Oh, he was a swine all right. If it wasn't for Abuela she would pack her bags and leave right now. But he knew that too, didn't he! Reggie could have groaned out loud as she recalled the way she had told him she was fond of his grandmother—another little something to prick her conscience with should she step out of line.
For hours she stayed in her hidey-hole, her thoughts of Severo Cardenosa none the sweeter for the length of her stay. She still couldn't understand why he had married her when he had stated he had no such intention with Bella. Bella had hard eyes, he had said, though Reggie had never noticed they were hard. Did that mean, then,
that her eyes were sat? That he had taken one look at her and had known straight away that she was soft hearted too? Known that she could be easily manipulated where Bella could not? Decided that in his efforts to keep his grandmother happy he would marry a girl who was biddable, but not a girl like Bella?
Her head weary with her thoughts, she got to her feet. She could see the estancia from where she stood. It looked quiet and peaceful, and she was hungry. Weary though she was with having nothing but what Severo had revealed that morning going around and around in her head, she was still prodding at it as she made her way back to the house.
Severo had said he wanted to possess her from the first. What exactly did that mean? Reggie didn't kid herself she was any femme fatale, and with him believing—until last night, she amended, then hastily put last night out of her mind—that she had been with one other man at least, then he could have been forgiven for thinking he didn't have to marry her to get what he wanted. But why had he wanted her in the first place? He had said she was beautiful, but they rowed more often than not. Was that it? From the first they had flared up at each other. Did he not like his conquests easy? Had she fired a spark in him—and recalling that he had said something once about settling with her—had that been the devil that had driven him on to want to possess her?
Well, he had possessed her for-the first and last time, she thought furiously. If he tried to come anywhere near her again he would soon find out she was nowhere near being settled with, nowhere near as biddable as he thought she was.
As she turned to go round to the front of the estancia, her eyes caught some movement. And then as she saw Severo, so deep in conversation with Manuela Gomez,
both of them entirely oblivious of her, she stopped dead in her tracks, almost having to grip her stomach, so great was the reaction there. An emotion took hold of her that had her wanting to storm over to the pair of them, Severo with his arm around Manuela, and tear his arm away from her. To remind him that she was his wife, she, Regina Cardenosa—she was the one who shared his name, not Manuela Gomez; she was the one who had shared his bed, not ...
Reggie made it to her room barely knowing her feet had left the ground as that sentence finished itself in her brain. Everything, everything pointed to the fact that Manuela Gomez had at one time shared Severo's bed—possibly still did, if the way they had been lost to anyone but their two selves out there was anything to go by.
And it was then, her appetite gone, that she realised what the fierce feeling was that gripped her as she saw Severo with his arms around Manuela Gomez. She was jealous! So jealous she could have laid into the pair of them. And as that knowledge sank in, she realised also just why Severo had not had to Use any persuasion to make love to her last night. She was in love with him.
In love as she had never before been in love. All Clive's persuasions to try and get her into bed with him had failed—and she now knew why. She hadn't truly loved him, not in the way she was in love with Severo. She had given him her all, willingly.
Maria, coming to her room to remind her she had eaten nothing all day, had Reggie sitting up on her bed saying she'd had a headache, and when it looked as though Maria would go rushing for the aspirin:
`It's better now, Maria.'
`You come to dinner now? Don Severo is not back yet.'
`He said he might be some time,' Reggie invented, not
knowing whose face she was saving, hers or Severo's.
Though since he hadn't bothered who saw him with his arms around Manuela Gomez, and she didn't need two guesses to know he was still with her, then he didn't seem to care what anyone thought of him.
Maria clucked disapprovingly that she only pecked at her meal, but had she known the effort it had taken to wash, change and come to the dining room at all, Reggie thought she might well have forgiven her.
At eleven o'clock there still was no sign of Severo. Reggie went to bed, burying her face in her pillow, the thoughts she had had that she would never again allow Severo. to make love to her now seeming ridiculous. Why should he want to? She had negated any challenge if that was his sole reason in wanting to possess her, and anyway, Manuela Gomez was more than ready to take care of that side of things, by the look of it.
There was no chance of her going to sleep, but she did begin to feel better about the hopelessness of loving Severo when she recalled—and with it anger came to lift her leaden spirits—that he had declared, was it only yesterday, that he never broke his vows. What was he doing now, she would like to know, if he wasn't breaking that particular vow about keeping only unto her?
It had gone three when movement in the next room told her Severo was back. And I hope he's happy, she thought sourly, because she certainly wasn't. It wouldn't take too much effort to lie there and howl her eyes out.
It must have been about ten minutes later that she heard the communicating door between their two rooms open. The cheek of him! The utter gall! She was too incensed at the thought that at this late hour Severo had remembered he had a wife and was coming to check if all was well with her to think of pretending to be asleep.
`Our agreement was that you would knock before coming into my room,' she fired from her wide double
bed, holding back the urge to hurl abuse at his head.
The room flooded with light as Severo saw no reason to talk in the dark since she was already awake. Reggie's heart thudded painfully to see him standing there, obviously showered wearing only his robe. Oh, how could she love such a man?
As an apology his mocking, 'Forgive me for forgetting to knock,' didn't get off the ground, 'but I rather thought we knew each other well enough to do away with that formality.'
His face took on a reminiscent look, and she had no trouble in following his line of thought. That he dared to refer to the way they had been last night, having just returned from that woman, doubly despoiled for her what had happened between them.
`Well, we don't,' she snapped, and, really on her high horse, 'And I should be obliged if you will kindly remember the arrangement we made and knock in future!'
His eyes narrowed as, propped casually against the wall, he looked across at her, her blonde hair tumbled about her head, her eyes almost navy in her emotional state.
`The arrangement you made,' he said slowly. 'You must forgive me again, but I have no recollection of agreeing to such an arrangement.'
Reggie found it impossible to remember whether he had or not, especially since from the look of it Severo wasn't ready to leave—more, she thought, looking ready to stay there all night playing this cat and mouse game.
`Well, in future,' she repeated stubbornly, 'knock. Or better still, don't come in at all.'
`Señora Cardenosa,' he said, more like a tiger waiting to spring than a cat, she thought, 'would you have me forget I have a wife?'
The nerve of him! The cool nerve of him! 'Forget you
have a wife?' she threw at him, sparks flying, shaking with fury as she grabbed for her watch. 'It's a quarter past three in the morning, and you talk of remembering you have a wife! You forgot that fact conveniently enough when you were with Manuela Gomez, didn't you?'
Oh, cool down, Reggie, cool down, you're in danger of saying too much, she thought immediately the words were from her. For Severo looked not at all put out at the words she was flinging at him. If anything he looked intrigued and�
�pleased? Mutinously she scowled at him, hating him at that moment that her reference to Manuela Gomez should remind him of his mistress and bring about that satisfied look.
`Jealous, my little spitting kitten?' he drawled.
`Don't flatter yourself! You can go where the hell you like—go now. And put the light out after you!'
Having shown him she didn't care a jot what he did, she presented him with her back, pulling the covers up over her ears. The light went out and she waited for the door to close, signalling his departure. But no sound came. What was he doing? She thought she heard him move. Where was he? Oh, what an idiot she was—she should have waited until he had gone. It wouldn't have taken a second for her to have nipped out of bed and put the light out herself.
When she felt the other side of the bed go down as if Severo had every intention of getting into bed with her, she was absolutely shattered. Without thinking about it she had turned over, pushing and shoving at him.
`Don't you dare!' she hissed.
For answer he grabbed neatly with one hand the two that were flailing him, forcing her, struggle though she might, until her back was against the mattress.
`Leave me alone!' she raged furiously, only to find that somehow he had them both beneath the covers, her
hands coming into contact with naked skin, hair on his chest, telling her he had shed his robe.
`Ah, wife,' he said, his body weight over hers keeping her pressed immobile. 'What manner of woman is it who would allow her husband to shave at three o'clock in the morning and then try to eject him from her bed?'
`I didn't ask you to shave,' she grunted, still struggling. `And you have no place in my bed either!'
His softly amused laughter as he told her, 'No man has more right, querida,' had her fighting him afresh.
`Will—you—leave,' she muttered through gritted teeth, frustrated that her efforts to oust him were meeting with so little success.
His reply was to bring his hands to cup her face—firm hands that held her head still as with unerring aim his lips found hers.
That first touch of his lips had a weakness growing inside of her, an inner self that wanted to respond. Then a picture of him with his arm around Manuela Gomez presented itself, and she was spitting fire and fury at him.
`No!' she screamed when his mouth left hers.
Then it was in silent combat that she fought not only against him, but as the picture of him and Manuela faded, against herself too, for he was raining kisses on her eyes, her ears, down the sides of her throat, without saying a word coaxing a traitor inside her into life.
And at last she was still. Part of her then wanted to say `Don't, please don't, Severo, this isn't what I want.' But the other part of her, the traitorous part, was telling her that perhaps he hadn't been 'that way' with Manuela, and that now she wasn't fighting him he might just listen to her if she told him this wasn't what she wanted. And as his hand came to gently caress her breast, fanning the fire inside her into flame, Reggie opened her mouth.
`Oh, Severo,' she moaned.
`What is it, querida?' Oh, so soft his voice, a tenderness there so much like the tone he had used when last night he had taken her to paradise and beyond. She was lost.
She almost said, 'I love you' but found she was too shy to bring the words out. I—can't help myself,' she sighed.
Querida!
His longing for her seemed as great as her need for him in that one word. But it was without haste he removed her nightdress, and it was without pain that he made love to her. A union in which, as passion spiralled upwards, he revealed a furnace he had damped down to take her innocence—finding she had a passion to meet his—she knew if last night had been paradise, then she was at a loss to have said what this was.
She awoke after only a short sleep, maybe something in her subconsciousness taking sleep from her. She was still in Severo's arms, his even breathing telling her he was asleep. When half an hour later sleep again claimed her, there were tears on her lashes to tell her thoughts had not been happy ones.
Severo had gone the next time Reggie awakened. She hadn't felt him take his arms from her and leave, but she was glad he had gone. The rapture had vanished, leaving bitter humiliation in its place. It had come to her in her earlier waking that if she stayed with him she would reap again and again that same humiliation.
How could she continue to live with a man who stayed out until three in the morning with another woman? And, by now fully acquainted with the treachery of her own body, how could she continue to sleep with Severo? For though in the cold light of day she might tell herself it would never happen again, with the feeling she had for him, the feeling he could awaken in her, fight like she had done last night, it would happen again she knew it. How could she live with herself? To awaken each morn-
ing afterwards and feel like this?
Her decision to leave him was only half made when Juana brought in her tray. Wanting to know Severo's whereabouts, as casually as she could Reggie asked Juana if she had seen him.
Juana's reply had her turning away so the young maid should not see her face. But it wasn't anger that beset Reggie this time on hearing that Severo had gone to the Gomez place, but defeat.
`Gracias, Juana,' she said, turning with a smile.
No one was going to know that Juana's words had left her with no alternative but to leave. She couldn't herself face yet that after the passion she and Severo had shared last night, his first action this morning was to go and see Manuela Gomez, his mistress.
`I shall not require your assistance this morning,' she told the girl in her improving Spanish. 'Perhaps Maria could do with some help.'
CHAPTER ELEVEN
HER heart aching, knowing to see Severo again would only add to her pain, Reggie hastily threw her things into her cases and tried to be practical. She would have to take the Mini; she might well need to sell it. Without humour the thought reached her that this was growing into quite a habit—selling Minis to pay her air fare. She still had the money left over from her wedding dress, but she didn't think it would stretch that far.
Writing a note to Severo she found her biggest obstacle. Though she was anxious to be away now the decision had been made for her, she found it irksome that
emotion came time and again to cloud her thinking and delay her.
In the end emotion had to be banished, and it was a cold note she left propped up on the dressing-table, a note that made no mention of the real reason for her leaving, but merely pointed out that since Severo had tricked her into marriage she now considered, as in all fairness he must, that any hold he had on her sister must now be cancelled out. If he wished he could tell his grandmother that she had received a telephone call from England saying her sister was ill.
Hoping to leave the estancia unobserved, she decided she would take the rear way out. It had the added advantage of being nearer to the garages.
Breathing a sigh of relief that no one was about, she put her cases into the hall, quietly closed her bedroom door, then went swiftly to turn where the hall angled. There she stopped dead. She could hear Severo's voice!
Oh God, he was supposed to be out! The sound of a door opening somewhere behind her had her knowing she was committed. She had to move into the hall where Severo had his study or the person coming from that door would see her, suitcases in hand.
Tiptoeing like a thief in the night up to the open study door, her heart threatening to crack her ribs, Reggie approached the door, relief uppermost to see that while speaking on the telephone Severo had his back towards her. Then, terrified his ears would pick up the slightest noise, though his concentration seemed centred on what he was saying, she scooted past, not drawing another free breath until she and the Mini were heading down the drive.
She had gone five miles before what Severo had been saying on the phone separated itself from the other thoughts that were fighting for precedence. And then
what he had said, the part she had heard, had her pu
lling over while on top of everything else her mind tried to cope with the enormity of it.
If she wasn't mistaken, and she understood his Spanish better than she did anyone's, then Severo had been agreeing with someone that he was facing financial ruin!
Oh no! Not Severo! Not with his pride! Who had he been talking with? His bank manager? Possibly, though that wasn't important. She had no way of knowing what his bank manager had said, but with an ache in her heart for him, all other pain forgotten, she could recall clearly his deadly serious voice as he'd said, `. . the books tell their own story, don't they?' A pause, and she might have missed something, then, 'Yes, I have to agree—yes, it's the only way.' She couldn't remember the next bit and wished she had listened closer, but it had been something about impossible to stay afloat with the drop in cattle prices, the herd would have to go.
Stunned, disbelieving, Reggie sat trying to take in that the thousands of cattle she had seen just weren't a paying proposition. It seemed impossible that the well run, to anyone's eyes affluent estancia, could be broke. Yet with Severo talking of cattle prices dropping and that final agreeing that their herd would have to go, it just had to be so.
Oh, poor Severo, poor beloved Severo! What must he be going through? Never a word had he breathed to her. His pride, of course. That same pride, love and pride, she amended, that even while knowing how bad things were he must have added to his overdraft to have given Bella ten thousand pounds in order to make his grandfather's dying days happy. Oh, to be loved by Severo so much that he let his heart rule his head!
But she mustn't think of herself. Severo was the one in trouble. The blow to his pride would be tremendous, that
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