Toro (The Hell Yeah Series) Read online

  “Very good, Senor. If you need anything, there is a call button on the bedside table. Someone will come immediately.”

  “Thanks.” Bull wasn’t used to this type of lifestyle, he didn’t know if he ever could be.

  All the way up the stairs, he thought of the kiss Isabella had given him. He touched his lips, remembering how sweet she’d tasted. She was something else, his opinion of her was changing. She was confident in what she knew and what she was doing. Bottom line, she was sexy as hell.

  None of that changed the fact that she was too young…and way too rich.

  By the time he reached his room, his thoughts had turned from one temptress to another. Now, Carmen was a different story. There was no doubt she was a woman, a very desirable woman. Taking off his Stetson, he tossed it on a table. He moved to a window, gazing out over Terra Dura, his mind not seeing the landscape at all. No, the memories of being with Carmen overwhelmed him. He still couldn’t get over how she responded to him. She’d started climaxing the second he entered her and she hadn’t stopped until they’d both touched the gates of heaven. Bull hadn’t held out any hope that a woman would ever react to his touch in such a way. If he closed his eyes, he could almost feel her quivering in his arms. He’d never even known such pleasure existed. The difference between Carmen and his ex-wife was night and day.

  Fishing his phone from his pocket, he tried to call Carmen again. He needed to hear her voice.

  …In the opposite wing, Isabella laid on her bed and held her phone in her hand as it vibrated.

  Benedict was calling.

  She felt pulled in two different directions. How odd it felt to be jealous of herself.

  Unable to resist, she brought the phone to her ear. “Hello?”

  “Thank God, you scared me when you didn’t answer earlier. Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “You don’t sound fine. Has something bad happened?”

  His concern melted her heart. “No, nothing has happened.”

  “Can I see you tonight?”

  Isabella closed her eyes and willed herself to be still. How easy it would be to run to his room and into his arms. The only thing that held her back was the fact that he might reject her once she got there. “No, I’m sorry. I can’t get away.” Rising from the bed, Isabella went to stand in front of the mirror. She picked up her La Diosa mask and held it in front of her face. Looking at herself through the eyeholes, she tried to see what difference the mask made. She’d always heard that men enjoyed a little mystery in a woman, maybe they were right.

  “You sound different.” Bull was worried. “Please talk to me, I’ve never known anyone like you before.”

  Isabella bowed her head. “I don’t mean to be different, I just have a lot on my mind.”

  “Anything you want to talk about?”

  The concern was evident in his voice. For a split second, she considered just pouring it all out to him and confessing everything. But what if he told her uncle? She couldn’t risk that, not when they were all under the same roof. “No, I wish I could.” She sat down on the large bed and pulled a white satin pillow into her lap. “I want you to know something, Benedict.” She swallowed. “I think you’re wonderful, a good man.”

  “I think you’re perfect, Carmen.”

  His admission troubled her. “Things aren’t always what they seem. I wear the mask for a reason. You might not like what’s beneath.”

  “Impossible. Put me to the test. Anytime. I can guarantee you won’t be disappointed.”

  Isabella closed her eyes as a cloud of pain and guilt washed over her. “It’s not my disappointment I’m worrying about.” Before he could say anything more, she told him she needed to leave. “I can’t talk anymore right now. You be safe, Benedict Redford. I will dream of you.”

  “Wait!” Bull cried, but it was too late. She was gone. “Damn!” He had a funny feeling she was saying goodbye. Knowing this woman existed somewhere in the world, how could he go home and return to the lonely life he’d been leading?

  “Good morning, Senor Redford. Did you sleep well?”

  Bull had come down for coffee, he hadn’t expected Isabella to be up and about so early. Didn’t spoiled rich girls sleep late? His opinion of her wasn’t really fair, she didn’t appear particularly spoiled. He was a bit surprised at how down to earth she seemed. “I did.” He shook his head. “No, I didn’t. I’m lying. I have a lot on my mind.”

  “Anything I can help with?” She gave him a saucy little smile.

  Bull decided to come clean, maybe it would make things more comfortable between them. “Look, Isabella, I’m going to be straight with you. You’re a very attractive young woman and I am not immune to your charms. The reason I’m resisting you is not because you’re aren’t sexy as all get out.”

  He looked over his shoulder, presumably to make sure her uncle wasn’t coming through the door. Isabella held her breath. She couldn’t believe he was being so straightforward. “Yes, go ahead. I hear a big but coming.”

  Bull turned back around to meet the incredible young woman’s gaze. “You’re too young for me.” When she went to protest, he held up his hand. “I’m thirty-five years old.” He looked down at his not-so-perfect body. “And I’m almost past my prime. You are like a rosebud about to burst in bloom, fresh and sweet.”

  Truth burst from her lips. “You are the type of man who’ll always be in his prime.”

  Her sweet words went all over him. Carmen. Remember Carmen. “Thank you.” He didn’t believe a word of it, but he thanked her. “The truth is, Miss Cortez, out of all the beautiful, sexy women I’ve seen on television, in person, or in the centerfold of a magazine, you rank number two in my book.”

  Isabella’s heart began to patter in her chest. “Only number two? Who is number one?” She planted a petulant look on her face, a look which hid the excitement she was feeling within. “Is she a girl from back home?”

  “No.” Bull smiled. “I met her here, just a few days ago. I don’t know if I even have a chance with her, but if I don’t try, I’ll never forgive myself.”

  “So, there’s someone else in your life. Is this paragon of virtue your age?”

  “No.” She saw a look of confusion pass over Benedict’s face. “I’m not sure how old she is. She’s older than you.” He nodded, seemingly sure of that. “You’re used to fine things, too. Things I could never give you. I’m just a retired rodeo cowboy. My business makes me a living, but not a fancy living.”

  “There are more important things in life than material possessions, Mr. Redford,” Isabella retorted. “Whomever I marry will become a patron of Terra Dura.”

  Bull shook his head and folded his arms across his chest. “See, I couldn’t handle that. I couldn’t live off my wife.”

  Isabella narrowed her eyes, she could see barriers rising where she hadn’t expected them before. “What does this other woman have that I don’t?”

  Bull surveyed Isabella Cortez’s lovely face. He didn’t know why it mattered to her so much, she couldn’t be experiencing anything other than a mild crush on an older man, an infatuation with the cowboy myth. “Well, this takes nothing away from you, you are exquisite…but Carmen is amazing. She is beautiful and brave. And when I touch her, she bursts into flame. She desires me. Me!” He spread his hands in disbelief. “I don’t understand what she sees in me, but I’m thankful I met her. She’s like no other woman in the world.”

  Isabella was mesmerized, listening to Benedict talk about her. Some of the things he said were troubling, like his conceivable problem with her age or wealth – but when he spoke of their intimate connection, she understood that no matter the cost, no matter how hard she had to work to convince him, Isabella had to make him see her. “Carmen is a very lucky girl, Benedict.”

  Bull’s head jerked. “What did you say?” Had Isabella called him Benedict? “How…”

  “Senor Redford, are you ready to ride out to see the bulls?”

&n
bsp; Don Luis’s arrival had gone unnoticed by the pair who were speaking so seriously.

  “Yes. Yes, I am,” Bull answered, a little shook up from his conversation with the young Isabella. Seeing that she was dressed in a riding outfit, he made a gesture of conciliation. Now, that he’d explained his situation, maybe they could be friends without the unnerving sexual tension flaring up every few minutes. “Are you coming with us, Isabella? I’d love to hear your opinion on the stock.”

  There was no missing Don Luis’s disapproval. His disgruntled expression was plain to see. “Her accompanying us is hardly necessary.”

  “I want to go, Uncle.” Isabella brightened, a happy smile on her face. After hearing Benedict’s explanation, she’d decided to tell him the truth. The first opportunity she had to speak to him away from her uncle’s presence, Isabella planned to pour out her heart and explain her deception. She had no way of knowing what the future might hold, but the possibility they could be together was too sweet to ignore. “I would enjoy the company and seeing the cattle.”

  “That’s settled then.” Bull smiled. “Let’s go, I’m anxious to cut a deal with Terra Dura.”

  Bull’s idea to invite Isabella to accompany them, despite his host’s objection, backfired on him. The sight of the young beauty controlling the spirited stallion she rode was erotic as hell. As the trio made their way to a special holding pen located some distance from the main house, he was finding it hard to keep his eyes off her. She seemed perfectly at ease, keeping up a steady dialogue with him as they rode, sharing information with him on various topics, from the grasses they’d chosen to plant, to the attributes of the cattle they raised. All of this was done as she expertly handled a horse that she’d apparently been training. “You are an accomplished horsewoman, Senorita Cortez.”

  “Thank you.” She beamed at him. “This arrogant prince is not my usual mount. Uncle bought him from a Saudi prince and I’ve been breaking him to the saddle.”

  “Isabella’s definition of breaking a horse is plying him with sweet-talk and kisses,” Don Luis grumbled. “She thinks any animal can be tamed with kindness.”

  Cortez’s complaint about his niece reminded Bull of the way Carmen treated the bulls. “I tend to agree with that philosophy, Senor. In the rodeo business, I’ve worked for years getting the rules changed as to how the horses and other stock are handled. Treating an animal humanely doesn’t mean it won’t perform the function that it’s bred for.”

  “Exactly!” Isabella exclaimed. “You get it, you get me!”

  Bull’s heart lurched in his chest at her words. The more he was around Isabella Cortez, the more she appealed to him. Whoever the man was lucky enough to claim her would be fortunate indeed.

  “You are as naïve and nonsensical as your parents, Isabella,” Don Luis said with conviction. “I can still remember how you and your mother harped to Romero until he quit raising beef cattle and only raised registered breeding stock.”

  “Yes, Uncle, but that decision increased revenue for the ranch. We can make much more from an animal when we profit from its ability to reproduce than the pesos we get per pound of ground hamburger.”

  “You and Valentina didn’t stop there, you just kept pushing and pushing, don’t think I don’t know it. If your mother and father hadn’t been killed when they were, he would have either quit bullfighting or turned into a male La Diosa!”

  Bull sat straight up in the saddle, shocked by the turn of the conversation. Shocked by the name he’d just heard come from Don Luis’s lips.

  “Murdered, not killed, Uncle. My parents were murdered.” Isabella could still see the horrible pictures from the paper’s in her mind’s eye - her father laying on the floor of the club, gored to death by the horns of a bull long dead. Someone had taken the trophy head of a bull from the wall and used it as a murder weapon. Her mother had been strangled, but her father’s death had been an obvious public statement to protest his newfound stance on bullfighting. What had always troubled Isabella, was the fact that no one knew of her father’s plans to upend the status quo, none but his inner circle.

  “Your father had enemies. One can’t challenge a centuries old tradition, a tradition so ingrained in the heritage of our people, without suffering consequences. Many people’s livelihood depends on the culture of bullfighting, and those individuals could not idly sit by and allow someone as influential as your father to turn a ritualistic institution on its head. Just like your father, this La Diosa will find herself in the crosshairs of resistance, changing the legacy of a nation at the whim of soft-hearted liberals will not work!”

  “La Diosa?” Bull repeated.

  Isabella cut her eyes to Benedict in a panic, the conversation was fast getting out of hand. “This is not the time or the place, Uncle. Our guest has no need to hear our political rantings.”

  Bull was hanging on their every word. They had no idea how important all of this was to him. “I’ve met La Diosa, she is an incredible woman. Her bravery far surpasses the matadors who defend themselves with swords.”

  “Enough! We have arrived!” Don Luis indicated the fenced area before him. “Come, Mr. Redford, let us see if we can find a new bull for your breeding program.”

  As they dismounted, turning over their horses to a vaquero, Isabella felt ill. She kept expecting Benedict to confront her at any moment. The way he was looking at her, she just knew he was beginning to put two and two together.

  Bull Redford was in a turmoil. He was barely aware of his surroundings. After hearing these two discuss La Diosa and what she did, he was beginning to understand the whole situation a little better – and he didn’t like it, he didn’t like it at all. If Isabella’s father was murdered for his actions, he realized his Carmen wasn’t safe.

  Don Luis led them into an arena and up into a viewing stand. Bull forced his mind back to the business at hand. Just as soon as he could wind up this deal, he had some business with a certain lady bullfighter.

  “There they are, aren’t they beautiful?” Isabella couldn’t help but preen with pride as she viewed the animals she’d raised by hand.

  Bull had to agree. “They’re sleek, well fed, and as ripped as if they spent hours in a gym,” he muttered, taking in the two huge beasts strutting around the ring like they were competing in a beauty pageant. He knew these animals had never known a moment’s discomfort, fear, or uncertainty. They were as confident in their value and place in the order of things as anything could be.

  “I am confident they would perform to your satisfaction.” Don Luis began rattling off numbers, numbers big enough to make Bull’s head spin.

  Isabella frowned. What was he up to? Her uncle had increased the price by at least fifty percent over what he’d been charging regional ranches. “I believe you’re mistaken, Uncle.” She countered his assertion with figures of her own.

  “Isabella, leave the business dealings to me,” Don Luis demanded. “You know nothing of the value of these animals.”

  “I know everything about the value of these animals and what you’ve been selling equivalent stock to others for.” She refused to let him cheat Benedict Redford. Before her elder could retort, she stood. “Mr. Redford, would you like to take a closer look?” As she stepped by Don Luis, she could feel the rage pouring off him. It was fast becoming obvious that their situation was reaching a critical stage. Isabella vowed to call her lawyer as soon as she returned to the hacienda.

  Bull rose, a bit unsure of what to do. By the look on Don Luis’s face, he was livid. Frankly, Bull was surprised the man didn’t demand that Isabella stand down. For the first time, he was beginning to wonder about the power play going on at the ranch. “I would, indeed.”

  “Good, I’m sure you will be sold on their winning personalities,” she teased, leading him down the steps and up to the gate. A smiling vaquero met her, greeting Isabella with affection. She stopped to exchange pleasantries with him, inquiring about his family. To Bull’s surprise, a grumbling Don Luis tagged alo
ng behind, seeming to acquiesce to her lead. “Let us greet Valiente first.”

  She spoke to the man holding the bull’s halter in Spanish and to his surprise, the man turned the animal loose. Isabella clicked with her tongue and held out her hand and Bull almost bit his tongue when the big bovine struck up a little trot and made a beeline toward them, grunting and lowing as he came. To Bull’s chagrin, he noticed that Don Luis had lined up beside him, about two feet behind Isabella. “Come here, Chiquita. My boy likes to have his ears scratched.”

  “Well, I’ll be damned.” Bull had to smile when he saw the purebred monster do all but curtsy and purr for the young woman. “He’s as gentle as a lamb.”

  “To me he is, I’m not sure how he would react if challenged.” She continued to caress the creature, murmuring words of praise to it. “He would make many fine babies for you.”

  Bull felt like he was trapped in a carnival house of mirrors, he was having trouble separating reality from dreams. Isabella reminded him of Carmen in so many ways. In others, they were nothing alike.

  “I would be honored to have either one of these animals in my herd, if we can settle on a price or a promotion deal.”

  “I am firm on my price…” Don Luis spoke up, but was quickly interrupted by Isabella.

  “I am sure we can come to terms, Mr. Redford. Isn’t that right, Uncle?”

  “I hope so,” Bull began, but his attention was quickly diverted by the vibrating of his phone. He started not to check it, but knowing it might be Carmen, he looked. “Carol?” He was shocked. “Excuse me one moment, I need to take this.”

  Stepping to one side, Bull answered his phone. “What’s wrong, Carol?”

  “It’s Luke, he’s in the emergency room with a high fever and I don’t have any money to pay the bill.”

  All Bull heard was high fever. “Where are you?”

  “Austin, Seton Center on Research.”

  “I’ll be there in a few hours. Don’t worry. Tell the doctor to admit him if need be and give them my number if they need to call. I’ll take care of everything.”