Cinderella in Overalls - By Carol Grace Page 0,29
he demanded.
Catherine’s eyebrows drew together. “He says he’s surprised you know that name. He’s the only one left who remembers around here. The others were killed when the God of Thunder shook the earth.”
“Everyone?”
She shook her head. “Everyone but Pedro and the padrón. The padrón paid off the workers with shares in the mine. Pedro still has his.”
“Who was the padrón? Where can I find him?”
“He went away for good. Far away. It wasn’t safe to stay. It isn’t safe to go.”
Old Pedro shuffled impatiently, and they thanked him again and left. Josh had one more question, but he already knew the answer. The padrón was his father. Escaping death by the skin of his teeth. And coming that close to finding his fortune.
They walked back to the car, the new, improvised clamp in Josh’s pocket, thoughts of avalanches and falling rock and silver flooding his mind. Catherine watched silently while he raised the hood, inserted the new hose and tightened the new damp. He held his breath, but the clamp stayed in place.
He turned to say goodbye, his eyes the clear blue of the sky. But there were lines of fatigue around his mouth, and the shadow of a beard along his jaw. She felt a stab of guilt. She’d slept comfortably in her bed while he was doubled up in the back seat of his car. He’d taken her to dinner. He’d gotten than the loan. She owed him something. She owed him a lot. Besides, she wanted to ask him more about the mine. She touched the sleeve of his wrinkled shirt.
“Come and have breakfast before you go.” He looked surprised, and that made her feel guiltier. “It isn’t a big deal. Just some coffee and bread. You must be hungry.”
“I am,” he said, and they walked into the house where it was dark and cool. While she watched he ate four slices of bread spread thickly with sweet butter and strawberry jam. She refilled his coffee cup and sat down across from him at the rough-hewn pine table.
“How did you know about the Tochabamba Mine?” she asked.
“From my father.”
She set her coffee on the table. “Was he the padrón?”
“Yes. I don’t know why, but I’m sure he was. So I’m not the only one holding shares to a worthless silver mine.”
“You said your father had incredible stories to tell.” A vision of a small boy, his blue eyes round with wonder, filled her mind.
He nodded. “That was one of them. The one I liked best.” He rubbed his hand across his chin. “It had everything—danger, treasure and excitement. It was such a good story that when I grew up I wondered if it was true.” His gaze drifted over her shoulder to the window, to the fields, to the faint outline of the mountains beyond. There was a longing there she couldn’t ignore. She put her hand on his.
“I’ll talk to him again. I’ll ask him where the mine was. We’ll get a map and go look for it,” she said impulsively, catching the excitement, sensing that there was more than silver at stake.
His gaze turned from the horizon back to the room. Back to reality. “No, don’t bother him. It’s not important. There’s probably nothing there.”
Puzzled by his sudden change of mood, she shrugged. “Whatever you want.’’
Abruptly he stood and pulled her up from the chair with him, his hands holding hers tightly. “This is what I want,” he said. Her heart pounded so loudly that he heard it. He’d shared his secret with her, and now he wanted to share even more. How much more he wasn’t sure.
He kissed her forehead, and she lifted her face to his. The look in her eyes told him she wanted this as much as he did, that she’d been waiting for this moment for days, for weeks, forever. A voice in his head told him he couldn’t afford this kind of distraction, that already he’d let her influence him too much. More than she should.
He could still stop. It wasn’t too late, the voice in his head told him. But whatever the voice said, his brain chose not to hear. Instead his lips chose to brush against hers, testing her response. Just one kiss, he thought, one kiss after all this time. But when she buried her fingers in his hair his control snapped. He covered her mouth with his and kissed her over and over with all the force of his pent-up desire.
Her arms tightened around