Page 70 of New Storm Rising
I was eagerly anticipating his reaction when, apparently, those two bloody Spanish buggers decided to butt in.
“You…if you wish to live, you estop dis right dis instance!” Eyes glimmering like burning coals, De La Fuente stepped forward. “How dare you ignore us?”
In answer, Mr Ambrose ignored him.
You had to admit it, my man had class.
“You…do you have any idea who we are? What kind of estatus we have?”
Mr Ambrose raised an eyebrow about half a millimetre. “No. I’m not particularly familiar with the concept of ‘estatus’.”
Oh boy. Burn, snob, burn.
Unlike me, the man of high estatus didn’t seem to appreciate my hubby’s response, however.
“You want to challenge us?” The man’s face darkened, pointing to himself and his fellow noble. “You sink you can take us on? Is sat it?”
Promptly, Mr Ambrose ignored him once again. Turning to the paper nailed to a nearby post, he started to study stagecoach arrival times. After all, it was such a fascinating subject, wasn’t it?
God, I love him.
Rage practically bled from the two Spaniards. I had to admit it was quite scary—or would have been, if both of them hadn’t been about half a head shorter than I was. Let alone compared to a certain stony-faced someone.
“Just you wait,bastardo!” Crossing the distance, De Ravera bored a finger into my husband’s chest. “You sink you can sreaten us? You sink you can win? Se two of usowndis town! We don’t need your land. We only have to put se word out, and you’ll be finished! How do you sink you’ll be operating your mine when no one is willing to work sere anymore?”
“I suppose we shall have to see, won’t we?”
And with that, he turned around, leaving the two of them standing where they were.
I followed promptly, sidling up from behind him. “I’ve got to admit, that was, how do the yanks put it…badass.”
He cocked his head. “But?”
Ah. So he’d caught that, had he?
“But doesn’t he have a point? Those men who work at your mine probably have families. Families who are under the thumb of De La Fuente and De Ravera, because they own the land those people live on. Won’t it be all too easy for those two to pressure the miners into staying away from work?”
I glanced up at him sideways. His face was as stony and emotionless as ever. He most certainly didn’t smile wickedly.
My eyes narrowed. “What are you up to?”
“Me?” He glanced over at me with all the innocence of an iceberg about to ram into an unsuspecting ship. “What could I possibly be up to?”
***
My fears turned out to be warranted. Within a few days, we got ourselves a lovely, quiet honeymoon retreat.Reallyquiet. There was not a single worker left at the mine.
“Aren’t you afraid they’ll tell people all about your secret entrance?” I asked him, frowning. “If those miners are now under the Spaniards’ thumb…”
He answered my question with a question. “Have you ever read one of my non-disclosure agreements?”
“No.”
“If you had, you wouldn’t ask.”
I scrutinized him carefully. Even if it was usual for Mr Rikkard Ambrose to show nothing but stony stoicism, I had grown very good at reading his non-expressions. Still, right now, I couldn’t detect the slightest hint of worry on his face. Not even the tiniest trace.
“Aren’t you even slightly worried?” I demanded. “All of your workers have vanished into thin air! What are you possibly going to do without miners to mine?”
