As water lapped around them and spilled over high black knees of rock studding the cliff, Steve put his hands on her waist and lifted her to straddle him, his legs apart and braced for balance. She understood immediately, and put her arms around his neck. Her breasts were against his chest, her legs clamped around his hips.

Then he was inside her, filling her with a swift, hard thrust of his body, his hands guiding her movements as she shuddered. Warm sunlight, cool water, heated friction and the rhythmic noise of crashing water combined in a collage of exquisite sensations that Ginny knew she would never forget.

"Bruja…mi corazón…." His husky endearments were whispers in her ear, the thundering roar of the falls muting words and world, drowning her in pleasure and aching love.

Later, she would remember their hours on the mossy rock and in the pool with wistful longing, for it was the last time for quite a while they were to be so carefree….

18

Zacatecas at last. The ancient grove of trees still stood sentry, heedless of time and the elements, casting deep shadows in the blue light of late evening. Dogs began to bark, a scattered sound in the soft dusk. Splinters of light like huge fireflies flickered behind thick-boled trees and dusty leaves. Their horses picked up the pace, sensing the end of the journey.

Home. There was the sense of returning home, to a familiar beloved place, Ginny thought. Yet she had felt this way the first time she had come, strangely enough, as if she were coming home after a long journey.

Now it was true, in a way.

Vaquera rode out to greet them, armed and grinning, acting as both an escort and a guard. “Don Esteban, you are expected!”

“So I see. Luis, where is my lazy cousin, that he will not come out to greet us?” Steve rode a little ahead, lapsing into the dialect of the vaquera, laughing with them when it was drolly observed that Don Renaldo was no doubt unaware of the time again.

“He reads all the time, that one! The señora must always coax him out of the house, or he would never be seen about.”

But when they neared the house, the door opened and Renaldo came out to greet them with his wife at his side.

“¡Hola! Cousin,” he called cheerfully, his tall, rather stooped frame silhouetted against the welcoming lights inside. The two-story house sprawled at the end of a long, curving drive flanked by tall shrubs. Nightblooming flowers clambered over a trellis and lent a fading fragrance to the air. Twin lanterns illuminated a shallow flight of steps to the narrow porch that wrapped around the house.

Aching, unaccustomed to the long ride, Ginny dismounted stiffly, then yielded her reins to the small boy who came running up to greet them.