Renegade Love (Rancheros) (27 page)

Esteban knew it was the question on everyone’s mind and that he would have to answer it one day. There was no longer any point in keeping it a secret and if anyone would understand, it would be Rosa.

He took hold of her hand and she squeezed it lightly.

“When I was first captured I was brave and foolishly thought I could withstand anything until I was rescued. I learned right away how dreadfully wrong I was. As days turned into weeks the only thing I prayed for was death.

“After weeks on the trail, we settled into one of Pacquito’s home camps where an old woman befriended me. Lequita was her name and if it hadn’t been for her I would have never survived my ordeal. She taught me patience and the art of survival, but most of all she taught me the true meaning of courage.”

Esteban turned his head away for a moment and Rosa could tell that this was not easy for him to speak about. And she appreciated all the more that he was sharing it with her.

“When I turned seventeen, I was skilled enough to escape and Pacquito knew it. One day he called everyone together in the middle of the camp. It was never good when he did that for it meant that someone was about to suffer. But no one, least of all me, expected it to be Lequita. He announced to all that if I attempted to leave his group of renegades that Lequita would suffer for it. He then had several of his men grab hold of me before I could get to her, and he proceeded to beat Lequita within to an inch of her life.”

Rosa cringed at the thought of the old woman’s suffering.

“I couldn’t leave her knowing that he would beat her to death if I did. She had been so kind and good to me. So I stayed until...”

“She died,” Rosa finished. He didn’t answer and the longer he didn’t respond the more she wondered. “What happened?” she asked softly.

He choked on his words. “She took her life so that I could be free.”

Rosa gasped. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry, Esteban. How horrible and how unselfish of her to do that for you.”

“I left shortly after she was buried. Pacquito knew I would leave. He wanted me to so that we would finally have the showdown he’d been aching for. But it had to be under his terms. He wanted to make me pay for Lequita’s death.”

“He was angry at you for the old woman taking her life?”

“She wasn’t
any
old woman... she was his grandmother.”

Rosa gasped again. “He beat his own grandmother and would have killed her if you had escaped?”

“After I saw how he beat her I couldn’t take the chance that he wouldn’t kill her. She was a good woman, offering help to any who needed it. I often wondered why she remained in camp. Why she didn’t go live elsewhere, away from her malicious grandson. She told me that he would be far worse if she didn’t stay with him, and she was right. I saw her calm him many a time and save many a life.”

“She sounds like she was a remarkable woman. But if you know that Pacquito expects to meet up with you why not wait for him to do so instead of getting involved with
hijo del Diablo
?”

“Pacquito will continue to attack, loot, burn, and kill while he gathers information before he finally comes after me. I don’t want any more innocent people to suffer because of me.”

“But
hijo del Diablo
will want something in return for his help.”

“I will bargain with him.”

“You cannot bargain with the devil,” Rosa argued.

“
Hijo del Diablo
is nothing more than a man.”

Rosa shook her head and took hold of her husband’s hand. “Do not make the mistake of thinking him merely a man. He is called
hijo del Diablo
for a reason.”

Esteban wondered if his wife knew how hard she gripped his hand. It was almost as if she had no intentions of letting him go. Not that she could stop him, though could she? He missed her desperately when they were separated and damn if his heart didn’t ache for her, not to mention other parts of his body. But he had no choice in this matter. He had always known it would come to this. What he hadn’t known was that he would have a wife he loved more than anything in the world. And it made the task that much more troublesome and difficult.

He attempted to reassure her. “I have become personally familiar with evil and know well what I deal with.” Before she could continue debating the matter, he leaned down and kissed her.

“You are attempting to distract me,” she said between kisses.

“Is it working?” he asked with a laugh and a nip at her neck.

“You know full well that your kisses never fail to excite me.”

“You mean they make you wet?”

She swatted his arm. “You are wicked.”

He took hold of her chin, his eyes settling on hers. “And still you love me?”

She had meant to tease him, but her words had struck him differently, giving suspicion to his own misgivings. She could repeatedly tell him that she loved him, but her words meant nothing if he did not believe her. The truth was that she had hardly believed it herself at times. But she had learned soon enough that her fears and doubts had been misguided. Esteban was a good man with a good soul, even if he thought he lacked one.

“You hesitate to answer me,” he said harsher than he meant to, his hand falling away from her chin.

“Do you not trust my word?” she asked softly.

“You haven’t given me any reason not to.”

“Then why question my love for you?” When he didn’t answer, she bravely said, “Perhaps it’s your love for me you question?”

He flew off the bench, turning his back on her, regretting his response before the words left his mouth. “I love no one.”

Rosa stood and gathered even more courage to say, “I don’t believe that. You could never make love to me the way you do if you didn’t love me.”

He turned around slowly. “I’ve always made the women that I have claimed feel as though I cared. It made their surrender that much easier.”

His words angered her, and she believed that was exactly what he had intended to do... anger her. Not for once did she believe he didn’t love her. And it was time to confront the issue. She took a sudden step toward him and demanded, “Tell me that you don’t love me.”

His eyes flared with anger and his lips tightened, as if he fought against responding. And he did. His heart refused to lie, yet the truth could prove deadly for her.

“You can’t say it, can you?” she said taking another quick step toward him.

He didn’t move, though she was near on top of him.

She tilted her head to the side and whispered, “Show me.”

Esteban scooped her up in his arms, though didn’t move. He stood staring at her, amazed at her perceptive nature, or could it be that she understood him, believed in him and knew exactly how he felt no matter what foolishness he spouted.

“I’m growing impatient,” —she lowered her voice— “for you to be inside me.”

“Then I will stay inside you and satisfy you over and over and over.”

“I never doubted you would.”

He knew all too well that they weren’t speaking about making love. They were speaking of just how much he loved her. And one day he would confess his never-ending love for her. Until then...

Esteban hoisted her up further in his arms and stole her breath along with a kiss as he walked to their bedchamber. He set her on her feet just inside the room, closed the patio doors and began to undress after seeing that she was already shedding her clothes.

Her eagerness spurred his and they were soon naked in bed. His hands quickly began to caress every curve and angle and she squirmed in pleasure. When his mouth began to follow the same path, she moaned and tugged at his shoulders.

He looked up at her.

“I can’t wait any longer.”

“I’ve only just begun.”

“But I want—need—you inside me now.”

“I won’t deny you,” he said and slipped off her to spread her legs and position himself between them.

Her eyes closed shut as her ache grew and she could feel herself grow wetter as his tip poked at her as if knocking and seeking permission, though he needed none. He was and always would be welcome inside her.

She wasn’t surprised when he slipped an arm beneath each knee, then lifted her slightly making it easier for him to enter her not to mention allowing him to go that much deeper. Any moment now he would plunge into her and she would come in an instant, and then he would make her come again and again and...

He entered her slowly and not all the way before he eased out again and repeated the tormenting action a few times.

Her eyes flew open and on a moan begged, “Stop teasing me. I want to come now.”

He pushed a bit further into her and pulled out again. “You’ll come when I let you.”

“You can’t stop me. I’m too near.”

“Is that a challenge?”

Her eyes suddenly turned wide realizing that this was a challenge he was far better suited for than she was. “You wouldn’t.”

“You wanted me inside you and it is exactly where I want to be, and I’m in no hurry so...”

He entered her with a swiftness that had her crying out with pleasure, though established a slow pace that drove her absolutely crazy with even more pleasure. He not only drove in and out of her, but he moved so that it felt as if he went round and round inside of her tormenting her senseless.

Every time she thought she would come, he stopped all movement and she groaned with disappointment. She didn’t know when he had slipped his arms out from under her legs and settled over her. She gripped his muscled arms to hold on tight as he drove her to the edge over and over. It took her much too long to realize that her grip tightened on his arms whenever she was just about to come and so she wisely removed her hands to grip the sheet instead.

Not that it mattered, he seemed to know when she was near and once again stopped her from going over the edge into oblivion, which is where she so wanted to go and for him to go with her.

Esteban wanted to linger in the delicious torment forever. She moved against him in such frantic passion that it grew him harder than he thought he’d ever been. And he knew that when he finally let her come, it would not be just once but multiple times and he would explode with just as much pleasure seeing and feeling her burst in climax over and over.

Rosa pressed frantically against him. She would come. She wouldn’t let him stop her. She heard his soft laughter and when he smiled she grew annoyed.

“You’ll come when I let you.”

Instinct took hold and she wrapped her legs around his locking him against her and at the same time drove herself up hard against him. The jolt sent him slamming deeper into her and with two more quick thrusts, she felt herself tumbling off the edge and sustaining the motion... took him with her.

Esteban threw back his head and roared an oath as he exploded in a climax that seemed never-ending, thanks to his wife. Her petite body continued pummeling his, her hips slamming against him in climax after climax.

He was spent before her, though he did his best to help her finish and when she cried out, “one more, just one more’ he slipped his hand between them to massage her sensitive bud until she screamed out her final surrender.

They both lay on their backs utterly spent, their bodies wet with perspiration and their breathing far from normal. They didn’t snuggle or touch each other, not even hold hands, so hot were their bodies.

When her breathing had calmed enough for her to speak, Rosa said, “I’m wet.”

“Again?”

They both laughed and Rosa playfully swatted his arm. “From sweat and it’s your fault.”

He laughed again. “You challenged me.”

“I’ll remember that.”

“Please do. I’d love a repeat challenge.”

She smiled and turned on her side. “And I love when you show me how much you love me.”

Esteban did not want to return to that conversation so he said, “We need to a bath.”

Rosa wasn’t upset by his lack of response to her remark. One day he would tell her and until then she would be patient, or at least she would try to be. “That would be nice, but it’s late and I don’t want to disturb the servants.”

“We don’t need them,” he said and climbed over her, giving her a quick kiss as he got out of bed.

She sat up. “What do you mean?”

“There’s a small pond not far from here. We can bathe there.”

It sounded delightful and Rosa couldn’t resist the thought. She hurried out of bed, grabbing the sheets and tossing them to the floor.

“What are you doing?”

“We can’t return all clean and fresh and sleep on sweaty sheets.”

She went to the chest where the extra linens were kept and in no time had clean sheets on the bed.”

“You know how to keep a bed?” he asked, coming up behind her and wrapping a large towel around his wife.

“I had to do it for the Curros.”

He turned her around to face him. “You’ll do it no more. It’s the servants’ job.”

“I don’t mind doing it for us, especially since this might not be the only time it’s necessary.”

He had been about to insist that she would do it no more and that was the end of it when he smiled at her explanation. “Only for us.”

“Only us,” she repeated and kissed his cheek.

He took her hand and led her from the room, out through the patio doors. It was a short walk, the path curvy and Rosa wondered if she would ever be able to find the place on her own.

The pond was small and secluded and the two shed their towels and were in the cool water in no time. They scrubbed themselves with the soap Rosa had brought with her and Esteban helped her wash her hair. They didn’t hurry out after they finished. They bobbed in the water and Rosa listened to Esteban tell her about how his father had taught him to swim here, and how he and his family enjoyed picnics here.

She couldn’t help but think of how she and Esteban would do the same with their children, though she didn’t dare say it. There would be time to discuss children and the future.

When Rosa raised her hand to stifle a third yawn, Esteban announced that it was time for them to return and get some sleep. Esteban toweled her dry, refusing to listen to her protests that she could do it herself. When he was done he wrapped the towel snugly around her and sat her on a bench while he dried himself.