‘No, you didn’t.’ He bent slightly, staring at her with eyes so dark they appeared almost lifeless. ‘You were far too clever for that, my sweet wife, weren’t you? You just convinced me of your innocence with your reluctance to allow our lovemaking to move beyond the purest of caresses, the chastest of kisses. You nearly drove me out of my mind wanting you the way I did and you knew it, didn’t you? You knew exactly what you were doing just by letting me have the smallest taste of your delights so that I would be willing to go to any lengths to have all of you!’
‘No! It wasn’t like that. I was afraid. I told you that. I didn’t try to trick or tease you into marriage. If anyone was tricked then it was me, Luis...me! I thought you loved me but obviously I was wrong!’
He let her go so abruptly she staggered, his face cold as he turned away to walk to the dressing-room. He paused in the doorway and she shrank away from the contempt on his face. ‘There is no point in discussing this further. Apart from wanting to put mother’s mind at rest I wanted you to know that I shall expect you to meet me for lunch today at the bodega.’
‘Lunch?’ She repeated the word automatically, her mind numb with pain. If only he had said something to deny the accusation, to let her believe that he had once loved her, but wishing for that was like wishing for the moon as he continued in the same cool, businesslike tone.
‘Yes. I have a business meeting this morning with a buyer from a new supermarket chain which is interested in stocking our sherry. I thought it would be an advantage to have you join us for lunch to add a touch of informality to the meeting. I usually find that these people appreciate knowing that they warrant more than mere business courtesies.’
He sounded so cynical that she shivered. ‘You really are cold and calculating. Do you ever do anything spontaneously, Luis? Or do you always plan each move beforehand so that you will come out on top?’
He shrugged. ‘I merely try to cover all aspects. There is no room in business for sentiment, Laura. That was something my father taught me from an early age. A man sets out to accomplish things and achieves them by whichever means possible.’
‘And it doesn’t matter if he uses a little trickery?’ She laughed bitterly. ‘It’s so different for you, isn’t it, Luis? Is that something else your father impressed upon you, that the Riveras can do as they want without feeling any shame?’
‘My father was a man of principle. He instilled those beliefs into me and I make no apologies now for the way I am. I take pride in the family name and I will allow nothing and no one to damage it. I shall expect you at one o’clock. Get José to drive you into town.’
He turned to carry on into the dressing-room, barely breaking stride when Laura said softly, ‘What a shame that your father didn’t impress upon you that it is necessary to forgive others for mistakes they make by being not quite as perfect as you, Luis.’
If he heard her he gave no sign, closing the door quietly behind him. Laura slowly turned to go, knowing it was futile to remain there. Luis would run his life and hers along the lines he chose to and there was little she could do to stop him. But somehow she had to find a way to make him listen to her even if he would never accept what she told him. She couldn’t bear the thought of living the rest of her life like this.
* * *
The shoes had been a mistake. Pale cream leather with three-inch heels, they matched her cream dress perfectly and lent a touch of elegant height to her five-foot, five-inch frame. Now, however, half a mile from town and an equal distance from the casa, Laura knew they had been a mistake. Unless the real mistake lay in her decision to walk into town and not ask José to drive her to the lunch appointment.
Fanning herself with her cream leather bag, she struggled on and tried not to think about how annoyed Luis was going to be when she arrived so late for the appointment. But there was no denying the swift alarm she felt when a familiar car screeched to a halt on the opposite side of the road before performing a rapid turn to draw up alongside her.
‘Get in.’
There was anger in every grim line of Luis’s face and laced through the curt order but Laura refused to bow down before it. ‘No, thank you. I prefer to walk rather than suffer your company in that sort of a mood.’
‘Madre de Dios! You would try the patience of a saint! Now get in before I make you.’ His anger was rising, warning her that his patience was indeed tried to the limit. Without another word she climbed into the car, staring straight ahead as Luis put it into gear and shot towards the town.
‘And what did you hope to achieve by this?’ He barely glanced at her, his hands busy on the wheel as he steered the powerful car through the increasingly heavy traffic with all the flair and skill he did everything.
Laura shrugged, surreptitiously easing the shoes off. ‘Nothing. I just felt like a walk that’s all.’
‘All?’ Anger exploded from him as he slowed the car to a stop and turned to glare at her. ‘It was a foolish and thoughtless thing to do. Did it never occur to you to tell anyone where you were going? Mother has been most concerned since I phoned and discovered that you were apparently missing.’
‘I never meant to upset her. She knew I was lunching with you so I just assumed she would know that was where I had gone. I just wanted to be by myself for a while.’
‘And did you give no thought to what might have happened to you, wandering about all alone? Dios, Laura, even you cannot be so stupid that you don’t realise you could have been putting yourself at risk!’ He caught her by the shoulders and gave her a hard shake.
‘Obviously nothing did happen, did it? I am perfectly all right if you discount the bruises you are inflicting on me.’ She shrugged out of his hold, hating the way he was treating her like some sort of imbecile rather than a grown woman.
‘I should do more than shake you!’ He slammed a hand on the steering-wheel and suddenly Laura knew she’d had enough. This scene on top of everything else that had happened was more than she could cope with. She gave a brilliant smile, her voice like glass when she spoke.
‘Carry on like this, darling, and I shall start thinking that you were worried about me,’ she taunted.
‘I was.’ He paused, studying her for a long moment before he smiled with a chilling contempt. ‘I was worried that your tardiness would ruin what promises to be a very successful business meeting. Now shall we carry on? I have wasted enough time already.’
He started the engine and Laura turned away to hide her tears at his cruelty. It had been deliberate, she knew, yet another strike against her in his search for revenge, but even knowing it didn’t stop the pain.
Lunch was less of an ordeal than she’d feared. Luis had slipped back once more into the smoothly urbane guise of businessman, leading the conversation at the table with his usual panache and sophistication, aided by Miguel Moreno who handled the firm’s foreign contracts.
A man in his late fifties, Miguel had been with the firm for many years, working formerly for Luis’s father. He was a shrewd and well respected businessman yet Laura couldn’t help but notice that he treated Luis with a marked deference. It wasn’t just that Luis was head of the company now but because Miguel, along with many others, had come to respect Luis for his abilities.
Laura had only a sketchy knowledge of the Rivera family history but, from what she had learned, knew that, since Luis had taken over on the death of his father six years before, the firm had gone from strength to strength. He had been only twenty-four at the time but his foresight and determination had made the company what it was today, one of the front runners in a highly competitive market. Single-mindedness had taken him to the top, that same single-mindedness that was set to ruin both their lives.
That thought weighed heavily on her, making it difficult for her to join in the conversation, and she saw Luis shoot her an irritated glance. She glared back at him then felt her heart sink when a familiar voice suddenly intruded on the conversation.
‘Luis, I didn’t know you were lunchin
g here today. You should have told me so that we could have made arrangements to meet up.’
Mercedes stopped by the table, immaculate as ever in an elegant white dress. She smiled when Luis stood up and kissed her on both cheeks, her gaze skimming the other occupants of the table as the two men gallantly rose to their feet.
‘A business meeting, Mercedes, as you can see, otherwise we would have been delighted to have you join us. Isn’t that so, Laura?’
Laura managed to murmur something polite but it was hard to hide her dislike of the other woman. She averted her eyes when Mercedes drew Luis to one side to whisper something to him in a confiding tone then laughed with a husky familiarity that grated on every nerve in Laura’s body.
‘Pay no attention to my sister, Laura. She doesn’t mean any harm, really.’
Laura jumped, shooting an uncertain glance over her shoulder at the man standing behind her chair. He smiled broadly, drawing over a chair from an empty table nearby to sit down beside her. ‘I’m Domingo...remember? Mercedes’s brother.’
Laura blushed uncomfortably. ‘Oh. I’m sorry but I’m afraid I didn’t recognise you for a moment. How are you?’
‘Fine thank you. And even more so for meeting you again like this.’ His dark eyes studied her face with undisguised admiration which was like balm after Luis’s coldness. Laura smiled with a touch of warmth. She had only met Domingo once before at a party given for her and Luis when they had announced that they were to be married, and then had spoken to him only briefly, too concerned with making sure she didn’t say the wrong thing.
‘That sounds to me like well practised flattery,’ she chided with a small laugh.
Domingo smiled back, his handsome face exuding a boyish charm which Laura knew from gossip had conquered more than one susceptible female heart. He was a few years younger than her, she guessed, but in experience with the opposite sex many years her senior. However, there was no way she could object when he continued to pay her a string of ludicrously fulsome compliments, ignoring her laughing protests.
‘I hate to break up your talk, Laura, but it is time Domingo and I joined our party.’ Mercedes’ voice was smooth but there was no way that Laura could miss the edge to it as she continued. ‘I hope you will accompany Luis to the polo match tomorrow. You and Domingo seem to be getting along so well that I am sure you will be good company for each other.’
‘We shall be there, Mercedes. We shall look forward to seeing you and Domingo then.’
Luis’s tone was bland but Laura could see the flash of anger in his eyes as Domingo got up and kissed her hand with heavy gallantry. When the pair had gone, she tried to push the incident to the back of her mind, but every time she met Luis’s eyes she could see the annoyance still lingering there.
When the meeting finally broke up, he took her arm and led her back to the bodega, putting her into his car and driving back to the casa without a word. Laura’s nerves were raw by the time they pulled up in the driveway, the tension making her feel sick. When Luis helped her out she hung back but he was ruthless as he led her inside and up to their room, closing the door and leaning against it in a way that sent alarm skittering through her.
‘Well, Laura? What do you have to say for yourself?’
‘I...I don’t know what you mean.’ She stared at him with huge grey eyes. ‘Why are you acting like this, Luis?’
‘You ask me that after your performance in the restaurant?’ His anger was suddenly unleashed, cold and icy rather than hot, and somehow more terrible because of it.
‘What performance? I...I did my best to be pleasant to the buyer. I don’t understand!’
‘Don’t you? Once I might have believed you, but one thing you aren’t, sweet Laura, is naïve or innocent!’ He stepped towards her, towering over her now. ‘You made a spectacle of yourself, laughing and simpering with Domingo like some young girl. I will not tolerate such behaviour from my wife. You will act in a manner that befits your position in future!’
‘You have the nerve to say that!’ Anger was a blessing. It chased away the hurt, the fear. ‘You accuse me of making a spectacle of myself after the way you and Mercedes were whispering together like...like lovers! But then that’s probably what you are, isn’t that so, Luis? But don’t you dare take that high-handed attitude with me when you are at fault!’
She pushed past him, refusing to listen to such hypocrisy a moment longer, but he caught her around the waist and pulled her to him.
‘We were not discussing my behaviour, Laura, but yours. You are my wife.’
‘And you are supposed to be my husband...whatever that means!’ she spat back at him.
‘Oh, I know all right, even though it had been so long since you played the role of wife until yesterday.’ His voice had dropped, rough velvet now rather than steel, and she shivered in response to it then saw the very instant when his anger took on a new, shocking direction.
‘Luis, I...’ She stopped abruptly, her breath catching as he drew her closer, easing her hips into intimate contact with his.
‘You...what, Laura? Want to show me how well you play your role? Want me to show you how I can be a husband?’ His hands slid down her back, curving round her buttocks as he moved her against him.
‘No! Stop it, Luis! Stop it.’ She tried to drag his hands away from her then gasped when he captured hers and held them behind her back, curving her even more closely to him so that she could be left in no doubt at all as to his intentions. When he bent to kiss her, she turned her head sharply, willing herself to fight him every step of the way but it was far more difficult than she could have imagined as he let his mouth run along the line of her jaw, the curve of her cheek before he traced the delicate curl of her ear with his tongue.
Laura shuddered violently as the fire that had started with the first touch of his mouth spread through her whole body. She didn’t want to feel this wild desire, this longing, but she seemed not to have the strength to fight against it.
Incoherent little murmurs of sound mingled with the rasp of his breathing as they waged a silent battle, a battle not of blows but of caresses. His mouth seemed to be made of gossamer as it skimmed her skin, brushing kisses over every sensitive inch yet it left behind a trail of havoc. Fire burned in its wake, licking along her nerves, stirring her senses until she was almost mindless with the desire he had ignited inside her. When his mouth finally came to rest on hers she was lost.
Late afternoon sun streamed in the window, gleaming on their sweat-slicked limbs as they made love with a fervent need in the middle of the huge bed. Luis never spoke, whispered no words of encouragement or endearment, and neither did she. They didn’t need words, just the feel of each other’s body under hands that caressed, mouths that sought. It was the most elemental of couplings yet it seemed to transcend time and space, carrying them to another world as they drove each other to the brink of fulfilment and beyond.
It seemed to take forever for her breathing to slow, for the deep shudders to ease. Laura lay quite still, watching the sunlight reflected on the carved ceiling while she stroked her hand down Luis’s back, loving the feel of his skin under her fingers. His breathing was gradually slowing, his heartbeat steadying as he too returned from passion’s clutches and suddenly she knew that now was the time to admit to him something she had finally admitted to herself during those last frantic moments as heaven had lain within their grasp. She loved him. She always had, she always would. It was his right to know.
‘Luis, I want to tell you something.’ Her voice was soft but there was no hesitancy in it. She wanted to tell him how she felt because somehow she knew it would make a huge difference to them.
‘What is it?’ He rolled over and stood up, stretching his muscles, arrogant and so gloriously male that Laura felt the tremors start to flare up again inside her. He must have sensed her reaction because he smiled with just the faintest hint of cynicism as he dropped down to sit beside her on the bed and run a finger down the curve of her breast
.
Laura bit back a gasp, colour touching her cheeks as he smiled and did it again before letting his hand drop to the bed in a careless little gesture that left her feeling somehow bereft.
‘So what are you going to tell me, amada? That you love me?’ He must have seen the shock in her eyes because his smile deepened despite the fact that his own eyes were suddenly cold.
Laura fought down the fear, staring back at him. ‘Yes, I do, Luis. I love you.’
For words that she had wanted to say they seemed to be strangely difficult to utter now as she stared into those cold eyes. ‘Don’t...don’t you believe me?’
‘Of course.’ He stood up again and walked towards the dressing-room, leaving her staring after him. But there was no way she could let him go like this.
‘Luis! Doesn’t it mean anything to you?’ She was shaking so hard that it was hard to force the words out, watching with wide, shocked eyes as he stopped halfway across the room to glance back, and she felt something inside her die at the expression of indifference on his face.
‘Frankly, Laura, no. It doesn’t matter to me one bit what you feel.’
If he had struck her it couldn’t have been such a cruel blow. Laura sank back on the bed, unable to speak as Luis left the room. Words or even tears weren’t enough to ease such utter desolation. All she could think of was all the long years to come, living with a man who cared so little about her that he was indifferent to her love.
CHAPTER FIVE
THE sound of horses galloping across the dry earth mixed with the shouts of their riders. Laura sat under a tree, looking towards the polo field without really following what was happening. Somewhere among the men who were racing their ponies across the grass in pursuit of the ball was Luis, leading his team to yet another victory, but she could take no pleasure from the thought.
Spanish Nights (Harlequin Treasury 1990's) Page 6