Hannah Howell Read Free Page B

her, I think she'll be an orphan again real soon."
     
    Antonie had to face the truth. It was over and she knew it. She had even fetched a priest to give Juan the last rites. For eleven years she had held the love of and loved a man living on borrowed time. Now she would be alone again. Even Sage was gone. As she attended Manuel's and Julio's brief funeral then left Oro and Tomás to their grief, she wondered how much time was left before Juan left them, too.
    "Niña, come to me,” Juan rasped from the bed. “We must talk."
    “No. You must save your strength.” She knelt by his bed and pressed his hand to her cheek.
    “There is nothing to save it for, querida. Listen. You must pay my debt now. The gringo. Bancroft. I had plans made. You must carry them out. Vultures circle him, child. His land is good and a man is after it."
    “I think his brother was with the Rangers. I could have killed him, but I did not."
    “Not enough. Two lives I owe him. To this man his ranch is his life. Juan Ramirez will give it to him."
    “Who is trying to steal it and how can I help?” She was finding it hard not to cry as she watched the life slowly ebb from his body.
    “A man close to him, but I have no name. Raoul is in his pay. Killed Bancroft's parents. Many raids. Much trouble."
    She nodded and tried to keep the tears she could no longer hold back from dampening his hand. “Weaken him until he is broken."
    “That is the plan. Much trouble planned for cattle drive. Sister in danger. You will go to him. Take Oro and Tomás. Be his guns. Pay our debt, my angel.” He felt her tears and smiled a little. “My child never cries."
    “Please, Juan.” She kissed his palm. “Please do not leave me alone. I love you."
    His hand went to her hair. “As I love you, Antonie, and this I have said to no one before. You were the sunlight in my dark life, and I thank you. Do not ask me to live, my pet, for if I do I would never rise from this bed and that is no life. Julio and Manuel wait for me. We will cause the devil a trouble, eh?"
    “I am sure.” She kissed his too-cold cheek. “I will name my first son for you, father of my heart."
    “I will be remembered. That will be enough."
    He slipped away, quietly, with a soft sigh. Antonie wiped her tears and saw to his burial. The journey he had told her to take was postponed for a while as she saw to the selection of headstones for Juan, Manuel, and Julio. They had been hard men who had lived by their guns, but to her, Oro, and Tomás, they had been beloved family.
    As they finally prepared to leave for Texas, Antonie studied her companions. Oro and Tomás were identical save that Oro had a small scar on his finely hewn chin and was less jovial and talkative than Tomás. The Indian blood bequeathed them by their mother, who had been part Yaqui, had given a light copper tone to their skin and high wide cheekbones. Their straight black hair was always too long, making that heritage seem more prominent than the greater Mexican one. From the moment they had been taken from their mother, they had been brothers and guards to Antonie. She hoped that their constant presence at her side, out of the raiding and fighting, would mean that they were not wanted by the law.
    They were a half-day's ride from San Antonio and not quite a half-day's ride from the Bancroft ranch when they began to look for a place to camp for the night. It was Oro who first sensed others nearby. He came riding up to Antonie and Tomás, who were collecting brush for a fire, and, although few others would have read anything in his face, she knew he had news.
    “Five minutes’ ride from here. Six men. Two captives. One girl, one youth. Raoul's men. I am sure."
    “Juan said Raoul was working for the one who wants to break Bancroft. We'd better see to this."
    Sneaking up on the campsite was not hard. The men were swilling tequila and loudly celebrating their success. Oro saw to it that one man who had wandered off to answer the