“A thousand times you have asked me this, and a thousand times I have said I do not know.” Paco looked almost desperate. “If he does not join us soon, I will hunt for him myself.”
“In two weeks there has been no word from him. He could have at least sent a telegram to let us know when he’ll meet us. This wouldn’t be the first time he’s disappeared.”
“Are you more worried that he won’t join us, or that he’s joined someone else?” Paco asked bluntly, startling her into silence.
“I don’t know,” she admitted frankly after a moment. “I just…just feel that something has happened. Or that it will happen. Maybe I’m worried that, now that the fighting has escalated, he’ll be caught up in the rebellion.”
“Steve’s too smart to be dragged into something he can avoid. I doubt he’ll be conscripted into either army.”
Paco’s dry assurance was surprisingly comforting. She smiled.
“Oh, I know I’m being foolish, Paco. But so many times before, we’ve been separated. I just don’t want to take the chance that it will happen again.”
“I have finished what I came here to do. We can leave in the morning for the rancho. By the time we get there, Steve will probably be waiting on us, madder than hell that we took so long to get there.”
She laughed. “Yes, that would be his reaction!”
“Then tomorrow we leave. Once we reach the hacienda, all will be well. You’ll see.”
“Tell me about Señor Valdez,” Ginny said then, more to change the subject than from curiosity. “He has come here to see you three times, and each time he looks at me as if he knows what I look like without my clothes.”
“Valdez?” Paco looked startled, a reaction swiftly hidden as he lifted his shoulders in a careless shrug. “He is a minor official, unimportant. And he no doubt would love to see you without your clothes, but if he comes again, I will be sure that you do not have to deal with him.”
“Yes, he waits in the lobby, and approaches me even when I am eating dinner. A rather forward man. He reminds me of…of someone very unpleasant.”
Devereaux sprang to mind, a man puffed up with a sense of his own importance, and far too eager to ingratiate himself with higher-ups in the command. The French colonel had lied to her, had tricked her into his bed to save Steve. But Steve had still been condemned, still whipped and sent to prison. She’d learned to recognize men like Devereaux, to see the motivation behind their smiling faces and too polite reassurances.
As the sun slowly sank behind the ragged horizon, light lingered in a reddish haze that made the stark hills glow. Ginny dressed for dinner in her yellow silk, coiled her hair atop her head and secured it with fine Spanish combs and pins. Paco had other plans, he’d said, and suggested she eat dinner in her room, but she didn’t feel like it. What did it matter if she was alone tonight? She certainly could take care of her own needs.
Dusk was balmy, the promise of winter’s chill a distant bite in the air. Above the folded creases of the Chinati Mountains, clouds hung low to cloak serrated peaks. It was the end of the rainy season in Chihuahua, when the desert received most of its rainfall. Flat-topped ridges and gap-toothed passes lined narrow, twisting trails westward; it would be the most difficult, dangerous part of their journey.
But tonight, Ginny thought restlessly, I am not going to think of that, or of anything but what I want to do!
She paused in the arched doorway of the cantina, absorbing the loud, gay music of Mexico that drifted in from the patio. Cottonwood vigas and rajas formed the framework of the cantina, sheathed with creamy adobe. Torches shed cheerful orange light on walls, chasing away shadows and chill as effectively as did the bottles of tequila and wine upon scattered tables. It was a fiesta night, and laughter and noise filled the air. With Presidio just across the border, Tejanos mixed among the Mexicans, dancing with pretty señoritas garbed in bright skirts and blouses, watched over by indulgent parents or sharp-eyed dueñ as.
The spicy scent of chili burned the air, and tortillas sizzled on plates filled with beef, chicken and beans. A fire glowed at one end of the bricked courtyard, more for the patrons than the cantina’s use, and delicious smells emanated from just beyond in the kitchens built at the end of the L-shaped building. A profusion of flowering plants swarmed over low walls, and a huge oak spread ancient branches over the patio, dripping lanterns that bobbed erratic light over dancers and tables.
Ginny navigated the two shallow steps down into the courtyard, her skirts lifted in one hand as she swept the area with a glance. She recognized no one, but hadn’t really expected to, after all.
“Señora Alvarado,” a voice behind her said, and she turned in surprise to see the round-faced, smiling man she’d discussed earlier with Paco. “It is very pleasant to see you again, though I had not expected to see you so soon.”
“Nor I you, Señor Valdez.”
“Ah, it is an unexpected pleasure to find you here on such a lovely night. The rain has stopped at last, and it is time to celebrate. Tell me, señora, where is your escort? I had thought to see him here with you. Such a beautiful lady should not wander about alone in a strange town, heh?”
Her brow lifted in a gesture of haughty reproof that he would be so forward. “He is to meet me here later. I thought perhaps he had already arrived. Now if you will excuse me—?”
It sufficed to keep him at arm’s length,
