This Fierce Splendor

10

Dawn thrust luminous fingers through the dark passes of the Dragoon Mountains; pale sunlight gleamed on the white walls of a large two-story adobe house in the valley far below and glinted off the tiles of the roof, enriching their color to a blazing red. His mother had never liked that red roof since the moment she had set eyes on it, Dominic remembered. She had always claimed the gaudy color was more suited to a bawdy house than a respectable home, but his father had only laughed and told her that any number of the noblemen in Spain had roofs of that color, so the Delaneys were in fine company. Gaudy roof be damned, Dominic had always loved that house. It was the heart of Killara. It was home.

Dominic experienced the same wrenching pang of bittersweet happiness he always did when he returned to Killara. He deliberately forced his gaze away and glanced over his shoulder at Silver sitting beside Elspeth’s prone figure in the bed of the buck-board. “We’re almost there. Has she regained consciousness?”

“Not yet, but she has stirred a few times.” Silver adjusted the blanket covering Elspeth and then lifted her gaze once more to Dominic. “Perhaps she does not want to wake up. It was not a pretty sight she closed her eyes on.”

A thrill of fear clutched at him. “Trust you to look on the bright side. Are you trying to scare the hell out of me?”

“Why not? You deserve it. If you had not gone to Rina’s, Elsepth would not have tried to stop the lynching.”

“I know. But there were reasons.”

“Good reasons?”

“No,” he admitted, his voice heavy with weariness. “They seemed good at the time, but a man can usually find a reason for anything if he looks hard enough.” He glanced back at the house in the valley below. “Hell, maybe that’s what I’m doing now.” He flicked the reins and the team started down the winding road leading to the foothills. “Tell me when she wakes up.”

The silence of the next few minutes was broken only by the creak of the buckboard and the clop of horses’ hooves on the hard rocky surface of the trail.

“Are you going to stay with her?” Silver asked.

Dominic’s hands tightened on the reins. He didn’t answer for a moment. “No, I’ll stay a few days and then go back to Hell’s Bluff. You can take care of her. She won’t need me here at Killara.”

“Yes, I can care for her.” She paused. “But I will not be welcome, and I will not stay if the old man does not want me.”

“Then Rising Star can care for her. For God’s sake, there are women enough in the house to nurse her if she has need of it.”

“What makes you think she will stay if you are not here? She is your woman and a woman’s place is with her man.”

His woman. The words caused in him the same bittersweet feeling he had experienced when he first caught sight of Killara. “You’re being mighty persuasive all of a sudden. Only yesterday you were threatening me with your little knife and now you’re-”

“I did not want you fornicating with her unless she wished it,” Silver said calmly. “It does not mean that I do not know you are her man. It is clear. Why are you laughing?”

“I was just thinking that Rising Star is going to have a hell of a time keeping my mother from washing your mouth out with lye soap. Lord, you have a foul mouth.”

“Because I speak the same words I have heard men use all my life? Why should a woman be considered foul when a man is not? I will pay no attention to such nonsense.”

“Silver, a woman can’t-”

“A woman can do anything if she is strong enough. A woman can be anything a man is and more.” She paused. “Much more. You will see.”

“If she is strong…” The words were a husky wisp of a sound. Elspeth’s voice.

Dominic jerked around. Elspeth’s eyes were open and staring straight ahead into the wavering half-light of the valley below. A rush of relief poured through him. “Good morning,” he said. “We were wondering when you were going to wake up.”

“Were you?” Elspeth’s lids fluttered shut again. “I’m in a wagon, aren’t I? Where are we going?”

“Killara. I thought you’d prefer it to Hell’s Bluff.”

“Yes,” she whispered. “Oh, yes.” Andre’s plump body dangling limp at the end of a rope, his eyes open and staring blindly ahead. Anything would be better than being in that nightmare town, where kindness masked brutality and nothing was what it seemed to be. “It was hideous. They have to be monsters.”

“No. They’re people just like you and me,” Dominic said quietly. “A few of the men in that mob were even my friends.” He paused. “No, are my friends. They thought what they were doing was right and I respect them for it.”

Her eyes flew open to stare at him in horror. “Respect them? How could you respect them? I saw their faces. They enjoyed it.”

“Some of them, maybe. Some people like death because it makes them feel more alive. You probably noticed them more than the others, because they push closer to warm their hands at it. The people you don’t notice are the quiet ones who just stand and watch. Men like Ben Travis, who were there because they believed what they were doing was necessary.”

Elspeth sat bolt upright, every muscle of her body tense with rejection. “They were wrong!” Her tone was vibrant with intensity. “Andre was-”

“Guilty.” Dominic’s voice held both sadness and inflexibility. “We live in a black and white world out here, Elspeth. I’m afraid the reasons don’t matter much if a crime is committed.”

“You’re defending them.” She was staring at him incredulously. “I suppose you would have been out there by that tree with them if you hadn’t been more pleasantly occupied.”

He winced. “I hope not. I hope I would have listened to Marzonoff and tried to talk reason to that crowd.” His jaw squared. “But I won’t lie to you. I’m no stranger to lynch mobs. I’ve watched a few bastards swing with as much pleasure as anyone you saw there in that crowd.”

Silver shook her head. “Lord, what a stupid thing to say to her right now. Maybe the old man is right and you are not my uncle. I don’t believe I want to claim such a peabrain as a relation.”

Dominic cast her a fierce glance. “Was I supposed to deny it? You know damn well-” He broke off and turned back to Elspeth to continue jerkily. “Ben Travis was right. Our way isn’t perfect, but we try to do the best we can. So don’t tell me about monsters. You couldn’t recognize them if you saw them. Well, I can. I know how they look and how they sweat and whine when they’re caught. I’ve hung quite a few of them.”

“And shot them, too, I’d wager,” Elspeth said, her eyes blazing. “You’re supposed to be a gunman, aren’t you? I guess you’re very proud of all the men you’ve murdered.”

Silver inhaled sharply, her muscles stiffening warily as her gaze flew to Dominic’s face. Rage. Cold rage. She automatically drew a few inches closer to Elspeth.

Dominic spoke very slowly and distinctly. “I’m not a murderer. I’ve not even been tempted to commit murder until I made your acquaintance. However, I haven’t the faintest doubt that you could cause a preacher to break all ten commandments.”

“Pay attention to the trail, Dominic,” Silver said hurriedly as she grasped Elspeth’s shoulders, pushed her down, and pulled the blanket up to cover her to the nose. “And you be still, Elspeth, arguing is not good for you.”

Elspeth’s eyes were blazing above the edge of the blanket. “I’m not arguing.”

Silver cast a hasty glance over her shoulder. Dominic had turned around and was no longer looking at them, but the muscles of his shoulders and his spine were still rigid with tension.

“Hush,” she whispered as she quickly covered Elspeth’s lips with her fingers. “Now is not the best time to strike at him. He is already hurting and he may do something he may regret later.”

“I’m not strik-” She stopped, arrested by Silver’s words. “Why is he hurting?”

“He is coming home,” Silver whispered. “And he knows he must leave again. When one has a great thirst, a sip of water is only a torment. I know you are angry with him, but it is time to be patient. He came here only because he wished you to be free from pain. You owe him gentleness.”

How strange to hear Silver speak of gentleness, Elspeth thought. She more often displayed ferocity and passion than tenderness. Her gaze wandered to Dominic, lingering on his dark hair and the tense slide of muscles coiled beneath his blue cotton shirt. Silver’s uncle displayed that same ferocity and passion and yet he, too, could be thoughtful and gentle if it suited him. It was difficult to remember Dominic possessed those qualities when they were constantly being overshadowed by this maddening cynicism and mockery. Oh, she just didn’t understand him. She turned away from him and looked instead at the purple-hazed mountains in the distance, blinking rapidly to keep back the tears. She didn’t understand any of the people of this strange, wild land. How could brutality and gentleness exist hand in hand?

According to Silver, Dominic was suffering for her sake. There was so much pain in the world and one could only bear it with as much courage as possible. No! The rejection of that meek homily came immediately and with violence, jarring her out of the tearful apathy and confusion into which she had fallen. She was not going to sit calmly and “bear” anything ever again. The words she had heard Silver speak when she had fought her way up from the depths of sleep came back to her. She had thought she had been behaving with boldness and aggressiveness since her father’s death, but she realized now it had been a mere travesty of strength. She had not been strong, she had been pitifully weak. Instead of solving her problems herself, she had nagged and prodded Dominic for help. If she had possessed true strength of will, she could have somehow prevented Andre’s death last night.

“Elspeth?” A tiny frown creased Silver’s brow beneath the turquoise-beaded headband. “What is it? Don’t you feel well?”

Elspeth nodded. “I was just thinking about Andre.” She closed her eyes, shutting out Dominic and Silver and all the support and warmth they lent her by their presence. Loneliness. Aching loneliness and the beginning of panic rippled through her. She would feel better, she assured herself in swift desperation. She had really been alone all her life and this was no different. When she spoke again her voice was only a thin thread of sound. “I was thinking about Andre, and about strength.”

“There she is.” Silver’s voice held a strange tension as the wagon rolled onto the flagstones of the courtyard. “I should have known she’d be up and about.”

Elspeth struggled to a sitting position, her glance following Silver’s to the front door of the imposing house. “Who?”

“The old woman. Dominic’s mother, Malvina Delaney.”

Malvina Delaney stood in the shadows of the alcove sheltering the carved double doors. As the wagon drew closer, she stepped onto the flagstones of the courtyard. Elspeth judged her to be about sixty years old, her hair was still more brick-red than gray and her broad-boned face more interesting than attractive. She was tall and full-figured and wore a simple yet fashionable violet gown.

“It’s about time you came to your senses, Dominic.” Malvina Delaney said bluntly. Her tone of voice was unsoftened by the faint Irish lilt that enriched the sound of her words. “You should have brought the girl to me when the accident happened instead of calling on Silver. I tried to send Patrick to fetch you both when he told me about this foolishness, but the boy refused to budge from Killara.”

Silver stiffened. “There was no reason to bring her here. I took very good care of her. Better than you could have done.” She lifted her chin. “Better than anyone could have done. We had no need of you.”

“Then why are you here now?” The older woman asked dryly. “Just passing through?”

Dominic jumped down from the buckboard. “Be quiet, Silver.” He faced his mother. “We had to leave Hell’s Bluff. Something happened that made it difficult for Elspeth to stay.”

Malvina’s gaze flew swiftly to Elspeth, raking her in swift appraisal. “Is she with child?”

“No.” Dominic’s reply was as curt and blunt as the question.

Malvina’s expression reflected first skepticism and then disappointment. “Patrick said you hadn’t bedded her, but I thought…” She shrugged. “She must be sicker than Patrick believed.”

“You think a woman has to be on her deathbed to escape me?” Dominic’s lips twisted. “Well, I guess a mother should know her own son.”

Malvina nodded slowly. Her eyes glittered in the sunlight. “I know you.” She took a step closer and suddenly reached out, her arms enveloping him in a fierce embrace. “Welcome home,” she said huskily. “Don’t expect us to kill the fatted calf for you. As it is, we’ve had trouble rounding up enough cattle for a trail drive this year.”

Dominic’s arms came around her and gave her an equally fierce hug. “Patrick told me Da sold the south herd and the White Sulphur land to get the money to buy my pardon. It’s a wonder you even let me set foot on the place.”

“Patrick talks too much.” Malvina took a step back, her arms falling to her sides. “It was Shamus’s decision to sell. He wanted you free to come home.” Her gaze turned to Elspeth. “She’s a little pale and puny-looking, but if she’s what you want, I guess we can work her into some kind of-”

“There seems to be a misunderstanding,” Elspeth interrupted quickly. She instinctively straightened her spine and braced herself as if to withstand a gale-force wind. Indeed, she had felt she had been buffeted by those winds since Malvina Delaney had stepped out of the shadows to meet them. The woman exuded the same forceful presence as her son and Elspeth hadn’t a doubt about her passionate devotion to him or her willingness to permit him to have whatever took his fancy. “I thank you for your hospitality, but I’ll be staying only a few days, Mrs. Delaney.”

Malvina Delaney studied her coolly, her hazel eyes narrowed. “We don’t hold with formality here. My name is Malvina, and I seldom misunderstand my boys. Dominic has gone to a parcel of trouble for you, and he’s not a man to put himself out unless he has a reason. You could do worse than to take Dominic as your man.”

“That’s enough.” Dominic shook his head resignedly as he turned away from his mother. “I know better than try to change your mind when it’s set, but if you make Elspeth uncomfortable, I’ll have to take her away again.”

Malvina’s eyes widened in surprise. “I have no intention of making the girl uncomfortable. Fact is, I’m going to make sure she’s given every consideration; I’ll even move Brianne out of the best bedroom and let Elsepth have it.” She beamed at Dominic. “Why don’t you carry her upstairs while I go get Rosa to air out the clean linens?”

Dominic gazed at her suspiciously. “We’ll have to find a place for Silver to sleep. She’ll stay with Elspeth until she’s well again.”

Something flickered in Malvina’s eyes and then was gone as her glance touched on Silver and then slid away. “She can sleep with Rising Star. Joshua and Patrick are over at Shamrock helping Cort and Sean build the new barn.”

“What happened to the old one?” Dominic asked.

Malvina smiled grimly. “Anne’s boy, William. He was sneaking a smoke in the hayloft and managed to set the place on fire. At least he got the horses out before the barn went up.”

Dominic gave a low whistle. “I’ll bet Da skinned him alive.”

“He was tanned good and proper.” Malvina nodded. “Brianne felt sorry for him and begged Shamus to let him off with nothing more than a good hiding. She’s been over at Shamrock every day trying to keep William out of mischief while the men are raising the barn.”

Silver noticed the bewildered expression on Elspeth’s face and took pity on her. “Anne is the wife of Desmond Delaney, Dominic’s older brother. Desmond wanted a place of his own and Shamus built them a cabin across the San Pedro river and gave them enough cattle to start the Shamrock spread. Then when Desmond was killed in the war, Shamus sent Cort and Sean to run Shamrock and help Anne raise William.” She smiled grimly. “God knows she needs all the help she can get to tame that young hellion.”

“Then William is your cousin?” Elspeth’s brow wrinkled thoughtfully, trying to set the branches of the large family in place in her mind.

Silver hesitated, as her gaze locked with Malvina Delaney’s. Then she smiled slowly, her defiant eyes never leaving the older woman. “Yes, William is my cousin. You should have sent me to Shamrock to help with William, old woman. Who should know better how to handle a hellion than a savage?”

Malvina’s face betrayed no reaction to Silver’s challenge. She merely said, “Sean and Cort manage pretty well on their own.” She turned to Dominic. “Shamus is in the library. He’ll want to see you when you finish settling in.”

Dominic nodded as he walked to the back of the wagon. “I want to see him too.” He wrapped the blanket around Elspeth and picked her up in his arms.

“I can walk,” she protested even as her arms slid around his shoulders and her eyes met his. Her breath was suddenly shallow and she experienced the same melting heat she had known yesterday afternoon when he had told her he wanted her. No, that was not what he had said. He had told her he wanted a woman. All cats are gray in the dark. Then he had left her for Rina’s place and a woman to satisfy his lust. Still knowing that, she felt every muscle and bone in her body reacting to his touch. “I want to walk.”

His arms tightened around her. God, she mustn’t fight him now. Not now, when there were too many raw emotions tearing at his control, hovering just below the surface and waiting to break free. He turned toward the front door his mother had left ajar. “Just because you want to walk doesn’t mean it’s best for you to do so. Since I’ve met you, you haven’t shown many signs of having a well-developed sense of self-preservation. Don’t-worry, you won’t have to put up with me handling you for much longer.” Her eyes were wide and glistening with a breathless expectancy. Or was it fear? The answer seemed inconsequential to his body which responded as if she were stroking him. With an effort he pulled his gaze away from her, pushed open the door with his foot, then strode into the foyer.

Malvina gazed after them, her expression a mixture of triumph and satisfaction. “Patrick was right,” she murmured. “He wants her.”

“So?” Silver jumped down from the wagon, her eyes narrowed on Malvina’s face. “There is an entire whorehouse of women back in Hell’s Bluff who Dominic has wanted at one time or another.”

“Not like this.” Malvina didn’t take her gaze from the entrance through which Dominic had disappeared. “This one is different.” She added absently, “And, Silver, a good woman isn’t supposed to know about whorehouses, much less speak of them.”

Silver stared down at her in disbelief. She should have been accustomed to Malvina after all these years, but the old lady’s dual nature still managed to surprise her. The ruthless drive and practicality that made her a fitting match for Shamus should have been at odds with her facade of respectability. However, Malvina had managed to harness both her natural instincts and her ambitions so that they rode in tolerable, if not always comfortable, tandem. “But I am not a lady,” Silver said, softly taunting. “We all now what I am, don’t we, Malvina?”

Malvina’s gaze shifted to Silver’s face. For an instant Silver thought she saw a glimmer of compassion and the faintest trace of regret. Then her grandmother’s face was once again impassive. “Just because you’re a savage is no reason why you have to act like one. You’ve had a decent upbringing and Rising Star would be very displeased to hear you talking like a common guttersnipe.” Her lips tightened. “If you want to stay at Killara to take care of the girl, you’re going to have to watch your tongue. Brianne picks up enough bad language from her menfolks without you adding to it.”

Silver kept her expression totally free from any hint of pain. Why did she let the old lady’s words hurt her? She didn’t need the old man or his wife or any of the Delaneys. “I’ll say what I like. Do you think I care what you think of me? I wouldn’t be here if Elspeth didn’t need me, and the minute she is well, I will be gone.”

“Perhaps that would be wise. You’ve never been comfortable here.”

No, comfortable was certainly not the word for Silver’s feelings during her stays at Killara. Hunger, eagerness, resentfullness were far closer to the mark, but never had there been either security or comfort for her here. She raised her chin, her gray eyes glittering with defiance. “I did not choose to be here. I did not want you any more than you wanted me.” She started for the door, moving with grace and majestic pride. “And I do not want you now. I may say the word, but I am not a whore nor do I make others into whores to suit my ends as you do.”

“What do you mean?” Malvina’s brow was furrowed in a frown.

Silver looked over her shoulder. “You know what I mean. I saw your face when you realized Dominic wished to bed Elspeth. You think she may be used as a weapon to keep him here.”

“You’re speaking foolishness. I would do no-” She broke off as she met Silver’s contemptuous eyes and glared back at her with equal intensity. “Why not? He belongs here. Dominic hasn’t been back to Killara more than five times in the last ten years. Shamus and I have done without him long enough. If the girl can hold him, why shouldn’t he have her? He’s a fine man and there’s no reason why she should refuse him. She wants him between her legs as much as he wants to be there. You saw that as clearly as I did.”

Silver nodded. “I saw it. But she does not know that she wants him. Her head is full of clouds and dreams of lost cities.” She smiled icily. “And, until she does know she wants him, you are not going to push Dominic into bed with her, old woman. I’ll be here to see to that.”

“Will you?” Malvina smiled with a confidence that was not without a touch of pity. “Dominic has to be made to realize he has to stay here on Killara. It’s the only place he’ll be safe from Durbin, so don’t get in my way, Silver. I can’t afford to be kind.”

“Kind?” Silver laughed shakily. “I do not remember you ever being kind to me.”

“Don’t you?” Malvina’s smile faded and she suddenly looked old and terribly weary. “Perhaps you’re right. I think I tried to be kind at one time, but you were always a difficult child and the situation was… complicated.”

“Yes, I can see how ‘complicated’ it would be for you.” Silver turned away. “It was lucky I never needed your kindness. I did not care, you know.” She walked swiftly toward the door, carefully keeping her voice from betraying anything but scorn. “I never cared for any of you or your precious family. Not for a minute.”

The door slammed shut behind her.

“Your home is very grand,” Elspeth said breathlessly. She looked up at a black wrought-iron chandelier gracing the ceiling of the foyer. “I don’t see how you can bear to live away from this house. It looks very Latin.”

“Mexican.” Dominic was climbing the curving staircase, the heels of his boots clipping loudly on the polished mahogany steps. “It would be strange if it didn’t look Mexican. It was built by the vaqueros on the ranch, and their idea of a palace was their patron’s rancho back home in San Felipe. When Da told them he wanted a palace fit for a queen, this is what they built for him.

“A palace,” Elspeth repeated with an uncertain laugh. “Your father was obviously a very ambitious man. Did he want a kingdom to match his palace?”

He looked down at her in surprise. “Of course; he never intended anything else. That’s why he left Ireland and came to America. There he could remain only what he was, a reiver and a smuggler and my mother only a housemaid in a lord’s house. When Da married her, he promised he would give her a palace someday and that they would rule a land as wide and rich as all Ireland.”

“And she believed him?”

“You haven’t met Da yet. He’s not a man who makes a promise lightly. Killara isn’t quite as large as Ireland yet.” His lips tightened. “The first thing we have to do is get back the land Da sold last year and then branch out. I’ve been thinking that maybe we should start acquiring land in Texas. There’s not a hell of a lot of land in this territory that can support the herds we’re going to be running once the railroad comes in. Our herds are smaller than they could be, and the cattle lose too much of their fat on the trail drives to market.” His brow furrowed thoughtfully. “Maybe when one of my claims hits, I’ll be able to-” He broke off and looked down at her. “Why are you laughing?”

“I was just thinking that your father isn’t the only one with dreams of vast kingdoms,” she said. “I think you have a few aspirations in that direction yourself.”

The eagerness faded from Dominic’s expression. “Perhaps you’re right. I guess I like the idea of running a kingdom as much as he does. My father and I are cut from the same cloth. The only difference is that he’s a builder and I’m a destroyer.”

“What do you mean?” She had never seen him like this. They had reached a certain level of intimacy in these last few weeks, yet she realized now she didn’t really know him at all. She had never seen the eagerness or excitement that had illuminated him when he had spoken of his plans for Killara, nor had she seen the pain and bitterness that was on his face now.

He shrugged. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter.” He was walking swiftly down the corridor, passing a number of polished wood doors. “I think you’ll be comfortable in Brianne’s room. She was the first girl born in the family and we all kind of spoil her. If Killara is a kingdom, then Brianne is our princess.”

“She’s very lucky. It must be wonderful to be a member of such a large and close-knit family.” Elspeth tried to keep the wistfulness from her voice. “I hope she won’t mind me ousting her from her bedchamber.”

“Not Brianne. She doesn’t mind anything but being bored. To her, any change has to be for the better. It wouldn’t surprise me if she talks Da into letting her spend the night with some of her friends in the Mexican village.”

There was warm affection in his tone. It appeared Dominic was as fond of the Delaney “princess” as he was of her twin brother, Patrick. “Village? I didn’t see a village on the way here.”

Dominic paused in front of a door at the end of the hall and shifted his hold on her to open it. “It’s over the hill, beyond the family cemetery. Da wanted it close enough so that a shot could bring the vaqueros running when they were needed but far enough away to give us privacy.” He was striding toward a canopy bed whose rosewood headboard towered a startling nine feet and was crowned in the center with the carved head of a deer. The canopy and coverlet gracing the large bed were a rich bottle-green velvet. Plump, cozy pink roses patterned the thick beige carpet on the floor, and graceful green vines curved in feathery trails on cream-colored wallpaper. A black lacquer vanity and full-length oval mirror were luxuries a true princess would have envied, Elspeth mused. It was difficult not to compare this magnificent chamber with her own starkly ascetic room in her home in Edinburgh.

Dominic placed her on the bed and stepped back. “Silver should be here in a moment. Is there anything I can get you before I leave?” His words were impeccably polite.

She experienced a throb of disappointment, bewildering in its intensity. For a few moments she had thought she had come closer to understanding him than ever before, and now he had once more shut the door on revelation. The room that had seemed so welcoming was suddenly chill and foreign and the man before her was a stranger too. How else could she expect to feel in a place where young men could be taken out and hung like fowl in a butcher shop? She swallowed to ease the sudden nausea that assaulted her along with the memory of the hanging. She sat up hurriedly and smiled with an effort. “No, thank you.” She smoothed a strand of pale brown hair neatly behind her ear with nervous fingers. “I’ll be quite all right. Your mother said your father wished to see you, and I wouldn’t want you to keep him waiting.”

He hesitated, his eyes narrowed on her face. Then he sat down beside her on the bed. “A few more minutes won’t hurt.”

“No, really I-”

“I’m staying,” he said flatly. “My mother was right, you’re pale as death. I thought once you were away from Hell’s Bluff it would be better. It’s not, is it?”

She shook her head. “I keep remembering,” she whispered. “I keep seeing… You were there. You know what I see.”

He nodded. “And I can’t promise you it will go away, but it will lessen. In the meantime, you’ll just have to try to think of something else.” He smiled with surprising gentleness. “Would you like me to tell you about how my father managed to give my mother her palace?”

“You said your vaqueros had built it. ‘Vaquero’ is Spanish for cowboy, isn’t it?”

He nodded. “It was a little more involved than that actually. Sixteen years ago Da couldn’t have afforded to build anything grander than a teepee. We’d been burned out three times by the Apaches and every time we gathered a decent herd together, the Indians raided us again, putting us right back where we started. Da finally managed to get one herd to market and decided he had to do something.” He paused, a reminiscent smile touching his lips. “We crossed the Rio Grande and rode deep into Mexico to a village called San Felipe. Da had heard the whole country was suffering from a terrible drought at the time and the herds down there were skin and bones. But Lord, they were cheap.” His grin deepened. “Very, very cheap. None of us spoke more than a few words of Spanish but Da managed to make himself understood. He bought any animal on four feet down to the last heifer and made a deal with every able-bodied man in the village to come back to Killara and work for us. He promised them wages, a place to build their own homes on the property, schooling for their children. They didn’t have anything to lose and everything to gain. It was the kind of arrangement they understood on the ranchos down there. They accepted Da as their patrón and helped us drive the cattle home to Killara. Then we turned around and went back and moved the entire village of San Felipe to Killara.” He made a face. “Hell, it was harder than shifting those longhorns. They brought everything with them, wheelbarrows carrying everything from furniture to pots and pans, and wagons filled with babies, grandmothers, chickens, and geese.” He shook his head. “And mules. My God, how I hated those mules. There aren’t any more devilish creatures on the face of the earth than those sons of Satan. I was only fourteen, but I felt as if I were ninety and climbing fast by the time we reached Killara.”

A tiny smile tugged at her lips. She could almost see the young boy, Dominic, trying to deal with that motley collection of humanity and animals. “You carry your years very well. You don’t look a day over thirty,” she teased.

“Because I make sure I don’t come within a mile of those long-eared fiends these days.” He looked down at her hand on the velvet coverlet. Such a small hand, fine-boned, graceful, and fragile. Without thinking, he started to reach out and touch her. He stopped, letting his hand fall to the coverlet a few inches from her own. “Well, Da got his herd and my mother got her fine house. Da told the vaqueros if they’d build him a great house, he’d see that they would never have to worry about a place to live or work again. My brother Donal even found a bride down there, which was a damn good thing. We might not have gotten this place built for another ten years without Manuela to interpret for us.” He grinned. “Come to think of it, the reason this place looks like one of those fancy hidalgo’s haciendas is probably Manuela’s doing. She was the daughter of a Spanish nobleman visiting in San Felipe when Donal met her, and she never did like the idea of living with a bunch of wild gringos. It’s entirely possible she told the vaqueros we wanted a house like the ones she was used to in Spain. After Donal died she sure hightailed it back to Spain in a hurry to live with her more ‘respectable’ relations.” His smile faded. “But she took her son, Lion, with her. She had no right to do that. He was a Delaney and Donal’s son. He belonged to Killara.”

She was gazing at him in wonder. “You love them all, don’t you? Every single Delaney who walks the earth.”

“They’re my family,” he said simply. “My blood. We don’t always agree, but the bond is there. We’re a part of each other and a part of Killara.”

Elspeth felt again a piercing envy born out of her loneliness. She looked down at Dominic’s big, tanned hand on the bed beside her. Why had he stopped before he touched her? She would have liked to have had the comfort of his hand on hers. But would it have been comfort? There was an odd tingling in the center of her palms as she thought about Dominic’s fingers moving on her flesh. His fingers were long and hard and yet there had been no hardness as they had moved down to curl in… Her cheeks suddenly flushed and she tried to remember what Dominic had been saying. “You’re very fortunate.” Her words came haltingly and she swallowed to ease the tightness of her throat. “Sometimes families aren’t quite so amiable.”

The velvet coverlet was soft beneath his fingers, and he began to rub his palm lazily back and forth, enjoying its texture. His index finger began to thrust absently, rhythmically, into its soft pile. There weren’t many textures as sensually pleasing to the touch as velvet. At the moment he couldn’t remember anything that equaled it except Elspeth’s silky white thighs, her tight springy curls clinging seductively to his fingers. The muscles of his stomach began to knot painfully and the air left his lungs. His hand slowly closed on the fabric of the coverlet, his nails rending its delicacy with unconscious force. He cleared his throat but his voice was still a hoarse rasp. “So I understand. You’re right, I’ve been lucky.”

“You can leave us now, Dominic.” Silver stood in the doorway. “You heard your mother, the old man wants to see you.”

For a moment Dominic was tempted to order Silver out of the room. He was hurting. He wanted to lock the door and lie down on this big soft bed beside Elspeth and take off-Christ, he couldn’t stand much more of this. He forced his hand to unclench and release the velvet captured in his clasp and then stood up. “See that she has breakfast and then a good rest.”

“I don’t need you to tell me what to do,” Silver said harshly. “I don’t need anyone-” She stopped. “Get out!”

Dominic frowned, his gaze on her flushed cheeks and overbright eyes. “Silver, what the devil is wrong with you?”

“Get out! The patron wants his prodigal son. No fatted calf but…” She bit her lip and came forward to stand beside the bed. “Elspeth and I don’t need you now.”

“And I don’t need either of you,” Elspeth said quietly. “It’s time I began to take care of myself. I’ll stay here and rest for a few days and then I’ll start for Kantalan.”

Dominic slowly shook his head. “Why the hell won’t you give up?”

“Because what I feel for Kantalan is very close to what you feel for Killara.” She raised her hand to stop him as he started to speak. “You needn’t be afraid that I’ll badger you any longer to go with me. I realize now how unfair I was being to assume I had a right to demand that of you.” Her lips were trembling as she tried to smile at him. “You were quite right to be annoyed with me. I’ll just have to find Kantalan on my own.”

“And how do you intend to do that?” Dominic’s voice was harsh with barely concealed violence.

“I’ll find the other person White Buffalo spoke to about Kantalan and question him about how to get there. Perhaps Silver could take me to her village and persuade White Buffalo to speak to me.” Elspeth’s gaze shifted to Silver’s face. “If it wouldn’t be too much trouble? I know I’ve already asked a great deal of you.”

“White Buffalo is dead,” Silver said. “Quiet Thunder is the medicine man now.”

“Oh!” Elspeth was momentarily disconcerted and then brightened. “Then perhaps I could speak to him. The legend is supposed to be handed down from medicine man to medicine man.”

Dominic frowned. “For God’s sake, you can’t go riding into an Apache camp and start asking questions. Geronimo…”

“I’ve never done anything to hurt them,” Elspeth said. “Why should they hurt me when I want only to ask a few questions? Will you take me, Silver?”

Silver’s golden face lit with a reckless smile. “Why not? I have no desire to stay in this house.”

Dominic was torn between the desire to turn Silver over his knee and whale the tar out of her and an aching sympathy for the hurt he knew she was feeling. He had known as soon as he had seen Silver’s face that his mother had said something that stung. They couldn’t be together for five minutes without a quarrel erupting. He supposed it was natural for two strong women to be in conflict, but it was damnably inconvenient that Silver had been goaded to defiance at the same time Elspeth decided to exert her independence.

“Good, then it’s decided,” Elspeth said. “Thank you, Silver. I’ll try-”

“No!” Dominic’s low voice was explosive. “If you think I’m going to let you leave here and wander all over hell and back on some wild goose chase, you’re dead wrong.”

Elspeth frowned. “I don’t know why you should be upset. I should think you’d be grateful. Perhaps you didn’t understand me. I’m no longer asking you to do anything to assist me. Thank you for your concern, but you needn’t trouble yourself about me at all from now on.”

“Oh, needn’t I?” Grateful? He wanted to put his hands around her slender white throat and strangle her. How dare she try to calmly dismiss him from her life. Didn’t she realize she belonged… He blocked the thought before it could take full form. Didn’t she realize how idiotic she was being? She would get herself scalped or raped, possibly both, and all because she wouldn’t give up a damned childish dream. He rose and turned on his heel. “That’s a great relief to me. I certainly don’t have the time to worry about a crazy woman.” He strode quickly toward the door, every step radiating impatience and anger. “You can do what you please.”

“Thank you.” Elspeth’s voice was low and clear behind him. “I shall.”

Dominic closed the door behind him with a force that was only a shade away from a slam. He stood beside the door, his hands clenched into fists at his sides. Jesus, she was going to do it. She meant what she said and wouldn’t ask him again to take her to Kantalan.

The knowledge should have relieved him, but not when he realized what Elspeth’s next step would be. He started down the hall toward the door at the far end of the corridor. He should go down to the library to Da, but it would have to wait. At the moment it was urgent he speak to Rising Star.