Theresa's honesty startled Lianne, but she seemed to care for El Lince. However, Lianne was more interested in the man. “What was wrong with him? I noticed he is scarred.”
“You do not know. El Lince has not told you?” she asked in disbelief.
“Told me what?”
“That your husband is responsible for his injuries. El Lince was nearly killed on the orders of Raoul de Lovis. I cannot believe he didn't tell you⦔
Lianne shrugged as if the information was of little importance to her, but suddenly she was afraid. No wonder El Lince hated Raoul, and that hatred extended to her and Carmen. Oh, he had been nice enough, but how long would it be before his anger erupted and he harmed them?
“Help me with the cooking,” Theresa ordered Lianne brusquely. “You make the coffee,” she told Carmen.
While they performed their appointed chores, Lianne whispered to Carmen when Theresa was out of earshot. “We have to escape.”
“Si,”
Carmen said through clenched teeth. “When?”
“I don't know yet. They keep us apart at night, but it must be tonight. Watch me carefully. Somehow we will sneak away from here.”
“I'm afraid, Lianne.”
Lianne gave her what she hoped was a confident smile. “We'll make it.”
Later that evening when the sky was completely black, El Lince hadn't returned. The others settled down under their blankets, their bellies full. Soon snores reverberated through the quiet night.
Lianne lay under her blanket. Carmen was about thirty feet from her. Their only problem was Felix who sat on a rock above them. Every so often when one of them moved, he cast a wary eye below him. He clutched a rifle in his hand, but Lianne wondered if he'd really use it. She had no doubt he hated Raoul, but did he hate her so much, Carmen so much, that he'd actually shoot them? Lianne didn't think so.
She decided the time was now. She'd put Felix to the test.
Sitting up, she looked around. The campfire dimmed, and everyone was asleep. Even Theresa snored softly. Felix's attention happened to be diverted for a moment by the roar of a mountain lion, and he didn't see her slither from under her blanket over to where Carmen lay. But Carmen was ready.
With a speed which surprised Lianne, Carmen crawled away from the firelight into the darkness with Lianne following. The ground was hard and dotted with bramble bushes which tore at their clothes but neither of them cared. Their sense of freedom grew as they crawled farther without detection. Finally, Lianne stopped and listened.
The night was silent. No gunfire disturbed the stillness, and no voices were raised in alarm. No one knew they were gone. Felix might, but he evidently didn't know which direction they had taken.
“We did it, Carmen!” Lianne said, excitement in her voice. “We can stand now.”
“I can't believe no one has followed us,” Carmen whispered worriedly and rose along with Lianne. “Felix watched us closely.”
“Perhaps he isn't as good a watchdog as El Lince thought. Now let's go.”
“But where, Lianne? Can you see to follow the trail we took this afternoon? We're three days from Pachuca.”
Lianne barely discerned her hand in front of her face, but the inky blackness wouldn't deter her. She took Carmen's hand. “Follow me,” she said.
Carmen stalled. “Let's wait until daylight.”
“No. They'll find us then. Our hope is to travel at night and find a cave to rest in during the day. We mustn't be found, Carmen. El Lince detests Raoul, and I think he may kill us.”
“Felix wouldn't allow that,” Carmen told her.
“
SÃ
. Felix hates him for the death of his sister and his parents. Believe me, Felix isn't our friend.”
“I think he is.”
Carmen's defense of Felix puzzled Lianne, but she didn't have time to dwell upon it. They had to get far away by morning. If only she knew which direction to go in. The sky was so dark, there were no stars tonight. She dragged Carmen behind her, and they crept down the side of a ravine, then across flat ground until they discovered a hillside. Up they plodded, nearly falling and tumbling down again, but they persevered until they reached the top.
Carmen was out of breath. “That was some climb!”
“We made it, though,” Lianne said and sat down on the ground. “By morning, we'll be far away from El Lince and his men.”
“Ah,
chica
, I thought you liked me.”
The unmistakable gravel voice pierced the darkness. Lianne and Carmen both stood and held onto one another. His horse snorted and nudged at them. Then they heard another horse nearby and Felix's voice.
“I should have been more wary of them, El Lince. I'm sorry.”
“Don't worry, Felix. I knew they wouldn't get far.”
“And how did you know that, El Lince?” Lianne asked and straightened her spine. She might be frightened, but she refused to let this menacing man know it.
He laughed and coming forward, he lifted her from the ground and set her before him on his horse while Felix did the same with Carmen.
“The campsite wasn't picked by accident. I knew the ravine below us formed a circle. That if you tried to escape, which you did, you'd not be able to find your way at night. You'd wander until you came up the side of the mountain. All you did was make a 360 degree turn.”
“All that energy wasted,” Carmen said and gulped back tears.
“Not so,” replied El Lince whose hand rested intimately upon Lianne's thigh. “I see now that you both need better watching. Felix, you shall take charge of Carmen, and I will look after the wife of Raoul de Lovis.”
True fear shot through Lianne. His voice held a warning which she couldn't ignore. With El Lince watching her every move, she'd be unable to escape.
When they reached camp, some of the men stirred, but Theresa was awake.
“How did this happen?” she asked.
“Go to sleep, Theresa,” El Lince told her.
“Sleep beside me,” she begged.
“I must guard our guest.”
“
Puta!
” Theresa said and spat at Lianne before retreating to her blanket.
El Lince laughed and helped Lianne off of the horse.
“Don't laugh at her,” she scolded him. “She loves you.”
“Theresa doesn't know who she loves. One day, she wants me, the next she's hot for Domingo or one of the other men.”
When her feet touched the ground, her hands rested against the rough poncho which covered his chest. In the darkness his features were obliterated, and she smelled his musky scent, could feel the rapid beating of his heart beneath the cloth. His breath caressed her face, and he was so close she thought for an instant that his lips brushed her hair.
Suddenly he jerked her arm and walked her to a spot away from the others where a natural ledge was formed above the ravine and separated them from the rest by a wall of bramble bush. He threw a blanket upon the ground and ordered her to lie down, then he joined her and covered them with another blanket.
“You intend to sleep beside me?” she asked.
“Of course.”
“I won't try and escape again.”
“I know you won't, because I'll be aware of every move you make, Dona Lianne.”
It seemed the situation was settled, but Lianne wasn't. She lay unmoving beside him, fearful that he'd touch her, take liberties with her. Would this nightmare ever end? Would Raoul never find them? she wondered.
The absurdity of it all struck her. She actually prayed for Raoul to find them. The man she hated more than anyone on earth, even more than El Lince, was to be her salvation. If not for Raoul, she'd be married to Daniel now, and Daniel would be alive. She'd not be lying next to a
bandito
, a man probably no better than her husband.
“Can't you sleep,
chica
?” his voice asked later.
At the moment she was thinking of Désirée. “I hope my little girl is all right. I miss her.”
El Lince's breathing stilled, then he extinguished a sigh. “I had a daughter once.”
“What happened to her?” she asked.
“Her mother was unfaithful and took her away.”
“I'm sorry.”
“Go to sleep, Dona Lianne. I'm not here to spill my guts to you.”
Lianne trembled. What had she said to deserve such a strange response. She didn't know this man, or his unfaithful wife, woman, whatever the case may be. And she didn't care. She only wanted to return to Raoul's hacienda.
She hadn't realized she slept until she woke feeling cozy and warm. However, she instantly realized that she lay within El Lince's arms, her back against his chest and that his mouth was against her neck, and his hand was under her blouse!
Part of her rebelled and she almost pulled away, but at that moment his hand began an upward exploration from her ribcage to the round fullness of her right breast. Her breathing almost ceased when his warm hand cupped its heaviness. The other part of her quieted while his thumb tenderly flicked the nipple until it stood hard and firm. She knew she should stop this, but the wonderful sensations building within her wouldn't allow her to.
Then she felt his mouth at the nape of her neck, kissing the flesh. What should she do? Should she let him know she was awake? Perhaps he'd stop, but she didn't want him to stop. And this thought horrified her.
She felt his fingers burn a pathway from her right to her left breast, massaging it in the same sensual way. Then his hand snaked downward, past her rib-cage, and stopped at the waist cord which held up the breeches. But the pants belonged to him and were large around her so that they rested low upon her hips. He didn't have to undo the cord as his hand made its way beneath the material and moved over her abdomen to its destination.
She muffled her groan when his fingers touched the spot between her thighs. Liquid fire coursed through her, threatening to singe her flesh. She didn't know why she allowed him to touch her, to give her the ultimate pleasure a man could give to a woman, but when his fingers slid inside her and worked their magic, the pleasure built until she thought she'd go mad.
Her breathing grew rapid each time his fingers moved in and out, and without realizing it, she writhed and arched against them. For the first time since she had loved Daniel, she felt herself dissolving, melting, floating in a sea of desire. Raoul was a good lover, but she felt he only loved to please himself. This man, this bandit, was actually pleasuring her, and when her body could stand the torment no longer, it exploded.
She knew he felt the ripple of pleasure which washed over her when he pulled her against him. “You liked that,
chica,
” he growled into her ear.
She had more than liked it. She had loved it, but she wouldn't admit it to him and was unable to look at him, but he twisted her body so she saw the outline of his face, and the fact that he didn't wear the sombrero wasn't lost on her. Still it was too dark to see his features clearly.
He kissed her mouth with tiny kisses and sucked at her lips. Lianne groaned and he laughed when he heard her.
“Si,
you like a man's hands upon you, and I think you'd like more of me, but not today,
chica
. It's nearly dawn, and we must move on. However, soon I'll take you and have you writhing beneath me like the
puta
you really are.”
Hot waves of humiliation mingled with embarrassment within her. How dare he say such a thing to her! Did he enjoy tormenting her, taking her over the brink of sanity only to insult her? But she couldn't deny she had felt desire for him and if he had continued, she'd have made love to him. What was wrong with her? Why did she want this man, this man of all men? Why must he be the one to touch her heart?
She sat up. “Don't come near me again,” she told him in a shaky voice.
Even in the darkness she imagined he grinned. “I will, Lianne, and when I do you'll welcome me with open arms ⦠and legs.” He laughed aloud and tousled her hair as if she were a plaything for his amusement. He got up and left her side.
Lianne watched his outline in the approaching dawn and saw he had replaced the sombrero. She had to get away from El Lince. She was pregnant with Raoul's child, and knew that if he approached her again, she wouldn't resist. What's wrong with me? she asked herself that morning as they continued their journey and wondered if she really was a whore as El Lince had said.
“I don't understand you, Felix.” Carmen eyed Felix with contempt as she served him a plate of beans the next evening. “I've never hurt you. My father, he is a different matter, but Lianne has also been more than kind to you. If not for her, you'd still be in the mine.”
“I'm pleased that you see Dona Lianne for the special person she is,” he said and shoved a spoonful of beans into his mouth.