Desert Heat by Kat Martin Read Free Book Online Page A

guess is actually the rock heating up in the daytime and cooling down at night. The Comanche used to make human sacrifices to appease the gods who lived there.”
    “You’re kidding.” Shari dipped a chip into a bowl of salsa. “I thought only the Aztecs did that.”
    “In the early eighteen hundreds, one tribe captured the daughter of a rival chief and carried her off to the mountain. As the story goes, the woman’s betrothed was a young Spanish don. When he found out Rosa had been stolen, he rounded up men and rode out to rescue her. He found her tied to a stake, piles of wood stacked around her, ready to go up in flames. They say the young don went nearly crazy. He rode into the Indian camp, fighting like a madman. In the end, he saved his beloved and they rode off together.”
    Patience smiled, until she realized the entire table had fallen silent and Dallas Kingman was staring at her as if she had grown two heads.
    “How do you know all that? I thought you said you’d never been here.”
    “I-I told you—I read about it.” In the fall, when she started her job as an assistant professor at Evergreen Junior College, the subject she would be teaching was the History of the American West. Texas was a particular favorite. Because the story was so romantic, she had remembered the legend of Enchanted Rock.
    “That’s pretty cool,” Wes said. “If it’s true.”
    She could have given him dates and names, but she had talked too much already.
    “I’m hungry,” she said a little too brightly. “What’s everyone having to eat?”
     
    Dallas studied Patience Sinclair. P.J., Shari called her. There was something incongruous about the woman, had been from the start. She was from Boston. Enchanted Mountain was thousands of miles away. Yet he would bet his last dollar her story was true. Apparently, she was smarter than he gave her credit for.
    The waitress appeared and everyone began to order.
    “Shari says you’ve been here before.” Patience smiled at the group. “Anybody got any suggestions?”
    A few seats down the table, Tammy spoke up. “We eat here whenever we’re in town. Why don’t you let us order for you?”
    Patience closed her menu. “Thanks. That would be great.”
    “How about a beer?” Wes asked.
    “Better yet, how about a Prairie Fire?” Jade suggested. “The first time you come to the El Paquito, you have to drink a shot of tequila. It’s kind of a tradition.”
    Dallas started to say something. He knew what was in a Prairie Fire and it wasn’t good. Down the table, Shari caught his eye. Looking resigned, she slowly shook her head, warning him to keep silent.
    Patience was studying the others. He figured she could tell by the grins they tried to hold back that something was up. She turned and smiled at Jade. “Why not?”
    Bottles of beer, icy margaritas, and a shot glass of tequila arrived, which the waitress set in front of Patience.
    Everyone held up a glass. Dallas took a little longer raising his. He wasn’t sure how he felt about Patience Sinclair, but he hated to see anyone put to this kind of test.
    “Welcome to rodeo,” Tammy said brightly.
    “Down the hatch!” said Wes, taking a big swig of beer.
    Patience lifted the shot glass. “Down the hatch,” she repeated and tossed back the drink.
    Dallas’s teeth clenched in sympathy. A Prairie Fire was a shot of tequila with a dash of black pepper and the El Paquito’s famous Hotter-Than-Hot Sauce, made with jabenero chili peppers. Patience’s eyes filled with tears and her mouth opened and closed in an effort to drag in air, though none seemed forthcoming. Tears ran down her cheeks, which were the color of Tabasco, and she started to cough and wheeze. Grinning, Wes slapped her on the back while Tammy and the others fell over in gales of laughter.
    It was a dirty thing to do to a greenhorn, but it really had become a sort of tradition.
    “Bring her a glass of milk,” Dallas told the waitress, who raced away the minute