Sun God (9 page)

“No, no, sit down, Ramon.” Walter gestured. “You just got here.” He said to Baron, “We’ll be finished here within the hour.”

“Well, this can’t wait an hour,” replied Baron. He cast another glance of annoyance at the
don.
Then: “Maybe it’s just as well you’re here, Quintano. What I have to say concerns you as well as Dad.”

Walter Sullivan looked puzzled. “Then say it.”

“Luiz and Amy are slipping off together while we’re all asleep during siesta. I’ve seen them more than once. I saw them leave the ranch this afternoon.”

Walter Sullivan leaned way back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. His heavily cut chin jutted out and his fair face flushed with anger. “Nobody’s slipping around, except maybe you. My God, it’s summertime. The kids ride up to Puesta del Sol to wade in the water.”

Incensed, Baron looked from his father to the
don.
“You mean you know about it? You let her go?”

“What the hell’s the matter with you, boy? Of course I let her go. Any reasons why I shouldn’t?”

“Yes, there is. What do you think those two
really
do up there all alone?”

“I just got through telling you. They pull off their boots and—”

“You can bet their boots are not all they pull off. Better put a stop to it now or your precious daughter is going to be ruined.” He added, sneering slightly, “If it’s not too late already.”

Walter Sullivan’s arms came unfolded and he rose to his feet. “You ever say anything like that again, I’ll order you off this ranch, so help me! I’ll cut you off without an acre of Orilla! Not only are you slurring your sister, you’re saying the
don
’s son isn’t trustworthy. I won’t have it, you hear me? You owe him an apology, goddamn it.”

Don Ramon waved a brown hand dismissively. “It is not necessary.”

Walter, furious, shook his head. “Why, Amy and Luiz are a couple of the sweetest kids that ever lived, and I never worry about them for a minute.” He stepped around the desk and faced his son. “You say anything to either one of those children and you’ll answer to me. Understand?”

Baron nodded, his eyes an icy blue. “Sure, Dad. I understand.”

“Now get on out of here and stop trying to cause trouble for everybody.” He scowled after his son’s departing back, then returned to his chair and dropped wearily into it.

He heaved a deep, heavy sigh and said, “I apologize for Baron’s unforgivable rudeness.” He closed his eyes, then opened them. “It’s my fault, I spoiled my boys when I should have made them work hard. I should have raised them the way you did Luiz.”

“
Amigo
, who is to say what is right? If I raise my son wisely, perhaps it is because we come from a country that has known poverty. A poor country where a man has to work really hard to survive, where people have given their lives for a tiny piece of land.”

Sullivan nodded. “Well, I commend you. You’re a rich, powerful man, but your son never treats the help as if he is above them. He works hard, unlike my two lazy offspring.”

Pleased, Don Ramon smiled and reminisced, “If you recall, Luiz had an unhealthy amount of arrogance when he was a child. Then came that day he wanted the valuable stud I bought in Kentucky. He demanded that I give it to him. So I did. And a dozen other horses as well. I told him he had to feed them, water them, exercise them, do everything for them.” The
don
laughed, fondly recalling how hard the boy had had to work. “Not everyone fully appreciates how unglamorous it is to shovel out stalls. It certainly keeps you from thinking you’re the most important thing in the world.”

Walter grinned. “Well, you can be proud of the boy.”

Don Ramon gave no reply. He drew another cigar from his breast pocket and for a time the two friends sat in silence. When the
don
spoke, his tone was guarded. “Walter, as you said to Baron, Luiz and Amy are just children. But suppose when they are older they start to care about each other? Fall in love?”

“Old friend, isn’t that really what we’d both like to see happen? To have them marry? For my grandchildren to be your grandchildren? To know that Orilla will be kept together?”

The
don
felt his heart fill with gladness. He said, “It is my fondest wish.”

“Mine as well. So long as it’s several years down the road. Why, they’re just kids.” He laughed heartily. “Still wading in the river like when they were babies.”

T
HE INDIAN STOOD NAKED
in the sunlight.

The blond girl lay on the rocks below, as bare as he.

Luiz Quintano stood unmoving atop the high basalt overhang by the falls of Puesta del Sol. The spray from the rushing cascade peppered his noble dark head and slim bronzed body. Beads of water clung to the long, thick lashes of his unblinking jet-black eyes. Eyes that were locked on the beautiful naked white girl below.

Amy Sullivan lay motionless on a smooth flat rock beside the cold, clear river. Her bed of stone was completely shaded by the tall cottonwoods and silvery willows. Her pale, bare body was sheltered from the blazing desert sun’s fierce rays. She lay there beside the placid stream, her slender legs stretched full length, the palms of her hands flat against the rock. Her unbound blond hair was fanned out appealingly around her head. Her lush, dark lashes were half lowered over her vivid blue eyes. Eyes that were fastened on the handsome naked Indian above.

It was nearing summer’s end.

The waning days of a scorching September would soon give way to the slightly cooler ones of October. Since that June day when Amy had stepped down from the train to see Luiz waiting, they had had eyes only for each other. Had lost sleep thinking of one another. Had fought against what both knew would happen one day.

Today was that day.

They had reached the river and immediately begun undressing. But Luiz, after shedding only his shirt and boots, had stopped. His hands fell to his sides and he silently watched while Amy wriggled out of her tight trousers. When she wore only her lace-trimmed underthings and stood twisting her heavy hair into a golden rope, she frowned at him and said, “What are you waiting for? Take off your pants.”

He didn’t do it.

He continued to look at her in a very penetrating way. Amy’s cheeks flushed. The palms of her hands began to perspire. The air she breathed was charged with excitement and expectation.

Luiz stepped forward and stood looking down at her. All six feet of him, towering and lanky. Her head fell back, her eyes met his, and she trembled. His long arm encircled her waist and he pulled her to him. He kissed her as he’d never kissed her before, a slow burning, totally commanding kiss that caused her bare knees to buckle, her body to melt against his.

When at last his lips left hers and he lifted his head, Amy’s cheek rested against his bare chest. For a moment his hand cradled her head, then swept down the side of her throat to her shoulder. He pushed the delicate strap of her chemise down and curled long, tanned fingers inside the garment’s low, lacy bodice. Amy’s head came up off his chest. She moved back a half step and looked into his eyes.

“Let me look at you, Amy,” he said, his voice surprisingly soft and low. “All of you. That’s all I ask.”

She couldn’t speak. She nodded her head as his gentle hand swept the chemise’s bodice down and away from her left breast. She heard his sharp intake of air and saw the muscles in his bronzed throat move with his nervous swallowing.

“Tonatiuh,” she murmured breathlessly as he swiftly lowered the lace-trimmed chemise to her waist.

His blazing black eyes touched her bared breasts with such fire she could feel the heat. Her nipples instantly responded. The soft, satiny crests immediately tightened and stood out in twin peaks of sensation.

“Amy, you are beautiful,” he said, and she could tell by the change in his voice that he was awed by the sight of her. His admiration made her feel gloriously happy. When his hands went to the narrow sash of her underpants, she never even considered stopping him. She gave a little startled cry of surprise when, overpowered by a need to inspect all her feminine charms, Luiz impulsively yanked her underwear down over her flared hips.

Amy shuddered instinctively. She was totally naked now, her underthings nothing more than discarded wisps of useless cotton and lace encircling her bare feet. She flinched when Luiz agilely dropped into a crouching position before her.

“Step out of these,” he commanded softly, and she nervously obeyed. He picked up her underthings, held them tightly in his hand as if afraid she might change her mind and put them back on before he’d had the chance to examine her lovingly.

Expecting him to come to his feet, Amy felt her bare belly quiver when he remained as he was, crouching there before her, his hot eyes lingering unashamedly on the triangle of blond curls between her thighs. Just as when he’d looked at her breasts, Amy felt a stirring low in her belly, a contracting of tight muscles, the feeling that his hands as well as his eyes were caressing her, touching her where she’d never been touched before.

“
Dios
,” he muttered huskily, “
Dios
,
querido.
”

Amy held her breath when he abruptly dropped her lacy underwear. His hands came up to clasp the curve of her hips. Forcefully he pulled her to him and pressed his hot cheek against her bare stomach. She knew his eyes were closed because she felt the restless flutter of his long lashes against her sensitive flesh.

“Amy, my Amy,” he whispered, his breath a hot flame upon her fluttering belly.

As quickly as he had laid his cheek against her, he lifted it, released her hips and rose to his feet. Staring hungrily at her, he drew her to him and kissed her.

Amy could tell by his violent heartbeat against her naked breasts that he was excited, but she was far too naive to realize just how excited. As his mouth ground into hers and he crushed her to his hard body, she felt a sudden dizziness and warmth, a new kind of hunger and restlessness.

His smooth, warm chest felt wonderful pressed so tightly to hers. The shimmering gold Sun Stone, caught between their bodies, felt like a disk of hot molten lead against her breast. The hard finish of his trousers was mildly abrasive to her bare thighs and stomach and, strangely, that too felt very good.

Luiz suddenly tore his flaming lips from hers. Amy blinked in confusion when he forcefully set her back from him. She said his name and followed after him when he wheeled around and stalked hurried away.

“Stay where you are,” he said over his shoulder, and Amy, perplexed, stopped. She watched, puzzled, as he agilely climbed the vine-tangled path leading up to the falls. Dazed, short of breath, she dropped down to the flat rocks, wondering what she had done wrong, what was bothering him.

She lost sight of him for a time, but kept her anxious eyes raised to the huge jutting boulder high above. And gave a small little sigh of relief when he emerged through the watery mist of the falls.

He had discarded his trousers. He stepped to the rim of the rock and looked silently down at her as if in deep thought. Finally he moved his bare feet slightly apart. He took a deep, slow breath. And, with his black eyes holding hers, he gave a yank to the leather string tied atop his hip, and his loincloth fell away.

Amy felt all the air leave her body. Shocked, she stared unblinkingly at the tall, naked Indian. She had never seen a man totally nude. She’d heard schoolgirls whisper about men’s hairy, ugly bodies and how they planned only to let their husbands make love to them in the darkness of the night.

There was nothing ugly about Tonatiuh. He stood there in the midday radiance and she felt the heart inside her swell with pride. He was beautiful. Every dark gleaming inch of him. Don Ramon had said, proudly, that in the Aztec culture, Tonatiuh was a
philli
, descended from nobles. It was easy to believe. He looked fierce and proud and noble.

Slowly Amy lay back on the smooth rock. She fanned her hair out around her head, stretched her legs, and placed her hands, palms flat, on the level apron of stone. She waited. Young though she was, she somehow knew that her Aztec Indian Sun God was communing with the ancient spirits. Sensed that he was lost in some strange meditation ceremony that was a prelude to their love-making.

Tonatiuh was going to make love to her here in this shady glade. She was unafraid. She sighed, feeling wonderfully happy and strangely relaxed. Her eyes never left the raven-haired, naked Sun God whose water-beaded body was coiled tightly, his fire intentionally leashed.

He went up on his toes, raised his arms high over his head, looked directly up into the burning sun, stayed like that for interminable minutes. Then dove gracefully into the pool. Underwater he swam directly to the rocky banks where Amy waited. With his strong arms he easily pulled himself up, rose to his feet, and took the three long strides to where she lay.

He stood just above, rivulets of water coursing down his gleaming copper body.

He lifted his arms and swept his wet, dark hair back off his face, then fell to his knees beside her. While she watched, rapt, he pressed his hands to his temples, then folded them over his heart, then lowered them to cup his groin.

“My head, my heart, my love. All belong to you.”

Touched, she solemnly nodded. His hands left his body, moved to clasp her temples.

Understanding completely, she said softly, “Yes, Tonatiuh, all my thoughts are yours.” His hands moved to cover her heart. “Yes,” she said, “oh, yes.” He sat back on his heels and with one hand atop the other, he gently cupped the blond curls between her pale thighs. “Y-yes—yes,” she managed, her breath short, “it is yours. All my love belongs to you.”

While one of his hands left her, the other remained and slipped more fully between her legs. His fingers touched her briefly with a fiery intimacy before he stretched out beside her, took her in his arms, and, holding her very close, said, “Amy, I stood above and asked the sun and the ancient spirits for some sign, some vision to show me it is right for me to touch you. To make love to you today.” His arms tightened around her. “It was withheld from me, so I can only assume that I should leave you untouched.” He drew a ragged breath “But I cannot. And even if the time is not right, I know that you are my
tonali.
My fate. My destiny. It was written in the stars a millennium ago. Since it is so, why must I wait to be inside your body?”