Storm Cycle

by Margaret Pargeter

  'It seems a beautiful city altogether, if what we've seen so far is anything to go by,' Zoe said enthusiastic­ally, her usual vitality restored by the rest she had had. . Not usually caring for cities, she was sure she could come to like this one very much.

  'It has a wonderful setting,' Reece's eyes rested ap­preciatively on her glowing face. 'The city lies in the Valley of Mexico, which is a great basin about sixty miles long by thirty wide, and is surrounded by moun­tains on all sides except the north. Some of the moun­tains are volcanic. In the south-east I hope to get the chance of showing you the extinct, snow-capped peaks of twin volcanoes. Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl areboth seventeen thousand feet approximately—I forget the exact number of feet, but it will give you some idea of the impressive elevation.'

  A little later they left their taxi and walked. Although lying in the tropical belt, the altitude of Mexico City gave it a beautiful climate. 'The days are always pleas-ant,' Reece told her, as they wandered along, 'though the nights can be very cool. There are only two distinct seasons, the rainy and the dry. The dry season, which my friends here insist is best, is from October to May.'

  'So we're lucky, May's only beginning,' Zoe smiled, lifting her face to sunshine which was so much warmer than a normal English spring. It was wonderful, life seemed wonderful, until she remembered the com­plexities which beset this new marriage of hers. She shivered, and Reece asked if she was cold.

  They dined late, as was apparently the custom in most Latin-American countries, and Reece informed her that he always liked to live by the customs of the people whose country he was visiting, if it were pos­sible. Otherwise, he said, one might as well stay at home.

  Zoe agreed, although, as she pointed out, this being her first trip abroad, she didn't feel qualified to express a firm opinion on the matter. She wasn't sure whether she was for or against dining late, but she did know she was very hungry indeed long before they sat down.

  'Tomorrow, remind me to buy a bar of chocolate or something,' she said, and was rewarded by a wry glance from Reece. 'It's not your tummy that's rumbling!' she hissed, as the waiter approached, and he laughed.

  She had bought a new dress for the occasion, a light froth of silky chiffon which had cost far too much. It was incredible how little one got for so much, she thought, viewing herself doubtfully in her bedroom mirror. She had purchased it on impulse, believing it would pack into little space. Its two narrow strapsscarcely looked strong enough to support the fragile bodice, and when she turned sideways the tender curve of her breasts were clearly outlined. She didn't feel very happy in it, but it was too late to change. Reece appeared to approve, at any rate.

  Throughout dinner he talked lightly and im-personally on many subjects, but there was nothing impersonal in the glance he frequently nicked over her. If he didn't intend claiming his full marital rights, he obviously didn't mean to deprive himself of them all. Zoe drew a breath of what was almost relief when it was time to go back upstairs. A racing pulse, which Reece's calculating stare seemed able to accelerate physically, had her feeling nearly as exhausted as she had been that morning.

  In her room she stripped off and took another shower before putting on her nightdress. It had been a present from her grandmother and, like her dress, she had eyed it earlier with some doubt, if for different reasons. Now she dived with relief into its voluminous folds. Reece had already bade her goodnight, but if he did look in—or glance in, as the door was open—she was determined to be decently clad.

  To her dismay, he was sitting astride her dressing-table stool as she left her bathroom. He was wearing a short towelling robe and nothing else. When he saw her he threw back his head and laughed. 'You'd pass for a young choirboy in that!'

  Zoe stared at him indignantly, raising long-sleeved arms to clutch her high-necked gown even tighter.

  'You'll be far too hot.' His laughter faded, although he was obviously having some difficulty in keeping a straight face. 'I must admit I prefer the sort of thing Ursula was wearing, on the night of that party you made a mistake about.'

  Zoe might have forgotten her wounded dignity and laughed with him, if he hadn't mentioned Ursula. 'Youcan't even forget other women on your wedding night!' she exclaimed, outraged.

  That wiped the smile clean off his face. 'Before you begin criticising,' he snapped, 'it might pay you to remember I'm not having a wedding night, not in the accepted sense of the word.'

  Flushing wildly, she glanced at him helplessly, knowing she was at fault. 'I'm sorry,' she faltered, wishing she had the courage to go up to him, put her arms around him and tell him now much she loved him.

  But while she hesitated, he rose to leave, dismissing her brief apology as if she had never made it. His face dark, he said icily, 'I confess I was teasing you a little, and perhaps unkindly, but I don't think it could have hurt nearly so much as another course of action I might resorted to, if you'd been willing.'

  CHAPTER NINE

  Zoewas surprised when Rafael Carrillo got in touch with Reece the following morning before they left their suite and asked them to dine with his wife and him that evening.

  Reece accepted. 'I hope you feel up to it?' His eye­brow quirked as he looked at Zoe. When she frowned uncertainly, he sighed and said, 'I couldn't very well refuse, he's a friend of mine and a very wealthy client. It should be an experience for you, though, a chance to visit a Mexican household and see how they live.'

  'Won't his wife mind entertaining a stranger?'

  'She's used to it,' Reece smiled, with an air of rem­iniscence about him which Zoe didn't think about until afterwards. 'You'll like her, she's very charming.'

  Despite her first misgivings, Zoe found herself look­ing forward to it, until she actually met Dolores Carrillo and saw how very beautiful she was.

  Senora Carrillo obviously knew Reece well. 'Ah, Reece,' she pronounced his name with half a dozen e's, 'so you have choosen a wife at last, but why one so young?'

  'She is older than she looks.' Reece kissed the de­lightful Dolores on both cheeks, taking, Zoe con­sidered, his time over it.

  'All of seventeen?'

  'Almost twenty.' Reece retained his grip on Zoe's balled hand while continuing to smile at the lovely Senora.

  Rafael Carrillo, to whom Zoe had already been in­troduced, was called to the telephone, and Dolores said something very quickly to Reece in Spanish. Reece replied briefly in the same language and Zoe wasdismayed by the flash of something intimate between them. Was this yet another woman from Reece's past? she wondered unhappily.

  Dolores didn't speak to Reece again in Spanish and, us if to make up for her first moments of neglect, was charming to Zoe throughout the evening. She and her husband were nearer Reece's age than Zoe's, and Zoe hadn't realised they were such close friends. But there was much talk and laughter in which she was included, and soon she forgot her former animosity, although there still remained a disquieting niggle.

  The Carrillos had a beautiful home on the outskirts of the city. Zoe was shown round it before dinner, a trip which included a peep in the nursery, since Rafael and Dolores had three children.

  'Do you like children?' Dolores asked.

  Reece was out of earshot so didn't see Zoe's cheeks colour faintly as she nodded her head. 'I'd love several,' she said, 'as I'm an only child myself.'

  'You will have to speak to Reece, then,' Dolores smiled, her voice equally low, 'I'm sure he will be only too willing to oblige.'

  It wasn't the last time that evening that Zoe felt slightly embarrassed by something Dolores said, but she soon discovered it was more a difference in outlook than a deliberate attempt to make her feel uncomfort­able. In Mexico, she soon gathered, children were a very important part of family life and no marriage was considered complete without them.

  Sefior Carrillo was as charming as his wife and as talkative, but Zoe thought he looked tired. During dinner, a typical Mexican meal and served late as was the custom, he told Zoe much about Mexico's past history a
nd a little of its people. She was surprised to learn that less than a million were of purely Spanish descent, while half the remainder were Indian and the rest a mixture of Indian and Spaniard. And while Englishwas spoken, the language generally was Spanish.

  Altogether it was a very pleasant evening, and before they left Senior Carrillo arranged to take them on a sightseeing tour next day. He would have liked them to spend some time with him and his family at the coast where, he assured Zoe, as Reece knew, they had a splendid house. Reece said regretfully that it would have been a pleasure had they not had to return home.

  Reece had hired a car and they drove back to their hotel in it. In their suite again, Zoe asked a little indig­nantly, 'We only have a few days, do we have to spend them with other people?'

  As she spoke she began throwing off her light wrap and unzipping her dress. Reece hadn't touched her since they were married, which made her feel confident he never would. When Dolores had talked of children Zoe could have laughed. Reece wandered around their suite, often without giving her a second glance.

  He rather threw her off balance now by exclaiming savagely, 'Do you think if we'd been having a proper honeymoon, I'd have agreed to spending any of it with other people?'

  'Oh, I don't really mind,' she said hurriedly, ap­prehensive of a change in the atmosphere she didn't understand. Turning towards him, she smiled appeal­ing in an attempt to get rid of the sudden tension, and as she did so her dress, which she had momentarily forgotten she had unfastened, fell to the ground about her feet. Gasping, she stumbled and would have fallen if Reece hadn't caught her.

  'Can't you watch what you're doing!' he snapped tersely.

  She stiffened, but his body was pressed against her own and in her legs was the old familiar weakness. Depleted of her dress, she was left standing in only her panties, and a bra which revealed more than it con­cealed of her full, young figure. 'Oh, God, you're sobeautiful,' he groaned, pulling her closer, so she could feel the mounting tension in him.

  'But not as beautiful as Dolores Carrillo?' she taunted, desperately seeking any way she could think of to avoid falling into the abyss which seemed to be yawning with her dress at her feet.

  Blue eyes glittered down on her before a dark head bent and hard, punishing lips descended on her own. For long seconds the room spun dizzily as she clung to him yet tried to fight the desire which she felt surging through her. She was fully aware he was making her suffer for her remark, but her defences against him seemed to be dwindling by the minute.

  His hands slid up her arm in a feather-light caress to her shoulders. 'Dolores,' he muttered thickly, 'doesn't appeal to me the way you do.'

  His mouth came down again and she gasped as his hands began touching her intimately, while the treacherous weakness sweeping through her body was making her tremblingly conscious of her own vulnerab­ility. As her mouth opened under his, she was posses­sed of a craving so strong, it rendered her almost mindless in his embrace.

  Reece lifted his head and she watched his face with a kind of dreamy wonder. He might have been having some sort of struggle with himself, she couldn't be sure, because everything was hazy.

  She heard him sigh and mutter something roughly as his mouth roamed over her cheek, bit into her ear, bruised the soft skin of her neck. With an urgent rest­lessness his hands circled her slender back, then followed the slight curve of her hips to shape her un­resistingly to him.

  During the years she had known Reece she had often driven him too far and been frightened by his anger. This evening she had provoked him, but the fright within her was a different kind, for she hadn't been inlove with him before. Brought up against the hardening contours of his aroused male body, she began trembling in earnest, sensing he was tempted to chastise her but not, as was his usual fashion, with a few sharp words.

  Lifting weighted lashes to gaze at him, she was struck by the harsh indecision on his face. With a pro­testing murmur she fastened her arms compulsively about his waist. Afterwards, vaguely able to retrace the course of her actions, she wondered how far her wanton demonstration of her reluctance to let him go had in­fluenced his next move. Might he not have just flung her from him if she hadn't so fiercely hung on to him? If she had whispered even one small word of protest, would he have picked her up with a defeated groan and carried her to his bed?

  'It had to happen some time, I suppose,' he murmured huskily, laying her down.

  Her eyes were locked in his as he threw off his clothes. Something wordless winged between them and though she didn't realise its significance she began to quiver. The emotions struggling within her were clearly reflected on her feverish face and a ghost of a reassuring smile played on Reece's mouth while his eyes studied her darkly.

  'I don't want to hurt you,' he said thickly as he came down beside her, taking her in his arms again.

  Zoe wished he hadn't spoken. He had jerked her from her dream world to a realisation of what she was inviting. Hurt often was born of hate, and that was all he felt for her. All he could feel for her after being forced into marrying her. Wondering how she could so easily have forgotten, she began struggling wildly.

  'It's too late, my darling!' Contempt dried his voice to a hoarse whisper as he refused to allow her to escape from him. There was no gentleness in the mouth which touched hers, then kissed her throat before continuing a devastating path downwards.

  Her resistance collapsed. A whisper of it lingered, then was gone as her tenseness relaxed. Flames licked through her veins as his hands and mouth went over her, leaving little of her unexplored. Her senses clamoured while her heart raced like a forest fire out of control.

  'You're so warm and soft and beautiful,' he murmured, and his return to tenderness proved her final undoing. With a little moan she clung to him, surrender­ing completely to the desire blazing within her.

  As his arms tightened on her yielding body she sub­missively obeyed his silent commands. He was using his mouth with a sure expertise, arousing her to the point of complete capitulation, and she was like a puppet, alive and wholly responsive to his every move. Pain and passion inevitably blended, flung together in a turmoil of seething emotions, one seeming to be fighting the other until passion finally won. As they slid from the last area of nebulous awareness, she whimpered at the strength with which Reece held her to him. No words could have expressed how she felt as the sweetly ravishing torture of his complete possession vibrated through her entire being, flooding her, after the next fleeting few moments, with a rapturous, mindless ecstasy.

  They spent the following day with the Carrillos, and the next two alone before returning home, but Reece didn't make love to her again. In fact he treated her exactly as if nothing had happened, and as she had woken the next morning in her own bed, she was apt to wonder if anything really had. How she had got back to her own bed she had not yet found the courage to ask, for she sensed the answer to such a query might embarrass her more than Reece. She could imagine him carrying her there, his hard eyes contemplating and cynical before he covered her up and put out the light.

  The day they spent with his friends had provided a welcome breathing space, she had to admit. Despitestill being jealous of the attention Reece showered on Dolores, Zoe found it easier to be with other people, and was almost glad when he kept his distance. She wasn't sure what Rafael Carrillo had thought of them, a newly married couple who treated each other as strangers, but she had been too unhappy to really care.

  It wasn't until they were on the plane coming home that Reece had explained about the Carrillos.

  'Shall I tell you the truth about them?' he asked, taking her hand and holding it lightly.

  This intimate action, after he had been unfriendly for days, confused her. She said stiffly, although she was dying to know, 'If you like.'

  His cynical glance told her he was quite aware of the curiosity she was doing her best to hide, nevertheless, he didn't attempt to punish her by changing his mind.

  'I went to university
with Rafael,' he said, his voice so bleak that Zoe was surprised. 'We became good friends,' he went on, 'and I was invited to his wedding. His marriage was an arranged one, but he and Dolores were—still are, for that matter—very much in love. Unfortunately, over recent years, he has developed a serious heart condition and has been advised not to travel. But because I didn't get to see him a few weeks ago, he decided he would come and see me. Dolores rang and told me how dangerous it would be for him to come to Scotland, so I arranged instead to visit him on our honeymoon. When she spoke to me in Spanish it was because she was so upset. She was merely telling me quickly that there had been no improvement since we'd talked over the phone.'

  'I'm sorry, Reece.' After a horrified moment, Zoe found her voice while her green eyes darkened with dismay. Blindly she stared through the cabin window, seeing something of the heartache of other people which is so often hidden from the casual observer. No one could doubt Rafael Carrillo was a very nice man—even if he hadn't been, a bad heart was not something one would wish on anybody, but she felt resentful that Reece had said nothing until now.