The Promise of Jenny Jones
gazed into Emil's hot eyes and did not speak.
    Emil's anger seared those around him. Spittle flew from his lips. "You all heard. Maria claims my cousin sent Graciela to her Americano father." His eyes returned to the woman and pinned her. "And where would that be?" he demanded in a voice that told everyone he knew the answer.
    "The father is inCalifornia," the woman whispered. She lowered her gaze and sat on a bench against the wall.
    "Then why did the witch take the train south? Explain that, Maria Torrez."
    "South?" Shock clouded the woman's eyes.
    "When Luis returns from the hacienda, you will hear it from his own lips. The witch abducted our little cousin for her own purposes. I say we go after the witch, kill her, and rescue Graciela. I say do not listen to a woman's prattle. My cousin would never entrust her daughter to a stranger. You know this. The honor of the Barrancas family and the honor of this village rest on saving Graciela from the witch."
    Ty folded the penknife into his boot top,then drained the tumbler of pulque, letting it scald his throat. He set the tumbler down hard and stared out the side door at a swarm of gnats circling a tree lantern.
    The witch business was clever nonsense. Emil played on the ignorance of superstitious villagers to refute Maria Torrez's contention that Marguarita had given her daughter to a stranger rather than family. That much Ty understood.
    But there was much that he did not understand. One thing, however, was unpleasantly clear. The knot behind his rib cage told him that he had abetted in the abduction of his own niece. Now he knew the truth about the fracas at the depot in Verde Flores, and he cursed his role in it. Damn his hide, he had helped a female desperado steal Robert's daughter.
    Cursing silently, he tossed some coins on the table,then stood. Cousin Luis was expected at any moment, and Cousin Luis wasn't likely to have forgotten the cowboy who came to the aid of the red-haired woman. Common sense urged Ty to step out the side door, fetch his belongings, and get the hell out of here.
    Halfway to the stables, he spotted the muchacho who had carried his message to the hacienda. The boy slipped off his burro and ran forward, waving an envelope. Without breaking stride, Ty flipped the boy a coin and continued toward the lanterns hanging outside the stables.
    After extracting two thin pages covered in flowing female script; he held them to the light. Dona Theodora Barrancas y Talmas begged permission to inform him that her great-niece, Señora Marguarita Sanders, and Señora Sanders's young daughter had unfortunately succumbed to the coughing disease three days since. Dona Theodora castigated her own rudeness but as much as she longed to offer her great-niece's brother-in-law the hacienda's hospitality, grief prevented her from opening her doors. She pleaded for understanding and prayed that Señora Sanders would forgive her for not receiving him at this desolate moment of dual tragedy.
    In other words: Leave. You no longer have reason to be here.
    For an instant, he considered returning toCalifornia. He could show Dona Theodora's message to Robert. Marguarita and the child were dead.
    Ty crumpled the pages in his first. Frowning, he glanced back at the lights shining out of the cantina.
    Inside, Cousin Emil was striving to incite the village men to rescue Graciela from a witch. Yet, Dona Theodora stated that Ty's niece had died with her mother.
    The answer came in a flash. With Marguarita dead—and all parties agreed on that point—Graciela became Robert's heir. And Don Antonio Barrancas's heir.
    His narrowed gaze slid down the squalid shacks flanking the main street of the village. What would Robert pay to ransom his daughter? Would he sell the cattle? The ranch? Ty didn't doubt it. He wasn't as certain about Don Antonio, as Barrancas had never accepted or acknowledged Robert and Marguarita's marriage. Still, the old man might turn sentimental when he learned his

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