Savage Enchantment by Parris Afton Bonds Read Free Book Online Page B

you came from ..." He shrugged and let his voice dwindle off insinuatingly as Juan's son came into the room with an armful of clothing.
    "Well?" he asked, raising one dark brow questioningly. "What's it to be?"
    She put out her hand for the clothing. "You don't give me any choice, do you?" Hadn't she once said the same to her father?
    Simon's laugh was as bitter as her voice had been. "Few people get choices out here, ma'am. You take what life deals you and play the hand the best you can ... as I'm sure you'll learn to do. I've no time to pamper some lady of the evening. If you can't handle the post, I'll ship yu back." He ground out the cigarro in his empty plate. "Now get dressed while I see to the horses."
    Furious, Kathleen took the clothing and, whirling, went to the room Simon indicated. Other than the silver-mounted saddle hung on a peg and a striped serape rolled up against one wall, there was only a bed with a mattress of "prairie feathers" -- grass ticking. Then Kathleen beneath the bed the one luxury she had been hoping for, a porcelain chamber pot.
    Fumbling with her skirts, she dropped the lace-edged pantalettes and at last relieved her aching bladder, before hurrying to change. She yanked at the buttons of her bodice, detesting the ranchero even as she obeyed his command to don boy's clothing.
    The loose camisa fitted her more like a short dress than a shirt, and the baggy pants she had to roll around her ankles. A riata served as a belt for her narrow waist, and huaraches hugged the slim feet. When she was dressed, she rolled the kid slippers and pantalettes in her dress.
    Hesitantly she opened the door and slipped along the wall, hoping she would not attract the attention of th eothers in the outer room.
    Once outside, in the swaying light of the lanterns, she saw a sardonic smile curve th elong line of Simon's lips. "It looks like my tutor has now changed to un muchacho."
    "Let's hope you can remember I'm your tutor -- and that's all."
    Simon laughed. "If you could see yourself, you'd know you have no worry in that direction. Now let's get going before the storm breaks."
    At the corral Juan stood waiting, holding in one hand the reins and a sturdy black Morgan. Simon took the yellow slicker strapped to the cantle of the quarter horse. "Put it on."
    "No!" Kathleen said, rebelling at wearing the hot, sticky garment.
    "Suit yourself," he said, and swung the large cape over his wide shoulders like a greatcoat.
    She noticed that her valise was slung over the saddle of the Morgan. But rather than delay Simon, who now wore an impatient frown, by hauling down the valise and repacking her dress, she turned to Juan and handed him her clothing.
    "Señnor, I can't take these with me," she told him. "Perhaps the woman in the kitchen -- Carmela -- maybe she could use them."
    "Muchísimas gracias, señorita," he replied with a shy smile, taking the clothing.
    There was a peculiar look in Simon's eyes, but it vanished quickly as he assisted her up into the saddle, his hands easily encircling her waist.
    Leaving the ranco station behind them in the blackening night, Simon turned the quarter horse, Salvaje -- and Kathleen thought the great beast truly resembled some savage animal -- east in the direction of the Santa Clara River, which followed the foothills of the Topotopo Mountains.
    The pueblo of San Buenaventura was far behind them, only a huddle of lights, when the first sprinkling began, growing steadily into a torrential downpour. Hours later the pelting rain plastered Kathleen's hair to her face, and her clothes clung to her shivering frame like a transparent second skin.
    Simon looked back at her once, laughing as if he were enjoying himself in nature's lashing elements. The wind filled his giant yellow slicker, making him look like some apparition. His voice came to her in a shout over the roar of the storm. "Chupu -- the god of the channel coast -- he must be angry to bring the rainy season this early!"
    That Simon