Blood and Honor (Honor Bound 2)

"Se¤or?"

"It is nothing," Clete said.

He tried to gently waken Dorotea. All that did was make her shift her head, with a concomitant painful reaction in the physiological symbol of his gender.

"Sweetheart," he cried cheerfully-trying to sound cheerful required a good deal of effort-"wake up, we're almost there!"

He had to repeat the message three times before he broke into Dorotea's peaceful slumber. By then, he could see the lights of the big house.

She then pushed herself erect, and in doing so, her hand quite innocently found the source of his discomfort.

"Cletus," she said naughtily. "You should be ashamed of yourself!"

For reasons he could not imagine, she then gave it a good squeeze.

"Jesus, Dorotea!"

Enrico blew three short blasts on the horn.

As they turned onto the drive before t

he big house, the verandah lights came on. Clete saw Rudolpho, his short-barreled cavalry Mauser carbine slung from his shoulder, come quickly off the verandah toward the car.

Good. I can send him to the radio station and have him tell Tony I need to see him. Maybe he knows more about David Ettinger than Mart¡n did. And in any event, I should radio Graham that the airplane is here, and, for that matter, that the new President of Argentina is General Rawson.

Come to think of it, I don't know how much attention Rawson will pay to anything I have to say, but I don't think there's much doubt that he'll listen to me. We became buddies in the Piper Cub.

"Buenos tardes, Patron," Rudolpho said. "Se¤orita."

Clete shook Rudolpho's hand.

"Could you go out to the radio station and tell Teniente Pelosi I have to see him?"

"El Teniente is in the house, Patron."

Great. And that explains what he's doing here carrying the carbine, does-n't it?

"Honey, do you want something to eat?" Clete asked.

Dorotea smiled sweetly at him.

"It's been a long day," she said. "Why don't we just turn in?"

One of the maids came down to the car.

Thank God, nobody's here but Tony. We don't have to go through that non-sense of pretending we 're not sleeping together.

"Put the Se¤orita's luggage in my room, please, and draw a bath for her."

"Cletus!" Dorotea protested.

"Nobody's here, why not?"

Dorotea shook her head but did not protest any further.

"I need a minute or two with Tony, and then I'll be right along."

"You'd better be," Dorotea said. "I'm going to hold you to the promise you made in the car."