Chapter One

Spring, 1820

Samantha De Le Vega sat up in her bed. Cold sweat poured from her body as the memory of her parents death visited her dreams once again. She had grown use to them in the fourteen years since their death. But still she grumbled the explicit word, "!Caramba!". "?Que?", Trixy Chavez asked half asleep from the bed just a few feet away. "Was it your dream again?" "Si," Samantha sighed as she laid back down. Samantha had been only six when her parents, Juan and Amanda Chavez, had died in an accident as they, along with several other families including the Chavez's, moved further south towards Old Mexico. Her father had been a good looking Mexican man and her mother a very beautiful American woman. Even now, she wondered how they had met and fell in love so far North as they had.

At twenty, Samantha was tall and beautiful herself. Her emerald green eyes, handful sized breasts, and slender frame with long legs were like those of her late mother's. From her father, she had inherited his naturally tanned skin, determination, smile, and the medium brown color of her waist long hair. Had it not been for the kindness of Armando and Maria Chavez when she was orphaned, she didn't know where she would be now. They had took her in and raised her like one of their own children all those years ago. Having been an only child herself, Samantha felt very much part of the Chavez family. She now had four brothers and three sisters. She also loved it because she was neither the youngest nor eldest. Because of her age, she fit in as the "fourth" child. But it was the eldest child, Roberto, that held her fancy.

Roberto was already twenty-one when Samantha joined their family. It had been him that held her when her parents died. He kept her from running to the over-turned wagon and seeing her parents mangled bodies. It had been him that held her close when she woke with nightmares of the accident and eased her fears. Now thirty-five, he was still unmarried. After an arguement with his father five years ago because of his "livelihood" made him leave home. Rumors had reached the Chavez's that he was still persuing his "livelihood" as a bandido, but was now the leader of his own group. Samantha could only hope that these rumors were not true.

Light was creeping into the room as the sun beginning to rise. There was much to be done today. One of Samantha's friends, Consuela Martinez, would be married tonight and she, along with several other women in the village, was helping with the preparations. Like all the weddings that took place in their small Mexican village of Hijo Diablo, it was too be a great fiesta. She quickly dressed and ate before saddleing her horse and riding the five miles south from the village to her friends home.

Samantha had ridden about a mile when she saw three men riding towards the village. Not wanting to take a chance on them being bandidos, she hide in a group of trees until they passed. She feared that they had spotted her when they rode towards her. She and her horse remained still as they passed by. She knew none of them, but the one in the middle on the painted stallion looked familiar. Once they passed, the man's face stayed in her mind. He had looked her way and she had seen his eyes...; those piercing brown eyes haunted her all the way to the Martinez's home. She had seen them before, but where? She couldn't help from feeling like she knew the man they belonged to.

Roberto Chavez smiled as he and the other two men rode towards the small village that had once been his home. He had seen the young woman take off towards the group of trees as they crested the hill. The need to pass by the trees was unnecessary, but he couldn't resist giving the woman a scare. He saw her face. If he didn't know any better, he would have sworn that it was the girl his parents had took in long ago, Samantha De Le Vega. She would be about twenty now. Three questions about this woman pleagued his mind: Was it Samantha?; Was she married now?; And why was she alone? He would find out when he reached his parents home. That in itself would be a battle.

Just outside of Hijo Diablo, the three men slowed their horses. Each having a connection to the village they intended to return here one day to live. They had became rich men in the last ten years robbing stage coaches and trains. It was now a matter of time until their crimes were forgotten and they could go on about their lives. But, how long that would be, Roberto didn't know. He looked around at the bustling village. Only one other time could he remember it being this busy. It had been the day his sister, the one next to him, Treasea, had married. It was the smell of the traditional wedding dishes being cooked that confirmed his thought and made him now wonder who the lucky couple was. He hoped beyond hope that Samantha wasn't the bride-to-be.

Roberto knocked on the door of his parents hacienda. The call of his youngest sister, Trixy, announced that she was answering the door. "Roberto," she screamed as she hugged him and pulled him inside. "Madre. Padre. It's Roberto," she again screamed, her voice drifting complete through the house. Roberto stiffened when his father entered into the sala. "Padre," he said, putting some emotion into the word. "Roberto," his father said, doing the same. "Am I and my men welcomed here," Roberto asked. He watched his father frown. Finally, he nodded and waved the three men inside.

Roberto and his men drank and ate with his parents. He learned that the woman he saw hiding was indeed Samantha. "!Maldicion!," he thought to himself as he remembered how beautiful she was. He was no longer thinking of her as a little nina, nor as a little sister, but as a very attractive mujer. After bathing and changing clothes, he and his men escorted his parents to the wedding in town. He looked forward to seeing Samantha. The good man in him wanted to see her as the little sister he remembered her as. But the bad man in him, the one that he had become since leaving his family's home, wanted to take her to the nearest bed and claim her as his own. This feeling was only made worse when he saw at the wedding, to busy to notice that he was there, but he noticed her. Dios, did he notice her!

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It's only funny until someone gets hurt, then it's hilarious!