“Oh, stop it. Don’t you think me clever enough to see what you are trying to do? It won’t work. Steve and I have been through too much to allow silly doubts to come between us now, and I refuse to allow you, Señor Luna, to create suspicions between us. I will ask Steve about it when I see him again. That brings me to another question. When will you tell me where he is?”
“Why do you think I would know where your husband is?”
“Because it would appeal to your sick, twisted sense of justice to find out, to withhold the information from me. If you did not know, you wouldn’t be so certain I cannot find him.” Anger and frustration sharpened her voice, made it rise as she said, “For God’s sake, tell me! Stop playing your sadistic little game! What do you hope to gain from it?”
“All. I intend to gain all,” he said softly, and there was such a note of menace in his tone that she recoiled, a warning knell sounding in the back of her head. There was so much more to this than she had realized, but she could not allow him to guess her sudden fear.
“President Díaz himself has suggested that you do all in your power to find Steve, General. Would you deny him? After all, they are acquainted, as both used to fight for Juarez.”
“Yes, and you know how the friendship between Juarez and President Díaz ended, I presume. Have you thought, Doña Genia, that perhaps it is el presidente who wishes to remove men who may recall too much about his time with Juarez?”
“Don’t be ridiculous!”
But was it so ridiculous? Since Díaz had come to power, he had systematically and ruthlessly removed all obstacles to his complete governance. Already, men who had once been outlaws were being installed at his direction in the new police force, given the power to decimate those bandits who had plagued Mexico for far too long. Even Juan Cortina—the scourge of Lerdo’s office who had escaped prison and made a fool of el presidente—was being pursued again. Díaz did not wish trouble with the United States of course, and since Cortina had the rather embarrassing habit of conducting his cattle raids into Texas as well, Díaz must at least give the appearance of pursuit of the popular rebel leader.
Aware that Díaz was ruthless in his quest for absolute power, Ginny wondered uneasily if Luna might be right. If Steve knew too much about the new president, he could be viewed as an inconvenience best dealt with as unobtrusively as possible. His disappearance may well be beneficial, if a bit awkward to explain at first, as he was an ambassador.
Yes, she saw how it might be unpleasant for a new president to have an ambassador near at hand who reminded him of his former servitude to a man who had become his nemesis.
As if sensing her misgivings, Luna moved forward, his tone unctuous as he murmured, “Now you are distressed, Señora Alvarado. How unfortunate.”
“Spare me your false sympathy.” Ginny moved away from him, uncomfortable with his close proximity. He was always putting a hand on her somewhere, her arm or her shoulder, a hand at her waist to guide her forward—any excuse to touch her, and she disliked it.
“Stop hovering! You put me in mind of a buzzard, with the same hot gleam in your eyes as if you cannot wait to feast upon my flesh.”
“In a way,” Luna said with a smile, “that is very accurate. I would love to feast upon your beautiful flesh, taste your soft skin beneath my lips, run my tongue—”
“Enough!” Ginny whirled to glare at him. “You are entirely too bold. I insist you leave at once. What are you doing—”
“Taking what you offer with your eyes…your lips. Do you think I do not hear what you want me to hear? It is not what you say, but what you do not say that intrigues me most, perdida. Ah, did you think I do not know everything about you by now? I do. I have made it my business to find out.”
Ginny’s muscles tensed as he held her arm tightly, his fingers squeezing cruelly. There was a frightening intensity to his grip and his words, and his dark eyes were almost black as he stared down at her. She forced her muscles to relax, and saw an almost imperceptible shift of his body as he reacted.
“My, my, General Luna, you are very intense tonight. Whatever has happened to unsettle you?” Her head tilted slightly to one side and her mouth curved into a deliberately teasing smile as she lowered her lashes in a flirtatious glance sideways. “Surely you are not going to let our difference of opinion matter? I have my opinion, and you have yours. It should not be allowed to come between us.”
As she talked, she leaned back so that her hip rested against the wall by the window. Light slanted through the open shutters, glinting in Luna’s eyes and illuminating a faint scar that curved across one high cheekbone. A handsome man, admittedly, but cruel beneath his suave exterior. It was a perception she had learned far too well at the hands of men like Tom Beal, who had not had Luna’s sophistication. There had been others, with all the surface veneer of wit, education, intelligence and sophistication, men who had been just as ruthless and brutish as Beal beneath the facade they showed the world.
Luna was one of
