Chapter 10

Victoria followed him into the main room, but she stopped in front of the curtain. Everything was as it had been before the attack, several guests sitting at the tables over their drinks, Diego standing at the bar while is father was talking to a friend at a table.

For her everything was different now. She had found out the identity of her masked hero, and she was in love with her best friend. She saw Diego smile at her, before the room began to spin. The tray with the fresh glasses slipped from her hand and the glasses shattered on the floor with a noise. From the corner of her eye she saw Diego rushing towards her, before everything turned dark.

As she returned to consciousness, she lay on her bed in her room, and someone held her hand. She turned her head to see Diego sitting beside the bed.

"What happened?" she asked, confused, touching her forehead with her hand.

"You fainted, but I caught you before you hit the floor," Diego explained. "How are you, Victoria?"

"I don't know," she sat up on the bed, and swayed again as the dizziness returned.

"Lie back down, Querida," Diego supported her with his arm around her back and let her sink back into the pillows. "You had a shock, and it's best to stay flat for some time, until you're feeling better."

"Stay, Diego," she whispered, "and talk to me."

Diego took her hand and placed a kiss on it. "You know I can't stay long," he apologized, "it wouldn't be appropriate for me to be here with you alone. Your helper will soon come looking for you."

"I won't let you go before you tell me why you are flirting with your cousin! How can I be sure you're not interested in marrying her while you're playing with me?"

In a low voice, so they wouldn't be overheard by possible eavesdroppers, he began to explain. "Victoria, there is no way I'm ever going to marry Ana Teresa. She may be beautiful, but it's only skin deep. She only cares about herself and not about others. My father despises her as much as I do."

"But why are you showing your interest in her so openly, telling everyone you're considering marriage?"

Diego grinned. "My father told me he doesn't want me to marry her, and Ana Teresa dislikes the idea she might be forced to spend the rest of her life in this backwater in California when she longs for Madrid, just like de Soto."

"Yes?" Victoria stared at him, confused.

"Did you notice how often you and de Soto were invited for a meal recently, either on the hacienda or in the tavern? My father does his best to keep me apart from Ana Teresa, trying to match you with me and Ana Teresa with de Soto."

"And the harder you struggle, the more your father and Ana try to push you in my direction," Victoria smiled, as she understood.

"Yes, and the Alcalde won't suspect me to be Zorro, either."

"You're really the fox! My fox!" Happily, she smiled at him.

"Forgive me, Victoria, for lying to you?"

"Always, Diego. I love you," she squeezed his hand on her pillow.

"And I love you," he whispered, kissing her quickly. "I must go now. I hear someone coming up the stairs. Will you be all right?"

"Don't worry, Diego. It's nearly siesta, and I will rest through siesta."

"We can talk more at the hacienda after dinner," he grinned, hinting that he had more than talking in mind when he kissed her.

"I can't wait," she smiled.

Z~Z~Z

"How's Victoria?" Alejandro asked his son, as Diego sat down again at their table.

"I think she's in shock as a result from the attack earlier, but I believe she will be fine again soon," Diego assured him.

"Victoria has been through a lot recently, first the split up with Zorro and today the attack in her tavern. She needs our support now. I'll send a carriage to pick her up for dinner if she feels well enough tonight."

"Is that another attempt to keep me away from Ana Teresa by inviting another female guest?"

Diego asked, amused.

"Victoria isn't any female guest. She is a good friend," Alejandro corrected him, annoyed, "and yes, I'd rather have you spend time with her than with Ana Teresa. When will you come to your senses and give up your plans of marrying your cousin?"

Diego shrugged. "I haven't made up my mind yet, but I still think it's a good idea to officially unite the lands, and you can't deny that Ana Teresa is a real beauty."

"It's not only the outer beauty of a woman that counts. Her character is important too. Didn't you say so too recently?" Alejandro said angrily. "Ana Teresa is not the one I want as my daughter-in-law. Fortunately, Ana Teresa isn't inclined to this marriage either, so there's still hope. I wished she would return to Madrid as soon as possible and take the alcalde with her."

Diego suppresses a grin at his father's rage. He wished the same as his father, but he couldn't say so.

Z~Z~Z

Zorro kept Diego busy for the rest of the day and there wasn't time to check on Victoria. He barely managed to be home in time for dinner. Ana had excused herself with a headache and so it was only the de la Vega men attending dinner with Victoria.

When Diego entered the dining room, his father talked about Zorro who had slashed the alcalde's vest again when he made the alcalde rescind a tax in the afternoon.

"I'm sorry," Diego excused himself, "but I must have forgotten time while I was reading my book."

Victoria stared at him as she suspected his true reason for being late, checking him for any visible injuries, but she couldn't say anything in the presence of his father and the servants.

"Diego, you and your books," his father chided him. "Instead of taking action, you recite poetry. Victoria told me how Zorro saved her today. Without him it would have been very bad for her."

"Zorro didn't need my help, did he?" Diego shrugged.

"You're helpless, Diego," his father said, exasperated. "I don't know what to do with you. Why can't you at least get married and settle down with a nice young woman who is not like your cousin Ana?"

After dinner Alejandro suggested a walk in the garden for the digestion, but as soon as they had walked a few steps, Alejandro excused himself, taking Felipe with him.

"It looks like my father left us on our own again," Diego grinned as the other two men disappeared into the house.

"He's trying to be a matchmaker for us by making us spend time together," Victoria smiled.

"We didn't have time to talk, but I need to know what you think. Are you angry that it's me?" Diego asked, anxious about her reaction to the revelation that he was Zorro.

"I don't know what to say," Victoria said. "Everything happened so fast today. I was so depressed when I didn't know how to find you, and then there was the attack and I found out it was you all the time."

"Are you angry?" Diego asked again, drawing her closer.

"I'm angrier at myself than at you," she admitted. "I should have made the connection between you and Zorro much earlier. I feel so stupid now, but I'm relieved that it's you." Victoria leaned against his chest.

"Relieved?" Diego asked, surprised.

"You were right when you said I should be looking for you with my heart," Victoria smiled. "I didn't want to admit it, but I was jealous when you were courting your cousin so openly because I had feelings for you. I should have trusted my heart much earlier."

"I can assure you that I have no intention of marrying Ana. There's never been anyone else but you." Diego bent down to kiss her and to show her his love. "Will you marry me? Can you love the man behind the mask?"

"I love you, Diego, and there's nothing I want more than marrying you," Victoria beamed at him happily, wrapping her arms around his neck.

Diego wanted to kiss her again, but stepped away from her instead. "I think I hear my father coming back," he said in a low voice. "We need to keep up this charade a little longer, so the alcalde doesn't get suspicious. Can you do this?"

Victoria turned white at the thought of the alcalde. She couldn't lose him again. Not now, when she had just found him. Fearfully, she nodded. "You can trust me. I won't betray you with my knowledge. I can act too."

"Thank you, mi Querida," Diego whispered, squeezing her hand. Then he offered her his arm to face his father who approached them from the house.

Alejandro excused himself again for disappearing previously. "I'm sorry I had to leave you alone earlier, but I hoped you enjoyed the walk through the garden without me." Diego noticed how his father examined their expressions and appeared to be disappointed by Victoria's serious smile.

"Is everything all right, Victoria? Alejandro asked, concerned. "You're so pale."

"I think I haven't recovered so well from the events today," Victoria explained.

"Diego will take you home where you can rest," Alejandro said, throwing a disapproving look in Diego's direction. "You must excuse me, but I have to go to bed. I have a hacienda to run and I have to get up early."

"I think your father has the impression that our after dinner walk has gone wrong," Victoria smiled at him when they were alone again. "I know expects us to get closer by making us spend time alone and now he believes we didn't."

"You didn't look very happy earlier," Diego stated. "Not like someone who just accepted a marriage proposal."

"It's just that I'm afraid," Victoria explained. "Afraid of losing you again." She shuddered at the thought and Diego put his arm around her. "I'll be careful," he promised as he led her to the cart to drive her home.