AN/: People underage or who don't like some light smut please stop reading at the warning signs. It won't affect the story

Chapter 7:

Victoria was in luck the next day. The seamstress had a skirt and a blouse that was ordered but in the end, wasn't needed so Diego bought it for Victoria. They were going to look for a horse also, even though Toronado was a special and very strong stallion, carrying two persons was too much for the whole trip back, even for him.

They had an appointment with one of the best ranchero's of San Pedro. It wasn't the first time they had bought a horse from this ranch.

"I've got us an appointment with Emilio De Lucha for a new horse. Even my Diablo can't carry two persons that long it's not good for his back and you never know when I will need him back home." Diego whispered to Victoria but he refused to say the stallion's real name.

"I understand that Diego but a horse from the De Lucha ranch? That's too much." Victoria whispered back.

"You accepted a courtship by a De La Vega now, querida, nothing is good enough for you." Diego smiled, "Come on my stallion will bring us there."

They walked towards the stables when they heard a familiar neighing. A dirty bandit was trying to come near Toronado.

"Excuse me what is the meaning of this?" Diego asked sternly.

"Mind your own business caballero." The bandit growled.

"You trying to steal my stallion makes it my business," Diego responded a little angry. He knew the man wouldn't get far without hurting himself.

"You mean to say that this creature is yours?" The man asked shocked pointing towards a rearing stallion.

"That stallion is mine indeed. He only accepts a few people on his back." Diego said with a smirk.

"That's a devil's creature." The man said before leaving the stables.

"His name is Diablo after all." Diego smirked but the man hadn't heard him, "Come on boy we need a horse for Victoria and when that's okay we can go home."

Victoria watched how he talked to the stallion, with such softness, It calmed the stallion down immediately, when saddling him and was shocked when he took his saddlebag and a blanket rolled up with a sword inside.

"There is no safer place to keep Zorro's stuff then in the back of my stallions stable." Diego smiled. Before taking Toronado out of the stables. He helped her into the saddle from the moment he was outside, taking his place behind her.

Victoria's breath quickened when she felled a strong arm sneaking around her waist. Her back against his strong chest. Why had she never seen how strong Diego was. That could have been a clue.

This was a dream for her, riding with him without the fear of being shot. She understood that from the moment they were in public, studious Diego needed to appear again. She knew now that she loved both sides of one amazing man.

The ride took about twenty minutes. They weren't in a hurry. Diego and Victoria wanted to enjoy this time they had together.

"Diego we need to have a story why I suddenly chose for you." Victoria sighed leaning against the strong chest.

"We have a whole trip to make the story believable but I have a clue what we can tell the people." Diego smiled when they arrived at the ranch. Emilio was already waiting for them. A servant wanted to take Toronado from Diego but the young De La Vega shook his head.

"Don Emilio is there a place where I can place Diablo myself, somewhere far away from your servants, you see Diablo has a nasty temper when I am not around," Diego asked

"No problem, Don Diego you can put him in the back stables I will show you the way." Don Emilio said friendly.

He showed Diego a few back stables where no horse stood so no servant would come there.

"Behave yourself. I will be right back." Diego said to the stallion, who nodded like he understood his owner.

Diego walked outside towards where Don De Lucha and Victoria were waiting for him.

"I've got a few nice horses for sale Don Diego," Emilio said while walking to the pen where three horses were waiting to be sold. Two brown mares and one black mare.

"These are beautiful horses, Don Emilio. I expect that they are full breed Andalusian horses?" Diego asked

Don Emilio nodded, "Of course, here are the papers."

Diego looked at the papers closely. "They are amazing animals Emilio. What do you ask for the three of them?"

Don Emilio thought about it, "If you buy all three of them I can sell them for 5000 pesos."

Diego knew that he couldn't refuse this offer. He had done business with Don De Lucha before and he knew this was more than a fair price, even more so this was a friendly price. Diego shook the Don's hand to make the sale and paid the man. He had enough money with him still because of the auction in Santa Paula.

"Now Querida, which one do you want?" Diego asked

She thought for a moment and pointed towards the black mare, "That one."

"Do you have a gear that I can buy from you?" Diego asked Emilio.

Emilio nodded, "For 200 pesos I can miss a gear for the black mare I presume?"

Diego nodded, "Yes it's a long story but we need a horse for the senorita to go home and since she accepted my courtship it will be a gift from me to her."

"Congratulations to both of you. I think your father will be happy to hear that." Don Emilio smirked.

Both Diego and Victoria thanked the man before Victoria turned towards Diego.

"Thank you, Diego." Victoria smiled caressing her new mare, her first full breed Andalusian.

Everything was handled but they decided that they would leave for Los Angeles in the morning. Diego saddled the black mare and went to retrieve Toronado from the stables.

Diego helped Victoria mount her mare before mounting Toronado again. The two brown mares had a halter around their heads. With two ropes leading the two new mares in one hand, the reigns of Toronado in the other. Victoria next to him on her mare. His father would be so proud of him when he saw the mares.

Diego and Victoria had enjoyed their afternoon in the harbor of San Pedro before the evening came and turned into their last night in San Pedro. The morning would come soon enough and Victoria would once again be on her way home saved by her hero.

The trip home was quiet, no awkward silence but just enjoying this trip when it dawned her, "What are we going to tell the people?"

Diego was silent for a moment before he responded, "I thought long and hard about that and I will tell people that I crossed Zorro on my way home when I crossed Zorro, he was saying that you were in trouble and that the tracks were leading to San Pedro in the letter stood that she will be forced to marry someone and Victoria was going to need me when she was saved so I followed Zorro to the outskirts of town. He asked me to hide until he gave the signal that it was safe. Instead he came to me and asked me to ride to the church. Later that evening he sends us another letter which I will make as soon as we are home to meet him in the church garden. There he said to you that he couldn't do this anymore, he couldn't keep you in harm's way and he revealed he knew that me, Diego was in love with you too so he said to you that you would be much safer as the wife of caballero. He released you of your promise to him saying he could never be a good man and places your hand in mine, saying I, Diego was the only one he trusted your heart too. He begged you to do this for him before he left us there in that little garden. You asked me to let you think about it and the next morning you accepted my courtship. I will plead that I can live with the fact that Zorro will always be your number one as long as you let me love you."

Victoria smiled, "I can say that it stirred feelings in me, I buried long ago. That I could love and marry my best friend. People may think it will be because you are wealthy but I will let them think what they want."

"Know very well that my sweet, precious Victoria that you will have to hear things about me like the fact that I am a coward and things like that. I know what people say behind my back." Diego warned her.

"I know that now Diego and I feel guilty for everything I ever said to you. Even if I knew it wasn't true. How you handle the Guardian takes a lot of courage too. Helping people after they were saved by Zorro and that is what I will tell them." Victoria said.

Diego chuckled, "That the woman I love so much."

The rest of the trip proceeded with small talks and laughter until the evening started to set in the middle of the desert.

"A little bit further there is a cave we can use for shelter," Diego said before steering Toronado of road. Victoria followed him amazed by how he always knew where to find shelter.

They cave Diego was talking about was small just big enough to hold them and a fire to keep them warm. Diego brought his saddlebag with Zorro's things and his famous sword with him.

Diego put on a fire and looked in the corner of his eye to the beautiful woman that held his heart. Another night of tight control. It was best to go to sleep as soon as possible.

"Let's go to sleep we had a tiresome day behind and we still have a day riding ahead of us," Diego said swallowing and trying to forget how close she was and how alone they were.

************************** STOP*****************

It wasn't long before they both lay asleep, Zorro's sword within reach. Diego was always a light sleeper in cases like this, meaning whenever he needed to spend the night in shelters like this.

A soft sobbing woke him up and he saw his Victoria shaking back and forward. Her knees pulled up and her arms wrapped around them, her face hidden in her knees.

"Querida, what wrong?" Diego asked softly

Victoria looked up, it was only now that Diego noticed that she had been crying for a while now. He must have been more tired than he thought.

"I am sorry, Diego I didn't mean to wake you." she sobbed.

Diego sat up and looked at her, "Never apologize for waking me up. Did you have a nightmare?"

Victoria simply nodded. Diego opened his arms, "Come here why don't you tell me what you saw."

Victoria scooted closer to him and snuggled into his side, "You were too late and I had to spend the night with him as his wife." was the only thing Victoria said but Diego could read between her lines, he didn't need more information.

"Hey you are here with me now, it's over. When we are home we will marry as soon as it's believable. I don't want to wait a year to be your husband and know that I would never force myself on you after our marriage." Diego said in a soothing voice.

Victoria smiled into his chest, "I know you and your iron control but Diego this last time was the last straw. I don't want to wait until we are married, I want to be claimed by you now, here." Victoria said while touching his leg with her hand.

It took every control Diego had to place his hand on top of hers, stopping with what she was doing.

"You are not thinking straight, querida. You know we can't do this. I can't ruin your reputation like that." Diego said but Victoria had heard the swallow after his voice. She knew that he was losing control.

"Diego please, maybe next time I won't be so lucky." Kissing his neck.

"Victoria please, I don't know how long I can control myself when you are doing that." Diego pleaded

Her other hand was feeling the muscles through his shirt while she felt that his other hand lost grip and now she was sure even an iron control like Diego's had a breaking point.

Victoria pulled herself up and looked in Diego's eyes before they both leaned in until their lips touched each other. Diego was lost now. Victoria was opening the buttons of his shirt so that in the end she could roam her hands over his bare chest without losing the contact their lips had.

"You are really sure about this?" Diego asked in a husky voice, his last control trying to reason with her.

As a response Victoria placed his hand on her bare leg pleading to continue. Diego bend down and kissed her even more passionate now.

His hand going up to her leg until he couldn't go any further. He moved his hands more between her legs, pulling her underwear down while Victoria did the same with his pants.

It would be a relief because Diego's erection became painful in his pants. He gasped when her hands found his member and started to stroke it gently.

Diego caressed the place between her legs before entering her with one finger. while pulling her blouse down with the other hand. His mouth found her perfect formed breast and starting playing with her nipple with his tongue.

Victoria intertwined her fingers into Diego's thick, black hair while closing her eyes and enjoying the feeling Diego was giving her before pulling him up, "I don't want to wait anymore, claim me now, I want to be yours in body and soul."

This made Diego groan and lost the final straw of his control. He hovered over her, slowly entering her with his large member. It hurt her at first but soon as he started moving, at a slow pace the pain faded and pleasure came in its place.

She dug her nails into his bare shoulders, ushering him to move faster.

Diego wasn't as innocent as he made himself look. Down in the cave he had books about how to make love to woman but he knew now that he just needed to listen to his body, his body knew what to do.

Victoria's eyes rolled and closed when the amazing feeling of a climax hit her hard. The tightening of her walls around Diego's member made him spill his seed not long after that.

The young De La Vega rolled on his back and pulled Victoria close to his body, "we should get dressed first before we fall asleep." Victoria stopped him from getting up, "I have no regrets about this Diego."

Diego smiled, "I wasn't a real gentleman but my love I don't regret one single second." he kissed her before he dressed again. Victoria made sure his clothes were into place again and her underwear back where it was supposed to be only to snuggle in Diego's arms again, falling in a peaceful sleep.

TBC