Read Online Desperado by Sandra Hill - Free Book Online Page B

Helen replied sweetly.
    Rafe shot her a look that said, “You’ll pay, too.”
    Ignacio stepped to her side, about to untie Rafe’s wrists, when he jumped back suddenly, shouting, “ ¡Miré! Look! Look there!” He pointed at Rafe’s behind.
    â€œ Sí! It ees the angel’s mark.” Sancho and Pablo made exaggerated signs of the cross over their chests.
    â€œAngel wings! He truly ees El Ángel Bandido ,” Ignacio said in awe. Then, “Thank you, sweet Jesus! The reward ees as good as ours.”
    â€œThose aren’t angel wings,” Helen corrected. “It’s a butterfly.” She traced the outline of the tattoo with her fingertips.
    Rafe jerked and growled out to her in a low mutter, “Do you think you could stop touching me, Helen?”
    â€œOops,” she said.
    Rafe’s eyes rolled in his head.
    â€œSo, you really are Elena,” Ignacio whooped, directing his attention back to her. “Muy bueno!” He made an obscene gesture with his fat tongue.
    Helen barely stopped herself from slugging him a good one. She restrained herself—for Rafe’s benefit, of course. “Mr. Ignacio, are—”
    â€œVillejo,” he interrupted. “My name ees Ignacio Juan Rico Hector Villejo.” His chest puffed out with pride.
    â€œYeah, well, Mr. Villejo, are you going to let me care for Rafe’s injury, or not? The international rules of combat say that rudimentary medical treatment must be—”
    â€œChill out, Helen,” Rafe said ungraciously.
    Ignacio twirled his mustache speculatively for several moments, then agreed. “We weel untie The Angel for a short time so that you may minister to him.” He laughed, as if at a private jest, adding, “Later, you may minister to me, too.”
    Pablo held the front waistband out from his loose trousers and glanced inside. “My balls are turnin’ blue from all thekicks I got today. Do you think you could put some ointment on me, too?” he asked Helen.
    â€œGet a life!”
    â€œHuh?” Pablo blinked with confusion and squinted quizzically at Rafe.
    â€œI think that means, ‘Not now,’” Rafe translated. “Maybe later.”
    Pablo’s doleful face brightened.
    Helen’s eyes sent icy daggers at Rafe.
    â€œMaybe not,” he added wisely.
    â€œOne wrong move and I weel take care of your blister, Señor Ángel ,” Ignacio threatened. “With a bullet in its center. Do you understand?”
    Rafe nodded.
    â€œTry to escape, and I weel shoot off your balls.”
    â€œEnough already!” Rafe grumbled as Sancho finally released his bindings. “I got the message. Loud and clear.”
I’ll rub yours if you rub mine . . .
    H elen was getting increasingly nervous about this whole outlaw scenario. At first, she had viewed them as bumbling idiots. Now, she was starting to get scared.
    â€œRafe, we have to talk,” she whispered as soon as the bandits stepped away. She’d just put a gauze bandage over his blister after treating it. “Something weird is going on. I think . . . I think we really have traveled back in time.”
    â€œHuh?” Rafe said, assessing her like an escapee from an asylum. “You swallow that blade of grass? Maybe it was loco weed.” He paused in the process of tucking in his shirt and zipping up his pants.
    â€œListen, this trail we followed today is very familiar to me. I hike in these hills all the time. This is not 2015.”
    â€œYou hike?”
    She made a clucking sound of disgust at his irrelevant question. “Focus, will you? We’re heading toward Sacramento, but we should have passed several towns by now. And the area is entirely too thick with trees and wildlife. It hasn’t looked this way in . . . well, over one hundred fifty years.”
    Rafe’s brow wrinkled, and he bit his bottom lip thoughtfully. “Actually,