The Tiger Lily Read Online Free PDF Page B

Dangermond plot in Natchez—it had been impossible to
consider returning her body to Nacogdoches—and somehow that had hurt Sabrina
even more deeply. Alejandro and Sabrina had not lingered in Natchez after the
funeral. Natchez was now a place of unhappy memories for them both, and in the
intervening years, while Alejandro had occasionally visited with the
Dangermonds, Sabrina had never returned. Tia Sofia wrote regularly to her, and
Sabrina eagerly replied, yet she wanted nothing to do with Natchez or its sad,
painful memories.
     
    She
and her father had grown extremely close after Elena's death. They were
complete with each other, neither needing nor wanting the intrusion of another
person in the warm circle of love they had created for themselves. Elena was
never forgotten, and a stranger listening to them converse would have thought
that Elena had merely gone on a journey just yesterday and would return at any
moment. Her name cropped up often between the two of them, Sabrina sometimes
coaxing her father to order a new pair of pantaloons or an embroidered
waistcoat by saying softly, "Madre would not like to see you appearing so
shabbily dressed. Padre—not when you are going to visit with the commandant in
town!" And if Sabrina's way was a trifle devious, Alejandro was just as
guilty of using Elena in bending Sabrina to his will. When all other arguments
had failed to sway her from a course he disapproved of, he would arrange his
handsome features into a mask of sorrow and murmur unscrupulously, '"'I do
not think your madre would like you to do this, chico ." And
Sabrina would instantly fall in with his wishes.
     
    Despite
Elena's untimely death, Sabrina's childhood was a happy one. She spent an
inordinate time with her father as he went about the ranch supervising and
doing the daily tasks. Her life was less restricted and confined than it would
have been if her mother had lived, but her father's unorthodox regime and the
maturity forced upon her by Elena's tragic death had not been harmful. Though
she was petted and pampered, in some ways Alejandro treated her as though she
were a son.
     
    And
while there were some, notably Tia Francisca, Alejandro's eldest sister, who
thought it outrageous that Sabrina could not sew a straight seam, had never
fathomed the mysteries of the kitchen or instituted any of Francisca's
multitude of orders for the running of a proper household, most found
Alejandro's daughter a high-spirited, enchanting young creature. But if Sabrina
might be found lacking in some of the necessary requirements for a young lady
of her station, she most definitely made up for them with the uncommon and
questionable skills she had learned from her father and the vaqueros on the
ranch.
     
    She
could ride like a Comanche, could shoot far better than most men, was unusually
proficient with a knife, and could boast, if she wished, of a vocabulary that
would make a drunken guttersnipe blush. Sabrina was unique; she was also, not
surprisingly, the pride and darling of the Rancho del Torres, her warmhearted,
unselfish nature making her all the more endearing. Which of course explained
why her- birthday was such a special event in the Nacogdoches area.
     
    Conscious
that soon Bonita, her maid, would be appearing with her breakfast tray, Sabrina
ceased her profitless musing and went back into the room. She spared one last
long look at the bright sky and murmured softly, "Wish me well, Madre ...
I will think of you often today."
     
    Splashing
some cold water into a china bowl, she swiftly completed her morning ablutions
and then, picking up her silver-backed brush, quickly brought some semblance of
order to her night-tousled curls. Crossing to her bed, she lifted up the white
linen nightdress that had been laid out the previous evening and with a wry
grimace, put it on. Too many mornings the sight of her naked body had unleashed
a torrent of displeasure from Bonita—it was not proper, it was sinful to sleep
naked.