Untamed Fire Read Online Free PDF Page B

and serious.
He had broken some of the wildest stallions and mares and now they
obeyed his every command. By month’s end Gaby Alvardo would do the
same.

Chapter Three
    “I don’t want to wear them,” Gaby said,
placing a plate of scrambled eggs with green peppers on the serving
tray.
    Lupe wiped her hands on her bright yellow
apron. “Don Rafael said you must wear sandals... and Dona Maria
will never eat those eggs.”
    Gaby’s face lit with a determined smile.
    Lupe shook her head. “You have a stubborn
nature, and it’s going to get you into trouble.”
    Gaby gave Lupe a quick hug before snatching
a corn biscuit from the platter on the table. “I’ve been here five
days and have seen Don Rafael only twice. If I keep my distance
from him, he will never know.”
    Lupe shook her finger in Gaby’s face. “He
knows everything that goes on at the hacienda. Last year,
Elena—she’s one of the young girls who clean the main house —became
pregnant. She is a good girl, but fell in love with the wrong
man.”
    Gaby listened with interest, aware that Lupe
knew all that went on at the hacienda and was prone to gossip. But
gossip could help her learn more about her new home and about Don
Rafael.
    “Anyway,” she continued while filling the
silver pot on the serving tray with coffee. “Elena was sick with
worry. The father of her child disappeared soon after she had told
him. She was too ashamed to confide in her family.” Lupe’s voice
lowered to a whisper. She glanced around the room making certain no
one was about. “She even considered taking her own life. Madre
Dios .” Lupe crossed herself.
    Gaby felt sick for the young girl. She
should not have to bear such shame simply because she had
mistakenly surrendered to a man who had claimed to love her.”What
happened to her?” she asked with concern.
    Lupe’s voice picked up its usual robust
tenor. “Don Rafael summoned Elena into his study. She thought he
was going to order her out of his home in disgrace. But three days
later she was married to one of the vaqueros who had lost
his wife only six months before and was left with two small
children to care for.”
    “Is Elena happy?”
    “Very,” Lupe grinned. “Rico, her husband, is
good to her and she loves his two little ones as he does her son.
It was a perfect union. So you see Don Rafael knows
everything.”
    “Someone must have told him or he heard
gossip,” Gaby insisted folding the white napkin embroidered with
pink flowers next to the plate.
    Lupe vehemently shook her head. “No. The
servants only speak in his company when he speaks to them and no
one would have dared to tell Don Rafael about Elena’s problem.”
    “There is always someone willing to talk.”
Gaby smiled picking up the tray and putting it right back down as
though she had forgotten something.
    Lupe laughed as she watched the young woman
go through her usual routine. Gaby rushed out the open kitchen
door, snatched a white daisy bursting in its early morning bloom
and hurried back into the house to fill a slim crystal vase with
water before slipping the lovely flower in it and then she placed
it on the tray.
    “Dona Maria loves flowers,” Gaby said
recalling how delighted the woman had been with the bouquet of wild
flowers. Her face had lit with a smile and Gaby caught a sight of
the young vibrant woman she had once been.
    “I know, child. Everyone should be as
perceptive to that woman as you are.”
    “Then you know that she isn’t as ill as they
claim?”
    “Of course I do. She mourns for her late
husband.”
    “Yes, she does,” Gaby said, lifting the
tray. “And do you know the best medicine for that?”
    Lupe’s earthy brown eyes widened
questioningly.
    “Another man,” Gaby laughed and walked out
of the room.
    ~~~
    Gaby bumped Don Maria’s bedroom door open
with her hip. She backed in and turned with a flourish as she sang
out, “Good morning!” She stopped abruptly as her glance fell on Don
Rafael.
    “Good