Authors: Helen Conrad
His grin was wide and open. “You may not believe this, but he reminded me of my father,”
“Your father? Dan Santiago?” It hardly seemed credible that her grandfather’s arch enemy would have been like him.
“Yes. He had his own dreams to live in. They involved the days when California belonged to Spain. He was always reading about those days, old diaries and journals, anything he could get his hands on. He was working on a book about the rancho when he died.”
Two old men, both caught up in the past. What a shame they both had claimed the same land. If they could only have been friends . . .
Fascinating.
“Listen, do you still have the manuscript?”
David looked surprised. “I suppose so. I could look for it.”
“I’d love to see it. While Reid was going through files looking for evidence that you people had scammed my grandfather after all….”
“Ah, your avatar.”
“He came across a book written years ago about your family.”
“No kidding.”
“I’m reading it now. I’ll show it to you. It’s full of amazing things.”
He raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Let me get this straight. You’re reading a book about my family?”
She nodded, making a face at him. “And enjoying it, too. You were a rowdy bunch.”
He started to laugh.
“Did you know you had a great great aunt who ran off with pirates?”
“Right.”
“I’m serious. Wait until you read this thing.” She talked on, telling him some old stories he’d never heard before. And he listened.
When she was through, he started his own narrative. He told her about his ambivalence about his life here on the ranch. He told her how he’d wanted to go to graduate school in engineering, how his friends had all been working for big, multi-national companies while he was stuck here out in the country. How he’d resented his older brother for running off with the woman he loved and leaving all the responsibilities of maintaining Rancho Verde and the Santiago legacy to David.
But as he talked, he began to realize he was telling her about the past. That thought broke over him like the sun coming out from behind a sky full of clouds. It wasn’t really like that now. He’d begun to feel a certain pride in the land and the culture. He was accomplishing something bigger than his own transitory feelings could encompass. He was learning to treasure things he once dismissed. And now that this annoying, irresistible woman had come into his life….things were changing.
She listened, she heard what he said, but she didn’t believe him. Her original picture of him as an arrogant bully was still lingering in her thought processes. She was pretty sure it was all a part of his long-term seduction, and when he leaned closer and began to drop tiny kisses along the line of her neck, she thought her suspicions were confirmed.
“David…” She tried to push him away, but she didn’t put much strength into it.
“What?” His kisses found her lips and he began to nibble provocatively.
She drew her breath in. “Stop.”
“Why?”
She took a deeper breath and told the truth. “Because you make me dizzy, that’s why. Because you set off something in me that is scary and wild and I can’t risk it.” She stared up into his eyes. “Please,” she said simply.
He sat back and stared at her. “Wow,” he said, somewhat gob smacked. “I’m sorry, I… .” He didn’t know what to say. Frowning, he shook his head. “Shawnee…..”
“No.” She held up her hand. “My turn to talk. You’ve told me all about your ancestors. I’ve got a few of my own. Want to hear about them?”
He tried to grin. “Not much,” he admitted.
“I know that. But I don’t care. You’re going to listen anyway. This is important to me.”
He looked at her, hard, then shrugged and sat back. “Okay. I’m game.”
She took a deep breath and began to talk. After all, she had a family, too, and it was worthy of respect. She wanted to make sure he knew that. She filled him in about the Carringtons, how they’d all come from the original family who’d been one of the founders of Destiny Bay. How most of the Carringtons had done well, made a lot of money. The first generation had been farmers and sea captains. The next generation had become doctors and lawyers and accountants. The next were a mixed bag, including professionals, but also ranchers and hippies and losers. The ranchers had mostly spread out into the valley, while the others stayed along the coast. And now there was a strong leaning toward entrepreneurs in the current crop.
“We’re still all Carringtons though,” she warned. “And we tend to stick together.”
He nodded. “I’ve noticed.”
By now, she was lying back, letting the grass tickle her legs. David reclined nearby, resting on one elbow, his long, muscular body so near, so hard to ignore. He told a long, convoluted story about some other early settlers of the valley and she only half listened, watching him through her eyelashes, falling into a dangerous dream.
What if, she mused hazily—what if things were different? What if she’d met David in some other time, some other place? If there were no Granpa Jim to protect, no Native Silver whose blindness had to be hidden—would she fall in love with David? Would he fall in love with her?
The sudden sound of hoof beats brought them both upright in a hurry. Two horses were coming over the hill that bordered Santiago land. Two horses with two female riders. They both came to a thundering halt at the other side of the stream and stood, waiting, neither rider waving or calling out a greeting. Shawnee felt a cold hand on her heart. She knew this wasn’t an idle visit.
David shaded his eyes against the late afternoon sun. Shawnee blinked, trying to make out the identities of the riders. “Who are they?” she asked at last.
There was a long silence before David answered. “Allison is reminding me of my obligations,” he said
evenly.
Looking again, Shawnee could see that it was
Allison on the black horse. Then the other rider
became clearer. She was blonde, with a halo of hair
that cascaded about her shoulders. Even without seeing her features, Shawnee knew that she was beautiful.
“I’m going to have to go,” David said, still watching the motionless riders.
“Do you have guests staying at Rancho Verde?”
she asked uncertainly.
He lowered his hand and turned to her, but his eyes had lost their warm humor. Instead, they looked hard as black obsidian.
“Not exactly,” he
said shortly, rising and reaching for the basket.
“Megan Reilly is more of a fixture than a guest.”
Megan Reilly. Wasn’t that the name Allison had
mentioned the other day in the barn? Shawnee glanced back at the golden-haired beauty on the
palomino. Of course. The “particular friend” of
David’s.
She walked behind David as they made their way
back towards the house. It wasn’t only that he was
striding much too quickly for her to keep up. She
didn’t really want to be close to him until she was
sure she could control the desolate feeling that was
rushing through her.
Here she’d been losing herself in silly dreams of
how it might be if only she could solve her prob
lems, and all the while she’d been ignoring the fact that David was out of reach no matter what she did.
David was meant for golden girls like Megan Reilly, and not for insignificant people like
Shawnee Carrington. She flushed as she realized how
naively she’d been acting. The only thing that inte
rested David was her elusiveness. She presented a challenge he enjoyed trying to overcome—the
Romeo and Juliet scenario. Nothing more. She
had to guard things more carefully before she made
a complete fool of herself.
They were passing the stables when Miki snickered. He must have recognized her footsteps going
by and wondered why she wasn’t stopping in to give
him an apple or to stroke his velvety nose, as she usually did. She wished she could run in and re
assure her old friend that he wasn’t forgotten, but she didn’t dare. Not right now.
David’s steps slowed and he looked towards the stable. Miki nickered again and David came to a
complete stop.
“Is that your silver horse?” he asked.
“Yes,” she answered quickly. “He’s just saying ‘hi’. If you want to get going . . .”
“Mind if I take a look?” He didn’t wait for an answer.
She ran behind him, thinking fast. “Yes, I do mind,” she blurted out. “He’s in training and I like
to keep his afternoons entirely quiet.” Weak, very weak, but she couldn’t think of anything else.
“What do you think I’m going to do, whip him
into a frenzy?” David asked drily, not hesitating a moment. He stepped into the shaded building and
walked straight for the stall where Miki was moving
impatiently, glad for attention he would hope was
from his mistress.
“Wait!” Shawnee called, running in behind him,
but he paid no heed, striding up to the horse as though the animal could see him coming.
Of course, Miki could hear him, but he wouldn’t know just who David was. He would know immediately it wasn’t Shawnee, or her grandfather, and he didn’t care for strangers he couldn’t see. He would buck away, terrified, flashing out with hooves that could splinter wood and perhaps even come down on David in the panic a stranger’s hand could produce. Shawnee felt a cry of anguish breaking through her chest, ready to split the air. She was running down the middle of the long line of stables, but she would never get there in time to stop the inevitable clash of an arrogant man and a panicked horse.
But Shawnee had reckoned without taking into account David’s natural instinct with horses. After all, he’d grown up on a ranch and had worked with the animals all his life. He saw the sudden apprehension in the toss of Miki’s head, read the danger in the tension in his muscles, and acted accordingly.
“Hello, big fella,” he said soothingly, stopping just short of the stall. “Remember me? I met you at the river the other day.”
Shawnee skidded to stop and watched in wonder as he moved slowly, liquidly, raising a hand just short of Miki’s nose, murmuring soft words, letting the big horse feel his nearness with every sense before actually touching him. And Miki responded, quieting as though he knew he was in the control of a master of the game.
“That’s right, you big baby,” David crooned, running his hand over Miki’s nose, then rubbing behind his ears. “You just stand still for me. I know you can do it.”
Could he tell? Did he sense the blindness? Shawnee was sure he must. Why else would he have reacted so accurately to what had been about to happen? Her pulse throbbed frantically as she stood back, watching, heart aching. If he knew, he would surely have her disqualified from the horse-show.
“So you’ve entered him in the horse-show, have you?” David asked, as though he’d read her mind.
She nodded, then answered “Yes,” breathlessly, because he couldn’t see her nod with his back still to her. She waited for the inevitable question.
“What’s the matter with him?”
Her breath was coming very fast. “What do you mean?” she managed to croak out.
“
Is he blind
?” That would be the next question. She almost wanted to answer before it was asked, to present her case, to plead with him to pretend he didn’t know, hadn’t noticed. But what good would that do? He was on the Californio Days board. He would never be able to overlook it. Nor would he want to if he thought Miki might threaten his sister’s chance at the title. She waited through the long silence, ready to scream.
Come on
, she urged silently.
If you’re going to ask, do it
!
Finally, David spoke again. “He’s a little spooky around strangers, isn’t he?”
Shawnee closed her eyes, then forced them open again. This was pure torture. Why didn’t he come on out with it? “He’s just a little shy,” she answered stiffly. “He’s a one-woman horse, I guess.” And she waited, tense, for the question.
David turned towards her, his hand still on her
horse’s silver coat. One eyebrow was raised. He
looked at her for a long moment, then grinned.
“One-woman horse, huh? He seems to be taking to
me pretty well. What would you do if I stole his
affections?”
For just a moment, she stared at him, confused.
Wasn’t he going to ask it? Had he noticed? Or hadn’t he?
“I. . .I. . .” She couldn’t think of a thing to say.
“Never mind.” He stepped away from Miki and came up in front of her. “It’s not
his
affections I’m
interested in.” His mouth turned down at the corners. “But you don’t want to hear about that right
now, do you?” he noted with regret. He glanced out of
the window of the stables at the two riders who still
waited on the hill. “And I don’t have the time to convince you.”
He turned, saluted Miki, and began to walk out
of the long building. She followed behind, still not sure if he knew, not sure of anything any longer.
“You bring that horse over to Rancho Verde
tomorrow. Say at seven in the morning.” He gave the order like a man used to no questioning of his
decisions. “You can’t possibly train him here on this
land. We’ve got a professional set-up for Allison.
You can make use of it.”
Her head was spinning. What could he be talking
about?
“W . . . what?” she stammered out.
He spun and stared down at her. “You. And Native Silver. You’re entered in the show, aren’t you?”