Authors: Connie Mason
“Agreed.” Brett was jubilant, certain that Julie had decided in his favor.
“Then it’s a deal,” Julie declared, holding out her slim hand.
“Come along, I’ll show you to your room,” Brett smiled, enfolding her small hand in his smooth palm.
Carl Darcy’s unexpected arrival at
Rancho
Delgado proved to him that things were not always as they seemed. He sensed the tension swirling about him the moment he was shown into Don Rodrigo’s study and finally faced his son-in-law. He decided long before he left San Francisco to keep his identity secret. If he was to learn anything at all about the character of the man his daughter loved, he could only accomplish it while remaining incognito.
Rod looked up sharply, scowling fiercely the moment Carl invaded his inner sanctum. His thoughts were still on Elena and how badly he had misjudged her. He had known her all his life and it seemed improbable that she was capable of such deception. He could not help but wonder if she was in some way responsible for Julie’s disappearance. He would put nothing past her. But attempting to foist off a bastard as his own flesh and blood had been more than he could stomach.
Carl could not know Rod’s thoughts and he was taken aback by the unfriendly welcome he was accorded by the proud don. Then, as suddenly as it had come, the fierce look died in Rod’s eyes as he realized how his greeting must look to a visitor.
Rancho
Delgado had few visitors but Spanish hospitality was legion.
“Forgive me,” Rod apologized, flashing a friendly smile. “It was discourteous of me to greet you so poorly. I have much on my mind of late and meant no
discourtesy. But enough,
señor,
my problems are none of your concern. I am Don Rodrigo. Teresa tells me you wish to see me.”
Carl forced himself to relax beneath Rod’s curious scrutiny. “Actually, I came to see your father,” Carl lied smoothly, “but was informed that he is dead. I am sorry to hear that, Don Rodrigo.”
Rod waved his hand gracefully in ackowledgement of Carl’s condolences. “What is your business with my father?”
“Months ago Don Diego wrote and invited me to the
rancho.
You see, I am a horse breeder.
Rancho
Delgado is well known for its many fine horses. I was invited to remain for as long as it took to decide whether or not I wished to purchase some of your fine stock. But, if it’s no longer feasible—” Carl deliberately let his sentence trail off.
“I will honor my father’s agreement with you,
Señor … Señor
…” Suddenly Rod became aware that he did not know the stranger’s name.
“Blair,” Carl supplied. “Carl Blair.”
“
Señor
Blair, you are welcome to remain in my
hacienda
until your decision is made concerning your purchase,” Rod offered. “I am only sorry that it could not be at a happier time. My father’s death was quite sudden and … and my wife … has … has been … she is not here at this time.” Suddenly Rod had no wish to discuss Julie with a strange man.
“I will try not to impose myself upon your private life, Don Rodrigo,” Carl contended. “I will go about my business as unobtrusively as possible.”
Elena chose that moment to burst into the study, her nose flaring with barely suppressed outrage. “Did you order Teresa to pack my clothes?” she accused hotly. “You have no right!”
“Elena, we have a guest,” Rod warned through gritted teeth.
Elena glanced disdainfully down her patrician nose at the man seated across from Rod and immediately dismissed him as no one of importance. “Well, did you, Rodrigo?”
“Did I what, Elena?”
“Order Teresa to pack my clothes?”
“I thought we had settled everything last night,” Rod said tiredly. “
Si,
I asked Teresa to help you pack. One of the
vaqueros
will drive you to the mission. I’ve already dispatched a message to
Padre
Juan explaining everything.”
“Rodrigo, if you would only—”
“Not in front of our guest.” The tone of Rod’s voice was distinctively unpleasant and Elena retreated under his implied warning. “This is
Señor
Blair. He is to stay on the
rancho
as my guest.” Turning to Carl. “
Señor
Blair, this is Elena, my father’s … widow.”
“Ah, yes, I heard Don Diego had married,” Carl acknowledged innocently. “You have my condolences,
Señora
Delgado.”
Slanting Carl a look of pure loathing, Elena whirled abruptly and stormed out of the room. “You must forgive Elena,
Señor
Blair,” Rod apologized, flushing darkly. “She is high-strung and … not herself. I thought it best for her to spend time at the mission and she disagrees with me.”
Carl had no idea what was going on but from what he observed it did not appear as if Rod and Elena were lovers. Could Julie have been mistaken, he wondered? Or was Don Rodrigo the type of man who tired of women quickly and just as swiftly got rid of them. That question was exactly what brought him to
Rancho
Delgado in search of an answer.
Later that day, Carl watched from a distance as Rod calmly escorted a fuming Elena and a host of trunks and boxes to a wagon driven by one of the
vaqueros.
His goodbye to the fiery Spanish woman was brief and unemotional,
once again giving Carl cause to wonder about his son-in-law’s cold heart. From his observation it was obvious Elena had no desire to leave
Rancho
Delgado. Even from where he stood her parting words came through loud and clear.
“
Bastardo
! One day you will pay for this!”
In the days that followed Carl learned his way about the sprawling
rancho.
Often he rode out with Rod and little by little he began to understand the complex Spaniard. Proud, arrogant, unfailingly kind and generous to his men and their families, universally respected by all, Carl could appreciate his daughter’s love for the man. What he failed to comprehend was Rod’s failure to love Julie in return.
After the first week of living, riding and eating with Rod, day after day, Carl began to suspect that Julie was mistaken in her belief that Rod wished her out of his life. Somehow he could not associate Rod with the type of cruel deed that placed her in the hands of Pedro, Murieta’s henchman. So far Rod had spoken little about his missing wife. Carl decided it was the time to probe his son-in-law’s innermost feelings; time to learn the truth in his own subtle way.
They were riding at a leisurely pace, the conversation trivial, when Carl abruptly asked, “Do you expect your wife back anytime soon? I would be honored to meet her. Is she Spanish?”
The swift flash of pain that marched across Rod’s face made Carl almost sorry he had brought up the subject. “I feel I know you well enough,
Señor
Blair, to tell you that my wife has been abducted, and … and is probably dead.” Rod’s voice was strained, his words stilted as Julie’s lovely face came back to haunt him.
“Who would do such a thing?” asked Carl, feigning shock.
“Elena was with Julie, that was my wife’s name, when it happened. She said it was Joaquin Murieta.”
“Do you believe her?”
“I have no reason to doubt Elena … at least I didn’t at that time,” Rod added thoughtfully. “But now, I don’t know, although Elena will admit to nothing.”
“If you will pardon my curiosity, Don Rodrigo,” Carl interrupted, “but what is Elena to you? Besides your father’s wife?”
Rod stared at Carl a long time, wondering why he was talking so intimately with a man he hardly knew. But strangely, he felt no embarrassment speaking with this forthright, compassionate man he had come to respect in a short time.
“Elena was my
novia,
my intended. I was to marry her when I met Julie. I married Julie under rather … er … strange circumstances and brought her home with me to the
rancho.
“I realize now it was a terrible blow to Elena’s pride but I fear I misjudged the extent of her jealousy and hatred for Julie. Then my father married Elena and things went from bad to worse.”
Carl had heard almost the same story from Julie. What he wanted now was the truth behind Julie’s abduction, and if Rod actually put Elena up to it. “Didn’t your father and Elena get along?”
“I don’t really know,” shrugged Rod pensively. “During that time I allowed Elena to … well, never mind. Suffice it to say I hurt Julie in a way I never intended. I would give anything for the chance to make up to her for treating her so vilely that last night when—” Abruptly Rod faltered, aware that he was about to divulge intimate details of his marriage that were better left unsaid.
“You sound like a man who loves his wife, Don Rodrigo,” Carl hinted innocently.
“I’m afraid that emotion was too late in coming,
Señor
Blair,” Rod admitted readily. “But for what it’s worth, I do love my wife. That’s why I refuse to believe she is dead. It is not like Murieta to kill an innocent woman. I would rather believe she went along with the
bandit willingly than accept her death.”
Carl had heard all he needed to know. Somehow these two young people were unaware of the love they held for one another, thus allowing Elena to separate the star-crossed lovers despite the fact that she had benefited little from her efforts. It was up to Carl, or so he supposed, to play Cupid and reunite husband and wife now that he was convinced that Julie’s fears concerning Rod were groundless. Obviously it was Elena’s plot from the beginning.
Considering his daughter’s pride, Carl sagely decided silence was the better part of valor. He would be wise to keep his own counsel concerning Julie’s whereabouts and remain unidentified until he returned to San Francisco and informed Julie of his findings, particularly the fact that Rod loved her. Yes, that’s exactly what he would do, hurry back to Julie. If all went well they could be back at the
rancho
within two weeks. Of course, Carl had no way of knowing Rod was leaving on a cattle drive the following week, for the subject had never come up.
Later that same day Carl informed Rod he would be leaving the next morning, assuring him that though the Delgado stock was among the finest he had seen hereabouts, it was not exactly what he was looking for. They parted that evening on excellent terms and Carl left
Rancho
Delgado exactly as planned.
During his nearly two week stay at the
rancho,
Carl had made a concentrated effort to meet the child whom Julie had become so fond of. Carl and Felicia spent many happy hours discussing Julie and the love that existed between them. In his own subtle way he questioned the child about the relationship between Elena and Don Rodrigo. Felicia had been of tremendous help in weighing Carl’s decision in Rod’s favor.
The morning Carl left the
rancho
he was completely unprepared to see a lone figure riding out after him as if
chased by the devil. They were some distance from the
hacienda
and he reined in to await the child’s arrival.
“What are you doing here, child?” Carl asked not unkindly when Felicia’s horse stood next to his, shoulder to shoulder.
“You know where she is, don’t you?” accused Felicia, frowning. “She’s alive and you never told Don Rodrigo. Why?”
Carl was amazed at the child’s perception despite her tender years. She was indeed an exceptional child just as Julie had described. “I don’t know what you are talking about, Felicia.”
Felicia glared obstinately at Carl. “Who are you really? How do you know Dona Julie? Why didn’t you bring her back?”
Carl sighed heavily. Felicia left him no choice but to tell the truth. It would be cruel to do otherwise. “Yes, little one, Julie is alive. I am her father.”
“Oh,
señor
!” Felicia cried, ecstatic. “Take me to her!
Por favor
!”
“I can’t do that, little one,” Carl smiled fondly. “Would you have your
tia
and
tio
worry?” Felicia’s downcast eyes and sad little face was more than Carl could bear. “I will tell you a secret if you promise to tell no one.”
“A secret,
señor
?”
“Yes, a very nice secret. Do you promise?”
“If it is a good secret, then,
si,
I promise.”
“I am on my way to Julie now. To bring her back to the
rancho
.”
“Oh,
señor,
that is indeed a very good secret. Does Don Rodrigo know?”
“Then it would not be a secret, would it?”
Felicia looked confused. “But it isn’t right. Don Rodrigo should know.”
“He will know, little one. In a short while. If all goes well I should return with Julie in a few short days.” Placated for the time being, Felicia beamed.
They then parted, Felicia to go her own way hugging the secret to her heart, Carl toward a course that would drastically alter his well laid plans.
Carl got no further than the mission at San Luis Obispo when his horse went lame. Though he had neither visited the mission before nor met
Padre
Juan, Rod had spoken often of the good father and Carl felt certain the
padre
could be counted upon for help. If the
padre
had no horse with which to trade for Carl’s lame mount, then at least he could be relied on to send word to Rod.
But as luck would have it,
Padre
Juan was calling on the sick among the villagers and it was left to Elena to greet the visitor. At first Elena failed to recognize Carl but as he began to speak, explaining his predicament, comprehension dawned.
“You’re Rodrigo’s guest, aren’t you?” she asked, eyeing him narrowly.
“Yes, Dona Elena. If you remember, we met once in Don Rodrigo’s study the day I arrived.”
“
Si,
I remember. Did Rodrigo tell you anything about me?”
“Should he have?”
Elena flushed angrily. “Don’t play games with me,
señor.
He must have told you something.”
“If he did, I don’t recall.”
“It’s lies, all lies!” spat Elena vehemently. “The truth is that he got me with child then abandoned me! Sent me off to the mission when I was of no further use to him!”
Carl was flabbergasted. Could it be true, he wondered? Could he have misjudged Rod so badly? Had Rod and Elena actually conspired to get rid of Julie and when Elena became his mistress did her pregnancy interfere with his pleasure to the point where he would callously discard her? My God! blasphemed Carl silently, did he now have to rethink his position, reevaluate his opinion of the man he thought he had come
to know? Or was Elena deliberately lying in order to discredit Rod? In a flash of insight Carl decided to keep to his original plan, to bring Julie back to
Rancho
Delgado and let Rod provide his own explanation. He had no right to condemn Rod out of hand.