The Wildest Heart

Lucas said tightly, “This is an affair between Ramon and myself, Montoya. And you and I have not been friends for a long time. If you came here looking for a fight with me you can have it, but as for Ramon…” he looked at Ramon and said steadily, “I will not fight you, little brother. You will not make me, even if you go on shooting. So go on—finish it!”

“This is—I cannot believe this is really happening!” My voice sounded high and hysterical, but I managed to push myself away from the wall and stumble forward. I had the feeling that they had almost forgotten my presence until then, for all three turned to look at me. “Have you all gone completely mad? Do you expect me to stand here and watch slaughter? What’s the matter with you all?”

“Rowena, you will please go back to the house.” Ramon had never before spoken to me in such a harsh voice. “This is an affair between men.”

“But it concerns me, does it not?” I was angry now, and still shaking from the reaction to fear. “Do you think I’ll go away, just because I am ordered to! And I won’t put up with being quarreled over!”

I would have said more, being both angry and overwrought, but Jesus Montoya’s fingers closed like steel over my arm, although his voice was deceptively mild.

“I think this quarrel has been a long time coming, señorita. And you have still a lot to learn about men. This has become a matter of honor.”

“You want to see them fight! You’d sit back and enjoy watching them kill each other, wouldn’t you?” I flung the accusation in his face, but he only chuckled.

“I would not stop them. But then, did you not just hear Lucas say he would not fight his brother?” His tone gave the words a lightly mocking contempt. “Here Ramon.” I saw the long, wickedly pointed knife blade glitter as he tossed it, to stand quivering in the tree trunk behind Ramon. “Why don’t you carve him up a little as a punishment, if you don’t want to kill him? A knife is silent, at least. I have always thought guns far too noisy! As a matter of fact,” he added thoughtfully, “it is something I should have done myself, and would have, if I had suspected how he would treat Luz.”

“Damn you, Montoya, I’ve done nothing to Luz! And I warn you again to stay out of this, or by God I’ll kill you this time!” There was a deadly note in Lucas’s voice that made me catch my breath, but Montoya only laughed jeeringly.

“Without a weapon? And if we fight with our bare hands as we did before, how long before the blood you are losing makes you weak, eh?”

Lucas took a step toward him, but the knife blade, held against his chest, stopped him. Ramon, his face cold and set, had snatched the knife from the tree, holstering his gun as he did so.

“Before you try to kill him, you will first finish your business with me.”

“Ramon, I’ve already told you that I have no quarrel with you. But my old friend Montoya and I have scores to settle. Get out of my way.”

“The time is past when you can give me orders, my bastard half brother!”

The knife blade moved so fast it was like the flicker of lightning that lances through the clouds overhead.

Lucas Cord’s carelessly unbuttoned shirt had a rent in it, and I saw the thin line of blood that suddenly sprang up across his bare brown chest

I think he put his hand up almost instinctively, and there was shock and anger on his face. But the knife moved too fast, and blood oozed from a cut across his palm.

“No,” Ramon mocked, “you will not take the knife from me. Draw your own instead, if you dare. And then we will see.”

“Ramon, you’re crazy! You expect me to stand here and let you cut me up?”

I could not stop myself from crying out again when I saw the knife blade glimmer in another flash of lightning.

Lucas put his hand up to his face, staring at Ramon in disbelief.

“Damn you! Will you fight me now? How much does it take?”

This time the blade cut across his chest again. Two parallel lines, with the drops of blood already starting to run together.

I would have run between them, if Jesus Montoya’s firm grip had not held me at his side.

“Let them be!” His voice was soft, and meant only for my ears, but I could sense the steeliness in it, and it made me shiver. “Do you have no understanding of pride? What you see before you now has been a long time coming. Either stand here with me and be quiet, or go back to the house, as you should have done before.”

I stood there, not wanting to watch but unable to help myself. I saw Lucas move cautiously backwards, his eyes never leaving Ramon’s face; saw the knife blade flicker like a serpent’s tongue until his shirt was cut to ribbons and there were bloody cuts on his chest and arms. Why didn’t he defend himself? I was reminded of gladiators in a Roman circus, and every time the knife slashed and cut viciously and I heard Lucas gasp softly with shock and pain, I gasped too.

Ramon too was panting now. I saw how his face gleamed with sweat and his nostrils flared with the effort of breathing.

“

Why won’t you fight? For God’s sake, how much more will you take before you remember you’re a man?” There was almost a sob of rage and frustration in his voice. “Shall I start to carve your face up too, so that no woman will care to look at you again?”

There was already a thin cut along Lucas’s cheekbone, and now as Ramon slashed upward with the knife he moved his head instinctively sideways, bringing one arm up. The blade, dulled with blood now, left a wicked gash along his forearm.