Until the Day Breaks (California Rising Book 1) by Paula Scott Read Free Book Online

that had seen better days. “What has happened here?” he asked Tio Pedro and Juan, Rancho de los Robles’s mayordomo, riding beside him on palomino stallions. A dozen vaqueros rode in the three men’s wake, all on golden horses as well.
    “We have lost hundreds of cattle. Tyler is changing the brands,” Juan explained. “Those over there,” Juan pointed to a herd of nearby longhorns, “they all have the foreigner’s sale-brand. What should we do, Patrόn?”
    “Take the vaqueros and mark the new calves,” Pedro told Juan. His uncle was nearly too heavy to sit a horse now. Roman could hear him breathing from several feet away. He waved his pudgy hand at Juan to do his bidding.
    The mayordomo looked to Roman for confirmation of the command, something Juan had never done before he left for Texas. Time had not been kind to his Uncle Pedro. The golden rings were absent from his fingers, probably gambled away. The aguardiente , California’s brandy, had taken its toll, making him an unfit leader for Rancho de los Robles. Roman could see Juan and the other vaqueros no longer respected Tio Pedro. The herdsmen waited for his nod of approval before galloping off to the task his uncle assigned them.
    “Juan is right. The brands have been changed.” Tio Pedro sighed heavily.
    Roman shifted again in his saddle, raking a hand through his hair. Though he’d left war-torn Texas, he still felt embattled here. “Tell me the truth, Tio. Why has Tyler branded our cattle?”
    “The Americano has stolen from us, but it is not as Juan believes.” Tio Pedro sighed again. Roman wondered if he could make it back to the hacienda on his horse or if they would need a cart to carry the don home today.
    “What does Juan believe?” Roman asked patiently. It was the Californio way to honor one’s elders at all times. If nothing else, Roman was Californio to the core. And he did love his uncle, who had raised him since his father’s death over a decade ago when Tio Pedro took over as the patrόn of Rancho de los Robles.
    Tio Pedro waved a plump hand in the mayordomo ’s direction. “Juan’s father was our mayordomo for twenty-eight years. Not once did Junipero question me or your father. But that one, the son, he is disrespectful. I miss Junipero. Oh, that the bull that killed the father would have killed the son instead.”
    “What are you saying, Tio?”
    “I’m sorry about Sarita. She chose the Americano on her own accord. I had nothing to do with her marriage to Señor Tyler.”
    Roman did not acknowledge his uncle’s condolences. When he refused to speak, Tio Pedro continued. “You should be happy Sarita agreed to that union. Señor Tyler had his heart set on Maria. It was all I could do to hold the foreigner at bay. We thought you were dead and it was hard to go on without you.”
    “Tyler wanted my sister for a wife?” Roman was stunned. Maria was younger than Tyler’s daughter, for heaven’s sake.
    “It cost many cattle to pacify the Yankee; alas, the changed brands.” Tio Pedro waved his hand over the herd in explanation.
    The leather of Roman’s saddle creaked in protest as he shifted his frame, every muscle in his body tightening in anger. He knew his uncle’s fondness for monte. But certainly Tio would never gamble with the Americano, would he?
    “Why must we pacify Tyler?” Roman’s heart pounded as he waited for his uncle’s response. Tio would not be the first Californio to lose his family’s holdings to gambling.
    “The Americanos are threatening to wrest California from Mexico. If this happens, it will be wise to have a powerful Yankee aligned with us. I have done everything I can to see this accomplished for Rancho de los Robles.”
    “Micheltorena will not let this happen,” Roman said with more merit than the statement deserved. He’d been a soldier with California’s governor in the Texas campaign. Though he defended Micheltorena, he doubted the governor and his cholo troops could stop