A Scandalous Midnight in Madrid

by Susan Stephens

  ‘So, you’ll do it?’ Annalisa asked, barely able to contain her excitement as she leaned across the table.

  The alternative was to refuse to do something for Chef Sorollo, who had done so much for Sadie. ‘Yes,’ Sadie confirmed, biting down on everything else she’d like to say, but couldn’t when it involved her mentor. She might have felt marginally more upbeat about the forthcoming trip if she hadn’t seen the glint of amusement in the great chef’s eyes.

  * * *

  The sun was blazing down in the village square when Sadie finally arrived in the mountains after a long and tiring journey. She was somewhere close to Alejandro’s mountain retreat, but wasn’t sure of the precise details, as Annalisa had promised someone would meet her. Well, that someone hadn’t turned up. She’d been waiting for the promised lift for about an hour while village life bustled on around her. At least the surroundings were magnificent. Shading her eyes, she stared up at the majestic snow-capped peaks of the Sierra Nevada, noticing that the paths leading up were steep and rocky, and utterly uninviting in the heat of the sun.

  Seeing an elderly lady looking at Sadie as if she would like to help, Sadie asked, ‘El Castillo Fuego?’

  ‘Es menos de tres millas—’

  ‘I’m sorry?’

  The elderly woman pointed out a tree-lined track.

  ‘It’s less than three miles to the castle,’ she explained in heavily accented English. ‘Once you get past the smooth lower slopes the trail is a bit tricky, but you should arrive before it gets too hot for walking if you leave now,’ she added helpfully.

  ‘So, there’s no transport going up there?’ Sadie asked, hope dwindling as she stared apprehensively at the long and winding path.

  ‘There is only walking, or the helicopter used by El Duque.’ This was said with a glow of admiration in the old lady’s voice.

  ‘Excellent,’ Sadie said, trying not to sound too dejected.

  ‘There are some mule trains...’

  Sadie brightened.

  ‘But not today.’

  ‘Well, thank you very much for the information.’ She held back on her thoughts of El Duque soaring effortlessly up the mountain to his secluded retreat, leaving her to slog up to his remote castle on foot.

  ‘You can’t miss El Castillo Fuego,’ the old lady promised as Sadie adjusted a backpack that seemed to have doubled in weight at the prospect of the climb ahead. ‘It dominates the landscape for miles around.’

  ‘I can’t wait to see it.’ Determined she wouldn’t be beaten, she added brightly, ‘And thank you again for the help.’

  Well, at least she had a plan now. Arrive. Feed the invalid. Assess the kitchen. Leave.

  Sadie remained upbeat for approximately five hundred yards, after which it became clear that working in a kitchen had done nothing to prepare her for the outdoor life. If this was ‘smooth’ walking, she dreaded to think what the top part of the track would be like.

  * * *

  This was what he needed, Alejandro concluded as his stallion picked a safe route down the path. Freedom, fresh air, with just the wind in his face and the sound of the nearby waterfall cascading down the cliff, punctuated by the intermittent cry of an eagle.

  And a cry for help?

  In English?

  In a voice that sounded uncannily like Chef Sadie’s?

  Instantly, he saw his sister’s hand in this. Not satisfied with mollycoddling him after the accident, Annalisa had sent what she perceived to be an angel of mercy to cook for him. And now the angel needed assistance.

  Urging his horse around a rocky outcrop faster than safety allowed, he found himself confronted by the most astonishing scene.

  His stallion snorted its disapproval as he brought it skidding to a halt. Assessing the situation at a glance, he saw that Sadie was in no real danger, but she was lucky he’d ridden by. Poorly prepared for the mountains, she’d been let down by her footwear on the rocky trail. She’d slipped on the shale, and the straps of her backpack had become entangled in a tree. At the angle she was caught, she had no chance of freeing herself, but her feet were on the ground, so she was in no danger of falling any further down the slope.

  ‘What the hell are you doing here?’ he demanded.

  ‘Hanging around?’

  He wasn’t amused. ‘For how long?’

  ‘Ten minutes or so. Does it matter?’

  ‘It would if I hadn’t ridden by.’

  Her scowl made him laugh.

  ‘You think this is funny?’ she flashed with a frown.

  What might have maddened him in the city—Sadie’s naivety; the risk she’d taken to walk up a track she didn’t know—irritated him, but relief that he had found her overcame everything...not that he wouldn’t make her suffer for a while.

  ‘Are you just going to sit there?’ she demanded.

  ‘Don’t tempt me.’

  Her answer was a snort of disgust.

  The slope of the land meant they were at eye level, and if the straps on her backpack gave way, the worst that could happen was that she would roll a couple of yards down the hill. ‘I’m not sure I’ve got time for this,’ he said as he wheeled his horse around. ‘Thor is hungry and impatient to get home. If he should bolt—’

  ‘Bolt?’ she scoffed. ‘Weren’t you born in the saddle?’

  ‘In a caravan, actually.’

  She shrugged. ‘If you’ve finished staring, I’d appreciate a hand getting down.’

  ‘You haven’t told me why you’re here,’ he said, and with considerable restraint, in his opinion.

  ‘I’m supposed to be checking out your kitchens, as requested by Chef Sorollo, so I can advise on a refurbishment,’ she informed him tetchily, ‘but I can hardly do that while I’m swinging from a tree.’

  ‘Clearly.’ His lips pressed down as he frowned. ‘I did ask Chef Sorollo for advice.’

  ‘And he decided to send me. Now can you please get me down?’

  He was in no hurry. The view was good from here. Sadie’s hair was a rich, vibrant red-gold, and he’d never seen it cascading free before. It fell to her waist in such glorious abandon, he could imagine it would look that way after they made love.

  ‘And Annalisa said you needed someone to take care of you,’ she added. ‘Apparently, there was some damage to your voice? Are you okay?’ she asked with sudden concern.

  ‘I appear to be.’

  She appeared relieved, and then she bridled. ‘No hurry,’ she said sarcastically. ‘I’m happy to hang around here all day.’

  ‘In that case—’

  ‘Don’t you dare,’ she warned as he turned his horse.

  ‘You’ll keep.’

  ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ she yelled after him.

  He rode a short distance before coming back. ‘Thank goodness,’ she exclaimed with relief. ‘You are going to get me down?’ she asked with sudden doubt ringing in her voice.

  He shrugged. ‘Both Thor and I need feeding.’

  She said something rude under her breath while he positioned his stallion beneath her. Unsheathing his knife, he sliced through the straps of her backpack, and as she fell, he caught her. Lifting her onto the saddle in front of him, he locked an arm around her waist. ‘You are the most annoying woman I have ever met. Either you won’t see me, or I can’t get away from you. And only the fact that I refuse to leave you to plague the poor mountain lions when they come to eat you encourages me to take you with me. We’ll discuss your stupidity in the morning,’ he added over Sadie’s spluttering reply.

  ‘My stupidity?’ she exclaimed with affront.

  ‘Wandering around a mountain you’re unfamiliar with, in unsuitable clothing? What else would you call it?’

  ‘I was told I’d be met when I arrived,’ she countered hotly.

  ‘Well, no one told me,’ he assur
ed her, ‘or I would have instructed you not to come.’

  ‘Instructed me?’ she exclaimed with outrage.

  So, there was fire beneath that cool exterior. It seemed the mountains had changed them both.

  Urging his stallion forward when they hit a flatter piece of ground, he said, ‘I hope you can ride.’

  ‘I’ve been riding since I was a child,’ she told him. ‘So, you’re quite safe to let me go.’

  ‘I’ll be the judge of that. My stallion’s suffered enough delay for one day, and the last thing I need is you falling off.’

  As she huffed her displeasure, he registered how good it felt to have Sadie pressed up hard against him. She was more toned than he had expected, though soft in all the right places. Strong, yet vulnerable, he thought, and, though he had briefly resented the fact that his precious solitude had been interrupted, he found himself looking forward to the next few days. ‘Hold on,’ he said as he pushed Thor into a gallop when they reached some flat ground.

  ‘Do you think I’m going to drop off like a pile of old rubbish?’

  ‘I wouldn’t describe you quite like that,’ he said dryly as Sadie turned to flash him an angry glance.

  ‘How would you describe me?’ she asked after a few moments when she had settled into the rhythm of his horse.

  He smiled and said nothing. That was one question he had no intention of answering just yet.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  ALEJANDRO FELT INCREDIBLE as they rode together in perfect harmony. Muscular, hard, fit and strong, he was so confident and commanding on horseback. As Annalisa had predicted, he was very different in the mountains. There was even the suggestion of a sense of humour, which only added to his blistering appeal. Hot as hell in banged-up jeans and a tightly fitting T-shirt, faded through years of use, and smelling of sunshine and warm, clean man, he was no longer the stern aristocrat, the stylish Don, but a rugged man of the mountains with wild hair and dangerous eyes. He was also relaxed enough to tease, which felt like the prelude to something else...something far more alarming, and yet exciting. It wasn’t every day she got to ride a formidable stallion with a man as competent on horseback as Alejandro.

  Would he be as good at everything else?

  Almost certainly, Sadie decided, smiling at the thought of spending time with him.

  ‘You sit well on a horse,’ he said, distracting her from these dangerous thoughts.

  She had to take several deep, steadying breaths, straighten up and put a few inches between them before she could even think straight enough to answer this observation. ‘I spent a lot of time in the stables as a child,’ she admitted. When it had been a case of doing anything to put distance between Sadie and her warring parents. ‘Horses were always the best company, I found.’ Just as well, since friends weren’t allowed in the house. Her mother would always say there were too many antiques for them to damage.

  ‘I think the owner of the nearby stables must have got fed up, seeing me peering longingly through his fence, and so he taught me to ride. I haven’t had much opportunity to ride a horse since then, because I’ve been working, but this is fabulous and I’m really enjoying it.’

  Sadie’s attempt to keep her voice level and matter-of-fact failed, but what the hell? she thought. She was enjoying herself, and wasn’t afraid to admit it. After the shock of Alejandro’s accident, and then the fright of wondering if anyone would find her on the mountain, this was just amazing.

  ‘I keep horses here, but don’t ever ride out on your own,’ Alejandro warned in a stern tone that sent a quiver of awareness streaking through her. ‘You don’t know the trail.’

  But she’d like to. She’d like to know a lot of things. But then, to her surprise, he started chatting easily. Alejandro wanted to know about Sadie, and she didn’t get the chance to ask him all the things she would have liked to, about his home in the mountains, and his heritage, and the magic that drew him here time after time.

  He asked about her schooling, which she’d loved, and how she’d got into catering as a career. ‘You’re quite a determined person,’ he commented when she had finished detailing her CV.

  ‘I like to get things done,’ she admitted.

  ‘You nearly did for yourself this time.’

  ‘It was unfortunate,’ she agreed, ‘but lucky that you came along.’

  As Alejandro grunted disapprovingly, she vowed to question him when she got the chance. And then they rounded the final stretch of the trail, and his grand mountain residence loomed in front of them.

  Having imagined something magnificent, but fairly conventional—if any castle could be called conventional—she was astounded to see that Alejandro’s mountain home was colossal and built into a cliff.

  ‘It was originally an old monastery,’ he explained.

  She could see that now, and how suitable for a man who sought peace and solitude away from the demands of the city. But there was another side to Alejandro she’d heard about, and that was the Gypsy King, and it was this man she was desperate to see. She’d got a hint of him on the trail: powerful, fierce, awe-inspiring.

  What would it be like to have a gypsy king for a lover?

  And why was she even thinking like that? Hardly a duchess, she was certainly not gypsy queen material. Cook, sleep, wash and cook again was how she lived, and so far it had suited her.

  Really?

  Yes, Sadie told her inner voice firmly as she stared again at the awe-inspiring monastery perched on the edge of what appeared to be a sheer granite cliff. The eyrie for the eagle, she thought, wondering what lay inside.

  They rode through the impressive entrance and into a stone courtyard large enough to house a couple of football pitches. Springing down from his stallion, Alejandro reached up to help her down. The sure touch of his hands on her arms sent bolts of electricity shooting through her, and she blushed as they stared properly into each other’s face for the first time since the rescue. Alejandro’s expression was unreadable, but it carried a powerful charge. It didn’t help that he was the most beautiful man she had ever seen, with his thickly lashed eyes beneath sweeping ebony brows, and those chiselled cheekbones and that sensuous mouth that would have sent Michelangelo into a creative frenzy.

  Enough! She shouldn’t be thinking about his eyes. She was here to work, and maybe do a little bit of coddling, though Alejandro hardly looked in need of any fuss. ‘This woman is exhausted,’ he explained to her surprise, addressing an older woman who had emerged from one of the doors leading into the building.

  So, he was concerned for her welfare. In fairness, she’d probably given him quite a shock. The mountain was no place for novice hikers, which was a lesson she’d learned and would remember in future.

  ‘Please escort Señorita Sadie to one of the guest rooms, and make sure she has something to eat, as well as a warm bath.’

  ‘I’m quite capable of walking,’ Sadie insisted discreetly when Alejandro made no attempt to put her down. ‘And I don’t want to be any trouble, so if you could show me to the kitchen?’ she asked the kindly-faced woman she presumed to be his housekeeper.

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘Maria. My housekeeper,’ Alejandro gritted out, confirming Sadie’s conclusion as he lowered her to the ground, having no option now but to do so, as the women made to shake hands.

  ‘If you would like to come with me?’ Maria invited, leading the way through an impressive stone archway into the house.

  ‘My backpack—’

  ‘Will be delivered to you in your room,’ Alejandro informed her from the foot of the stairs.

  As a guest she wouldn’t make a fuss. As an employee, she was keen to freshen up before investigating the kitchen. She was a little bit disappointed in Alejandro’s manner. Having thought him relaxed after the formality of Madrid, it seemed he could switch in an instant to being dictatorial if it suited him. It didn’t
suit Sadie, which was something she would have to delicately address.

  His home soon distracted her. It was glorious...stunning...full of art and beautiful furniture, with a vaulted hall and marble pillars, and acres of the most exquisite stained glass. The scale was epic. And perfect for a man as complex as Alejandro, she thought.

  ‘We’ll talk again in the morning when you’ve had time to rest,’ he informed her as he jogged past her up the stairs.

  ‘What about your supper?’ she queried.

  ‘What about it? I eat promptly at ten. That should give you plenty of time to find your way around the kitchen and prepare something suitably delicious.’ He disappeared into one of the doors leading off the hallway, shutting it firmly behind him.

  With senna pods as a main ingredient, potentially, Sadie thought. Maybe she should forget Annalisa’s concerns and let him starve. Alejandro might have changed from the man she’d known in Madrid, but he was still a dinosaur. If an extremely attractive relic, she concluded as he stopped on the landing and eased onto one tight hip. No one should look that good. Smouldering looks like Alejandro’s belonged on the big screen, or in a fantasy where men were built like gladiators and had bodies that were invitations to sin.

  Maria broke the brief awkward silence that followed Alejandro’s departure with the information that she had bought cold cuts in the market, which were now in the refrigerator, and that there was also plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables in the kitchen pantry.

  ‘This is just one of El Duque’s many homes across the world,’ Maria explained as they continued their tour. ‘But I believe this is his favourite,’ she added, ‘as he always tells me how pleased he is to be back.’

  It was where he felt free, Sadie thought, and who wouldn’t be glad to live here? She could hardly take in each new wonder, from intricately worked rugs in a variety of jewel colours, to the art and artefacts of a type she’d only seen in museums before. It was hard to believe this was one man’s home, and for only part of his time at that. ‘It’s absolutely beautiful,’ she told Maria, ‘but as I’m only here to cook, I don’t think I should be staying in a guest room. I don’t want to be any trouble.’