Rio Grande Wedding Part 12

Twilight leaked into the edges of the sky.

And sitting on the steps of the wide porch was his Saint Molly. He leaned against the wall for a moment; startled by his reaction to the simple act she indulged.

She was brushing her hair.

It was beautiful. Very long, draping over her shoulders and falling down her back. She brushed it idly, slowly, as if it pleased her to feel the bristles on her scalp, then she rolled her head and the hair slid and swished over her arms and back, and he could tell she was enjoying the feel of it on her body.

A pulse beat softly just below his ribs, and he found himself remembering the shape of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s when she'd tied up her hair this morning. A sudden acute and vivid imagining appeared in his head, a detailed vision of that gilt and sunlight and earthen hair draped over her naked b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

He discovered he was not beyond arousal any longer. He was likely beyondacting on it, but his body seemed to have no trouble expressing its approval. Taking a breath, he looked away and counted silently, until the edge of it eased.

Then he limped through the kitchen to the door."Buenastardes," he said quietly. "Is it

safe for me to join you outside,senora?"

She turned, and her hair shifted, some of it spilling down her front, bringing back that erotic vision."Si," she replied, smiling gently."Porfavor."

He eyed the steps dubiously, and she leaped up, extended her hand. Alejandro took it.

In his big, dark one, hers was slim and held the illusion of fragility. Illusion only, for he'd experienced that strength, experienced it now as she braced him, helped him ease down one step so he could sit with her.

She settled one step below him. He looked out at the gloaming, feeling something quiet in him. And Molly did not speak, either, seemingly content with the soft chatter of birds in a tree and the distant whisper of an awakening cricket.

Suddenly, the cicadas clicked on, a thousand score of them, roaring to life on the same note, all at the same instant, their music a sonnet in the graying world. Alejandro looked at the trees, knowing the insects would be invisible, but looking anyway, as he always did. They whirred in their rhythmic way for a few minutes, then as suddenly as they'd begun, cut off with the finality of a conductor's baton. He grinned and spread his hands, palm down. "Finished!"

"Don't you always wonder how they know to start and stop like that? So many of them, all at once."

Once he had known, but he couldn't remember now. "I do."

Just beyond his knee, the extravagance of her hair spilled down her back, and he inched his fingers along his thigh, aching to brush his fingertips over it. "You look very young with your hair down."

Self-consciously, she gathered a handful of it. "Think so? I keep thinking lately it's time to cut it. My mother always said a woman should cut her hair when she was thirty."

"Ah, no. You should not cut such hair." He reached out, paused. "May I touch it?"

"Oh. Sure." She leaned a little closer and he took a thick hank into his grip,then let it spill through his fingers, admiring the glitter of it against his dark fingers. It was almost weightless, and very soft, and he liked it very much.

When it nearly fell away, he caught it again, with the other hand, and spread a handful over his open palm. "It makes me think of honeycomb, all these different colors in it."

He raised his eyes. "I like it."

A guarded expression warned him away. "Thank you," she said, almost stiffly.

Alejandro, vaguely disappointed, let her hair fall, and shifted his gaze to the fields stretching beyond the gardens. Empty fields, overgrown with gray-green sage and walking stick cactus with hard knots of dark red fruit at the tips. "Is this your land?"

"Some of it." She pointed. "From the bluff over there, to the cottonwood. Then some more in front of the house."

He narrowed his eyes, nodding. "How much land?"

"Close to a hundred acres."

So much! If he owned land, he would not leave it fallow this way. "It is good land here," he said. "You do not plant it?"

"My husband had made plans to," she said slowly. "I wouldn't have the faintest idea where to start."

"Ah." He nodded. Still, "You should do something with it."

She looked over her shoulder. "Like what?"

Alejandro inclined his head. "A henhouse, over there, for eggs. And a rooster to make more chickens-" he grinned "-and to wake up the morning. Some goats, for their milk, and some sheep, for the wool." He pursed his lips. "And then the fields ...chiles and beans and maybe some pimentos, no? Enough for you, and some to take to market."

She had a faint smile on her face. "Anything else?"

He raised an eyebrow, aware she was teasing him. "Yes. Bees." He gestured to the bluff.

"They would feed on the peach trees, and the honey would be very good."

"I'm afraid of bees."

"You would learn," he replied confidently. "And with those things, you would not have to work. You would have everything here."

This time she chuckled. "But I like working. I'm a much better nurse than I am a farmer."

The sound of a car engine made them both turn toward the road. Dust kicked up behind a truck, still quite distant but unmistakably headed their way.

"d.a.m.n." Molly leaped to her feet. "That's my brother. We have to get you inside. Fast."

Worry made her eyes dark gray. "He's a deputy sheriff, and he won't be happy when he finds out I've done this."

He started to rise at the same instant she did, and their foreheads cracked together painfully. Molly made a soft noise, and reeled backward, put off balance. Alejandro, blinking against the sharp rap himself, reached out to keep her from falling. He snared her upper arm and yanked, and she tilted forward, a hand coming down on his shoulder.

"Sorry," she said. "Are you okay?"

She was close. But for once, she was not beneath him or beside him. She was not washing him or tending him or feeding him. She faced him, her mouth only inches from his own, her b.r.e.a.s.t.s at a level with his hands, and he wanted very much to kiss her, to lift his hands to that inviting weight and gauge her fit to his palms. The wish swelled through him, quick and hot.

As if his thoughts showed on his face, she ... softened. It was the only word. The slope of her shoulders eased, and her hand opened wider on his shoulder, as if she'd like to slide her fingers beneath his collar. Her eyelids flickered, sweeping down to hide the direction of her gaze, which he felt on his mouth.

He saw her catch her breath, and for a long second, Alejandro thought she would sway closer and press her mouth to his. He found himself ready, lifting his head, ready to touch her if she gave leave.

Instead, her hand clenched and she gripped him, looking over her shoulder. "Now, Alejandro. I'm not kidding. He'll arrest you."

Molly heard her brother's truck on the gravel outside just as she closed her back bedroom door. Alejandro put his fingers to his lips to show her he understood, and she rushed down the hallway, smoothing her hair, trying to breathe normally.

Going out on the front porch, she crossed her arms. "Hey there," she said jauntily as Josh climbed out. Still dressed in his uniform, he looked weary and rumpled and impossibly young. "What brings you out here?"

"Just checking on you. They said you called in sick this morning. You sick?"

Molly had almost forgotten. "I'm feeling better tonight."

He climbed up to the porch, hat in his hands. "How about pouring me a gla.s.s of tea, then?"

As she led him into the house, for an odd, scared moment, she thought there was something in his manner that was a little off kilter. His mouth was tight as he looked around carefully, she thought at the living room. But she looked again and only saw her brother. Paranoia.

She did not particularly want to lead him into the kitchen if Alejandro so much as sneezed, Josh would hear it. She directed him to a living-room chair, but he gave her a weird look and followed her into the kitchen, tossing his hat down on the table. "d.a.m.n, I'm tired." He flung his lean body into a chair. "You hear anything more about that little girl you were asking about?"