Untamed Fire (31 page)

Gaby looked to Rafael, waiting for his
approval. He understood instantly that the change for her was
difficult. She was accustomed to commands, although she rarely
obeyed them, and with a smile he nodded.

“Come, sit next to me,” Isabel said, patting
the chair beside her.

Gaby took it, content that it was to the
right of where Rafael sat at the head of the table.

Dona Isabel told her stories of when the
twins were babies and the plans Felipe and she had for them. And
now with the help of God, if Gaby and the other girl should prove
to be her daughters, their plans would finally be fulfilled.

Gaby found her nonsensical talk disturbing.
It wasn’t possible that this woman could be her mother. She was so
cold, so uncaring of anything except what she desired. Not once had
she asked Gaby about herself, her family here, her childhood. No,
she couldn’t believe this self-serving woman was her mother.

Elena began serving the meals, placing
slices of fowl smothered in green chili sauce on each plate. Gaby
watched her, longing to join her and Lupe in the cookhouse instead
of being seated there.

Her stomach agreed with her. She tried to
ignore its protest, but when Elena placed the slice of meat on her
plate and added extra chili sauce, knowing how much she enjoyed it,
her stomach revolted.

Gaby stood, looked at Rafael and blurted
out, “Excuse me,” before running from the courtyard. She made it to
the cookhouse where Lupe helped her as her stomach rid itself of
its contents.

“Too much excitement,” Lupe said, shaking
her head and wiping Gaby’s face with a damp cloth.

“Is she all right?” Rafael asked, standing
in the doorway, a worried frown marring his handsome features.

Gaby felt the sudden urge to run to him and
throw herself into his arms. The feeling was so strong that it made
her stomach rumble again and she moaned.

“What’s wrong with her?” Rafael demanded,
stepping into the room.

“Last night and today, I think, have been
too much for her,” Lupe suggested.

“She should rest,” he said.

“I will see to it,” Lupe responded.

Gaby watched him turn to go and stop for a
moment as though reluctant, then he proceeded toward the door. She
couldn’t explain it, but she felt a desperate, aching need to have
him near her and before she even realized she had spoken, his name
slipped from her lips. “Rafael.”

Her plea was soft yet urgent, and he
responded. He motioned for Lupe to leave them. He bent down beside
where she sat at the table. Tears lay unshed on the brim of her
long dark lashes, and her face was ashen.

He didn’t speak. He stood, pulled her chair
away from the table, and lifted her into his arms. He carried her
out of the cookhouse and around the back of the buildings so no one
would see that he was taking her to his quarters.

He kicked the door closed behind him and
carried her to his bed. He remained silent the whole time he
stripped her of her clothes and slipped the light cotton blanket
over her.

He sat beside her on the bed, stroking her
face so tenderly that it made Gaby feel sleepy and safe.

“Rest,
querida,
I will stay with
you.”

“Forever,” she asked softly as her eyelids
drifted closed.

“Forever,” he whispered and kissed her
cheek.

“Gaby will not be joining us this evening,”
Rafael informed his guests when he returned to the supper table.
“She isn’t feeling well and has retired early to her room.”

“Perhaps I should look in on her later?”
Dona Maria suggested.

“I’m sure she would appreciate your
thoughtfulness, Mother, but Lupe gave the servants explicit
instructions not to disturb her. Headache, I believe, is what Lupe
mentioned she suffered from.”

“Oh my, that is dreadful. That can be so
debilitating and rest is the sure and only cure for it,” Dona Maria
agreed.

Rafael didn’t demonstrate his relief. He had
hoped his mother, and guests as well, would accept his excuse for
her absence without questions. Otherwise he would have a tremendous
amount of explaining to do if they discovered she was snuggled
soundly in his bed. And that was where he intended her to stay for
the remainder of the evening.

“Tomorrow, Maria, we shall discuss Rafael
and Annabelle’s wedding plans,” Dona Isabel said with a distinct
air of authority.

“I would like to explain the matter to
Louisa Ortega before any announcements are made. She is owed an
explanation since she had assumed, as I and her father had, that
Rafael and she would marry,” Dona Maria said, folding her napkin on
her lap.

“They weren’t officially engaged, were
they?” Isabel asked.

“No, but—”

“Then she is owed nothing,” Isabel said,
dismissing her request.

“She is owed something and if these twins
turn out not be your daughters, then I don’t wish to see Rafael’s
chances for a good marriage ruined—if he so chooses to marry
Louisa,” Dona Maria retaliated.

“You are perfectly right, Maria,” Felipe
joined in. “This matter must be handled correctly so that no one
suffers.”

“Perhaps I can soothe Louisa’s distraught
state by taking her riding or on a picnic,” Ignacio offered.

“Do you really think that wise?” Isabel
asked, seemingly annoyed by the suggestion.

Rafael remained silent, listening. He was
surprised by what he heard, not the words so much, but the feelings
behind them. He could hear a sense of frustration in Isabel’s
voice, as though all this was an irritant, the sooner settled the
better. There was no happiness or love in her words for her
supposedly long-lost daughters. She also didn’t care for the idea
of Ignacio escorting Louisa anywhere. But it was his mother’s tone
that held his interest the most. He could hear her protective
instinct for him and something else he wasn’t certain of but felt.
She wanted happiness and contentment for him and the decision of
who he shared his future with was ultimately his. She would accept
the woman he chose for his wife no matter who she was.

“I think his offer generous,” Felipe said,
and Isabel remained silent, although annoyed.

“Tell me, Felipe,” Rafael said, wanting to
learn more about the twins’ abduction. “Did you ever discover the
reason for your daughters’ disappearance?”

Felipe swirled the dark red wine in his
glass as he spoke in a contemplative tone. “I often ask myself why
they were taken. Who would do such a thing? There was never any
demand for ransom.” He shook his head. “It made no sense and I kept
asking myself time and again, why?”

“There are many sick people in the world,”
Isabel said, comforting her husband. “Do not torment yourself.”

“I cannot help it. They were mere babies, my
babies and as their father I failed to protect them,” Felipe
insisted.

Rafael empathized with Felipe. They should
have been protected better, so no harm would have come to them.
No harm.
No harm did come to them, if the twin girls proved
to be the Galvez twins. That would mean the babies were abducted
and brought to this new land and protected. The reason then for
their abduction would have been for safety... but safety from
whom?

The conversation continued on around Rafael.
He appeared as though he was listening to those at the table,
nodding every now and then, but his thoughts were far removed.

His mind began to piece things together. Had
someone purposely brought the twins to the mission and requested
the padres see to their care? Had that person had their best
interest at heart, or had he been instructed to do so until a
future date? Would someone benefit from their disappearance and
reappearance, or had someone been trying to save them?

Rafael pushed the food around on his plate
with his fork. If the girls were in danger twenty years ago, then
it was possible they were in danger again. He thought of Gaby’s
recent attack and then recalled the small “accidents” she had so
lightly dismissed. When he had questioned the boys, they had
admitted to only one prank against her, but adamantly denied the
others.

He sat straight and stiff in his chair. Was
it possible? Could Gaby be in danger? Could someone be trying to
harm her? The thought made him seethe with anger and want to
protect her all the more.

Rafael spoke with a strong air of authority.
“Felipe, I wish to speak with you in my study after the meal.”

If his guests thought the demanding summons
inappropriate, they didn’t comment. They continued their idle
chatter.

Rafael found his companions’ company almost
unbearable. He was anxious to settle this matter once and for all.
He would insist that Felipe explain to him how the twins could be
distinguished. At least then he would know if Gaby was his
intended, or if he was going to have to face the problem of
breaking the betrothal contract. Also, Padre Pablo would be
arriving soon. Rafael had no doubt that he could persuade the
priest to reveal all he knew about the twin’s abandonment at the
mission.

The meal seemed to drag on endlessly until
Rafael couldn’t stand it another minute. He stood, throwing his
napkin on his plate. “Don Felipe, now, if you please,” he said and
walked from the room, leaving the man no choice but to follow.

Rafael closed his study door behind Felipe,
offered him a seat and a drink, then asked the question that had
plagued him all evening.

“How do I tell one twin from the other?”

Felipe choked on his wine, coughing and
sputtering. He attempted to get his breath.

“I said something to upset you.”

Felipe wiped at his shirt and jacket with
his handkerchief. “No. No, it is just that...”

His words trailed off as if he didn’t wish
to speak about it. Rafael held a distinctively different
opinion.

“I’ll have my answer, Felipe, now!”

Felipe bristled against his commanding tone.
“It is difficult to speak of something so personal.”

“It is necessary?”

Felipe reluctantly gave a nod. “Annabelle
had a birthmark. A rather large one, which I assume would be
smaller now that she is grown, but it should still be there.”

“Where?”

“It, ah, it is—that is—”

“In an area that I wouldn’t be familiar with
unless she was my wife?” Rafael asked, attempting to ease the man’s
ridiculous discomfort.

“Precisely,” Felipe said with a smile that
quickly faded as Rafael spoke.

“Tell me where it is located.”

Thinking he had the problem solved, Felipe’s
grin returned. “I shall have Isabel see if the birthmark is
there.”

Rafael was fast losing his patience. “I will
not have Gaby subjected to such an examination. She has gone
through enough.”

“I agree with you,” Felipe sighed. “She has
gone through much these last two days.”

“Then tell me and I will find a way to
broach this difficult matter with her,” Rafael suggested.

Felipe sighed and eased back in the chair.
“I assume, now that she is grown, that it would be beneath her left
breast.”

Rafael tried to recall seeing such a mark
there. He couldn’t, and he feared there wasn’t one, making her
Calida, not Annabelle.

“Thank you,” he said. “I will see to this
matter as promptly and discreetly as possible.”

“Good,” Felipe said, happy it was settled
and his embarrassment past. “Now let us share another glass of wine
and talk of your vineyard.”

Rafael agreed with a short nod. He didn’t
want to share wine or talk of the vineyards. He wanted to return to
his room, hope that Gaby was still there, and make love to her...
and find that damn birthmark.

Instead, he poured the wine and hoped it
wouldn’t be long before he could do just that.

The hacienda was quiet, all asleep, by the
time Rafael finished with Felipe. He removed his jacket as he
walked to his room, glad his quarters were set away from the rest
of the house. He cherished his solitude, especially now that Gaby
shared it.

He entered his room, locking the door behind
him. The candles were lit, the wine poured, and Gaby waited. She
sat in the middle of his bed, her bare legs folded under her. She
wore one of his white linen shirts. It lay partially open, tempting
the viewer with only a peek of her delicious breasts and soft
belly. The ends of the shirt were tucked between her thighs where
her hands lay folded. She never looked more inviting.

“I stayed awake so we could talk,” she said,
a slight blush staining her cheeks. “I-I borrowed your shirt. I
couldn’t stand to put that dress back on.”

Rafael dropped his jacket on the chair,
removed his shirt, and continued undressing.

“Rafael,” Gaby said with a note of alarm. “I
want to talk.”

Rafael smiled. “So do I.”

Her gaze remained locked on him, on every
muscle and bulge as they came into view. “Talk. Conversation talk,”
she added quickly.

He walked to the bed, stood there a moment
while he watched her emotions war, then stretched his long body out
in front of her like a lazy panther.

“I’m listening.”

Gaby was watching all the warm, tempting
parts of him that always brought her so much pleasure. She shook
her head and squeezed her eyes shut tight.

“I really need to talk with you.”

“Then look at my face,” he ordered.

Her blush deepened to a bright red. “I
can’t.”

“Why?” he asked teasingly.

“You’re too tempting.”

Gaby felt the bed bounce from Rafael’s
weight and movement. She wondered what he was about, but refused to
look and satisfy her curiosity.

“Open your eyes,” he said.

Gaby shook her head.

He laughed and poked her in the belly.
“You’re afraid.”

That was all she needed to hear. Her eyes
popped open. “I’m not afraid.” She smiled when she saw he had
covered himself from the waist down. “Just cautious,” she added
with a poke to his ribs.