The Rawhide Man by Diana Palmer Read Free Book Online Page A

felt show? He was shrewd, and he could read rocks, much less Bess. And if he found out, every time they argued he would taunt her with her weakness for him.
    She almost went downstairs and backed out of it. But it was far too late. The guests, friends of Jude’s and members of the Langston family, were already waiting for them at the little Spanish mission outside San Antonio. So what could she do but go through with it and hope for the best?
    But she felt empty in a way even her mother’s death hadn’t made her feel. To live with a man like Jude was going to be a daily ordeal. One she was already half dreading, half anticipating as she gathered the bouquet of white-and-pink silk roses Katy had chosen, and went down the staircase.

Chapter Four
    T he mission San Jose y San Miguel de Aguayo lived up to its nickname, the Queen of Texas missions. The towering, imposing stone structure had a grace of design and a sense of history that made Bess tingle as she entered it on the arm of Jude’s neighbor Adam Teague, a towering gray-headed man she’d known for years who’d agreed to stand in for Bess’s late father.
    There were red-and-white poinsettias all around the altar, and it was truly the season for them with Christmas only two weeks away. Bess had almost asked Jude to postpone the ceremony until then, but he was impatient to gain control of the shares and she’d known he’d only refuse.
    He’d hired Mexican mariachis to provide an even more Spanish flavor to the ceremony, and Bess thought she’d never heard anything so beautiful as the “Wedding March” played on dozens of throbbing, romantic guitar strings. The music echoed harmonically in the interior of the church as Bess walked stiffly beside Teague to the altar, under the vaulted ceiling and dome. The three vaults of the nave were outlined in beautiful, rich hues, but Bess’s eyes never saw them, riveted as they were to Jude’s tall figure in a somber blue pin-striped suit with a white carnation in the lapel. Her heart leaped wildly as his head turned and he stared at her with cold green eyes.
    In spite of the romantic setting, he was hating every minute of this. His eyes told her so.
    Teague left her beside Jude and sat down. Bess stood rigidly at Jude’s side, trembling, and only half heard the brief ceremony. She was only vaguely aware of Katy standing up with them, of the faint movements of the guests in the pews. There was a smell of stone and dust and the days when this mission was a bastion of civilization in an uncivilized land. The words the minister spoke echoed around the interior of the church, as other vows must have echoed over the two centuries of the mission’s existence.
    Jude slipped a ring onto her finger. More words were spoken. She said two of them. Jude bent to touch his cold mouth to her lips in their first kiss as man and wife—so removed from the heated confrontation in the hall when he’d looked as if he’d kill for her mouth. And they were married.
    She heard the mariachis begin to play as Jude led her out to the church steps where the guests were waiting with rice. The rice stung. She was cold because the beautiful white dress wasn’t meant for warmth on a cool December day. But she laughed and pretended that it was the happiest moment of her life as she crawled into the black Mercedes with Jude and Katy. They drove toward home, and her eyes turned back for a last glimpse of the mission complex. Now that it was all over, she wished she could go back and really see the historic shrine.
    “We’ll come back again someday and you can see the rose window, Bess,” Katy promised. She blushed. “I mean, Mother.”
    Bess caught her breath as she looked over the seat at Katy, whose face was radiant. “I like that,” she told the young girl with affection. “Oh, I like that very much. It sounds just right.”
    “It sounds absurd,” Jude snapped, glaring at both of them. “She isn’t your mother.”
    Katy’s lower lip