess so. A girl’s looks don’t last forever.”

He whirled her around. “When’d you go back to New Orleans?”

She resisted the urge to rest her face against his shoulder, knowing it would cause gossip. “A couple of years ago. Dad died, so I had to go home and close the pharmacy anyhow. Mother was gone, and the other kids had scattered.”

“Remember how much fun we had at old Don Diego’s birthday party at the Triple D Ranch in ’sixty-four? You were still working at Miss Fancy’s then.”

“Yeah, I remember. Some party!”