He sat himself with his back to the window and it seemed such a pointed move now that she knew the reason for it, though she refrained from saying anything because she wasn't quite sure how to raise the matter now that the moment had come. He sat facing her, stirring his coffee in silence, until he looked up quite suddenly and caught her eye.
'Were you truly not there when I telephoned last night, Rosanne?'
'I was upstairs getting ready to go out.' She curved her hands round the shallow cup and the hot liquid in it burned her fingers, making her gasp. 'As a matter of fact I had a dinner date.'
'Oh?' Dark eyes watched her enquiringly, but not yet suspiciously. 'Was it with anyone that I know, Rosanne?'
He had no right to ask her and for a moment Rosanne almost told him so, but she did not want to quarrel with him. Instead she sat and stirred her coffee while she anticipated his surprise. "Jaime Delguiro rang me just after I got home from having lunch with you, and invited me out to dinner.'
'Don Jaime?' For a moment it looked very much as if he might dismiss the idea as impossible, but then he shook his head and Rosanne thought that for the first time he had an inkling of what was in her mind. He looked slightly defensive and there was a more evasive look in his eyes. 'I did not think you knew him so well, Rosanne.'
'To be quite honest, neither did I!' Her laughter was brief and held little humour, though she refused to admit that she was in the least upset or indignant about what she had discovered. 'His reason for asking me wasn't the more usual one, of course, Jaime does things for his own reasons, I suspect, more often than for conventional ones!'
'So?' Federico looked so wary that it was obvious he had a pretty good idea what Jaime's motive had been in this case, and Rosanne took the plunge, wishing she did not feel quite so badly about it.
'He wanted to tell me something that you should have told me, Federico. Don't you think you might have mentioned that you were about to become engaged to Catalina Ostera? Don't you think I had a right to know that I was going around with someone else's fiance?'
'I am not yet betrothed to Catalina!'
'But you're going to be!' She tried to hold those evasive eyes, but Federico refused to look at her. 'Oh, I suppose you did tell me in a way, the first evening we met, at the Sanchez party, you told me that Jaime was soon going to be related to you by marriage. But you had a pretty good idea that I'd got it wrong, didn't you?'
She could hardly believe he was smiling, but there was an unmistakable and half-defiant twinkle in his eyes as he pulled a face. 'I hoped you would,' he confessed, and Rosanne almost responded to that irresistible air of challenge,
'You didn't mind that people might think the worst of me?' She tried not to sound too censorious, but somehow she knew she did. She had really hated the idea of Jaime seeing her as brazenly running around with his cousin's fiance, and well aware of what she was doing. 'You might have known that Jaime would be particularly touchy about it!'
'Jaime?' He said it soft-voiced, and Rosanne realised how often in the past few minutes she had used his name without a title of any kind.
A shrug sought to make as little of it as possible, but she wondered if Federico was fooled by it. 'Why not?' she asked. 'I've known him as long as I have you, and he gave me dinner last night, even though he did have an ulterior motive.'
'And you talked of nothing but Catalina and me while you ate your dinner, eh?' He probably felt sorry in a way that he had caused her some embarrassment, but he was not happy to be made the only culprit and his dark eyes narrowed slightly when he looked at her above the rim of his cup, elbows resting on the table. 'And you claimed that I had deceived you?'
It was hard for her not to flare up and tell him that she had, on the contrary, taken most of the blame herself for being so lacking in perception, but she still did not want to quarrel with him. Instead she kept her voice as quiet and reasonable as possible and took soothing sips of coffee every so often.
'I simply told him the truth, Federico. There wasn't much to tell, after all, was there? I've known you only a few days and we haven't exactly been inseparable in that time—you've always been so very discreet. I told Jaime that too, it seemed advisable in the circumstances !'
'I see.' Whether or not he appreciated her sharing the blame was difficult to assess, but he said nothing more for several seconds, then he put down his cup and sat with it cradled in his hands, not looking at her. 'Then you know also that I would not have been able to go on seeing you after tomorrow.' Rosanne looked up enquiringly, forgetting Marta's promised visit to Beatriz for the moment. 'Catalina and her mother return from Paris tomorrow,' he reminded her.
'Oh yes. Yes, I'd forgotten.'
'It would not be possible for me to see you again, naturally, once Catalina was home.'
His frankness struck Rosanne as being as ruthless , as anything Jaime had ever said, for it relegated her firmly to the role of stopgap during the absence of his novia, and Rosanne resented it with a fierceness she would not have believed herself capable of. Putting down her half-empty cup, she got up from the table and looked down at Federico's slightly surprised face with stormy grey eyes.
'Then it's as well I decided last night not to see you again, isn't it, Federico?' She was bound to attract a certain amount of attention as she stood there, so obviously angry, but she was no longer caring. 'Thanks for the coffee, but I have to get back with Marta's cakes and I've wasted enough time already! Goodbye, Federico! '
'Rosanne!'
She heard his chair scrape back when he scrambled to his feet, and she guessed that no matter what had happened between them, his strict upbringing would not allow him to see her walk out of there alone. Pushing past the other tables, crowded close in the small space, he apologised automatically and hastily to the occupants as he made his way to the door after her, one step behind and anxious to catch up.
'Rosanne, please allow me to drive you to your home!'
'Oh no, please don't bother, there's no need!' She shook off the hand he placed instinctively on her arm and walked quickly along the shaded sidewalk to where Almaro's one and only taxi normally stood.
'Rosanne!' He was casting about him almost guiltily, aware that if he was seen pleading with her in public it could give quite the wrong impression.
'I can take a taxi, Federico, as I did when I came, there's really ,no need for you to drive me.'
She had no intention of being provocative, although she realised it could well appear that way to him, she simply wanted it to end there and then without a lot of explanations and excuses. But Federico still hurried along beside her until they reached the place where his car was parked, then he stopped and once more put a restraining hand on her arm.
How insistent he would have been, Rosanne had no time to discover, for she realised that the car parked only a little way in front of his was all too familiar. There was no sign of Jaime, but that sleek black car was unmistakable and she wondered where he could be, and if he was watching Federico's attempts to persuade her.
Federico, drawn by her interest in the other car, turned at last and recognised it, murmuring something in his own tongue as he dropped his hand from her arm. It was he who first spotted Jaime, and she saw the look of resignation in his eyes when that tall, rangy figure came striding along the sidewalk towards them. That he meant to join them, Rosanne had little doubt, and neither, she thought, had Federico.
A light grey suit worn with a white shirt gave his features a brooding darkness in the shade of the trees, and Rosanne felt her heart pounding hard as he came nearer, even though she condemned herself for a fool for reacting the way she did. Seeing her there with Federico he was never going to believe that their meeting had been accidental or that it was their last.
The almost black eyes between thick lashes looked down at her. Not at Federico for the moment, but at her, and Rosanne shook her head automatically, instinctively denying what she knew was in his mind. 'Senorita Gordon!' That slight bow, scarcely more tha
n an inclination of his head, seemed incredibly formal when she remembered the way he had held her and kissed her only last night.
'Good morning, Don Jaime I' Heaven knew what instinct prompted her, but she heard her next words in a kind of daze. 'What a coincidence you should just happen along now! I'm on my way home.'
Federico was frowning, obviously puzzled, but it was clear that Jaime followed her meaning easily enough. He inclined his head again in that stiffly formal little bow and apparently took the broad hint in his stride. 'If you will allow me to drive you, senorita.' He gave his attention eventually to Federico, and Rosanne noticed the bright challenging gleam in his eyes. 'I believe we are to see you at Casa Delguiro tomorrow, are we not, Federico? For dinner, Beatriz says.'
'Si, eso es, Don Jaime.'
He was obviously uneasy and Rosanne noticed that he was very formal in the way he gave Jaime his title. She had noticed it before, both when he addressed him .and when he referred to him. He always said Don Jaime, and she wondered at the amount of awe he inspired even in those quite close to him.
In fact she felt rather sorry for Federico at the moment, tot- his conscience was obviously pricking him, and Jaime was not the man to make things easier for him in the present situation. Federico glanced at his-wristwatch, then shrugged apologetically.
'If you will excuse me, I have someone to see.'
'Si, desde luego.'
The grave-faced consent came from Jaime, but it was to Rosanne that Federico gave his attention. It was evident that he would much rather have had the opportunity of a few minutes alone with her, even though she had made her position quite clear to him. But there was nothing he could do about it, and. when he held out a hand to her, she shook it briefly, as she would have a stranger's.
'Adios, Rosanne.' He would have raised her fingers to his lips, she guessed, but not with Jaime Delguiro's steady dark gaze on him. 'Adios, senor I'
He got into his car and drove away with barely a backward glance, and as Rosanne watched him go, she felt a strange sense of regret for something that had been very pleasant while it lasted. Not a full-blooded romance, but something that could have developed along those lines, possibly, had it not been for Catalina Ostera.
A light finger-tip touch on her arm reminded her of the lift she had been promised, and she looked up once more at Jaime's implacable face, wondering if he guessed how she felt. 'Have you more errands to do before you return home?'
From something she caught in his eyes for a moment, she thought he was reminding her of the time when she had rejected the idea of driving home with him, using further errands as her excuse; and then accepted Federico's offer immediately afterwards. She shook her head, coming swiftly back to earth.
'No, as a matter of fact I was on my way home when—I was on my way home.'
'With Federico Sanchez?'
He ushered her along to his car without giving her time to deny it, but Rosanne was in no mood to be misunderstood and she meant to put him right. As soon as he had seen her into the car and sat behind the wheel, she turned in her seat and looked at him determinedly.
'I had coffee with him, Don Jaime, because I had something I wanted to say to him, just as you gave me dinner so that you could point out the error of my ways! You can guess without me telling you what it was I wanted to say to him, and you can believe it or not, but I was on my way to find a taxi when you came along, having already told Federico I'd rather not drive home with him!'
'So!' His response was far less emotional than she expected and he purred the engine into life and drove across the square before he said anything else, 'But you had already sat in a public place with him, had you not?'
Rosanne felt she had had her fill of being questioned, and she resented it as much coming from him as she had from Federico. Setting her chin at an angle that left her feelings in no doubt, she let him know just how much she disliked being interrogated.
'It was a choice of having coffee in the pasteleria or driving out somewhere, and I had neither the time nor the inclination to go driving heaven knows where with him!.'
'Senorita '
'I met Federico quite by accident, Don Jaime, but whether I did or not is no concern of yours! I made you a promise last night that I wouldn't see him again—that I wouldn't go out with him again, and you have no cause to suspect me of not keeping that promise! You have no right to question me either, any more than Federico has 1'
It would not have surprised Rosanne at all if he had shown signs of the formidable temper she knew he was capable of, but instead he half-turned his head after a moment or two and gave her a brief glance from the corners of his eyes.
'Lo siento, senorita, but I am curious.'
"An apology was the last thing she expected, though she suspected it was done merely for the sake of paving the way for more questions. 'You said last night that you trusted me, now that you knew me a little better,' she reminded him, and for a moment that firm mouth relaxed into a wry smile.
'That is true,' he insisted, and once more glanced at her from beneath half lowered lids. 'Did Federico know that you were having dinner with me last night?'
'Not until I told him just now in the coffee shop, how could he?' She remembered Federico's telephone call the night before, and shrugged. 'He telephoned last night while I was getting ready to go with you, but I asked Marta to tell him I wasn't available—naturally he was curious.'
The fertile fields soon fell away-behind them and they were on their way up the winding hill road where there was no irrigation and nothing flourished. Where the land was harsh and sun-parched in the scorching heat. It was a deserted landscape and it gave Rosanne the feeling of there being only the two of them on a remote planet—a fancy that she found not entirely unacceptable for all that she hastily dismissed it. She could never seem to concentrate on practical matters when she was with Jaime Delguiro.
'What did you tell him about last night, Rosanne?'
His use of her first name startled her so much for a moment that she took time to reply. He was thinking about the moment when he had kissed her, she thought, and wondered what on earth made him think she was likely to tell Federico anything about that.
Her voice was as cool as her racing heart allowed when she did answer, but she would not have been surprised if he could detect the fluttering excitement he aroused. 'I told him why you'd asked me to have dinner with you, and I was going to tell him that I wouldn't see him again in the circumstances, but '
She laughed shortly, remembering how swift Federico had been assuring her that he was no longer free now that Catalina Ostera was due home. 'He couldn't wait to inform me that I was no longer needed to amuse him now that his novia was coming home tomorrow!'
Jaime said something in Spanish that she knew to be a pretty strong oath, and his black brows were drawn close together while his mouth had that tight, straight look that she was familiar with. Even the hands on the steering wheel seemed to suggest anger, and Rosanne took a moment or two to realise that it was all in her cause.
The solitary tree at the roadside flashed by unnoticed while she was still studying that formidable face in profile, and then they were pulled up in front of the patio gates and the engine was turned off. Instead of getting out to open her door, Jaime was turned in his seat and he sat for a second or two looking at her as if he had something in mind to say.
He was close, enough for that heady mingling of anger and sensual masculinity to have its effect, and Rosanne's senses were responding to it as never before. It was here, by these gates, that he had taken her in his arms and kissed her last night, and she could do nothing to quell the instinct that wanted him to do the same now, even though it was broad daylight.
'I don't really mind, you know.' He looked briefly as if she had puzzled him, and she hurried on, trying to banish last night's disturbing ghost. 'I mean I'm not heartbroken because Federico intends to behave himself from now on. It was just that, for a few minutes, I was indignant about the way he�
�cast me aside.'
'It was unforgivable!' Something in*the deep quiet voice made her shiver, and she glanced once more at his face.
'You don't have to take it so seriously, Don Jaime.' She did not for a moment intend to provoke him, but somehow Rosanne found it hard to resist reminding him of his own cavalier treatment of her. 'In fact I'm getting used to being put firmly in my place by the Spanish men I meet—they seem to have the knack of deflating my ego!'
'Ah!'
He obviously did not relish the reminder and, after a second or two, he turned and got out of the car, coming round to open her door, a hand lending support as she stepped out on to the road. The hand was not immediately withdrawn, but lingered for a moment almost like a caress on her soft upper arm. It could not possibly be a glimpse of humour that showed for a moment- in his eyes, and yet she would have sworn it was. A dark, sardonic humour that appreciated her hurt pride.
'You like to—hit back, eh?'
The sun was hot, its heat reflected by the dry surface of the road and giving a breathless, oppressive heaviness even to the shade of the acacia near the gates. The wrought iron scrolls of the gates were the only cool surface and Rosanne gripped them as she had last night. With Marta's special cakes resting on an arm, she looked down at the box absently for a moment.
'I admit I'm—on the defensive,' she allowed, in a small cool voice, 'but it's been necessary lately. I don't take kindly to being treated like a second class human being, mostly I suspect because I'm a woman, and that seems to be the way both you and Federico Sanchez see me.' She looked up after a moment, but found the dark eyes between their thick lashes as unfathomable as ever. 'Like anyone else I want to hit back when I'm hurt.'
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