Native Silver (20 page)

Instead, she forced herself to smile at the blonde and shake her head. “Some other time, maybe,” she said airily. Without another glance, she
dug her knees into Miki’s sides and urged the big
horse towards the long drive that led to the high
way. She was going to ride home and never come
back.

She hadn’t gone very far before she heard David’s horse coming up behind her and she
wanted to let Miki run as fast as she knew he was
able. But she’d tried that before. It hadn’t worked
then. Why would it work now? Besides, when you
came right down to it, she’d got what she wanted
—a chance to talk to David alone. She pulled Miki to a halt near the far fence and waited for David to
stop beside her.

“That was very rude,” he said when he’d brought
his horse next to hers.

“Rudeness begets rudeness. Didn’t your mother ever teach you that?” She wasn’t going to let him
bully her.

His eyes were hard and his mouth was thin. He was angry with her, but she didn’t care. She was even more angry with him. Was anger really the word? Yes, but there was more, too—confusion,
fear, pain. It was time some things got settled between them.

She wanted to ask if he was going to marry
Megan, but she couldn’t do that. He would see it all
if she did. He would read the desolation in her face.

“I don’t think I’ll come here any more,” she said
instead. “I’m not comfortable training with your sister.”

He raised one black eyebrow. “Surely you can handle Allison’s temper,” he said mildly.

“It’s not that.” She hesitated, then burst out, “I don’t know why I’m here! Am I supposed to be
providing competition for Allison? What if I get good enough to beat her? That’s what I’m going to
do, you know.”

His disdainful smile showed what he thought of
that claim. “You’re here because I want you here,”
he said softly. “Isn’t that enough?”

“No!” Miki moved, upset by her tone, and she reached out to quiet him with a stroke along the
neck. “No, it’s not enough. I need to know why you
want me here.” She lost patience. “Is it just for torture’s sake, or what?”

“Torture?” His wide mouth curved speculatively.
“Why would it be torture for you?”

She could have bitten her tongue. It was torture
precisely because watching him with Megan Reilly
cut her heart like a knife. She’d never really ad
mitted it to herself before, but she knew it now. She
wanted to be the one who put her hand in his to
walk across the blooming meadows, she wanted to be the one he bent over to explain things to, the one he handed drinks and smiled to lovingly.
 

She loved him. Oh lord, she loved him. She was truly lost.

Her breath was coming very fast and she couldn’t
meet his gaze, couldn’t answer him. She leaned
down over her horse, sliding her hand back and
forth across the shiny coat, wishing she could dis
appear into the earth.

“We have a bargain, Shawnee,” he said when the silence had stretched too long. “Don’t you remem
ber?”

“A bargain?” She straightened in the saddle.
“What exactly is this bargain all about?”

“I’m working on what you want. And in return, you’re doing something for me. Isn’t that the way
you see it, too?”

She looked at him, wide-eyed. Was it really true, then? Was he finding a way to let Granpa Jim have his land? Oh, if only she could be sure of that! But
what was she doing for him? That was still unclear.

“You’re doing what I want?” she repeated questioningly, and when he nodded, she went on. “And
I’m to do what you want?”

He nodded again. “You’ve got it.”

She took a deep, shuddering breath. “But what
exactly do you want, David?” she asked, her gaze
locked with his.

His grin was wild as a wolf’s howl. “I thought you
understood that, Shawnee. I want you.”

“Me?” Her voice came out as tiny as a squeak.

The humor left his face. “Yes, you. I want you around.” He made an impatient gesture with his
head. “I want a lot more, but for now, we’ll have to
leave it at that. There are certain . . .. obstacles to be overcome.” His dark eyes narrowed. “But it won’t be much longer. And then I’ll want all of you.”

He glanced back to where Megan sat, waiting for
him under the trees. “I have to get back,” he
said as though reminding himself. “You come
tomorrow, just as you have all week. Agreed?”

She nodded, not knowing what else to do. Con
fusion still swirled through her. He’d said words that made her think certain, very scary, thoughts.
But what had he really meant? Why couldn’t she be
sure?

She watched him start back towards the house,
then turned and headed for her own home. With
every step of the way, her confusion grew. He’d
said he wanted her, but he turned back to Megan.
Was he really going to marry the blonde girl? Was
he planning to use her business connections, and
Shawnee’s love at the same time? That would make him the first Santiago to break the family tradition
of faithful devotion, wouldn’t it?

No, she must be mistaken. He hadn’t meant what
she’d taken from his words. He was only playing with her, manipulating her, fascinated still by a
woman who didn’t swoon into his arms so easily as most. It didn’t mean a thing. She’d be a fool to take
him seriously.

But at the same time, if there was any hope of getting David to let her grandfather keep his land,
she’d play along for a time and see what happened.
Because more than anything else, she wanted her
grandfather’s heart to stay unbroken. More than anything else.

David had the luxury of being able to watch most of Shawnee’s workout the next day without interruption. Petra had a toothache in the night and Allison had taken her down into Destiny Bay to their dentist for repairs. Horst had an excuse of his own and David had readily let him go. So it was just the girl, the horse, and him. He sat back and enjoyed the show.
 

The horse and the girl moved like a dream. The more he watched, the more curious he became. How was it that they seemed to have such a unique, magical connection? It only seemed to confirm his original judgment: she was special. So special that he couldn’t get her out of his mind or out of his system, no matter how hard he tried.

It was almost like being in love. That wasn’t a serious thought, just an old remembered refrain from some song he’d heard years ago. But it seemed to fit his mood today. He was thinking long term thoughts with philosophical strains.
 

It was probably all his uncle’s fault. Uncle Carlos had come to stay over on his way to a fishing trip in Baja. That morning he’d taken him through the stables and shown him the orchards and the view from the hill. Uncle Carlos had been impressed, but being who he was, he felt he had to give David a fatherly lecture.
 

“Your father would be proud of you,” he’d said, talking about his own brother. “But it’s not enough anymore. It’s time you stepped it up a bit. Are you going to be a man, create a family, create a life? Or are you going to be a playboy?”

David’s first response had been anger. “I’ve done a lot around here,” he’d said, trying to conceal his emotions. “You can see for yourself. The place is in better shape than it’s ever been in. Even… .” His voice choked for a moment. “Even when Father was alive. I’ve done what he asked. I came back, and I’ve worked hard.”

Carlos nodded. “You have indeed. You've done a wonderful job.” He put an arm around his young nephew’s shoulders. “But it’s not enough. Where are your children, David? Where is your wife? Where is your standing in the community? What doesn’t grow, dies. You must grow. It’s time.”

He’d rebelled, feeling bitter that his uncle didn’t seem to see his accomplishments. But it didn’t take long for those feelings to fade so that he could see the truth in the words. Old fashioned. Yes, what his uncle had counseled sounded almost as though it came from another age. But there was wisdom in it. David’s instincts cut through to the core of the issue and he knew his uncle was right.
 

Shawnee looked at him and he threw her a careless smile, enjoying the way her hair shined in the sunlight, the way her form fit her horse like a glove. They were beautiful together. She was the so good at this. She flashed him back a defiant look instead of smiling, and that made his grin widen.
 

The two of them—he and Shawnee—were opposing players, deeply committed to their own sides, deeply dug in and emotionally tied. Funny though—what they were each tied to was a vision given them from the past—his of a Rancho Verde in the hands of its natural owners, she of an imaginary past of her own where Carringtons ruled and she was a princess.
 

He shook his head and held back a chuckle. That wasn’t fair. She wasn’t a pampered daddy’s girl by any means. She just loved the fantasy her grandfather had woven in her head, and who could blame her?

After all, didn’t he and his family halfway live in the same dream, just peopled with a different set of characters? His father and his father’s vision reached out from the past just like her grandfather’s did to her. He frowned. Maybe it was time to start living life as they found it instead of trying to fulfill visions formed fifty or a hundred years ago. He had to think about that a bit more.
 

In the meantime—he could watch this beautiful, graceful woman and imagine her in his arms and in his bed and begin to plan a path for getting things his way—just the way he liked them. Was this love? Maybe. Maybe not. But whatever it was, it burned inside him and he knew he had to have her.
 

Still, when she saluted him from the other side of the field and began to ride off toward home, he let her go. It wasn’t time yet. She wasn’t ready. But he already thought of her as his.
 

Shawnee’s dreams that night were full of fire. Everything
she needed seemed just out of reach and guarded
by flames that licked at her angrily when she tried to
pass. Waking up, she lay staring at her ceiling, wondering if she’d really made a bargain with the
devil.

It was very early in the morning. The sun hadn’t even crept up over the hills. A purple light lent
enchantment to the room. The atmosphere was ripe for a misty half-sleep. But something was
wrong. There was someone outside. She could hear
a man talking.

She closed her eyes, hoping he’d go away, but then there was another voice. Frowning, she came fully awake again and sprang from the bed, not bothering to grab a robe before she made her way
to the window.

There were men everywhere. Some were car
rying little yellow flags and spools of yellow twine
like rope. Others had equipment over their shoulders. Two trucks stood in the driveway,
both carrying the name of the Winston Surveying
Unit.

Shawnee threw the window all the way up and leaned out. “What do you think you’re
doing?” she demanded of the man closest to the
window.

He stared, then grinned, “Surveying, lady. Mak
ing plans. Don’t you know there’s going to be a road going through here?”

The fury she felt was cold and determined, but she kept it back. “Who hired you?” she asked evenly.

He hesitated, then shrugged. “I guess there’s no harm in telling you that. David Santiago, the man
who owns this land. He hired us about a month ago.”

She nodded and turned away, rage building to a
burning inferno inside her. He’d lied to her. The
dirty rat had lied to her. She closed the window and
tossed off her nightgown, reaching into her closet for her favorite one-piece shorts set
which she jerked on, zipping it
up with a savage yank.

He wasn’t going to get away with it. She was
going to stop him, and stop him now. Just how she was going to accomplish that, she didn’t know. But she was going to do it somehow. Racing out across the porch, she didn’t waste time looking at the men she passed. She jumped into her car and was soon
roaring down the dirt road, on her way to Rancho
Verde before the sun had even peeked into the valley.

CHAPTER TEN

SHOW TIME

Luckily, the servants must have been out early, because the front door of the big house was un
locked when she arrived. Otherwise she might have
had to pound on the door and wake up everyone
inside. This way, it was so much simpler. She just
marched in and bounded up the stairs, heading
straight for David’s bedroom, and there was no one
to stop her.

She had only a moment’s hesitation outside his private door. She knew it was utterly tasteless to
burst in on someone the way she was about to
do. But she was really beyond caring. David had cheated her and she was out for blood.

The brass knob turned easily in her hand, and then she was inside the dark, curtain-shrouded
room. The light from the hall illuminated the dark
head on the pillow at one end of the huge bed. But she was striding towards the windows, preparing to
throw open the curtains, before it registered in her
mind that there was a blonde head next to the dark
one.