The Black Invader

by Rebecca Stratton

  He touched her lips with his mouth, lightly and then much more firmly, though still not with that fierce passion she had known in him before, and her body arched upward as his hands slid around behind her and raised her from the bed. He drew her up until she pressed

  against the broad warmth of his chest and his hands were strong and irresistible as they held her.

  She reached up her arms and clasped them around his neck, her fingers twined into the thick blackness of his hair. On those other occasions she had responded to his passion, revelling in its fierceness, and the lack of it on this occasion teased her senses so much that she sought a more fervent caress.

  Instead, he released her mouth and held her for a moment, looking down into her face before lowering her back on to the bed. His hands slid slowly from behind her, light and caressing as they left the softness of her breast. 'We'll decide when you're better whether you're child or woman,' he said softly. 'For now you must rest.'

  'Miguel '

  He quickly smothered her protest with a kiss, then straightened up slowly. 'Rest,' he insisted, and because his eyes had the glowing blackness of jet when they looked down at her, Kirstie made no reply. She watched him walk across to the door with lazy, heavy-lidded eyes and there was a curious little smile on her mouth. Miguel turned in the doorway and looked back at her for a moment. 'And there'll be no more visits from Luis,' he declared firmly, giving her no time to object before he closed the door firmly behind him. Why Luis was not to be allowed to visit her again, she had no idea, but she was content at the moment to leave the decision to Miguel, and she closed her eyes, to rest as he said.

  CHAPTER NINE

  It was just as Miguel had decreed, there were no more visits from Luis, although Miguel came himself almost daily. He treated her kindly and gently, but he had never once attempted to kiss her again, or even to mildly flirt with her. In fact he seemed to have forgotten those few minutes alone with her in her bedroom, and now that she was well again his attitude was beginning to irritate her. Just as it once had for quite a different reason.

  He spent quite a lot of time with her grandfather and seemingly they talked business, so that Kirstie guessed that the business deal she had long suspected was between them was about to mature, whatever it was. Her suspicion was confirmed one morning, just after Miguel left, and her grandfather showed her a folder containing documents of some kind. The look on his face was enough to suggest that things had gone well, for she had not seen him look so pleased with himself for a long time.

  The first step,* he said in a voice so quiet she wondered if anyone else was supposed to hear, and she smiled at him curiously.

  'What is it, Abuelo?'

  Don Jose's eyes gleamed with pleasure and there was something very touching about the way he gazed at the folder in his hands, cradled as if it was something infinitely precious. Thanks to my good friend I now have shares in Casa de Rodriguez,' he said. 'I again own at least a small part of the Rodriguez estate, my dear child, and you cannot know what that means to me.'

  'Oh, but I can!' Her eyes were misty as she looked at his face, and she blessed Miguel for bringing about something she had thought never to see again— a look of happiness in her grandfather's eyes. T know just how you feel,' she assured him, and hugged him tightly,

  pressing a kiss on to his cheek. 'And I'm so happy for you, Abuelo.'

  'It wouldn't have been possible without Don Miguel,' her grandfather told her. He was gazing at the folder again and it was clear that he still had to convince himself it had happened. 'I'm certain he let them go for less than they're worth, but even so I had to sell everything I had left to buy them. Even some things that should eventually have been yours, child, but I had to do it and—who knows—some day it might be possible to recover them.'

  'Abuela's jewellery?' she asked, knowing how he had clung to them when everything else had to go, and he nodded.

  *rm sorry, child. Your grandmother wished them to come to you when you were twenty-one, but '

  'Don't worry!' How could she blame him when he was so elated at being able to reclaim even a tiny portion of his ancestral estate? 'When everything is sorted out, we'll get them back, as you say.' She thought for a moment, coping with a suspicion that lurked at the back of her mind and refused to be dismissed. *Abuelo, who bought them? Who took Abuela's jewels?'

  There was a certain satisfaction, a kind of challenge in the old man'^ eyes that confirmed her suspicion even before he said anything. 'Don Miguel paid me a very good price for them, child, and while they're in his hands I feel they're not completely lost to us.'

  'Miguel!'

  Her grandfather was too elated to even notice her expression, and he closed the folder again with obvious satisfaction. 'Just think,' he said, 'we have a little of Casa de Rodriguez back in our hands, doesn't that make you happy, child?'

  'Yes, of course it does, Abuelo.'

  But there was one aspect of Casa de Rodriguez' future that had not been mentioned lately, and Kirstie wondered if he had taken it into consideration. It had caused her a great deal of anguish when she heard the plan to

  turn the house into a paradore, and she couldn't believe her grandfather would have wanted to be part of that.

  Then she realised he was looking at her curiously, and she smiled. 'Don't you regret acting so impulsively in giving up your job, Kirstie?' he asked, and she couldn't bring herself to deny it.

  'Now that I'm better I'm beginning to miss going to work,' she admitted, 'but nothing's really changed. I still don't think I could face working with them all again after—well, after you and Miguel made me feel I'd been—bargained for.'

  'What nonsense!' her grandfather declared. 'You weren't embarrassed when he came here while you were ill, nor did you seem to find Don Luis an embarrassment.'

  Kirstie had very mixed feelings regarding that particular visit, and she shrugged uneasily. 'Has Miguel said anything about his uncle getting a replacement secretary?'

  'Not to me,' her grandfather assured her. 'As far as I know the post is still vacant, but if you're really interested in finding out, my dear, why don't you either ask Don Miguel when he comes again, or walk up to the house and see Seiior Montanes? I'm quite certain he'd be pleased to see you.'

  'I'm sure he would,' Kirstie agreed, far more tempted than she let him know. 'Senor Montanes is a very nice man, I like him.'

  'Then go and see him. After all, you've never actually told him that you didn't intend going back, have you? You were hurt before you had the opportunity to let him know, so as far as that goes you're officially still working for him.'

  It was such a temptation, but then when she took everything into consideration she didn't know what to do for certain. 'I suppose so,' she allowed, and Don Jose obviously sensed her weakening.

  'Don't you owe it to him?' he insisted. 'It's only

  common courtesy to give your employer notice, Kirstie.'

  It was inevitable that she would go eventually, she guessed. There were too many things to tempt her back, not least the sheer pleasure of walking into Casa de Rodriguez again and the familiar surroundings. She could see Luis, and he was always good for her ego, sadly in need of encouragement after more than a week of Miguel's gentle aloofness. She liked Enrique and she had no doubt at all that he would be pleased to see her again, especially as she had agreed not to compHcate matters by taking his daughter-in-law to court.

  'I could go,' she said, and Don Jose patted her hand approvingly.

  'But don't overdo things at first, child.'

  Putting her arms around him, she hugged him tight. 'I won't,' she promised. 'And I'm really thrilled about your shares, Abuelo.'

  'It should put an added spring in your step,' her grandfather told her, and she smiled.

  She saw no one until she came in off the patio, then she almost collided with Luis just leaving the house, and he stared at her for a moment as if he could not believe his eyes. 'Kirstie!' He glanced quickly over his shoulder into the h
ouse, then took her arm and drew her back into the garden, keeping a hold on her as if he expected her to run away again. 'I'd begun to think you were never coming back, and Miguel had laid down the law about me not coming to see you again.'

  'And you didn't want to cross him!' Kirstie suggested with a half-mocking smile.

  'Not on his own territory,' Luis said solemnly. 'But never mind that now; how are you, my lovely?'

  'I'm fine.'

  'You didn't come to see me, I suppose? No, that's too much to hope for, so it must be Tio Enrique.'

  He didn't even consider Miguel as a possibility, she noticed, and wondered why Luis never seemed to realise just how much his brother could affect her. 'I did come

  to see Senor Montanes,' she agreed. 'I thought I ought to let him know that—well, that I haven't been able to come for the last couple of weeks or so.'

  'Well, he knows that, you divine idiot,' Luis laughed. 'But I was under the impression that you'd given up the job, Kirstie. Rosa said something about it.'

  Kirstie would so much rather not have talked about it to Luis, but she seemed not to have much option and she shrugged as casually as she could manage. 'I did think about it at one time.'

  'I wish I knew what it was all about,' Luis complained, 'but all I get is odds and ends and I've never heard the full story of what happened. I did gather that Rosa was responsible for you being hurt, so I took it that she was being stupid about Miguel again. Was that it? Did you fight with her again?'

  Obviously when Miguel had said the matter was being kept very quiet, he had included his brother in those excluded from the full facts, so Kirstie was very wary when she answered him. Shrugging again with seeming carelessness, she attempted to pass it off. 'Oh, it's all over and done with now, and I'd rather not go into it again,' she told him.

  'So you did fight over Miguel!' There was a hard and very unromantic gleam in Luis's eyes, and she realised just how jealous he was of his older brother's undeniable sex-appeal. 'It's typical of Miguel not to take your situation into account when he wants to kiss you! If he wants a thing he just helps himself to it, even if it does happen to be my girl!'

  It wasn't the kind of conversation she had foreseen when she decided to come, and Kirstie wished she had encountered almost anyone but Luis. He seemed set on talking about her encounter with Rosa, and its cause, and it was the last thing she wanted to talk about. 'No one helps himself to me,' she told him, 'and I'm not sure I like being referred to as a thing, Luis.'

  'A figure of speech, that's all,' Luis insisted, and that sharp gleam was still there in his usually dreamy eyes.

  'Whatever; I don't like him poaching on my territory, and I wish he'd stick to his own sort and leave my girl alone!'

  Kirstie was feeling edgy and her decision to see Enrique and explain to him seemed less of a good idea every minute. Luis was making her irritable and his determined possessiveness grated on her nerves. 'I'm not someone you own either, Luis,' she told him. 'I didn't come with the property and the idea of droit du seigneur is long out of date! Neither you nor Miguel has any right to me!'

  'Kirstie, darling!'

  He was obviously puzzled, but Kirstie wasn't to be persuaded even by his practised sweet-talk, and she pushed away his hand. 'I have to go, Luis. I want to see your uncle and talk to him about—well, various things; that's what I came for.'

  'Not to see me?' Luis asked, and added as he narrowed his eyes. 'Or Miguel?'

  'I saw Miguel not half an hour since at the cottage,' she told him, 'and even you'll agree, I'm not likely to have followed him up here! I came to see Seiior Mon-tanes and it's time I went, or I may lose my nerve!'

  'I'll see you again?'

  It was rather more a demand than a plea, she realised, and as she wasn't very sure just what was going to happen, she shook her head rather vaguely. 'I—I don't know, Luis—maybe.'

  'I see!'

  He looked at her for a long moment and his dark eyes glittered with resentment for both her unwillingness to commit herself and her determined dismissal of him. Then he turned quickly and went stalking off along the path to the stable with his dark head held high and looking disturbingly like Miguel from the back. Kirstie didn't know whether she was thankful or sorry that he had decided to bring it to such an abrupt end, but she didn't call him back.

  When she knocked on the door of the office a few

  moments later her heart was beating anxiously hard, for she wasn't looking forward to the interview at all, even though she did not believe Enrique would be anything but kindly. It was because she felt sure he knew exactly why Rosa had hit out as she had, and she couldn't be sure what explanation Miguel had given him.

  His smile when she walked in, however, banished most of her anxiety, and he did seem genuinely pleased to see her. *My dear senorita, I'm so glad to see you! Are you feeling better?'

  She took the chair he assigned her to and smDed. 'Much better, Senor Montanes, thank you.'

  He nodded, looking thoughtful for a moment and pulHng at his bottom lip. 'I'd like to thank you for the way you've behaved over this—this dreadful matter, Seiiorita Rodriguez. You had every right to demand vengeance in the law courts, but instead you allowed Rosa to go free so that I shouldn't suffer the loss of my granddaughter. Miguel was so sure you would see the reason of it, but—' he spread his hand in a touching gesture of doubt, 'I couldn't believe so young a woman could be so understanding. Thank you.'

  'Please—it was something I couldn't have faced, you losing touch with Margarita. I know how you love her.'

  He nodded and for a moment his expression was absent, then he leaned back in his chair and summoned his more usual smile. 'Well now, you've come to say that you'll stay on with Miguel, eh?'

  Completely at a loss, Kirstie stared at him. Then she shook her head slowly and moistened her lips before she spoke. 'Stay on—with Miguel?'

  Enrique looked at her for a moment, then clapped a hand to his forehead and moaned. 'Don't tell me—^he hasn't said anything to you about it? Forgive me, sefior-ita, I quite thought that with all the time Miguel has been spending at your home lately he would have told you about our future plans.'

  'Actually I haven't said a lot to him,' Kirstie told him.

  and was quite unconscious of having pouted when she said it. 'He mostly talks business to my grandfather; he's sold him some shares in Casa de Rodriguez, and I can't tell you how thrilled Abuelo is to know that he has even a tiny share of it back again.'

  'Or how surprised / was that Miguel decided to let him have them! I can't quite understand why he hasn't asked you about this other matter, though, unless—' Enrique frowned and stroked his chin. 'He might perhaps think you were reluctant to work for him after your remarks when you first came to see me, Senorita Rodriguez.'

  'Perhaps,' Kirstie agreed in a very small voice,

  'Anyway,' Enrique went on, 'the situation is this, senorita; now that Casa de Rodriguez is paying its way, Miguel has decided that he can run it alone, so we're moving back to Valencia to our head office, and he will carry on here. I was under the impression that he was going to ask you to remain with him as his secretary, in fact I'm so certain he intends to that I have no hesitation in putting you in the picture/

  'He hasn't said a word,' said Kirstie, and her eyes had a dark, thoughtful look for a moment. 'He hasn't really said very much to me at all in the past week or ten days.'

  'Then I can only hope he won't blame me too much for anticipating him.' He regarded her for a moment or two, his hands steepled under his chin and a speculative look in his eyes. 'Will you stay on with him when he asks you to, my dear?'

  Kirstie's thoughts were in chaos. She simply couldn't imagine not seeing Miguel every day, and presumably his visits to her grandfather would be less frequent now that their business was concluded. 'It—it depends,' she said, frowning unhappily. 'I couldn't bear to come here if he turned it into a paradore'

  Enrique looked as if her knowledge surprised him, and he was shaking his
head. 'You must have misunderstood whatever you heard about that,' he told her.

  *The idea was never even seriously considered; Miguel wouldn't even consider such a thing.'

  *Oh.' Kirstie wondered how many more surprises were in store for her, and she flushed with shame ^ when she recalled how angrily she had berated Miguel for being the instigator of the idea. *He—^he voted against it?'

  'He simply didn't consider it, except as a joke,' Enrique assured her, and went on in a quiet, impressive voice. 'I think you're under something of a misapprehension here, my dear Senorita Rodriguez. Miguel is the senior partner in Montaiies and Company, he owns sixty per cent of the shares, and all of the Rodriguez investment. He bought out the rest of us very shortly after it got under way because he wanted to branch out on his own. Although now it seems he has let your grandfather in as an investor, albeit a minor one.'

  Kirstie's head was spinning and she moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue as she tried to come to terms with so many fresh ideas, i—I had no idea. Why didn't he tell me I had it all wrong when I was so angry with him?' she complained. 'He should have told me I was wrong.'

  'I think,' Enrique observed dryly, 'that he was rather hoping Luis would tell you himself, but I'm afraid his faith was misplaced in that instance.'

  She shook her head, still finding it hard to believe. 'Luis?' He nodded, and Kirstie wondered bitterly if she had ever before been so successfully made a fool of.

  'He wouldn't risk turning you against him, of course,' Enrique observed. 'I told Miguel he wouldn't. Luis should have been more honest with you and then you wouldn't have been so misled, my dear senorita. Alas,' he sighed deeply, 'there seem to have been so many misunderstandings, it's high time some of them were cleared up.'

  Kirstie could only agree, but clearing up the thousand and one things that had gone amiss between her and

  Miguel would be a marathon task, and she had to confess she hadn't any idea where to start. Looking across the desk at Enrique's kind and speculative expression, she spread her hands appealingly.