San Antonio Rose (Historical Romance) (10 page)

Ian appeared to be unaffected by Santa Anna's threats. He turned a cold gaze on
Emerada. The giant man had cut the ropes on
her wrists and had covered her with a long
shawl.

One of the soldiers smashed the butt of his
rifle on the back of Ian's head, and he fell to his
knees. "Answer the general's question," the soldier demanded, raising his rifle again.

Ian slowly regained his feet and stared defiantly at Santa Anna, but said nothing.

Santa Anna inspected his prisoner closely,
and he suddenly smiled. "You wear the uniform of one of my men, but you are an American. What do you want with this woman?"

Still, Ian said nothing.

"Take him away," the president ordered, "Tie
him to a tree and use him for bayonet practice."

"Wait," Emerada spoke up. "I know who this
spy is-he just told me. I waited to see how
long he would try to deceive you." Emerada
caught Ian's attention when she ran her fingers
along the length of rope that he had brought to
tie her hands. "Tell the president what you
were doing in my tent."

"Si," Santa Anna demanded, his anger tightly
under control. "Why are you here?"

Ian straightened his shoulders, lifted his
chin, and said nothing.

Emerada twisted several loops in the rope
while Ian watched. Her mouth quivered when
she tried not to smile. "Why do you not answer
His Excellency?"

His gaze burned into hers, and she could feel
his anger like an all-consuming entity.

"Who are you?" Santa Anna demanded.

"I will tell you who he is," she said, dropping
the rope down in the shape of a hangman's
noose and dangling it in front of Ian's face. "He
is Ian McCain."

Santa Anna's eyes widened. "The Ravens
Claw?" A cruel smile played on his lips. "Can it
be true? Has God smiled on me and sent me
the Raven's most trusted officer?"

Ian stared dispassionately at Emerada as she
dropped the rope and ground it beneath her
feet. Tonight she had proved that her loyalties
were with the Mexican president. It was a pity
Houston would not know she was a traitor
until it was too late.

Ian turned his gaze away from her and
bowed to the Mexican president. "I am Colonel
Ian McCain, and I have the very great honor to
serve General Houston."

"Take him out now. Kill him slowly," Santa
Anna said harshly.

Emerada touched Santa Anna's hand. "Wait!
If you want to hit Houston where it will
wound him the most, keep this man alive as
your prisoner."

Santa Anna's voice was hard. "You care so
much if he dies? Who is he to you?"

"I hardly know him, Antonio," she said,
using Santa Anna's Christian name for the first
time. "But don't you see the irony of this? Ian McCain came here tonight to make me his
prisoner and present me to Houston, just to
humiliate you. Why do you not turn the tables
on him? Keep this man as your prisoner and
flaunt him in Houston's face. Does that not
seem laughable to you? But I can assure you
that Houston will not be laughing."

Santa Anna rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Finally he spoke guardedly. "I believe what you
say. After all, you were tied when I entered. I
was grieved when I thought he came here as
your lover." He touched her face. "You are as
wise as you are beautiful."

Santa Anna turned to his men. "Put him
under tight security. I will decide just what will
be done with him later."

Ian's arms were tied behind him, and he was
hustled away. He glared icily at Emerada.

A lump crowded Emerada's throat, cutting
off her breathing, but she raised her chin and
stared back at him. "Your arrest will discourage others who think they can cross swords
with our president and win."

Santa Anna waited for the others to leave,
but when Domingo remained, staring at him
disapprovingly, he spoke harshly. "Dismiss
your servant. I want to be alone with you."

The big man planted his feet firmly and
folded his arms across his chest, waiting for orders from Emerada.

You may go, Domingo. I am safe with Antonio.

Reluctantly Domingo left, but he made a
great noise of bedding down in front of Emerada's tent so Santa Anna would know he was
near

"At last I am alone with you," Santa Anna
said silkily

Emerada covered a yawn with her hand. "I
am so weary, Antonio. The terror and excitement of this night have drained me. I am not at
my best when my sleep is interrupted."

"It excites me when you use my name." His
gaze slid over her disheveled hair and her soft
curves visible beneath the scanty nightgown. "I
want only what will make you happy."

She feigned a pout. "I was told that you have
a woman with you tonight."

"She is nothing to me." His hand clamped on
her shoulder. "If it is your wish, I will send her
away."

"No. I do not want to be with you when you
have been with someone else."

Anger flashed in his eyes, but then he relented as he always had with her. "You are a
difficult woman to win. Ours will be a relationship that will last until one of us is dead. You
are not like any of the others."

"Have you said this to the woman who sleeps
in your tent tonight?"

"No, I have not." He smiled. "Our time will
come soon, Emerada. I weary of waiting for
you to make up your mind."

She moved toward her bed. "It is my hope
that you will not have to wait much longer."

"You must rest," he said kindly, pressing a
kiss on her lips and laughing when she pulled
away. "I am grateful for your help in unmasking the Ravens Claw." Again he lowered his
head and kissed her. "Take me to your dreams
with you."

"You should make certain that Houston
hears of his favorite's plight," she said smugly.
That was the only way she had at the moment
to let the general know about Ian's capture.

"I would have been in despair if he had taken
you away from me." His gaze swept her body.
"I will soon dispose of that rebellious rabble
who have set themselves against me. When this
is over, you will accompany me to back to Mexico City."

She avoided looking into his eyes lest he see
the hatred she felt for him reflected there. "You
do me great honor." Had she sounded convincing? she wondered.

Apparently she had, because he smiled and
left.

Ian's arms and legs were bound behind him,
and he was damned uncomfortable. He yanked
against the ropes, but that only made them cut
into his flesh. What had he gotten himself into
this time?

Here he was lying facedown on the hard
ground in an enemy camp. He would have preferred the firing squad to this humiliation.
Many times over the last few hours he'd cursed
the day he had heard of Emerada. She had
been as ruthless as any man when she betrayed
him to her lover.

It made him angry as hell that she would get
away with this betrayal. Now, if he died, which
he surely would, the dancer would go on feed ing Houston false information, while reporting
Houston's movements to Santa Anna.

He tugged at the ropes again. He had to escape so he could warn Houston. He glanced
about him, watching the activity as the Mexicans broke camp. Tents were disassembled and
loaded onto two-wheeled carts. He watched
two soldiers hitching horses to cannon. The
Texans were no threat to the might of this
army.

Ian yanked on his ropes, no longer feeling the
pain when they cut into him. He was supposed
to get to San Antonio ahead of Santa Anna. Now
he would arrive with the dictator, if he survived.
He had walked into a situation that a child
would have known to avoid. If he hadn't tried to
capture the dancer, he'd now be on his way to
settle the squabble between Travis and Bowie.

He'd overheard two soldiers talking, and
they knew that Travis and Bowie were holed up
in the Spanish mission. They had called the
mission the Alamo. Dammit, how many men
did Travis have, a hundred, two hundred, or
less maybe?

"Damn," he swore aloud. They would all be
slaughtered.

Later in the morning, the ropes were removed from Ian's legs, and he was tossed in a
cart and tied to the rails. As the cart bumped
along, his anger grew. What would Houston
think of him if he could see him now?

A cloud of dust made him cough, and he
glanced up to see Santa Anna riding by, surrounded by his usual entourage. A few moments later, Emerada rode by, and he couldn't
resist the urge to call out to her.

"How's the dancer?"

Emerada slowed her mount to keep pace
with the cart. She saw that Ian's lip was cut,
and there was dried blood on his face. Her
heart wrenched to see that he'd been treated so
cruelly, but at least he was still alive.

She knew he would not welcome her pity, so
she hid it from him. "The dancer is fine, senor.
I wonder if you know how fortunate you are?
No American during this war has stood eye-toeye with Santa Anna and lived to tell about it. If
I were you, I would be counting my blessings."

"Oh, I do, dancer-I do! I go down on my
knees and bless the fate that placed me in
Santa Anna's hands. That fate being you, of
course."

"We see it differently. It seems to me that it
was you who came to my tent, threatened me,
and tried to take me away by force."

"Perhaps I just wanted to have you to myself."

"I have always observed that a person cannot
be too bad off if he keeps his sense of humoryou seem to have kept yours. I hope you still
have it after today. You will be going to San Antonio de Bexar. Did you know that?"

"I heard talk." Sarcasm laced his voice. "What surprises me is that you are going along
to war. Will you dance on the battlefield?"

"I have other talents besides dancing. Who
knows, I may take up a rifle and join the battle."

"Well, little dancer, congratulations-it
seems that Santa Anna can't do without you."

She stared straight ahead. "So it would
seem." She turned to him and asked, "Are you
thirsty-have they fed you?"

He looked deeply into her eyes and saw compassion reflected there. It only fueled his anger.
"Oh, yes, Emerada. I dine on fine linen, have
tea at three and sup fashionably late."

She nudged her horse in the flanks and
joined Domingo. "That man is insufferable! I
am glad he can no longer spy on me. After all,
he was trying to kidnap me."

"Si," Domingo replied. "And if you had not
revealed his identity, he would now be dead.
But he will never believe that."

"I do not care what he thinks-why should I?"

But she knew in her heart that she did care.
She cared very much.

Emerada was surprised to find the streets of
San Antonio deserted. The shutters on the
shops and houses were closed, and there was
no sign of life. This was the town where she
had gone to market with her family as a child.
She had once known most of the people who
lived there. Where were they now?

Her mare shied and reared, spooked by the
thundering sound of cannon fire. She finally
managed to bring the animal under control,
and glanced about in astonishment. The
Alamo, the little mission where she had often
gone with her mother to take delicacies to the
monks, was under siege!

Had the whole world gone mad?

She heard bullets whizzing past, and a cavalry officer riding three horses ahead of her fell
from his horse with a bullet wound to the head.
She leaped from her horse and raced toward
him. Domingo pulled her back before she
reached the man.

"There is nothing you can do for him. He is
dead."

This was Emerada's first bitter experience of
war, and she knew in her heart that it was
going to get much worse before it ended.

Later that night she dined with Santa Anna,
which had become a nightly habit. This was her
only way to learn about his plans, other than
letting him make love to her. So far she had
managed to escape his advances and still keep
him interested in her. She was aware that when
she left him, he'd have other women brought to
him. Sometimes Emerada would see a woman
leaving his tent in the early morning hours.
Some of them were mere girls, and this only
made her despise the dictator even more.

She glanced up and found Santa Anna
watching her. "Antonio, you have enough food here to feed twenty soldiers."

"A man such as myself must keep fit. If I fall
ill, who will lead my troops?"

"It seems to me, although I am but a woman
and know little of such things, that it is not
wise to have your foot soldiers storm the walls
of the Alamo. You have already lost so many
that way."

Santa Anna speared a chicken leg and held it
out for her inspection. "You see this-those soldiers mean no more to me than this piece of
chicken." He dropped the meat back on his
plate and patted her hand. "You are right, my
dear, you know little of such matters."

She had the strong urge to leap across the
table and carve his heart out. Instead she forced
a smile to her lips. "I know that your men are
not as important as you, Antonio. No one is."