Rio (13 page)

“Well, Edwin, did the bill pass?”

He nodded and sat down behind his desk. “Of course. My speech this morning was very persuasive.”

“I knew it!” Her eyes glowed with triumph. “You are just like your father and grandfather and you will be governor next election. My other children may have disappointed me, but not you, Edwin.”

He sipped his whiskey and sighed. “Yes, of course. And after that, the U.S. Senate. I know it’s important to you.”

“It should be important to you, too,” she scolded and paced the floor in her gray silk dress. “Now all you need is a wife. Voters feel more confidence in a married man.
Now, you met all those girls at the debutante ball, and that lovely Turner girl. Surely one of them—”

“Mama, I have chosen my wife already.” He glared back at her, determined to stand his ground. “You met her at lunch today, the beauty with the pretty eyes and black hair. She is the most enchanting thing I have ever met and somehow, it just seems we are meant to be together.” He took the pink rosebud from his lapel and sniffed its fragrance, remembering that luncheon and the girl.

“That one? Surely you jest, son.” His mother threw back her head and laughed but there was no humor in it. “Who is she, anyway? I’ve heard what a fool she made of herself at the debutante ball. My social circle is still laughing about it.”

“That wasn’t her fault.” He frowned as he thought about Mrs. Whittle. He had paid her back by having her dress shop torched. “If you must know”—he took a deep breath—“she’s the ward of one of the most powerful, richest families in Texas—besides ours, of course.”

She blinked. “Who? I know all the best families—”

“The Durangos.” He closed his eyes and waited for the explosion.

For a moment, he heard her choke and gasp, then she strode over to the crystal decanter and poured herself a drink, gulped it, coughing before she took a deep breath and turned on him. “You wouldn’t dare!You wouldn’t dare marry into our most bitter—”

“Mama”—it was like facing a fire-breathing dragon— “maybe after all these years, it’s time to make peace with them. Do you realize what an asset it would be to unite the two most powerful families in Texas? Why, we could control everything.”

She put down her drink and wrung her hands, still pacing. “Now I know how Jesus must have felt when he
was betrayed by Judas. We have been enemies for three generations and you know how your father died—”

“My father was a fool and a woman-chaser, but he shouldn’t have tried to seduce that one,” he said without thinking. “Everyone knew—”

“You ingrate!You whelp! You dare say that to me?” Her voice rose to the screaming point. “Never! I say never! And I’m sure the Durangos feel the same way.” She turned on him. “Does the present don even know you are seeing his ward?”

She had struck home. He tucked the wilting rosebud into his pocket for safekeeping and poured himself another drink. “I don’t think so, but I’m planning on talking to him.”

“I will have a heart attack and be in my grave before I will allow this wedding.”

“Mama,” he said, taking a deep breath, “I have always been a dutiful son and done whatever you wanted, but on this one thing, I will not be moved. I will marry this beauty and you will swallow it and be all smiles at the wedding so there will be no gossip in our social circle.”

“I will die first!” she wailed. “Edwin, come to your senses! Pick a girl from your own crowd, one with a good background, social prestige, and wealth of her own.”

“Like my father did?” He glared at her.

She nodded. “All right, like your father did. It might not have been a love match, but we were well suited for each other. Your father knew what was important and my father was rich. Together, we built a very successful empire.”

“Mama, you don’t understand. I don’t want a business merger, with affairs on the side. I want a marriage, love, and children—”

“Oh, sonny, spare me the flowery poetry. Haven’t you tupped half the women in Texas, besides most of our
housemaids? I’ve lost count of those I’ve fired without references or had sent back over the border.”

“They say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” He shrugged and got up from his desk, walking over to pour another drink. “Yes.” He nodded. “I’ll admit it. Since I was hardly more than a boy, I’ve been a rake. I felt it was my right, like helping myself to candy because it was there and my family was privileged, but I’ve changed. I’ve found the girl I want to marry and I intend to ask her.”

“Edwin, your father would turn over in his grave.” She took a deep breath. “All right, so you’re hot for her. Keep her a few weeks and sleep with her until you get your fill, but promise me you will not marry that Mexican tart—”

“Don’t call her that.” He seethed. “She’s a special lady and I will have her by my side as I climb the political ladder. I will marry her or I will die trying, and damned be anyone who gets in my way.”

His mother’s stern face went white. “I do believe you mean it.”

“I do. Turquoise Sanchez will be Mrs. Edwin Forester.”

His mother clutched her chest. “I can’t believe you would buck me this way, Edwin. There’s dozens of society girls, rich, beautiful girls throughout Texas who would be thrilled to marry you.”

He shook his head. “I will have no one but her and I will stomp or step over anyone who tries to stop me.”

Harriet took a deep breath. “All right then. Perhaps she won’t have you.”

“Are you joking?” He chortled. “She is young, naive, intoxicated with my power and success. There is one small problem.”

He walked over and stood staring out the window at the elegant house down the street.

“What could be worse than a Mexican nobody marrying into this blue-blooded family?” She was weeping now.

“Dry those crocodile tears, Mama. I’m not going to listen this time. This beauty, this ward of our family’s worst enemies, will carry my name and give you grandchildren.”

“Mexican grandchildren?” Her voice seethed with sarcasm.

“May I remind you she doesn’t look Mexican and anyway, I don’t care about her background. You will respect her because I am determined to make her mine, whatever it takes.” He was damned if he would back down, no matter how much his mother cried and protested. It was time he took control of this household, as was his right.

She was sobbing now. “Your father wouldn’t have approved of this girl either.”

“I don’t give a damn,” Edwin snapped. “The old man is in his grave and I’m alive. Alive, do you hear me? You are going to act pleased if it chokes you and help with the biggest wedding Austin ever saw. We’ll invite the whole city, maybe have the reception in the city park, and all those people will be so flattered, they’ll vote for me in the next election.”

“But what if the Durangos object and won’t allow it?”

Edina thought a minute. He wanted Turquoise with a passion that passed all common sense and reason and he would have her in his bed or die trying. “I might seduce her. You know I’m good with women and she’s very naive and impressionable. If she were with child, the Durangos would consent to the marriage rather than be humiliated.”

He smiled, imagining making love to the beauty. He had lured many women into his bed, maybe even forced a few, but he looked forward to taking Turquoise’s virginity as he had never lusted after another woman. He would do anything, anything to possess her, even if he had to lock up his mother in a nursing home and assassinate Trace Durango. “I am meeting her for lunch again tomorrow.”

“So soon?” His mother sobbed. “Edwin, I beg you to think about this—”

“Mama, damn it! I have been thinking about marriage for more than ten years while I played the stud and waited for you to pick out a suitable wife for me. Well, this time, I’m doing the picking. Now you will shut up and act pleased or you will find yourself confined to your room with a maid to look after you because I will tell everyone you are losing your mind like poor Emily.”

“You wouldn’t dare!” Again her face turned pale.

“Don’t try me, Mama. Now this is the end of the discussion.” He slammed the library door as he exited and from upstairs, he heard the haunting laughter of his crazy sister.

Nothing was going to spoil his happiness with his future bride—nothing. Before the wedding, he would have Emily carted off to the asylum and if need be, imprison Mama in her room. As governor, he could do almost anything and no one would question it.

Turquoise, Fern, and the children had returned to Fern’s ranch and while the children went outside to play, Fern was still breathless with excitement. “My word! Did you ever see such a mansion, and to think we all had lunch with the senator.”

Turquoise smiled dreamily. “Yes, it was rather grand, wasn’t it? And the way he introduced us on the Senate floor. I felt so important.”

“And the way he looked at you.” Fern was still babbling with her memories. “I believe that man might ask to court you.”

Turquoise frowned. “Well, you know what my guardian would think of that. Maybe we shouldn’t mention this to anyone.”

Fern whirled around the room. “It’s like Romeo and Juliet: two families who are enemies. And he’s so handsome and rich.”

“Uh-huh.” Turquoise felt troubled. Yes, she had been excited and thrilled to be singled out in the Senate gallery and invited to Edwin’s mansion, but his mother had glared at her, evidently not pleased at all. The Iron Lady would be a formidable, maybe an impossible mother-in-law. Worse than that, Turquoise’s mind kept returning to a certain va-quero and the way Rio’s kisses had tasted.

Don’t be a fool,
she scolded herself.
You have always hungered for respectability. As Senator Forester’s bride, you would have that.
And yet …

She spent a sleepless night, now not looking forward to joining Edwin for lunch. Would he ask permission to court her? Did she want him to? Of course she did, she chided herself as she put on an especially charming dress, daffodil yellow and springlike. She added a large white lace hat with yellow ribbons.

“That looks good with your dark hair,” Fern exclaimed. “When you get back, you must tell me everything that happened.”

“Of course.” Turquoise looked at herself in the mirror and smiled. Yes, she did look fetching. “You’ll take the children to Barton Springs for a swim?”

“Yes, Luke will go along.” Fern nodded. “We’ll have a good time.”

“You know, Fern, you are a dear friend.” Turquoise hugged her. “Maybe we should keep all this just between us.”

“Of course.” Fern’s freckled nose wrinkled as she smiled and lowered her voice to a whisper. “I’m sure my father or even Luke might not approve of all this. If the senator asks you to be his bride, it will be big news across all of Texas.”

“And I’ll need time to bring my guardian around,”
Turquoise said. “You know what the Durangos think of the Foresters.”

“But love will conquer all,” Fern squealed and whirled again. “I wish my romance were half so exciting!”

Turquoise didn’t answer. She had a feeling she was getting into something too big for her to handle. She had a heavy weight in her stomach as she borrowed a buggy and set off for the farmers’ market to meet with Forester.

Edwin was waiting as she drew up in her buggy. He hurried to meet her and tied up her horse, then brought her down from the seat. He wore a light summer suit with a pink rosebud as a boutonniere. When he saw that she noticed it, he smiled and said, “I told you pink rosebuds would always be my favorite from now on.”

“I thought you would forget,” she answered.

“Never! And yes, you are as beautiful as I remember. You look like a summer day in all that yellow.”

She blushed and took his arm, twirling her lace parasol with its yellow ribbons. “Senator, you embarrass me. I’m sure you have known many women, some much lovelier than I.”

He looked at her seriously as they walked. “It is true, I have known many women. I’ll not lie to you, my dear, I have been known as a womanizer for years, as my father and grandfather were, and in all that time, I had never found a woman who interested me for more than a week or two.”

She felt awkward under his adoring gaze. “Perhaps I will only interest you for a week or two.”

He smiled down at her. “I thought that at first, the night
I first saw you, but then, there was something about you that seemed to call out to my lonely heart, as if we were soul mates or had known each other in another time or place. Do you believe in reincarnation, my dear?”

“I—I don’t know. I don’t know much about it.” She wasn’t as well read as she wished, and he was so educated and well traveled.

“I’ll take you to Europe and to the Orient,” he said. “We’ll have so much fun. My life was so dull until you came along.”

He patted her hand as he led her to a table. It was a small café away from the road where the cattle came up as the cowboys drove them into the marketing pens. There were bright umbrellas over the tables on the flagstone-paved patio and there were flowers in bright-colored pots all around.

“Why, this is charming,” Turquoise said as he pulled out a chair for her.

“A charming luncheon for a charming lady.” He smiled and sat down across from her. “I just got through speaking to a bunch of cattlemen, so I thought it was the only time today I would have for you and I wanted to see you again.”

“Did you really?” She smiled back into his adoring eyes. He might be older, but he was so distinguished, with his graying hair and fine clothes.

“Don’t be coy. You surely knew that.” He reached, took her hand, and smiled again. “I have never been so happy as I have been lately. It’s almost as if you complete me, as if I’ve been looking for you forever. Of course, you must know how I feel.”

She felt herself blush again under his direct gaze. “I suppose I had guessed, but I was afraid I might be wrong and just another one of your silly conquests. I hear half the women in Texas are scheming to be your wife.”

“No.” He shook his head and a light curl fell across his
forehead. “You are not wrong. From the first moment I saw you, I felt a connection that I have never felt with any other woman and believe me, I have met most of the most beautiful and accomplished women in Texas.”

She didn’t know what to say.

The waiter came and Edwin ordered a pitcher of sangria, the red wine with slices of orange and lemon floating among the ice. “Also, we’ll have chilled fruit salad,” he ordered with a tone of authority, “and perhaps some cold roast beef sandwiches if it suits the lady.”

“It does.” Turquoise noticed the deferential way the waiter bowed and nodded. Yes, Edwin Forester was an important and powerful man. As his wife, she would be treated with the same respect and deference.

Turquoise turned to watch the cowboys a few hundred yards away driving the cattle into the pens. “This is so quaint.”

He shrugged. “It’s just business, my dear. What I really want to talk about is us—you.”

“Yes?” She wasn’t certain now if she wanted to know.

“I will just say it, Turquoise. I know I am almost old enough to be your father and our families have been enemies for several generations.”

“I don’t think of you as older. I think of you as mature. And as for the families, I was certain yesterday that your mother did not approve of me.”

He shrugged and frowned. “My mother is getting senile and I am gradually taking charge of the family businesses. I can deal with her, but it is true, the family feud could create problems.”

“My guardian might come around if he thought I was really loved and provided for.”

He leaned closer. “No woman would ever be as loved and adored as you would be, my dear.” He kissed her hand. “You
will have everything you ever dreamed of: money, jewels, travel. Whatever your wish is will be my command.”

“Oh, Edwin, I—I don’t know what to say.” She had a sudden feeling that she was getting into something she didn’t want and was angry with herself. Hadn’t she dreamed of a marriage like this since she was a very young girl?

He took both her hands in his and kissed them. “Just say you will let me court you. I will go to Trace Durango and beg on my knees if I must, humble myself before an old enemy, for a chance to win your heart. Then I will beg on my knees to you.”

A powerful, influential senator on his knees, begging for her hand in marriage. All she had to do now was say yes and all her dreams would be fulfilled. She would wed a man so rich and handsome, half the women in Texas would envy her. No one would ever whisper about her questionable parentage again. And yet, she hesitated. “I—I need to think about this.”

“Of course you are overwhelmed, but while you are thinking, I am going to shower you with so many gifts, spoil you so much, you won’t dare say no.”

“Oh, Edwin, you are too good to me.”

“I love you, my darling, and I will spend the rest of my life proving it to you. There is nothing I wouldn’t do to win you.”

The food and the drinks came just then and the wine was cold and the fruit salad chilled. The tiny cold roast beef sandwiches were excellent.

“My,” she said as she wiped her lips on a linen napkin, “I had no idea there was such a good café out here. I guess Uncle Trace must not know about it. At least, he hasn’t mentioned it.”

He laughed. “I’m pleased you like it. It’s one of Austin’s little secrets. The wealthy cattle barons like a good meal
when they come out for the auctions.” He pushed back his plate and surveyed her as she finished her food and the waiter took the dishes away.

“Edwin, you look amused. What are you thinking?”

He laughed. “I’m truly happy, maybe for the first time in my life. All these years, I’ve been looking for something that my money and power could not buy and finally, I’ve found it. I’m trying to decide whether I should buy you a string of pearls or maybe diamonds.” He stared into her eyes. “No, it must be turquoise, just the color of your eyes, and maybe surrounded by diamonds.”

She looked down at her hands modestly. “Edwin, I do think you are trying to sway me with gifts.”

He laughed. “Of course I am. You are playing with me, my darling. I’m sure there’s no other man who can offer you what I can.”

“No, of course there isn’t.” Rio crossed her mind. He was a poor rancher with as questionable a background as her own. She had always dreamed of just what Edwin Forester was now suggesting, but all she could think of was that moment in Rio’s arms when he had kissed her in a way that made her pulse pound and she had felt weak and helpless in his embrace. That angered her, that the vaquero came unbidden to her mind at this exact moment, which should be the happiest and most triumphant of her life.

Edwin frowned. “Oh, here come the poor Mexicans’few cattle.”

“What?” She turned to look at the road.

“The Mexican ranchers get together and throw a few cattle into the sale now and then, but they don’t bring much. They can’t afford the fine bloodlines the Anglo ranchers offer. Now there’s a horse I’d like to own.”

Through the dust, abruptly she recognized Rio on his fine bay stallion, driving a small herd ahead of him. He
wore faded denim, but also a concho belt and a flat, black Spanish-style hat.

Edwin said, “I’d like to buy that stallion, but that stubborn Mexican probably wouldn’t sell him. Say, isn’t that the one who showed up at the ball?”

Turquoise didn’t answer. Her gaze was fastened on Rio and now he had noticed her and glared back.

Abruptly a great black bull from the herd broke loose and, bawling loudly, rushed across the grass toward the diners on the flagstones. Men screamed and tables were overturned as the diners fled from danger.

Rio immediately wheeled his stallion and took off after the bull, but the tables and flowerpots kept him from maneuvering.

Edwin scrambled to the top of their table. “Look out, my dear!” He reached a hand to lift Turquoise to the tabletop, but she caught her heel in her chair and went down, even as the bull gored a waiter on one of its curved horns and threw him across the flagstones.

It all happened so fast: Edwin shouting a warning from the safety of the tabletop and Rio throwing himself off his horse and grabbing a red tablecloth. “Stay still, Turquoise!”

She couldn’t move, entangled as she was in her yellow skirts and the fallen chair. She could only lie there in the dust in horror, staring at the huge black bull that pawed the flagstones. Around her, people still screamed and ran.

The bull’s one horn dripped red from goring the waiter and she lay there paralyzed with fear, watching the scarlet blood drip into the dust. Abruptly Rio was between her and the bull, waving the tablecloth at him like a matador’s cape. “Ho,
toro,
here,
toro!
”

The bull paused, his eyes red with rage as he pawed the ground. Rio did not move, he only waved the tablecloth to get the animal’s attention. She glanced up and saw Edwin shaking with fear, but he did not come off the
table to protect her. Only Rio stood between her and the maddened animal and now he played the bull like a matador. “Ho,
toro,
come,
toro!
”

The beast ran at him and he flipped the tablecloth so that the animal thundered past, coming dangerously close to Rio’s muscular body. But unlike a matador, Rio held no sword to defend himself. Even as she and the others watched, Rio teased the bull into chasing him, gradually, leading it off the patio until two vaqueros rode up with ropes to lasso the foaming, pawing bull.

Rio turned to her now, touching the edge of his hat with the tips of his fingers. “Senorita.” Then he turned to walk toward his horse.

“Wait!” Edwin yelled and climbed down off the table. “Let me offer you a reward for saving us, and I’d like to buy your horse.”

Rio gave him a cold, dismissive look with his dark eyes. “I did not do it for you, senor, and my horse is not for sale.” He gave Turquoise a scornful look, then wheeled and mounted his horse, rejoining the vaqueros who were herding the cattle down the lane into the market pens.

“Well, he’s an arrogant one, isn’t he?” Edwin sniffed, holding out his hand to Turquoise, who took it and stood up, dusting her skirt off.

“Maybe he was insulted to be offered money for something any heroic Texan would have done.” She rethought how Edwin had scrambled to safety, leaving her to fend for herself.

Edwin merely snorted. “Trying to make an impression on the ladies, no doubt. Cheap heroics. Are you all right, my dear?”

She nodded. “It was exciting.”

He smiled. “Well, it will make good press.”

“What?”

“Never mind.” He pulled out his big gold watch. “Well,
my darling, I must be off to deal with business. I think you would find it dull, so why don’t I take you back to your buggy and you can go shopping or something?”

“All right.” She had really wanted to see Rio again, to thank him. She thought Edwin’s actions had been humiliating.

“I’ll send a message and we’ll meet again tonight. I know of an elegant place for dining and dancing. All the best people frequent it.”

“All right.” She didn’t look at him. He might have money, power, and social prestige, but a little nagging worry nibbled at Turquoise’s mind.

He led her back to her buggy, helped her up, and kissed her hand. “Until tonight then.”

She nodded and drove away. When she looked back, he was staring after her with a possessive, passionate expression.

Instead of going shopping, she returned to Fern’s ranch. She didn’t quite know what to do with herself. Fern and her fiancé and the children were still at the swimming hole and Turquoise couldn’t seem to settle down. Instead, she paced and thought. She was supposed to meet Edwin at some swanky place for dinner and dancing, but suddenly, she didn’t want to go. However, she didn’t want to return to the Triple D ranch either. She wasn’t sure what she wanted.

Late that afternoon, a messenger came with an enormous bouquet of pink roses and a note of where she was to meet Edwin.

Toward evening as she washed and dressed, Fern came back in with yelling, excited children. “Oh, it was so much fun!” Fern said.

The children joined the chorus. “
Si,
it was fun.”

Little Pedro said, “I dived off the bank and Susanna learned to swim.”

“I’m glad you all had a good time, because we’ll probably
be going home tomorrow,” Turquoise said, avoiding Fern’s surprised gaze.

While the ranch cook fed the children, Fern followed her into her room. “What do you mean, ‘go home tomorrow’?”

“I just think maybe we’ve been gone long enough.” Turquoise kept her voice vague as she began to brush her hair.

“My word! I saw that gigantic bouquet in the living room,” Fern said. “It obviously cost a lot of money.”

“Obviously.” Turquoise pinned her ebony hair up and looked in the mirror.

“Well, out with it. Is the senator courting you?”

“Yes, he is.” She continued to work on her hair.

“Aren’t you going to give me the details?” Fern leaned on the dresser and waited.

Turquoise shrugged. “He wants me to meet him for dining and dancing this evening. Oh, and a bull got loose at the market and caused some excitement before it was recaptured.”

“Is that all?” Fern sounded disappointed.

“For the moment.” Turquoise looked through her dresses, trying to decide what she owned that was fine enough to go dining and dancing with Edwin Forester. “I don’t really own anything suitable,” she thought aloud.