The Tiger Lily Read Online Free Page A

loose or killed it by now, do so today!"
     
    A
dangerous gleam in the dark green eyes, Brett said silkily, ''Oh, I wouldn't
scold him anymore, Jem. . . . I'm certain he let the snake go, didn't you,
Martin? About two days ago?"
     
    Martin
swallowed uncomfortably and hastily backed away from his older brother. It did
him little good. Brett stalked furiously after him, and later that day and for
several days thereafter, Martin's blackened eye and puffed, swollen face
weren't a pretty sight.
     
    Sofia
and Hugh returned from their brief honeymoon in New Orleans the day before
Brett's eighteenth birthday. That marriage agreed with them was apparent from
the shy smile on Sofia's lips and the warmth that leaped into Hugh's eyes
whenever she entered a room.
     
    After
the initial greetings had been exchanged, Sofia noticed the estrangement
between Brett and Sabrina. The next morning she asked Elena, "What in the
world has happened between your daughter and my new stepson? Did she do
something to enrage him?"
     
    Elena
shrugged her shoulders helplessly. "I don't know, but I would like to box
his ears! It was not kind of him to be so pleasant to her and then avoid her
like she had the pox. Men! Never will I understand them!"
     
    Brett's
birthday present from his father arrived that afternoon, and the entire family
gathered at the whitewashed stables to admire it. It was a magnificent two-year-old
golden chestnut stallion, a powerful, spirited animal that Brett was to tame
and train himself.
     
    Staring
at the half-wild animal as he snorted and cavorted in the paddock, for a few
minutes Sabrina forgot the gulf that had grown between her and Brett. The
stallion was a thoroughbred, his Arab blood evident in the small, arrogant head
and the long, incredibly slender legs, and Sabrina was enchanted.
     
    Her
antagonism forgotten, she watched enthralled as the sunlight turned the
stallion's glossy coat to a fiery red when he reared up, lashing out with his
hooves. It was a beautiful sight, and Sabrina sighed, "Oh, Senor  Brett!
He is so beautiful!"
     
    Dazed
by the gift, Brett, too, for the moment, was able to put aside his grim
resolve. Grinning down at her, he murmured mockingly, "Handsome, Sabrina,
handsome. Males of the species are not beautiful."
     
    Sabrina
grinned back at him, her spirits suddenly lifting skyward. Wrinkling her
tipped-up little nose, she retorted firmly, "He is more than handsome. He
is beautiful! Oh, see how the sun shines on his coat—he looks like a flame. A
beautiful flame!" Earnestly she added, "That is what you should name
him, Flame, for he is truly a horse of flame."
     
    "What
do you intend to name him?" Sabrina's father, Alejandro, asked.
     
    Staring
at the stallion, seeing the sleek, fiery coat and hearing Sabrina's words
ringing in his ears, Brett said slowly, "Why not Flame? It certainly fits,
and"—slanting a teasing glance down at Sabrina—"as Sabrina says, he
is a beautiful flame."
     
    Her
eyes huge, her own red-gold hair flame-colored in the sunlight, she demanded,
"You will truly call him that? You will use the name I chose?"
     
    Unable
to help himself, Brett flicked a caressing finger down her cheek.
"Naturally. What gentleman could refuse such a lovely lady?"
     
    There
was a murmur of laughter, and then, ever inclined to press her luck, Sabrina
asked eagerly, "And you will let me ride him, si? "
     
    '"No!"
came from the assembled adults, Brett's answer perhaps most fierce, a
horrifying picture of what the untamed Flame could do to Sabrina's small body
flashing through his mind.
     
    Surprised
at the collective answer, Sabrina looked crushed, and Brett was moved to
explain, "He is totally untrained, Sabrina, almost a wild horse. No one
has ever ridden him, and even the grooms say he is difficult to handle. He is
too powerful and dangerous for you to consider riding. I forbid it."
     
    All
of her charity toward him vanished, and there was a mutinous cast to her chin
when she glanced