"Made love?" Victoria asked outraged. "We never made love… never kissed, certainly never touched in any inappropriate way. I've only ever given myself to one man, and that's not you, Diego de la Vega!" She said as she was about to leave. "I don't know what kind of illusions you have in that mind of yours, but –"

"You have a birthmark on your back, just above your waist. It's shaped like a bird." He stopped her by saying. "And seven beauty marks on your inner thigh which resemble the constellation Orion. How would I know that if we have never made love? I remember them quite vividly –" Diego told her and found himself slapped quite hard.

Victoria covered her mouth with the hand she had used to slap him at realizing what she had just done and stormed away in the direction of the field where the men were training. That entire conversation had taken an unexpected turn and she was red with anger and embarrassment. Had she even entertained the idea he might be Zorro, the young woman would have reacted quite differently. Seeing how she was certain the man she loved had died, though, that thought didn't even cross her mind. And, while she could accept the idea that Diego fantasized about her, since she, herself, had, on occasion, fantasized about him, the fact that he knew about her birth and beauty marks could only be explained one way from her perspective: he had taken liberties with her when she was unconscious, recovering from the bullet she had taken for Zorro at his hacienda.

She had never asked who had changed her bandages or taken care of her personal needs on that occasion, assuming it had been either Maria, the De la Vega housekeeper, or one of the maids. She never even entertained the possibility that it had been Diego since he was supposed to be a caballero and a don would never compromise a woman like that. Now that she was sure to have misjudged him, in that she had given him too much credit, and that he had, in fact, taken advantage of her injury to see her naked, she could barely stand the thought of him. In fact, she knew she'd do much worse than slap him if he dared near her that very moment.

Diego watched her leave as he massaged his left cheek, then slowly headed after her, trying to apologize for whatever had caused her to react that way.

"Give me that!" The taverness ordered one of the men who were training at using the pistols, just as he had finished loading a gun.

Zorro had taught her how to shoot after one of her guests proved to be a wanted criminal and had almost raped her. And since she had learned, shooting at targets had been her catharsis whenever she felt like she needed to clear her mind. It was how she had gotten extremely good at it.

True, she hadn't had the opportunity to practice much lately, yet she was still just as certain of herself when holding a gun as she had been when she had used one to save Zorro from a horse thieve set on shooting him, some eight months earlier.

Most men stopped their training as she appeared, and an amused vaquero gave her a loaded double-barrel pistol.

"Try not to hurt yourself, Señora!" He advised mockingly.

She gave him an infuriated look, then aimed and shot at the target, easily vanquishing an innocent bottle standing on a fence some forty feet away; then aimed again, shattering the one next to the first.

Don Alvaro took off his hat in respect. "Señora, perhaps it should be you to teach the men how to hit the target." He suggested only half-joking.

The other men all laughed at that remark, then one spotted Diego coming after her.

"Perhaps we should also ask young De la Vega to teach us all some swordsmanship while we're at it…" One of the men uttered, trying and succeeding to make the others laugh even harder at that idea since it was widely known that the caballero had no skill with weapons.

Don Alvaro smiled but thought there was nothing wrong with lifting the morale a little, especially seeing how most of the men had spent the last days training to kill, and, probably, just like him, wondering if they were to survive the battle to come. "Why not? How about it, Don Diego? Care to give us all a few lessons?" He, thus, asked mockingly, taking out his sword.

The caballero stopped and stared at him, then glanced at Victoria as if asking her what he should do. She just turned her head away, decided it was not her job to tell him anything, especially seeing how he dared do what she was certain he had done, and mentally informing him that he was lucky she had just emptied her gun.

"Can you use one?" The other don continued by asking while offering Diego a sword.

The tall caballero thought about it. He remembered using one, but there was a voice inside him telling him not to admit he did.

"I'm not sure," he, thus, answered while curiously accepting the weapon his host offered.

Victoria only turned to watch the fight because she was certain he'd easily embarrass himself and she found some satisfaction in that thought.

Diego raised the sword in salute, as did the other don, then perfectly parried his adversary's first attack. More people started gathering as Juan stopped his own sabre lessons to watch the duel.

Don Alvaro retreated at realizing he was not dealing with a beginner, while Victoria started staring suspiciously at the tall man she just realized she didn't know as well as she had thought.

One more attack and this time Diego didn't only parry but used a redoublement to relieve his adversary of his weapon.

"Again?" He asked with a smile, clearly enjoying the swordfight, while Victoria's eyes looked as if they were about to pop out of their sockets.

Don Alvaro collected his sword and attacked again. This time, Diego made a 360 degree turn at the last moment, using his momentum to push the other don to the ground and point his sword at him. "Lesson number one, Señores," he said with a mischievous smile, addressing those gathered there. "Never turn your back to your adversary. If you do, you might just lose your lives next!"

As he took a step back, the other don hurriedly picked himself up and turned to face him again. Diego made a head sign that he was ready for a new round.

Another attack ended when the young De la Vega intentionally discarded his own sword and turned his adversary's hand in such a way as to relieve him of his weapon, then pointed it at his neck. "Lesson number two," he said, "don't let your foe get his hands on your sword. He's certain to use it against you."

Giving the enraged haciendado his sword back, Diego retrieved his weapon and moved a few steps away, waiting for another attack. As anger got the best of him, Don Alvaro's moves were so clumsy this time that even the least trained man there could have made a better adversary for the De la Vega heir at that point. It only took the tall caballero a couple of moves before disarming his host with a flick of his sword, and again pointing his sabre at the man's neck. "Finally, lesson number three: never fight in anger!" He then uttered as he made a theatrical bow while the men gathered there cheered him.

Victoria slowly neared him when he was done, making her way through the men congratulating him on his skills, and he suddenly found himself right before her. She was attentively studying his features, a look of disbelief in her eyes, and the young don didn't know how to react.

"Take off your shirt!" She ordered, leaving Diego and everyone else dumbfounded.

"My shirt?" He inquired rather nervously, unsure he had heard her right.

"Yes. Take it off! Now!" She again commanded.

"If you want to wash it, I'm sure it can wait…" He replied looking around for help, but, at seeing her determined look, he started unbuttoning, and took the shirt off.

Victoria let it fall and involuntarily held her breath as she studied the muscles on his chest and abdomen, then took a turn around him to look at his scars. They weren't that many, but she knew where each one stood on Zorro's body. And, as she already suspected, she found them all on Diego's.

Searching his eyes, she returned to stare intently at him. "You're alive!" She remarked before she found herself engulfed by darkness.