“You go to yourminchorrónow,” Elvira said.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know that word.”
The fortune teller grinned and nodded across the fire at Raven. “Ask him.” She gathered up her cards and made a shooing gesture with her hands. “Now you go. This old woman needs her sleep.”
“Thank you.”
Elvira waved her away and hobbled up the steps to her caravan.
Heloise walked over to the fire and accepted a cup of warmed wine from Sebastiano with a smile.
Chapter 33
Raven frowned into the flames. Who the hell had been firing at them today?
His first suspicion had been Lavalle, but it just was too unlikely. The odds that he could have tracked them from England were simply too remote.
A random attack was similarly unlikely. Why would a single gunman take on a much larger force? If robbery had been his aim, he must have known he would fail.
If the French had discovered the Baker was dead, and decided to ambush them on the way to the prisoner exchange, surely they would have sent more than just one man to ensure the job got done? Raven shook his head. It didn’t make any sense. The most likely explanation was that the French had sent someone to scare away any random travelers so there wouldn’t be any accidental witnesses to the prisoner exchange.
Raven rested his elbows on his knees and hung his head. He hated uncertainty, especially when it endangered Heloise. He looked up to check on her, and found her smiling at Fernando.
Alejandro sidled up and whacked him playfully on the shoulder. “Stop scowling at Fernando. He’s not interested in her. Nor she him.”
Raven took another sip of wine. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Oh? Then there must be some other reason you look like you’re measuring him for a shallow grave.”
Raven grunted. Alejandro had a point. He was a hypocrite, wanting other men to keep their eyes off her when he couldn’t control the same impulse in himself. God, the woman was a menace.
“A blind man could see what you feel for her, my friend.”
Raven scowled. “Most of the time I want to kill her.”
Alejandro snorted. “Ha. You lie to yourself. It’s only a little death you want to give her, eh?” He nudged Raven in the ribs with a ribald laugh.
“I need her like the devil needs holy water.”
“Would you not kill for her?”
“Already done that.”
“Die for her?”
Raven shot him a disgusted look. “What do you think?”
Alejandro gave a fatalistic shrug of his huge shoulders. “Then it’s love, my friend. Nothing so simple, or so complicated.”
Shit,Raven thought, as Alejandro ambled back to the fire. Was he really that obvious?
Heloise detached herself from Fernando and came toward him. Raven schooled his features into a semblance of polite interest. He dragged his eyes from her entrancing face and nodded at the fabric in her hands. “What’s that?”
She showed him.
“You made quite the impression.”
“I didn’t do much to deserve it. I only spoke to him a little.”