“Partially.” He released her hand, and she put it behind her, leaning back against the dressing table scattered with bottles of perfume and face powder, waiting. “Mostly because of Ginny. She’s gone through a lot. Some of it is my fault, some of it’s hers, but we’ve both realized that we need each other. Hell, we love each other.”
“So, it is true. She is a lucky woman to have you.”
He walked to the back door with her on his arm, and stood just inside. “Your performance begins soon. Go back inside, ’Cesca.”
Genuine tears sparkled in her eyes, and she kissed him, a long, passionate farewell kiss.
“Ciao, mi amore.”
He had gone only a few steps when he heard her behind him again. She flung her arms around him, heedless of her costume. “I will never forget you, my banditti!”
Steve kissed her again. “Try not to make Lindhaven’s life miserable, cara.”
Half laughing, half sobbing, she took a step back. “And for you, Stefano, I wish much happiness.”
Ginny tied the sash of her dressing gown around her waist. Still damp from a long, soothing bath, she looked into the long mirror tilted on a stand by the tub. No sign of the bruises remained on her body. All traces of her recent ordeal were gone, except that Steve was right—she was too thin. Now her eyes looked too large for her face, and there were hollows beneath her high cheekbones.
The silk dressing gown she had purchased in a dress shop upon their arrival in San Antonio clung to her damp curves, drifted around her legs as she walked to the window to pull down the shade. Sunlight poured into the room in broad swathes that made her eyes narrow against it as she fumbled with the shade. To her irritation, it snapped loose from her hands, spinning up around the wooden roller with a brisk hum. She reached for the cord to pull it down again, but paused suddenly as a glitter caught her eye.
Across the street, just visible from her third-floor window, was the alley that ran beside the Majestic Theater. Sunlight reflected from a huge diamond comb tucked into the dark hair of Francesca di Paoli. Ginny would recognize her anywhere. And the man with her was Steve, of course, his lean frame far too familiar to her. His back was to the street, and the opera singer was glued to his front, her arms flung about his neck in a passionate embrace.
Suddenly cold inside, Ginny stepped away from the window.
I should have known…should have remembered that he can never resist a beautiful woman!
But it didn’t mean that he’d been unfaithful, she told herself. I have to trust him! Oh God, I cannot let the doubts destroy us again….
40
Steve was still thinking more of Francesca than he was Ginny when he found Senator Brandon in the office he had taken in a two-story building overlooking the river.
“I’ve been expecting you, Morgan.”
Brandon looked at ease, his manner cordial and even friendly as he gestured him to a chair. “I was told you were in town with my daughter. How is Virginia? I trust she came to no harm while in Mexico City. She never listens. I did my best to get her to leave, even offered to send an escort for her. She refused, of course. Apparently, President Díaz treated her quite well.”
“That made it convenient for you.”
Brandon frowned slightly, and there was a wariness in his eyes that told Steve he was on the defensive.
“If by that you mean that I was relieved, yes.”
“I had the thought that you might have been more relieved to learn that Díaz is willing to allow you to operate your mine as long as you pay for the privilege.”
“Ah, the mine. It has become an expensive luxury I am not sure I can afford any longer.” Brandon’s shoulders lifted in a slight shrug, and he held out a carved lacquer box of cigars. Steve took one, clipped off the end and ran his fingers over the smooth tube of tobacco; it was fragrant and distinctive, a good Cuban cigar.
“So you intend to close the mine?”
“I’ve had an offer.” Brandon eyed him for a long moment before saying, “I think there is more money to be made in railroads. Tell me, you own a large chunk of Union Pacific stock, what are your thoughts?”
Steve narrowed his eyes at him. “Railroads are risky. You know that. What do you have in mind?”
“I’ve recently met with Shanghai Pierce. He told me about the Texas Western Railway Company. It’s a narrow gauge railroad, recently amended to change the name to Texas Western Narrow Gauge Railway Company. The amended charter also gave the company the right to build west, to cross the Rio Grande at, or near, Presidio del Norte and into Mexico. The plan is to eventually cross Mexico to Guaymas on the Gulf of California. It sounds feasible, since the charter grants authority to construct a branch line from the northwestern border of Texas up to connect with the Denver and Rio Grande Railway Company.”
“Right now, they’ve only got tracks laid between Houston and Pattison,” Steve said bluntly. “Not close enough to your mines to do you any good.”
Brandon’s brow rose. “Perhaps I’m not as worried about that as I once was. I applied for government funding to run tracks all the way across Copper Canyon eventually.”
“That will take more money and time than you can get, Senator.” Steve met his gaze calmly. “There are barrancas and arroyos there, hundreds of feet deep. Peaks are so high that even birds get dizzy. It’s not practical any time in the near future. Maybe not in our lifetime.”
“You need a grander vision, perhaps.”
“Senator, you’ll need financing. And
