came with news." She resisted the urge to touch him, wanting desperately not to cry, longing to throw herself into the comfort of his arms. Yet he remained restrained, cautious, wary of her presence. But then he thought her married. "You aren't curious?"
"I'm listening."
Angelina heard water dripping off rock and the thudding of her pulse in her ears. Now at the moment of confession, her mouth went dry. She both needed and feared his reaction. "As it turns out, life has provided another irony. When we first met, I was a bride who had not met her bridegroom. And now it seems that I am a widow who never met her husband. Through an entire marriage, I did not know him, never saw him." She might have laughed. It all seemed so ludicrous, so vaguely funny.
She didn't know what, exactly, she expected of Tonio's reaction. Certainly not the rock silent, unflinching stance he maintained.
"How?"
She wondered that he could speak in such a deep monosyllable, so low it seemed part of the depths where they stood.
"He died at the mine, of a bad heart. No one knows more than that. The mine manager gave me his last two weeks of pay. And that is it. I am a free woman."
He appeared unmoved by her presence. "Are we ever really free?" His question seemed rhetorical.
Inside Angelina felt the panic swell. Had all that they experienced been merely lust? Would he abandon her here in a land where she had freedom but no idea how to exercise it? No support, no family? A cold sweat trickled down her back between her shoulder blades. Underneath Gus's floppy hat, she felt flushed and fearful and suddenly claustrophobic, as if she had just remembered that she was supposed to be. Or maybe it was only the close proximity to the inscrutable Tonio.
She touched his damp sleeve. "I need your help. Please." She didn't like to plead, especially not on the verge of tears. "I wouldn't ask but—"
"Anything, Angel, anything," he said.
She wanted to collapse in his arms, but his offer seemed to have nothing to do with that. "Mr. Allessandro said that he owned land in a place called Harrison. I need help finding out if this is true and if it is now mine."
He nodded, thoughtful. "I have a friend, a lawyer, who keeps an office in Harrison part time. I'll give you his address and contact him for you if you like. John will know what to do."
She nodded, uncertain what to do next, paralyzed by his reticence, determined not to make a further fool out of herself.
He held out his hand to her. "Come. Let me show you the mine." He took her gently by her elbow. "I'll show you where I'm working today."
"Gus explained about the galena. Tonio, show me the silver."
Without speaking, he led her down a small, dark tunnel just off the main one she'd come down. He stopped suddenly near a pile of rock. "Here's our galena." He picked a rock up off the pile.
She eyed it cautiously. "It doesn't look like anything. It doesn't shine or sparkle. How do you know it's silver?"
"This isn't a gold mine, Angelina. Silver doesn't shine until it's smelted and polished." He held the rock up sideways to the lamp he carried, revealing a gentle sheen on the rock face. "Do you see the glisten of metal?"
He didn't wait for an answer but pressed the rock into her hand. "Feel the weight of it—that's our ore." His eyes shone with excitement.
The rock was heavy in her hand, much heavier than she expected from such a small sample.
"That isn't a high grade rock. We've got better. Come, see what I've been working on." He led her to the wall and pointed to a small round hole.
"We're going to blast this tunnel deeper. This is where I'm going to insert the dynamite." He picked up a hand drill, a long corkscrew shaped tool, and pushed it into the hole until it would go no farther. Then he grabbed a sledgehammer.
"Hold the drill, Angelina. I'll swing the hammer. After each swing, rotate the drill slightly."
She looked straight into his eyes and saw an intense excitement she'd never seen before. She faltered. "Me? I couldn't."
"Come on." His voice became smooth and sensual, softly cajoling. "What better way to see how a mine works than to do a bit of the work? We'll drill the hole and set off the blast. I swear, you've never had such fun."
He