It was cooler outside, Katherine thought as she stepped out onto the patio. She fanned herself vigorously. It was so hot inside, and so stuffy. So many people crammed into such a small space. She sighed and leaned back against the wall. Her feet hurt from all the dancing. She wasn't sure she had enjoyed her first party at all.

Dancing with every man in the room twice, and the alcalde three times, was exhausting. She was glad that the women outnumbered the man three to one, or she would still be dancing. Diego had danced with her of course, but then had been whirled away by someone else, and she hadn't even seen her husband for hours.

"Senora, aren't you enjoying yourself?" She startled out of her thoughts, and glanced around.

Mendoza stood silently at a slight distance away, leaning lightly on his musket. She smiled at him. Her husband's friend was starting to grow on her. The sergeant was a kind and thoughtful man, although his calling may not have been a soldier. He did his best, and when called upon to truly act, he was surprising adept.

"Sergeant! It is so reassuring to see you here," Katherine said. "Would you like me to fetch you something to eat and drink?"

He smiled in the shadows, and rubbed his stomach. "Don Diego has been extremely generous, as usual."

She smiled back. "I should have guessed…"

"You don't like dancing, Senora?"

"I'm exhausted with the heat. Perhaps it will be easier in cooler weather," she said, fanning herself again.

Mendoza nodded, and sat on a chair. He propped his musket against his leg.

A slight figure darted from inside to the dark shadows. Katherine's quick eyes recognised her step son, Felipe. She smiled slightly.

"Excuse me, Dona Katherine?" A voice said from the doorway. "Did Don Felipe come this way? He was going to dance with me…" The voice was from a pretty young woman. Blonde curls bobbed around her face, and sparkling blue eyes surveyed the gloom.

Katherine stepped forward, blocking the view to Felipe. "I haven't seen him for a while, Isabella. Perhaps he is resting…"

"It is so unfortunate that he is deaf. He is so handsome, and dances divinely. I must find him. Mother says we are leaving within the half hour."

"I really hope you find him then," Katherine said softly.

"Hmm," the girl said, and turned back to the crowd of people milling around the room. She disappeared, on a mission to find the teenage boy.

She touched Felipe on the shoulder and the boy jumped.

Katherine glanced towards the glass door, and drew the teenager out into the light spilling out from the room.

"Isabella means well," she said kindly. Felipe flushed and kicked the loose dirt around with his finely polished boot.

"He is a little young," Mendoza said, softly. "And he is deaf…"

Katherine eyed her son as he shifted uncomfortably.

"Come out to the roses with me, Felipe," she said after a moment, placing a hand on his arm.

Felipe quickly remembered his training and took her arm properly. He was staring at her if she had gone mad. Mendoza frowned.

She glanced at the two men. She knew what they were concerned about. Edward Thorogood could well be lurking in the shadows. Not that there were many on such a moon lit night. The full moon hung in the sky, large and luminous.

"It's been hours since the party started, Sergeant," Katherine said. "If something were going to happen, surely it would have happened by now. Just…," she paused, glancing towards the hacienda and swallowing fearfully. The man wasn't after her, really, anyway. It was Diego he wanted dead. "Stay here. He wants to kill Diego. Just protect my husband."

"Senora…"

"No, stay at your post. You have an important responsibility to fulfil. I should not be distracting you at all. I am fine. Felipe has a sword," she assured the soldier. She was halfway to the garden, walking as she talked. She didn't feel that she needed to tell the sergeant about the loaded pistol that she was carrying in her drawstring purse, along with her lace edged handkerchief.

The sergeant reluctantly looked around him at the landscape, shrugged, and sat down again. She seemed safe enough.

Zzz

Katherine sat on the garden bench wearily.

"You don't want to go back to Isabella, do you? Is there another young lady you'd like to dance with, Felipe?" She slipped her tired feet out of her soft dance slippers. She shook stones out of her shoes. The few steps outside on the gravel had damaged them slightly. The pretty shoes were meant only for dancing on polished floorboards.

Felipe shook his head, glancing around him worriedly. He pointed to the clouds gathering above their heads, and indicated rain was coming.

"A storm? How delightful," she murmured with a yawn. "Anything is better than this heat."

He glanced pointedly at the hacienda. "We will go back as soon as the rain starts. I need fresh air for a while. You can go back to the house if you want…I feel quite safe."

Felipe glanced around again. The landscape was flat and flat for as far as the eyes could see.

"I have my pistol," she assured him.

Felipe was startled. He made a move to help her up, and return to the hacienda. She held firm in the bench. Felipe made his sign for Diego. She shook her head.

"If Edward approaches the hacienda I will see him. He wants to kill Diego, Felipe. From what I hear the lancers are next to useless, and Zorro is a ghost…" Her encounters with the masked man were bizarre and couldn't have been real. "Diego isn't really taking it seriously enough. Wearing a light sword? He needs a pistol or a rifle. He obviously doesn't think anything will happen tonight."

Felipe queried her.

"Yes, Felipe. I intend to sit out here and shoot any trespassers that approach the hacienda. With my pistol, yes," she answered him. "You probably should go back. Maybe it is dangerous…" She responded to the frantic signing of the teenager. "I need to do this, Felipe."

He shook his head, and made a sign that she took to mean, keep out of sight, keep down, and turned to leave her. He shrugged his shoulders, and hesitated.

She smiled at him reassuringly, and nodded. "My pistol is a good one, and I will stay down, out of sight. Don't worry about me."

He made his way back to the hacienda, and sat with the sergeant on the patio. Putting his head on his hands, he wondered why women were so difficult. Dona Katherine was as difficult as Diego, he thought, shaking his head. Stubborn as mules.

Zzz

Diego hadn't seen his wife for hours, he realised. The guests were starting to leave, and their hostess had completely disappeared.

"I must apologise for my wife," Diego said at the door. "I am not sure where she has gotten to."

"Perhaps she grew tired and went to bed, just to rest her eyes," an older woman said. "I used to as a girl myself. I always meant to rise in time to say goodbye, but…" She shrugged.

Diego chuckled slightly. "Yes, that must be it. Katherine was growing tired, last time I saw her."

"She's a lovely creature," the older Dona assured him, patting his arm. "And they said you'd never marry, Diego. You bring home the fairest flower of them all."

He smiled, and nodded. He turned, noticing the room was emptying. Where was she? Perhaps she had gone outside to take the air. It had been hot and stuffy in the hacienda. A storm was brewing outside, and the air was thick everywhere.

"Sergeant," Diego said, acknowledging the man outside. "Felipe!"

Felipe signed and pointed. Diego went to say something, but the loud clap of thunder drowned him out. Felipe grabbed his arm, and pointed. Someone was creeping in the darkness. Both Diego and Mendoza spotted the shadowy figure at the same time.

"Stay here, Don Diego. I will handle it," the Sergeant murmured. "Dona Katherine will be safe, never fear."

"What?" Diego turned to Felipe again. Felipe signed slower and Diego understood.

"What does she mean by that?"

Felipe signed a gun, and shooting, and Diego sighed. "She has been saying she is a good shot with a pistol." Felipe signed frantically, and Diego patted his shoulder. "No, you are not to blame, Felipe. Women are a force to reckon with."

A shot rang out, and a man cursed. Diego saw Katherine spring out of a hiding place, and run from the approaching man.

"No," he murmured. "Towards the house, not away from it…"

Felipe dashed towards where Edward was pursuing Katherine, and Diego turned to his father, who had come to the door at the sound of a pistol shot so close to the house.

"Good thing I am wearing a sword tonight," he murmured. "What does she mean, running from the house?"

"Panicked? Perhaps she is trying to lead him away?"

"Foolhardy. We have to hurry." Diego whistled, and the jet black horse galloped up within moments. "Pity Esperanza is stabled tonight…"

"A magnificent animal," Alejandro said, watching his son mount the horse easily and turn the steed towards Edward's chase.

"I have to stay out of sight of Mendoza, and the other soldiers, or questions will be asked."

Zzz

Katherine was running, but the mud beneath her feet was slowing her down. She had let off a shot, and she knew she had hit her mark. But he was chasing her, that was obvious.

"Katherine…you are mine…what do you see in such a scholarly man? I am the one you want….come to me….I can make you happy…"

"Go away, get away from me!" She screamed, as lightning split the sky. Her hair was dripping water into her eyes, and her skirts were hard to run in. She couldn't let off another shot. She had no more ammunition and powder, and no time to reload.

It was inevitable, and when she tripped she heard something crack. Her ankle burned with pain, and she closed her eyes, squeezing the tears out. So much pain, and now she couldn't even move.

"Please, Edward," she murmured, as he stopped a few feet away. "I don't love you. I don't want you. You frighten and disgust me, and I hate you!" She may as well get the words out before he did his worst.

He raised a pistol of his own, and levelled it at her. "I am so sorry you feel that way. I will give you a moment to think on those words, and see if you really mean them."

"Yes, yes," she whispered, but she decided to strengthen the next statement with a louder voice. "I hate you! I hate you, and someone will make you pay for this!"

There was the retort of a pistol, and a strange thud nearby. Katherine expected pain and blood to erupt from somewhere on her body, but unless she was numb to the bullet, she had not been hit.

She opened her eyes slowly, and screamed. She opened her mouth and screamed again.

Sergeant Mendoza had arrived in time to apprehend Edward. The alcalde was directing that the man be taken directly to the pueblo jail.

Diego arrived, and took her in his arms for a moment. "It's alright, hush, it's alright…"

"No," she sobbed. "It's not. It's not alright. Felipe…"

That's when Diego realised…the shape nearby…was a teenage boy covered in blood. Not moving…