Free Hannah Howell by A Taste of Fire Page B

unaware down by the swimming hole?” Cole asked. “Swimming, were you?"
    “You know damn well what we were doing, not that it's any of your damn business."
    “Good thing the señorita has sharp ears. Could have been embarrassing."
    “Stop calling her that,” Royal groused. “Her name's Antonie. Hell, you're wrong about her and you're right about her."
    “Care to explain that a mite more clearly?"
    “She was a virgin,” he said quietly and nodded when Cole gaped at him in total astonishment. “I felt the same way."
    “You didn't force her or, hell, I mean, take advantage of her, I reckon. She isn't going to be crying about being ruined, is she?"
    “Not her. But, there I am thinking of her as a sweet untouched girl and, next, she's got a gun in her hand facing five armed men and calmly stating the advantages of attacking them there and then. Didn't blink an eye after it was over or even mention that she'd been hit. ‘It's only a flesh wound,’ she says. Calm and cool the whole time."
    “Just like her adoptive father would have been,” Cole murmured.
    “Yes, exactly. Yet, what the hell's a girl like that doing being a virgin? The two images just don't mix."
    “I'd feel damn flattered."
    “Oh, I do, but, hell, those Degas boys have been with her for at least seven years, probably longer. I thought for sure they had had her."
    “They started out together at a young age. That could make a difference. They feel more like siblings.” Cole took a long sip of his drink, watching Royal's frowning face. “What do you do with her now?"
    “What do you think?” Royal said dryly. “What I can't understand is her attitude. I had no hint that she was a virgin until it was too late. She decided she wanted me for a lover and that was that.” He ran his hand through his hair. “I don't know her kind. All the women I've known act according to certain rules. She doesn't. I don't know which way to turn."
    “Now that you have made me suitably envious, how about a little bit of advice? She thinks like a man."
    Royal blinked in sudden comprehension. “You're right."
    “She was raised by a man. Even I've seen that she's more comfortable around men. Oh, there's no doubt she's a woman and probably has a woman's quirks, but if you follow your own inclinations, I think she'll make sense to you more often than not. She's looking at this in the same way you are. Pattie's said several times that Antonie doesn't seem to know what to do around her, that they have little common ground. I'm sure Antonie has all the emotional twists and turns of any female but, in the main, she thinks like a man.” Cole smiled slowly. “What would a man do now?"
    “He'd be waiting in the bed for the damn woman to show up. Maybe sleep a little, but still wait."
    Royal heard Cole laugh softly as he quickly finished his drink and left. He saw the humor in the situation but also understood the concern Cole could not hide. Antonie was still Juan Ramirez's daughter, a bandido's child. Royal knew that Cole felt he was headed for trouble. Even so, he mused with a little smile, he suspected that Cole would not mind a little of this sort of trouble.
    Slipping quietly into Antonie's room, Royal fully expected her to wake up. Instead she slept on as if she knew there was no danger. It was evidently not any sound that alerted her to trouble, but some sixth sense. In some ways she reminded him of a wild thing that would start at only a certain sound, movement or scent, quite often imperceptible to a man. Even while he could admire, actually envy, that skill, it was an unsettling one. If nothing else, it served as a strong reminder of the life she had led.
    She also looked like a child with a sweet innocence on her face as she slept. Long, thick lashes, like a crescent of black silk, lay on soft cheeks; her full mouth was parted slightly. It was very hard to believe that her small, delicate hand, now curled gently under her cheek, had stroked him so boldly or held