Midnight Rider (46 page)

“This is the title to Rancho del Robles.” He looked up at her, dark turbulence gathered in his eyes. “The deed says the rancho belongs to me.”

“That's right. It belongs to its rightful owner. That man is you.”

“I cannot—”

“Think of Andreas, Ramon. Think of your father.” She reached out and touched him, rested a hand on his cheek. “I'm your wife. I'll be here to share it with you, and soon I'll give you sons. But the land belongs to you, as it should have from the start.” Tears stung her eyes, began to slide down her cheeks.
“Te amo, mi corazon. Te amo como jamas he amado.”
I love you, my heart. I love you as I never have loved before.

Ramon swept her into his arms, the muscles in his throat constricting, his heart near to bursting with love for her. Carly clung to him as he kissed the side of her neck, arched toward him when he slid his hands inside the ruffled emerald silk to cup and stroke her breast.

In minutes he had stripped off her clothes and his own, and carried her over to the bed. He meant to take her gently, cursed when instead he found himself plunging inside her with fiery abandon. Yet it seemed to be exactly what she wanted. She begged for his bold caress, his driving heat and passion. She demanded to be swept up in his hunger, that he satisfy her own.

When the fury of their lovemaking subsided, they lay quietly together, arms and legs entwined, listening to the sounds of laughter and music still throbbing outside their window. Then he took her again, gently this time, arousing her slowly, then filling her again and again until she reached her peak and softly cried out his name. Holding her into the circle of his arms, he watched the flush gradually fade from her cheeks.

“I love you,” she said on a slow breath of air.

Ramon stroked her hair, kissed the silky strands at her temple. “As I love you,
mi vida.
” My life. “Never once did I believe I would be such a fortunate man.” He smiled at her softly, awed by the incredible gift he had been given.

He had found a woman of strength and beauty to love throughout the years. The woman of his heart. She had seen his lands returned—Rancho del Robles would belong to his sons, and those of his sons after that.

He had found peace at last through the woman he held in his arms.

Ramon had finally come home.

Author's Note

The 1850s in California were known as the Decade of the Desperado. Joaquin Murieta and dozens of men like him, many of them displaced Californios who had been mistreated by the Anglos or robbed of their lands, raided and pillaged for years before they were stopped.

Harry Love was the man given credit for killing Murieta. I took the liberty of pitting him against Ramon de la Guerra as well. I also took some license with the town of San Juan Bautista in that some of the buildings I mentioned were not built for several more years. However, the place was then, and still is, the epitome of the early Spanish town.

The Indian words I used were Yocuts's, though in early California each small tribe had its own separate language. It was an exciting place to be in the fifties, a time of growth and tremendous opportunity. I hope you enjoyed Ramon and Carly's story and that I'll have the chance to write another novel set in this fascinating period.

New York Times
bestselling author Kat Martin is a graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara where she majored in Anthropology and also studied History. Currently residing with her Western-author husband, L. J. Martin, in Missoula, Montana, Kat has written over fifty Historical and Contemporary Romantic Suspense novels. More than fifteen million copies of her books are in print and she has been published in more than a dozen foreign countries. Kat is currently at work on her next Romantic Suspense.

Visit her website at:
www.katbooks.com

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

MIDNIGHT RIDER. Copyright © 1996 by Kat Martin.

All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

www.stmartins.com

Cover art © JON PAUL

Author photograph © LJ Martin

eISBN 9781466837737

First eBook Edition: June 2013

 

 

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