I remember that only a faint light filtered down through
the leaves of closely growing trees that leaned thirstily over the shallow water. Monique was quicker at undressing than I, removing all her clothes, flinging them carelessly on the bank.
“Come on, hurry—before it gets dark. Don’t you want to get clean all over?”
Her light, teasing words held a hidden significance that was not lost on me.
Following Monique’s example, I put my head under the water and came up with my hair dripping, clinging to my face and shoulders so that I had to push it out of the way. It was then that I looked up and saw Mark. He stood between the trees only a few feet away, watching. The flush I had learned to recognize and to dread was on his face, his eyes were glazed.
“So beautiful… the bright and the dark, together.”
“No!” I cried out involuntarily. I think I took a step backward, almost slipping into the water.
“Be careful, cherie!” Monique put her arm around my waist; it was all I could do not to flinch away from her touch. No, I was not naive. I knew this had been planned—I even knew what he wanted.
“Since you’ve been too tired for my caresses, why don’t you let Monique arouse you? Two lovely women—don’t you want to touch her, Rowena? Haven’t you ever wondered what it would be like?”
“Don’t push her, Mark. It’s too sudden, can’t you see she’s not ready yet? Perhaps later…”
I had grown so stiff that I was incapable of moving. I looked at Mark, and even my lips were stiff. “Please—go away.”
He blinked his eyes, as if he was coming out of a trance.
“Rowena…”
And again it was Monique who spoke, her tone both amused and tolerant.
“I told you, Mark. She is not ready. Give her time.” Her arms slipped from about my waist, and she patted my cheek consolingly.
“There, cherie! But after all, he is your husband. There’s nothing wrong with his watching you take a bath, is there? And me, I do not mind. I am proud of my body, and so should you be of yours.”
When I looked back at the bank again, Mark had gone, and Monique, completely at ease, began to dry her hair, still naked.
After a while, because there was nothing else I could do, I followed her example.
“Never mind,” Monique whispered to me later as we scrambled up the steep bank. “Tonight, you will be consoled, yes?” She shook her head as if torn between amusement and anger. “That Mark! I knew he would watch us, of course—didn’t you? But to expect that we would put on an exhibition for him, like two poules… when such things happen between people it must be in their own time and setting, don’t you think so?”
Again it was my desire not to appear ingenuous that made me shrug and agree that she was right. How much had Mark told her of me—and how much else had he implied?
That night, as we took our meal some distance apart from the rest of our party, Mark acted as though nothing had happened. He had discarded his usual dark jacket as a concession to the heat, but his white linen shirt was immaculate—his manner towards me as devoted and attentive as ever.
“I ordered some wine chilled in the stream—I thought you might care for some, my love.” He filled our glasses and toasted us both. “To two beautiful and elegant women!” He put his arm around me, drawing me close so that I was forced to lean against him. “And my compliments to your chef, Monique. It’s hard to believe that he contrived such an excellent dinner over an open fire.”
“Oh, Henri can cook anywhere—and over anything. He’s a Cajun, from Louisiana.” She smiled, and added, “Like myself.”
I listened quietly while Monique and Mark began to discuss our ‘arrangements’ for the night and for the real journey which would begin tomorrow.
“I doubt if there’s a chance of an Indian attack tonight, and especially with Fort Craig close by. But in any case the men will be taking turns as sentries. I have them posted around the entire perimeter of our camp tonight, so that you ladies will be able to get a good night’s sleep without any apprehensions.” Mark’s manner sounded completely self-assured and almost arrogant, just as if he had been used to giving orders all his life. And again I found myself thinking how much like his uncle he seemed at times.
“You’re not nervous, are you, my darling?” He smiled down at me, and under the shawl I had thrown about my shoulders to keep off the night chill his fingers began to caress my breast, slowly and intimately, as if he wished to remind me I was his possession now, and subject to his wishes. It was all I could do not to flinch away, but I could feel the color rise in my face, and Monique’s amused look told me that she knew very well what was happening.
“Oh, you two lovebirds!” she said teasingly, and then, frowning inquiringly, “but where is my gladiator tonight? I was thinking that while you two are saying your good-nights he might take me for a short stroll before it’s time for bed.”
For an instant, I felt Mark’s fingers press into my flesh, and then he gave a contemptuous laugh.
“Oh, you mean my wife’s half-breed bodyguard? I sent him into San Antonio with some of the other men, to see what information they could pick up. I hope you don’t mind, my love? He seemed glad to go—I’ve heard there’s a cantina there that boasts of very bad liquor and extremely pretty girls.” With hardly a change in his voice he went on softly, “Rowena has such lovely breasts—they are perfectly formed, you know—and so quickly excited…”
“And now you will make me jealous—especially since you’ve seen to it that I’ll have no cavalier to tell me the same thing tonight!” Monique pouted, and then shrugged. “But there will be other nights, I’m sure.”