Free Ecstasy's Promise (Historical Romance) by Constance O'Banyon Page A

back for their kindness, she vowed.
    These Texans had opened their home to her and Bodine, and had gone out of their way to help them. Victoria hoped that her grandmother would come for her tomorrow. She fell asleep wondering what their meeting would be like.

 
    5
     
    Dr. Dan Owens drove his buggy through the big gates of Rio del Lobo. The gates were made of heavy wrought iron in which the design of a wolf, the symbol of the Hanover empire, was woven in intricate detail. He rode up the driveway and stopped before the huge Spanish ranch house, which stood on two acres of manicured lawn. Dan always wondered how they kept it so green in the years when there was a drought. It took four gardeners to keep it up. The house itself was beautiful, a huge two-story, white Spanish hacienda, with a bright-red tile roof. Dan walked up to the massive front door, and lifted the heavy knocker which was in the shape of a wolf.
    He and Edward Hanover had been friends since boyhood. Dan was the son of the local doctor, who, more often than not, had been paid for his services in eggs or livestock rather than money. The fact that Dan was poor and Edward was extremely wealthy had no effect on their friendship, however. In fact, Edward's father had paid for Dan to study medicine at an eastern university. He had asked only that Dan practice medicine in Cedarville. That had been no hardship to Dan, since he loved his hometown and the people in it.
    The door was opened by Juanita, Edward's plump Mexican housekeeper. Her black hair was braided and wound around her head neatly. Her plump face was drawn up in a worried frown. "Senor Doctor, come in," she greeted Dan in a voice full of concern.
    "What kind of a welcome is that, Juanita? You look as if you just lost your best friend."
    She shook her head and clicked her tongue. "Senor Eduardo is in a very bad mood. He came home in a rage and has shut himself in his study."
    Dan smiled at her. "I have weathered these storms before, Juanita."
    She nodded her head in agreement. "Si, Senor Doctor. You and no one else."
    "You go on with whatever you were doing, Juanita. I will announce myself."
    Dan rapped on the study door, opened it, and entered. Edward was sitting at his desk and looked at him with a scowl on his handsome face. "Oh, it's you," he said sourly.
    "Shall I go out and come in again?" Dan teased. "What has got your back up?"
    "Damned incompetence," Edward answered, rising to his feet. "I am surrounded by incompetence."
    Dan seated himself in a leather chair and studied his friend. His actual name was Eduardo Antonio Hanover. Edward was tall, well over six feet, with broad shoulders that rippled with muscles, and tapered to a trim waist. His long lean legs were firm from many hours in the saddle. His ebony-colored hair was swept carelessly across his forehead. Edward's eyes were deep brown, fringed with long black lashes. His chin was stubborn, with a slight cleft in it. Black sideburns framed his face, tan from the hours he spent in the sun. He had gotten his dark good looks from his Spanish mother, and his height and broad shoulders from his English father.
    When Edward had been sixteen, his father had insisted on sending him to England to complete his education. He had been a wild and untamed youth, but when he returned from England, he was polished and sophisticated.
    Edward chose to wear English-styled clothing, as his father had, instead of dressing as his fellow Texans did. He wore a white silk shirt, and tight-fitting pants hugged his long legs. The pant legs were tucked inside highly polished, black English boots.
    There was a magnetism about Edward which seemed to draw the ladies, both young and old. Men respected him and gave him a wide berth when the occasion called for it. He had been spoiled; as an only child, his father and mother had given him whatever he wanted. He was used to getting his own way. Yet, he was a friend who could be depended upon, and Dan loved him like a