“Muchas gracias, Senor Long.”
It wasn’t that she was astoundingly beautiful, Longarm thought as he stepped back, forcing Coffin to do so as well, so that Don Alfredo and his daughter could step up onto the boardwalk and enter the hotel. Sonia’s mouth was a little too wide and her nose was a bit too prominent. Longarm had known plenty of women who were prettier.
But seldom had he encountered a woman who possessed the indefinable something Sonia had. There was a certain air about her ... an air that practically screamed that she would like nothing more than to be flat on her back with her legs wantonly flung wide as she welcomed a lucky man into her body.
She was of medium height and not skinny by any means. The lush curves of her body were revealed by the expensive traveling outfit. Her hair was a mass of curls that were a dark, dark shade of bronze. Her long-lashed eyes seemed at first glance to be as dark as midnight, but a closer look revealed traces of gray in them. Just by stepping out of the coach, she had caught the eyes of every man nearby—and held them.
So much so, in fact, Longarm realized with a start, that he hadn’t even noticed the other three hombres who had gotten off the coach. Two of them he figured for Don Alfredo’s assistants, just as Quine and Markson had come along to help out Franklin Barton. The other man wore the uniform of a federate, and the sight of it made Longarm tense. He had had more than his share of unfriendly run-ins with the Mexican federal police. But they were in Texas now, not Mexico, and besides, this capitan was here on a diplomatic mission, not to cause trouble.
For a few minutes, Longarm and Coffin were busy supervising the unloading of baggage from both coaches. Some of the idlers who were standing around watching were more than happy to earn a couple of dollars unloading the bags and taking them upstairs in the hotel. Longarm and Coffin made sure that each bag went to the proper room. Longarm figured it would be prudent not to let Coffin anywhere near Sonia’s room, so he saw to that one himself. He was going to have to have a talk with the Ranger about proper behavior.
Hell, he understood how Coffin felt, though. One look at Sonia and he had wanted to fling her down right there in the street, pull her skirts and petticoats up over her head, and go at her in front of God, her father, and everybody else in Del Rio. And Sonia had looked as if she wouldn’t have minded if he had done just that.
Maybe he was mistaken, he told himself sternly. Maybe she was just a nice, innocent Mexican gal with nothing on her mind but accompanying her papa on this trip to Texas.
But then he stepped into her room with his arms full of her bags, and she turned toward him from where she was standing beside the bed, and it was all he could do not to drop the bags and jump her right then and there. She had taken off the jacket of her traveling outfit, revealing a lacy white silk blouse. Her heavy breasts thrust out proudly against the soft fabric, and he could plainly see her nipples through the silk. They were large and dark, and he could almost taste the sweet-salty tang of the pebbled flesh on his tongue.
“You are so kind, Senor Long,” she said as Longarm set the bags on the floor. “My father has spoken much of you, of how your courage and daring saved him from a dreadful fate.”
“Like I told him downstairs, it was sort of by accident,” said Longarm. “I was just glad I was in the right place at the right time.”
“Still, I am grateful.” She moved closer to him, not stopping until she was only about a foot away. “Sometime, I would enjoy showing you just how grateful I am, Senor Long.”
Well, thought Longarm, there wasn’t much chance of misinterpreting that comment. Not with the way she was standing there looking up at him from heavy-lidded eyes, with her full red lips open just a little so that he could see the tip of her tongue. If she had leaned a little closer to him, her breasts would have been brushing his chest, and for one wild instant, Longarm considered closing that gap. It would have been so easy to slip his arms around her and pull her unresisting body tight against his.
Then a footstep in the hall reminded him that the door was still open, and he stepped back with a polite nod. “We’ll have to see about that, senorita,” he said. He touched a finger to the brim of his hat. “Enjoy your stay in Del Rio.”
Then, before her charms could hypnotize him again, he turned away quickly and left the room.
The federate captain was standing in the hall, as if he was waiting there for Longarm. It turned out that he was, because as soon as Longarm shut the door of Sonia’s room behind him, the Mexican officer nodded curtly to him and said, “I would speak with you, senor.”
“All right,” Longarm said coolly. “I’ll be glad to listen.”
“You are the one who some of the people of my country call El Brazo Largo, are you not?”
“I’ve been called that a time or two when I was south of the border,” admitted Longarm.
The federale’s hatchetlike face twisted momentarily in a sneer. “When you were south of the border interfering in Mexico’s business, you mean.”
Longarm forced himself to control his temper, and said calmly, “Any time I’ve crossed the Rio Grande, I’ve had a damn good reason to do it.”
The Mexican shrugged. “I did not come here to argue about the past,” he said. “I am Capitan Pablo Hernandez. Just like you, I have been given the job of seeing that the delegates from my country remain safe during these meetings.”
“Figured as much,” said Longarm.
“In addition, I have taken it upon myself to insure that Senorita Guiterrez, though not an official member of the party, also is safe.”
“I want the same thing,” Longarm assured the man. He gave in to a twinge of curiosity and went on. “Just why did the girl come with her father anyway?”
Hernandez’s voice dropped to a hiss as he said, “Dios knows why the wildcat does any of the things she does.”
“Wildcat, eh?” said Longarm with a grin. “Reckon you must’ve had some trouble with Senorita Guiterrez before now.”
“She is a puta!” said Hernandez in a whisper. He was practically trembling with outrage. “That one thinks only of what is between her legs, and she cares little who satisfies her cravings, so long as they are satisfied
