Brody (16 page)

“Does she need help?” Brody scowled at the spot where she’d been. Olivia was curious why he cared enough to ask. That woman had tried to force both of them into having sex with her. She was definitely not a friend.

“No, Elena is very good at doing what I say.” Rodrigo gestured to the door, which had also been painted red. She’d never seen such a color or so much of it. “
Bienvenidos a
Lucinda’s.”

He opened the door and Olivia took a deep breath and stepped inside. The inside was plain, much to her surprise. There were a few tables here and there, with one old man sleeping at one, but there was no crowd of people, no brightly dressed loose women lounging about. She’d expected to see a great deal of debauchery and whiskey, but there was none. The place was almost empty.

She smelled a mixture of things, including a sweet, spicy aroma mixed with a musky overtone and another pungent odor, perhaps the old man. Beneath all of them, a dark scent lurked.

“Kind of quiet in here.” Brody glanced at the man and all around the room, as though memorizing it.

“It is
siesta
time,
señor
. People will come later.” Rodrigo walked toward a curtain at the back of the large room. “Follow me.”

Brody took her hand and squeezed it. She wouldn’t admit this to him, but it made her feel better. They had been together physically of course, but not like this, not in comfort. It meant a lot to her that he considered she needed a bit of reassurance right about then.

The curtain was a coarse brown material but well made and thick. Brody held it aside so she could walk into a huge kitchen. Lucinda’s was a restaurant?

An older woman stood at the stove frying something that smiled heavenly. She had thick silver hair braided down her back, reminding Olivia of Elena. Perhaps this was her mother.

“Mama.” Rodrigo came up behind the woman and kissed her cheek.

She turned and spread her arms wide.
“Mi hijo!”

When he picked her up and spun her around, she squealed like a little girl. Olivia was surprised by the gesture, and it skewed her perception of the outlaw.

The woman spoke in rapid-fire Spanish as he set her down. Olivia followed some of it, but the dialect was unlike anything she knew. Then the older woman spotted the two of them in the kitchen and she stopped speaking. The woman was beautiful, strikingly so. Her skin had wrinkles but not a significant amount. Her cheekbones were high and pronounced, balanced by a strong jaw and chin. Her eyes were dark as pitch, and they stared with the sharpness of a dagger.

“¿Quien es los gringos?”
Her voice had dropped to a quiet monotone. Of course she would question who they were, but her tone made Olivia tighten all over.

“
Mis amigos,
Stuart and Meredith.” He smiled at them. “They have come to do business, but first, we must eat.”

The woman stared at them for what felt like an exceptionally long time before she turned back to the stove. Olivia recognized that whoever this woman was, she held the power in this building. She was no ordinary cook or just someone’s mother. This had to be Lucinda.

Rodrigo hung his hat on a hook on the wall and gestured to the square table in the corner. Brody took off his hat and held it as they sat down. A charged silence filled the big kitchen.

Olivia folded her hands on the table and tried to appear casual. She’d darkened her skin to appear to be someone she wasn’t and at that table, she felt like someone else. Instead of being at home, safe and comfortable, she was in a strange place, dusty, scared and surrounded by strangers who could kill her for just being a
gringa
.

Brody was as still as a statue beside her, his gaze constantly roaming the room, yet landing on the woman and Rodrigo with regularity. He looked calm, but she wondered how he felt on the inside. She knew what he planned, but how could they possibly find out what they needed to know when only Rodrigo spoke to them? At least in his small place in Forgata, the barkeep had talked to her after he found out she spoke Spanish. Here, she was even more out of her element and afraid she didn’t know what to do.

Perhaps they would get a few moments alone so she could talk to Brody. The last thing she wanted to do was make a mistake since they were literally in the lion’s den.

The older woman brought a plate of steaming food and set it in front of Rodrigo with a fork.

“Mama, comida para todos.”
His voice was gentle, another surprise, although he was ordering her to serve food to everyone.

“I don’t want to make her—”Olivia started to say.

The woman’s gaze snapped to Olivia’s, cutting her off in mid-sentence.

“You are in my house and I will decide what is done.” The woman spoke nearly perfect English with barely an accent. “You may be Rodrigo’s ‘friends’ but you are not mine.”

Olivia realized she’d offended the woman—just what she’d hoped not to do. “I apologize.”

The woman made a quick motion with her hand and turned back to the stove. Brody glanced at her and she tried to apologize with her eyes. He turned his attention back to the old woman and did not take his eyes off her again.

To Olivia’s surprise, Lucinda set down plates in front of the two of them. It was meat, peppers, onions on top of a big tortilla layered with beans. Not only did it smell delicious but after Olivia took her first bite, her tongue confirmed it was delicious and spicy. She groaned before she could stop herself.

“You like spicy food.”

“
Sí, señora
. I grew up eating it.” A full truth at last.

The old woman sat down across from her and watched as they ate. No matter the strange circumstance, Olivia was ravenous, and dug in with gusto.

“Why are you here?”

Olivia’s fork hung in mid-air and she set it down slowly before she dropped it. Brody set his down deliberately and wiped his mouth on his sleeve.

“To do business.”

She steepled her fingers under her chin, her dark eyes sharp. “Rodrigo brings you so he must think you are a businessman.”

“I am a businessman. I’ve taken what I wanted and now I want more.” Brody had slipped into his cool ranger persona, unflappable and controlled.

“You wish to do business with me?” She narrowed her gaze.

“I wish to find a buyer to do business with. If that’s you, then yes.” He didn’t even blink as he spoke.

She turned to Rodrigo and spoke in that rapid-fire Spanish again. Olivia tried to follow the conversation but only picked up words here and there. After a few minutes of dialog with the outlaw, the woman got up and walked to the curtain. With one last probing look, she left the kitchen.

Olivia picked at her food while the men continued to eat as though nothing had happened. She wanted to know more about who this woman was, what Lucinda knew about the buyer and most important, if she knew where Benjy was. It wasn’t easy being patient when she was used to pushing until she got what she wanted.

“Are we leaving or staying?” Brody finally asked.

Rodrigo sipped at the glass of liquid the old woman had given him. It had a powerful enough scent that Olivia knew it was liquor but she had no idea what. It didn’t smell like whiskey.

“Staying. Mama wants to think about your offer. She does not go into business with everyone,
señor
. That would be stupid and she is very smart.” Rodrigo threw back the rest of the liquor and smacked his lips. “She has good tequila too.”

Tequila—that’s what he was drinking. Olivia did not want to know what it tasted like. Too much was riding on keeping a clear head. Although right about then, a stiff drink might’ve helped her nerves.

“Was that Lucinda?” Olivia couldn’t help asking.

Rodrigo smiled at her, looking almost boyish with his tousled black curls and wide grin. “
Lo siento, amiga. Sí,
she is my mama, Lucinda.”

“Wait, does that mean Elena is your sister?” Olivia wasn’t expecting that bit of news. Who treated their sister the way Rodrigo treated Elena? Like a slave born to serve him and commit salacious acts at his command. The very idea horrified Olivia.

“
Sí,
she is
mi hermana
.” Rodrigo’s smile faded. “I was born of the
jefe
of a big hacienda. Elena, she is a mongrel born of a
vaquero’
s lust for a woman who took his money.”

Olivia didn’t know how to respond. Not only had he confirmed the beautiful seductress was his sister, a disturbing piece of the puzzle that was Rodrigo, but his mother was Lucinda, who was apparently a whore. What a family life they had. It was apparent Rodrigo thought himself above his sister and treated her accordingly.

Brody kept on eating as though the information was of no import. She wanted to kick him and slap Rodrigo.

“Is there a place Meredith and I can take a siesta?” He asked as he scraped the last bite into his mouth.

Rodrigo’s grin wasn’t genuine this time. It was lascivious and dark. “Ah, time to ride your filly again, eh? I don’t blame you. I would fuck her as many times a day as I could.” Olivia knew if Brody wasn’t with her, Rodrigo would probably try to do just that. She promised herself never to be alone with the outlaw.

Brody didn’t respond to Rodrigo’s crude taunt. This time his silence aggravated Rodrigo, judging by the look on his face, which gave Olivia a certain measure of satisfaction. She wasn’t the only one annoyed by the taciturn ranger.

“
Sí,
I will put you in one of the rooms upstairs.” Rodrigo got to his feet. “I have my own business to do up there.”

Olivia wondered what lucky woman would be the recipient of Rodrigo’s business. Then again, she didn’t want to know. The man was as twisted up as any person she’d ever met.

They left the kitchen through a staircase in the back. The smell of the house changed from the warm, spicy foods to something entirely different. Sweet perfume, human body odor and again that underlying scent of something dark. She wondered if Rodrigo would be offended if she covered her nose.

Something lurked within this building, something that stayed in the shadows, keeping out of sight. She felt it, knew it was there, and was worried it would reach out and snatch away any chance they had to find Benjy. Olivia didn’t think she’d be closing her eyes for a siesta—her inner warning bells were ringing so loudly, her ears hurt.

Brody paced the small room, his boots too loud in the eerie quiet that had fallen over Lucinda’s building. The entire town seemed to take their siesta seriously. Olivia stood at the window, staring out onto the deserted street.

He needed to make a deal with Lucinda and find out exactly who her buyers were. Or at least enough information to track down Benjy Graham and the rest of the missing folks. He had to keep reminding himself that he wasn’t there just for Olivia. Although, she bossed him around enough one would think he was.

Brody expected some dark people to enter his life, but he hadn’t expected her. This situation had gotten so far out of hand now, he didn’t know how to stop it, or save them. He knew they were risking their lives, knew they were helpless and at the whim of a Mexican outlaw. A loco one at that. The man whored his sister, for God’s sake.

It chilled him to see just how little Rodrigo valued except for himself and the profit he could make. Brody suspected the buyer he was looking for was actually Rodrigo. The man delighted in playing word games and spinning things around until he made his opponents dizzy. Brody knew he was dangerous but didn’t think he’d seen the full extent of the threat just yet.

“What do we do now?” Olivia asked in a hushed voice. She turned to look at him, her beautiful blue-green eyes full of worry and fear. It was probably the first time he’d seen that particular emotion from the prickly rancher’s daughter and he didn’t like it. She needed fire and sass there, not fear. The weight of their situation weighed even more heavily on him.

“We wait. We are in their world now, Liv. If we go snooping around here, our bodies will never be found.” He didn’t want to be anything but frank with her now. There was too much at stake to tell half-truths.

She blinked rapidly but she didn’t flinch. “What do they do with the bodies?”

He didn’t expect the question. “Leave them for the vultures and critters probably.”

This time she did flinch. “Tell me what Elena said to you back in Forgata. Now.” Her normally demanding voice had shrunk to a shaky whisper.

Brody sat on the bed and patted the spot next to him. “Sit down and I’ll tell you.”

With reluctance in her step, she sat down beside him and crossed her arms. She might just as well have put up no trespassing signs.

“She recognized you. Well, your eyes anyway.”

Her expression exploded and the arms fell away. “She’s seen Benjy.”

He winced at the hope in her voice. “Yes, she said he’d been through here months earlier. He’d been difficult and kept calling for your mother and Eva. She said they’d taken him away with the others, but she remembered him. And she knew why you had come.”

“He was alive then, at least.” She pressed her hands to her eyes, her fingers trembling. “Is it good or bad that she recognized me?”

“Both I suppose. Elena now has information that can buy her favor from Rodrigo and Lucinda. But she also didn’t say anything, as far as I know, to her brother, and that could mean she might not.” Brody couldn’t read Elena. He needed to get her alone. “I need to talk to her again, but in the meantime, I want to set up a business arrangement with Rodrigo and his mother.”

Olivia blew out a breath. “What should I do?”

“Keep pretending to be my woman, keep your eyes open and your mouth shut.” It was futile to tell her to be quiet, but he would at least try.

“I want to talk to Elena.” She took his hand and squeezed it, her palms damp. “Please, I have to.”

Brody knew there would be trouble if the two women were together, alone. “No, let me do that. You are too emotional about this. I’m here to do my job, not to rescue my little brother.”

“Please, Brody. I can’t do nothing.” She got up so fast, he almost fell sideways. “I have always pitched in, done what I could, haven’t I? I have to help.”