CHAPTER NINE
It all became clear to him. Domingo, Violetta, the letters. It was blackmail.
Give in to Maldonado's demands or both of his secrets would be exposed to
the world. Well, not if he could help it. There had to be another way out
of this quagmire.
A hand placed on his arm made him aware of his surroundings once again and
to the fact he and his rival were still staring speechlessly at each other.
He glanced down to see the befuddlement in Victoria's eyes.
"I have to go," he murmured. She nodded numbly. Looking up again, he saw
Domingo's upper lip curl.
"Leaving so soon, er, Zorro? Isn't that what you call yourself?" the other
man drawled, pointedly ogling the hilt of the sword strapped to the masked
man's hip. "And here I was hoping we could have a cozy chat. I admit to being
an avid follower of you and your exploits."
"I think you know where to find me, Señor," snapped Zorro. He needed
to leave, before this conversation went any further. "Buenas noches."
He pivoted on his heel, his cape swirling in his wake as he slipped out the
way he had entered.
Victoria, her mind awhirl, watched him depart before turning to her guest.
"What was. . .?"
"Another blanket, por favor," he said as if he hadn't interrupted himself
when he had stumbled into her kitchen, catching her in a scandalous embrace
with a known outlaw.
"Oh, of course," she replied. "I'll bring it right up." Smoothing her hands
on her apron, she wondered if she should bring up what had just occurred.
But before she could decide, he smiled at her, his handsome face alight with
pleasure.
"Gracias, Señorita," he said before he started backing through
the curtains. "I would greatly appreciate that." Then, right before he disappeared,
he winked.
What was that all about? The whole episode seemed like a crazy dream. She
had seen the guilt in Zorro's eyes before he had kissed her. She had seen
the way the two men had glared at each other as though they knew and detested
each other. And why did her guest, what was his name. . .Maldonado. . .seem
so delighted by it all?
Victoria sighed, knowing she might never learn the answers to her questions.
With a shake of her head, she wearily began to wash the day's accumulation
of dirty plates and glasses.
Z Z Z
Diego was on edge. Every noise had him jumping out of his skin. He hadn't
gone straight back to the hacienda from the tavern after the disastrous visit,
instead spending hours riding until both he and Toronado were too tired to
go on. It was almost dawn before he approached his room with an apprehension
which had been replaced with relief when he saw his bed was empty.
And fortuitously, his father had escorted both widows on a visit to their
nearest neighbor, Señora Valverdes right after they had breakfasted
that morning. So when Diego finally entered the dining room, it was deserted.
He felt like a coward, but he didn't think he could face Violetta until he
knew the extent of her involvement in Maldonado's scheme. And he was afraid
even if he found out it had been entirely her idea, he would still succumb
to her charms. And it excited him as much as it sickened him.
A knock on the front door caused him to spill his coffee onto the tablecloth.
Diego watched remotely as the brown liquid spread across the white linen as
a servant answered the summons. He didn't even try to hear the exchange of
words. The time of reckoning had arrived. Shoving himself upward, he walked
out of the room, almost colliding with Maria.
"You have a caller, Patrón," she announced as he strode past
her.
"I know. Thank you."
Diego came to a halt in the foyer. Domingo, standing at the entrance to
the library, turned and smirked triumphantly.
"Buenos dias, Diego," he said cheerfully. "You were right, I did
know where to find you."
"Outside. Now."
"But your hacienda is so charming. A bit quaint, yet charming all the same,"
said Maldonado. "I had always imagined you living in a mud hovel here in the
wilds of California."
"Yes, I know what you thought, you reminded me of it often enough," replied
Diego, clenching his jaw and fists. "Your descriptions of the inferiority
of the colonies and the barbarians who settled them were always so eloquent."
"Still touchy about that, eh, de la Vega?" The other man stepped closer.
"It's gratifying to know I can still get under your skin. And speaking of
skin, or should that be sin. . .?"
"Outside." Diego strode over to the door, wrenching it open, in a gesture
he hoped would brook no argument from his rival.
"If you insist." Maldonado walked through the portal and down the front
steps with Diego on his heels. Diego lead the other man to a small courtyard
which was seldom used. The one where he and Sir Edmund had engaged in swordplay
before the saber master had been hunted down and killed. Once there, he indicated
a small bench for Domingo to sit upon.
"I knew it was you from the moment I heard that a masked man was running
around Los Angeles, brandishing a magnificent saber," Maldonado said as he
remained standing. "Who else could be so naïve and so self-righteous,
I asked myself."
"I am bringing justice to the people who have no other defender," retorted
Diego. "I'm saving them from oppression and misery and poverty. I am. . ."
"You always were an idealist fool," the other man sneered. "And now you're
an outlaw with a price on your head. Which, oddly enough, is the price of
my silence about your little masquerade."
"Six thousand pesos, that's all you want?" Diego acted as though such a
sum was trifling amount, when it was almost equal to the amount his father
had in the accounts he held in several different banks. And it was his father's
money, not his. His own wealth was considerably less.
"No. There is also the matter of you sleeping with the lovely Violetta."
So, there it was. The proof she was complicit in this nefarious scheme against
him. How else would Maldonado know of their relationship? Only three people
knew, and never, in a million years, no matter how upset he was by it, did
Diego see Felipe betraying him to a blackmailer. It had to be her.
"And how much will your silence cost on that matter?"
"I was thinking four thousand pesos. Ten thousand pesos seems like such
a nice tidy sum." The other man grinned, no doubt assured he had Diego between
Scylla and Charybdis.
"Yes, it does," Diego agreed insincerely. "A pity I have no intention of
paying you a centavo of it."
"You would let me expose you to the world?" Maldonado sounded incredulous.
"Diego de la Vega, the masked hero of Los Angeles, the wanted outlaw, and
the seducer of married women?"
"Antonio Murillo is dead," Diego ground out. "Did you have anything to do
with that?"
"Me?" asked Domingo innocently. "No, it was purely an accident, an accident
that nearly destroyed my plans for you." He shook his head. "No, I mean the
woman you've been fucking is a married woman. I should know, I am her husband."
Diego's legs started to give out and he had to grab at the nearest wall
to keep himself upright. His stomach roiled as his head spun. No, Dios mio,
no. He wouldn't have touched her, wouldn't have put his. . . Maldonado had
to be lying. Wouldn't have Violetta's mother known her daughter had remarried?
Unless she had kept it a secret from the older woman. Madre de Dios,
this was a nightmare.
"Oh, it's true, de la Vega. I have proof." Diego glanced up to see his rival's
gloating smile. A rage came over him, so swift and so violent, he didn't realize
he had punched the other man several times until Domingo had fallen to the
ground, wiping blood from his nose.
"You'll pay for that," Maldonado said as he struggled to his feet. "Tomorrow,
at dawn. You know the area, you pick the place. Oh, and swords, of course."
"I will not duel with you." His anger had been replaced by a sense of calm
detachment. "It's against the law."
"And we both are so law-abiding." Domingo chuckled. "Tomorrow," he reiterated.
"And bring the money."
With that, he stalked away, laughing softly to himself. Diego just watched
him go. This wasn't happening. This couldn't be real. His life, his honor,
devastated by the one person who had always managed to provoke him like no
one else ever could. Maldonado had needled him from the day they had first
met for reasons Diego still could not fathom. It was as if Diego's mere of
existence was cause enough.
But before he could brood on his dilemma any further, he heard creaky wheels
drawing up in front of the hacienda. As bad as his luck was running, it was
probably the elder de la Vega and the women and if Maldonado had lingered.
. .
Diego sprinted to the front courtyard, relieved to see his father assisting
the ladies from the carriage and his old nemesis nowhere in sight. Gracias
a Dios.
"Diego, who was that man riding away from the house?" asked Don Alejandro
when he noticed his son.
"Oh, just a traveler asking for directions," he lied with a joviality he
did not feel. His gaze fell upon Violetta, whom he noted was pale and fidgety.
She had obviously recognized Maldonado and realized the day of reckoning had
arrived. He needed to wring a confession from her before she did something
drastic, like flee. Or worse.
"I wonder if I might take Violetta out to the pasture to show her the new
calves?" He directed the invitation at Señora Gomez, who glanced at
his father. The old don nodded.
"Very well, but not for too long," the older woman admonished. "You should
take a nap when you get back, hija. You look tired."
"We'll only be a few minutes." Diego grabbed Violetta's hand and placed
it on his arm before she could come up with an excuse, and headed off in
the direction of the nearest pasture.
She spoke as soon as they were out of earshot. "You know, don't you." It
wasn't even a question.
"Yes, I know everything," he spat out. "I know you lied to me."
"He made me do it." Tears began to stream down her cheeks. "He blackmailed
my husband first. Antonio. . .he had an affair and Maldonado found out and
used it to force Antonio to deliver a letter to you. After he found out Antonio's
ship sank, he came to me to pay his respects. He kept coming to visit me until
one day he. . .he. . ."
She threw herself against Diego, who had to put his arms around her to keep
her from tumbling them both to the ground. "What did he do?" he asked, although
he already knew the answer. "Did he force himself. . .?
He felt Violetta nod her head on his chest. "Then he told me he would tell
everyone it was my idea and ruin my reputation. I. . .I had no choice.
A rush of sympathy swept through him, one he immediately quashed. "You had
a choice. You could have told me about his plot. . . You could have. . ."
"No, you don't understand, I didn't want to do it," she cried. "I. . .I
fell in love with you. I couldn't help myself. Please, Diego, just give him
the money and he will leave us alone and we can be together. . ."
Pushing her away, Diego stumbled over to lean against a tree. "He says you
are his wife. Is that true?"
"Yes," she whispered. "I didn't want to, he forced me to marry him. He said
it was too delicious an idea to pass up." She reached out with her hands.
"Por favor, I didn't want to do any of this. . ."
He brushed her aside. "I wouldn't have touched you if I had known you were
a married woman. I wouldn't have gone anywhere near you if I had known you
were married to him. You've caused me to break vows I have made to myself,
vows I have made to other people. If I never see you again, it would be too
soon."
Diego tried to walk away but she grasped his arm. "Please, no. I love you.
Please believe me. You can't leave me." Catching him off-guard, she managed
to press him up against the tree then crushed her body onto his. "Please,
Diego, let me show you how much I love you."
Her fingers nimbly unbuttoned his trousers, reaching inside and grasping
his hardening shaft. He groaned as she knelt down and took him into her mouth.
It felt so good, he never wanted it to stop. He had almost lost himself in
the pleasure when the image of Maldonado's sneering face floated through his
mind. Placing his hands on her shoulders, he shoved her away, uncharacteristically
not caring as she fell on her bottom.
"Stay away from me," he warned as he did up his buttons. "I don't care how
much you love me. I. . .I don't feel the same way," he fibbed. "You need to
go back to your husband. I'm through with you."
Marching away, he fought the urge to glance over his shoulder to see if
she was all right. I don't care. I can't care. He could feel his nails
digging into his palms, his hands were so tightly fisted. He had bigger problems
at the moment. Even though he told Maldonado he wouldn't duel, he really had
no other option. He certainly did not want the other man to seek him out,
in a public venue, and force the matter. That was one of the things Domingo
excelled at, bullying others to do his bidding.
Once he had reached the hacienda, he went to his desk and scribbled out
the place where he would meet his rival, drawing a map even a simpleton would
be able to follow. After the message had been dispatched, Diego retreated
to the cave, where he spent the rest of the day and night, too ashamed to
face his father or Felipe, and too vulnerable to see Violetta without the
probability he would succumb to her sexual charms yet again.
An hour before dawn, he rode his mare out of the stables to a small arroyo
about a mile north of the pueblo.
Z Z Z
"Ah, Diego, glad you could make it." Maldonado, in his shirtsleeves, was
practicing his lunges as Diego rode up to the rendezvous site. A small boy
from the pueblo held the reins of his horse, a glossy chestnut. "Did you bring
the money?"
"No, " Diego replied as he dismounted. He then walked over to the lad and
handed him a coin. "Go home, Roberto."
The youngster glanced nervously at Domingo then took off running. The other
man laughed. "So, no witnesses, eh, de la Vega? Don't want anyone to know
how proficient you are with a saber?" He nodded at the sword on Diego's hip.
"That's not the championship sword."
"No, it isn't." Diego unsheathed his old school saber from its scabbard.
Maldonado shrugged. "No matter. I will find it after I kill you. It never
should have been yours in the first place. I was Kendall's best student. Until
you tricked him into thinking you were. How did you do it, de la Vega?" He
tossed his sword from one hand to the other.
"Is this what all this is about?," Diego asked incredulously. "Sir Edmund's
sword?"
"I worked harder than you, " Domingo's voice had a touch of hysteria to
it. "It should have been mine."
"I proved to him I was the best student," Diego stated confidently. "And
it will never be yours."
"We will see about that," said Maldonado, whipping his sword upright. "En
garde!"
Then he attacked.