The Tiger Lily (21 page)

But
instead she lifted her head proudly and looking Carlos straight in the eye, said
bluntly, "I wonder if your interest in Senor a Morales really has faded!
You certainly seem to be very concerned about her affairs! Even to the point of
spying on who comes to visit her!"

"I
was not spying!" Carlos returned furiously. "It merely happens that I
have had business in town that takes me past her home."

"The
rear of her home? Late?" Sabrina asked sweetly.

Carlos
flushed, but then, forcing a smile on his mouth, he reached for one of
Sabrina's hands and said softly, "Come now, don't let us argue! Constanza
and Dangermond mean nothing to us, so let us not talk of them anymore."

"I
never was talking about them!" Sabrina said tartly. "
You
were
the one who kept bringing them into the conversation."

Suppressing
an urge to slap her, Carlos contented himself with merely shrugging his
shoulders and saying mildly, "Perhaps this is so, but I no longer want to
talk about them." An intimate note in his voice, he murmured, "I
would far rather talk about us . . . and our marriage,
querido
."

Sabrina
snatched her hand away from him. "Carlos, Fm not in love with you, and I
don't want to marry you," she said sincerely, the amber-gold eyes troubled
as she looked at him. He was so dear, was such a good friend to her, but she
could not allow him to entertain false hopes that one day she would change her
mind. She touched his cheek lightly. "Find someone else," she said
softly. "There are many lovely young girls here tonight who would make you
a far better wife than I ever would, even if I consented to marry you. I would
only make you unhappy."

"I
don't want anyone else!" Carlos ground out exasperatedly. "A marriage
between us has long been the wish of our parents, and you are just being
contrary in refusing me!"

Trying
to lighten the atmosphere, she smiled at him teasingly and said, "See! I
would make you unhappy—you're angry with me already."

Conscious
he was pushing her too fast and too hard, Carlos smiled back at her and dropped
her hand. ''Very well,
querida
, for now I shall let you have your
way." A humorous twist to his mouth, he added, "Just as I always
do."

Relieved
that Carlos had followed her lead so easily, Sabrina relaxed back in her chair
and gratefully sipped on her Sangria. The subject of Brett and Constanza may
have been ended between them, but Brett's pursuit of the lovely widow was
certainly uppermost in Sabrina's mind. Unwillingly her eyes went to where they
were standing, and not even aware of what she was saying, she muttered,
"If he does marry her, she has my pity—he would be a devil of a husband!"

Carlos
stiffened in the seat beside her, his black eyes suddenly intent.
"Devil," he said slowly, as if trying the word out on his tongue.
''Devil Dangermond." Memory flooding back, he snapped his fingers, saying
excitedly, "Of course! That's where I've seen him before! Devil
Dangermond! The smuggler Frenchie's bully!"

Bewilderedly
Sabrina looked at him. "What are you talking about?"

Carlos
swiveled in his seat to face her, his narrow, handsome face alight with a
curious satisfaction. "I kept thinking that I had met Dangermond somewhere
before, but I couldn't remember where—until you said the word 'devil,' and then
it all came back to me." Grasping both her hands tightly in his, he said
urgently, "He is a bad man, Sabrina, a dangerous man! I wonder if your
father realizes what sort of depraved creature he has opened his house to. A
smuggler's bully and a murderous brute, that is what the fine Senor  Dangermond
really is!"

Her
face shocked and disbelieving, Sabrina said faintly, "You must be mistaken!
I know from my Tia Sofia's letters that he has a wild reputation, but never
that he has done anything shameful or unlawful."

"And
I tell you that he has!" Carlos returned passionately. "Remember when
I went to New Orleans the last time?" At Sabrina's affirmative nod, he
went on, "Just before my sister Catalina's wedding?" Sabrina nodded
again. "Madre had asked that I purchase some particularly elegant material
for Catalina's wedding gown, and that was when I met the smuggler Frenchie."
His eyes grave, he said, "This Frenchie has a terrible reputation,
Sabrina, including robbery and murder. They say he even betrays and murders his
own kind, but he is so powerful that even if they fear for their lives, the
ship captains still trade with him."

A
self-righteous note entering his voice, he murmured, "Normally I would
have had nothing to do with such a creature, but having exhausted the resources
of New Orleans in search of material that would please Madre and Catalina, I
was told to seek out Frenchie because he had just received an excellent supply
of wonderful French silks." Carlos shrugged his shoulders. "What
could I do? I could not return home empty-handed! And so I went in search of
this notorious smuggler, and I found him in an ugly part of New Orleans. He did
have the silks that I wanted, so I forced myself to deal with him." His
voice lowering meaningfully, he announced, "And it was there, in that
awful den, that I met Devil Dangermond! I had heard all sorts of wicked things
about Frenchie's newest righthand man, and so, when he showed me into
Frenchie's back room, I was prepared for anything. All during my talk with
Frenchie, he stood there glowering at me, almost as if he wished I would make
some wrong move so that he would have an excuse to slit my throat then and
there—not that his type needs an excuse," Carlos said darkly.

Still
not wanting to believe Carlos's tale, Sabrina proposed hopefully, "Perhaps
you were mistaken? I cannot believe it was the same man."

Carlos
looked at her pityingly. "Senor Dangermond is not a man easily forgotten,
nor is his name a common one. Are you going to have me believe that there are
two Dangermonds of the same size and build, both with black hair and
devil-green eyes?" Slowly Sabrina shook her head.

Triumph
gleaming in his eyes, Carlos said bluntly, "Sabrina, he is a killer, a man
beneath contempt! Why, he nearly killed a defenseless girl while I was there—I
saw it with my own eyes!"

A
gasp of shocked dismay came from Sabrina. “He struck a woman?" she
demanded angrily.

"Worse,"
Carlos said smugly. ''He cut her horribly with his knife!" Deferentially
he muttered, "I had to stop him, even though the girl was not ..." He
looked embarrassed. ''She was a woman of the streets, Sabrina. And they say he
abused her disgracefully." Hastily he added, "I only learned that
part later . . . after I had dragged him off her and thrown him out into the
street."

Sabrina's
hand was clenched into a fist. "Good for you, Carlos! It is too bad you
did not mark him with his own knife—I wish you had!"

Modestly
Carlos murmured, "It was nothing, my dear. And it was only the sheerest
accident that I happened on the scene—I was on my way out of that place of
depravity when I heard the most pitiful scream imaginable coming from the upper
floor. Like any honorable gentleman, I immediately raced up the stairs to lend
aid if I could. The screams were coming from a room to my right, and without
thinking I broke the door down and there discovered, to my horror and
revulsion, that black-hearted creature standing over the body of this poor
young girl." His features revealing his pity and disgust, he continued,
"Fortunately she was not dead, but he had marked her savagely with his
knife, and when I faced him, he claimed she had tried to steal his money. It
was all I could do to stop myself from taking that knife of his and marking him
as he had that poor girl! Instead I had to content myself with showing him out
of the building and threatening him with the law if he laid a hand on her
again. And that, my dear, is the story of how I first met your Senor  Dangermond."

Appalled
and revolted by Carlos's tale, Sabrina glanced across at where Brett was
talking to Constanza Morales. He didn't look like a depraved monster, but she
had no reason to doubt her cousin and she had every reason to be suspicious of
Brett Dangermond. What did she really know of him? Even Tia Sofia's letters
seemed to condemn him, she thought, as she recalled Tia Sofia's worries about
his wild life. He was seldom in Natchez, and so it was very possible that he
had been in New Orleans, smuggling and abusing young women. Her heart rebelled
against such thoughts, but her mind accepted them: she believed Carlos's tale.

Sickened
and enraged at the way Brett had wormed his way into her father's affection,
had traded shamelessly on that affection, she said breathlessly, "We must
tell my father! He must be warned about him!"

Oddly
enough, Carlos seemed to hesitate, but then, after a moment, he agreed.
"Of course. It is what must be done! But I suggest that we wait until
after the fiesta—there is no reason to cause an unfortunate scene now. Once
your father knows the truth, he can send this villain away quietly, and no one
except ourselves will ever know of this distasteful episode."

Slowly
Sabrina nodded her head, knowing Carlos was right. After the fiesta would be
soon enough for her father to learn the full extent of the depravity of a man
he loved as dearly as he would have his own son. She quailed at the thought of
her father's pain and disillusionment when they told him about Brett's sordid
past, and for a second, she considered facing Brett alone and demanding that he
leave. But she had to put that idea aside—her father had to know so that he
would never again be deceived by that charming viper!

Looking
at him filled her with rage, and it was all she could do not to stalk across
the courtyard and denounce him. To think she'd been sorry that she had stabbed
him! Her eyes glowed with that same fierce, feral gleam Ollie had seen. I wish
I'd cut his throat! she thought vengefully.

That
she was hiding behind anger and rage never occurred to her, any more than it
had occurred to her to doubt Carlos's story. It was so wonderful after days of
pining and feeling miserable to be able to hate the person who had captured her
heart so underhandedly. To have a reason to treat him with disdain, to have all
her earlier suspicions confirmed, was like a healing potion.

The
remainder of the fiesta dragged for Sabrina, because her thoughts were so taken
up with the coming confrontation. In a state of anxious anticipation, she
waited impatiently for the moment in which she could unmask Brett Dangermond as
the scoundrel he was. And yet, when that moment was finally upon her, she was
struck by a sudden deep desire to say nothing. She didn't want to see her
father's disillusionment . . . nor could she bear it if Brett tried to brazen
out the situation and denied Carlos's story.

But
Carlos would not let her retreat, and urging her forward, he was there at her
side when she said to Alejandro, "Father, after the guests are gone, there
is something important that Carlos and I must discuss with you."

His
heart sinking, fearing that Carlos had convinced her to marry him, Alejandro
said reluctantly, "Must it be tonight?"

Sabrina
would have thankfully seized the postponement, but Carlos was taking no
chances. His face determined, he said, "No, Tio, it
will
not wait!
It is imperative that we speak tonight."

Sighing,
Alejandro muttered, "Very well then. After the guests are gone, I will
meet you in the library."

Sabrina
nearly cried out in protest, not wanting the room where she had so nearly given
herself to him to be the place where Brett's sordid and ugly past was laid out
before her father. But Alejandro was already walking away.

When
the actual moment came, it was nothing like Sabrina had expected. For one
thing, her father seemed disappointed and displeased with her, and yet, when
Carlos said quietly, "Sir, it is about your nephew, Brett Dangermond, that
we must talk," Alejandro seemed to relax and appeared almost relieved.

"Oh?"
he said mildly. "What has that young devil done now?"

"It
is appropriate that you should call him a devil," Carlos said pompously.
"For it is as Devil Dangermond that I first met him!"

Slightly
mystified, Alejandro remarked, "You've met him before? That's v/hat you
wanted to tell me? And he was going by that ridiculous nickname of his?"