Her father grunted, 'You'd try the patience of a saint!'
'Look who's talking! So would you.'
'Your mother used to tell me that,' he admitted grudgingly.
'And she loved you in spite of it—or because of it.' Nita looked at him with affection. 'And so do I. You know that, don't you?'
'I drove you away. I can't forgive myself for that.'
'It wasn't just your fault. It takes two to make a quarrel,' she told him earnestly. 'But that's in the past now, thank God. And we've still got the future, haven't we? And we're closer now as a result of all the misunderstandings. So at least one good thing came out of it all.'
'Yes,' he conceded. 'I just wish you would—'
But Nita didn't discover what it was that he wanted her to do. The telephone shrilled through the apartment just at that moment and Josefina entered the room to announce, 'Seňor Guerrero on the line for you, seňor. He says, can you spare him a moment?'
'Jose in a flap again! I'd better talk to him—I know what it will be about.' Diego Lopez got to his feet.
'So do I. Business,' Nita said ruefully. But she smiled as she told him, 'Don't overdo it, will you?'
'Don't worry.'
He went out of the room and Nita was left to her thoughts. She couldn't help feeling relieved that her father had made his decision of his own free will rather than at a doctor's urging. It was the best thing for him and he had the sense to see it for himself. Not that adjusting to retirement after all these years of frantic activity was going to be easy for him or those around him, she surmised. Except for golf, which he had taken up purely because of the opportunities it had given him to further his business contacts in a social atmosphere, Diego had no hobbies as far as she knew.
She would get him interested in something, she vowed. She would manage it somehow. It occurred to her that Diego hadn't told her the name of the company that he had sold out to. Not that it or its owner would mean a great deal to her, she supposed. She knew a lot of his business associates by name and had met some of them socially since her return home. But she couldn't say that she was on intimate terms with any of them.
Except Leon. The name suddenly flashed through her mind. A younger, fitter man, her father had said. That certainly described Leon. And Diego had made it all too clear what a high opinion he had of him. He had told her himself that he thought Leon would go far, given time and opportunity. Had he decided that he was a worthy successor?
Nita frowned as she poured herself another cup of coffee and sat sipping it reflectively. Something rang a bell on the fringes of her subconscious—something somebody had said last night. She had thought at the time that she would pursue the subject with Leon when they were alone together, but other things had assumed a great deal more prominence than idle questions, and she had pushed it to the back of her mind.
It was something that Maria had said. She had spoken about Leon's latest business deal when she had been teasing him about the need for fresh worlds to conquer. What was it she had said? Something about him acquiring a hotel chain. Nita had wondered idly about it, thinking of telling her father the news about one of his competitors, if he didn't know it already. She had never dreamt that it might be Diego's own empire that was up for sale.
It had to be Leon who had bought her father out. There couldn't be two hotel chains on the market at the same time. It would be too much of a coincidence. Why hadn't he said anything to her? Why hadn't her father said anything, for that matter?
She got up and went in search of Diego to question him further, only to hear from Josefina that he had taken the lift down to the main body of the hotel. He had wanted to talk to somebody urgently.
'I was just coming to find you, seňorita, as it happens. He left this package of papers in my hand as he went. He wanted you to deliver them by hand to Seňor Calveto at his office. He waited up last night, thinking that Seňor Calveto might come back with you, but in the end he gave up and went to bed.' Josefina's wrinkled face held a knowing look. 'I could have told him he was wasting his time. A man like Seňor Calveto makes the most of his time when he's out with a pretty girl!'
You could say that again, Nita thought wryly. 'You're incorrigible, Josefina,' she scolded the housekeeper, but with affection in her tone nevertheless. 'You'd matchmake for Dracula's mother, if you had the chance!'
'When you get to my age, seňorita, the only romances that come your way are those of other people. Not that I'm complaining—I've had my share of admirers in my time.'
'I'm sure you have.' Nita took the bulky envelope reluctantly. She supposed it was urgent or her father wouldn't have asked her to do the errand for him. And presumably it was confidential too, or he would have sent it by one of the hotel staff. 'Thank you, Josefina, I'll see that Seňor Calveto gets this safely.'
The last thing in the world that she wanted when she got up this morning was to confront Leon as soon as this; now it looked as if she hadn't much choice in the matter. She stood hesitating for a moment and then went to fetch a light jacket and her car keys. There was one thing about it—at least she would be able to establish whether Leon had bought the Lopez hotel group.
She had never visited his offices. There had been no reason for her to do so. But the address was on the envelope and she knew where it was, ten minutes' drive away along the road that led eventually to the University City and the Olympic Stadium. Traffic was light for once and it wasn't long before Nita was manoeuvring her way into a parking space beside a huge modern office block.
There was a commissionaire on duty in the vast marble entrance hall and he directed her to the lift after she had explained her business to him. She wanted the fourteenth floor, he told her. Seňor Calveto's offices were on the right as she got out. He would ring ahead of her to make sure that she was expected.
Mercedes was waiting for her when the lift doors opened.
'Seňorita Lopez.' Her greeting was cool. She held out her hand for the package. 'You needn't have come all the way up here, I could have collected that from downstairs.'
That put her firmly in her place, Nita thought. Messenger girl, third class. She didn't like that. She smiled sweetly at the other girl. 'Packages have a habit of getting lost that way. And this one is confidential, so I thought I'd better deliver it personally.'
'Well, now you have. Thank you.' The last words were bitten off as a definite afterthought.
'Personally to Seňor Calveto,' Nita stressed.
'There's no need to—'
Nita knew that. But sheer cussedness on her part made her persist. 'There's every need. That's his name, not yours, on the envelope.'
'Leon's out at the moment.'
'Then I'll wait until he gets back.'
'That may be some time.'
'It doesn't matter. I haven't anything else planned for this morning.'
She thought that Mercedes was going to argue further, but evidently the other girl registered the firmness in her tone. The slender shoulders lifted in the suspicion of a shrug. 'Please yourself,' she said abruptly, then turned on her heel.
Nita followed the tiny figure, clad in a black dress that hugged every curve and showed off her impossibly slim waist, down the corridor and through an open door into what was obviously her office. A desk with an electric typewriter and attendant paraphernalia stood in one corner and a vast row of filing cabinets lined the whole of one wall. In the middle of another wall was a door, presumably leading to Leon's office, and Nita made for it.
'Leon doesn't like people being in his office without him there.' Mercedes' voice halted her in mid-stride. The other girl indicated a corner where a few easy chairs grouped round an arrangement of tropical plants were clearly placed for the reception of visitors. 'You'd better sit there.'
She wasn't imagining the unpleasantness in Mercedes' tone. It would be clear enough to anyone. Nita had no intention of being intimidated by her.
'Tell me,' she said coolly, as she watched the other girl move across to her d
esk and prepare to resume work, 'are you as rude as this to all Seňor Calveto's clients, or is it just that you're singling me out for special attention for some reason or other?'
'What do you think?'
'I think you're insolent.'
'Pardon me for breathing! Complain to Leon when he gets back if it'll make you feel any better.'
'Aren't you scared that I might just do that?' asked Nita coolly.
Mercedes laughed. 'It won't get you very far. Leon won't dismiss me—not on your say-so or anyone else's. I'm too useful to him—both inside the office and outside. And very accommodating.' The jet dark eyes were malicious. 'How many women would take a back seat while he had a fling with another girl?'
'Is that what you call it?'
'Of course.' The other girl's glance swept over her, coolly assessing what charms she might hold for a man, visibly confident of her own superiority in that line. 'You're quite attractive, enough to take any man's eye—for a while at least. But you haven't got what it takes to hold a man like Leon.'
'No?'
'No.'
'And you have, I suppose?' Nita challenged.
'Yes. We had a good thing going before you arrived on the scene. He strayed, of course, from time to time. But men do. It's to be expected. I've always taken him back, and I will this time.'
'You're very tolerant,' observed Nita.
Mercedes shrugged carelessly. 'With Leon a girl has to be prepared to give a little. I don't particularly like seeing him paying court to another woman under my very eyes, but I make the best of it.'
If she did the mask slipped at times. Nita remembered the fury in Mercedes' face as she had upbraided Leon for attending Elena's engagement party without telling her he was going to be there, and for dancing the night away at the same party with Nita herself. A fury that had been matched by Leon's reaction to it. 'Mercedes doesn't matter,' he had told her then. But perhaps she did.
'Maybe one day Leon won't come back to you,' she suggested quietly.
'Is that what you're hoping?' The other girl gave an amused smile. 'You poor fool! You weren't beginning to dream of wedding bells, were you, by any chance? If you were thinking along those lines you should have worked a bit faster. Although I doubt if even the Lopez hotel empire would be worth such a sacrifice from Leon's point of view. He was prepared to go to quite a few lengths to keep you and your father sweet, but I don't think he'd have taken you to the altar. After all, you're only a night-club singer.'
'Keep me and my father sweet?' Nita frowned. 'What are you getting at? I don't understand.'
'Don't you? You surprise me. I didn't think you were stupid.'
'Perhaps I am. Spell it out to me.' She was suddenly tense.
'It's simple enough,' Mercedes told her. 'Leon's been wanting to get his hands on your father's hotels for some time now. He's made various offers over the years, but your father got as far as the talking stage and then backed off for a variety of reasons. Leon did everything he could to try to persuade him, but it never seemed enough. He wasn't ready to retire yet, he said. Things could have gone on like that for another twenty years or so. Then your father had this heart attack.'
'And Leon saw his way clear at last.'
'Practically. But there was a small cloud on the horizon.' Mercedes gave her a spiteful look. 'You.'
'But what had I to do with it all?'
'Quite a lot. Leon knew that your father wasn't easy in his mind about what happened to you. You walked out three years ago and he hadn't seen you since. But blood's thicker than water, and more so when you were all he had of a family. He was sick and he wanted you. So Leon volunteered to find you and bring you back home—anything to make the old man happy and win his approval. He was taking a risk, of course. For all he knew you might have married in the interim and provided Diego Lopez with a son-in-law worthy to inherit the empire.' Mercedes gave Nita a contemptuous look. 'It didn't seem likely on past form, but you never know—accidents happen.'
Nita ignored the slur. 'So?' she asked sharply.
'So it all went according to plan. He found you, brought you home and was all set to get his reward. But he couldn't be sure of anything for a while. You were back on the scene and you might have influenced your father in another direction or urged him not to sell at all, if he'd consulted you about it. You might even have taken it into your head to get engaged to one of those chinless wonders who made up to you when you started to do the social rounds. You might have wanted the business for him, if you had. So—'
'So Leon took an interest in me himself and cut out any possible rivals,' Nita muttered, half to herself, as the realisation dawned on her.
'Got it in one! So long as he kept you sweet and unaware of what was going on, he was laughing. You're learning at last,' sneered Mercedes. 'He didn't have to work very hard, did he? He never does with women. I think it amused him how easily you succumbed once he turned on the pressure a little. And Diego was delighted that the two of you were getting on so well. Perhaps he was thinking in terms of marriage bells too.'
In a daze Nita took in all the implications. It didn't occur to her to question them; it was all so perfectly plausible it had to be true. Mechanically she moved to a chair and sat down. She felt numb.
'Have I shattered all your illusions?' The other girl sounded pleased with herself. She must be satisfied to have scored such a direct hit. 'I'm sorry if you thought that Leon was such a lily-white character, pursuing you with no ulterior motives.'
Oh, Nita had been aware of ulterior motives on his part. But, naively, she had thought he was only out to take advantage of her body, not that he had any farther-reaching intentions. What a fool she had been!
She didn't want to see Leon now. The way she was feeling, she didn't want to see him ever again. She needed time to think. She had better leave now, before he got back.
'I won't stay to see Leon,' she said.
Mercedes was almost preening herself. 'Somehow I didn't think you would.' She indicated the package that Nita was still clutching to her. 'I'll take that, shall I?'
'Yes. Yes, you'd better.' Nita got to her feet and prepared to hand it over. Then she heard footsteps in the corridor and intuition told her that she had left it too late to make her getaway.
'Nita! I thought I recognised your car parked outside.'
She could have sworn Leon sounded pleased to see her. 'Hello,' she said briefly. She didn't look at him. 'I only came to deliver something to you from my father—he seemed to think it was urgent. I'll be on my way now.'
She could feel his eyes on her, willing her to look up at him as she put the package down on the desk in front of her. Instead she stared resolutely at the floor. She took two steps in the direction of the doorway and a pair of highly polished leather shoes came into her line of vision. They were blocking her path.
She tried to sidestep him, but he stopped her by the simple expedient of grasping her firmly by the arms. She had to look up then, one swift glance at his face. She could read nothing in his expression beyond the fact that it didn't suit him to let her leave yet.
'If there's any reply—' she began haltingly.
'If there's any reply you can take it with you when you go. Which won't be for a while yet.' He studied her keenly. 'Has Mercedes offered you a cup of coffee?' he asked her. 'You look as if you could use one.'
'I'm fine,' she lied. 'I don't need anything.'
'Good.' He didn't sound as if he believed her, but he wasn't going to waste time arguing. 'Then we'll continue this discussion in my office.'
'I've nothing to discuss with you!'
'Well, I've plenty to say to you.' He ignored her instinctive movement of protest and pulled her with him towards the door that led to his room. Behind them Nita was aware of Mercedes' disapproving face. 'No calls, Mercedes.'
'But—'
'I said no calls. No interruptions at all. Under any circumstances.'
He opened the door with a powerful thrust of his shoulder and bundle
d Nita into the other office. The door banged shut behind them.
'You don't have to manhandle me to make sure that I do what you want!' snapped Nita.
'Don't I?' But he released her nonetheless and she retreated to stand a few paces from him, rubbing her bruised flesh. 'I could have used other means, but I didn't want to embarrass you in front of my secretary.'
'I didn't realise you were capable of showing so much consideration for my feelings!'
'No?' A dark brow rose sardonically. 'Why else do you think that I let you escape so easily last night, then?'
'I can't imagine.'
'Can't you?'
Nita averted her face. 'I don't want to talk about last night.'
'Is that why you're treating me like a leper this morning?' He gave an impatient sigh. 'For God's sake, Nita, look at me!'
Reluctantly she turned back towards him. She knew that if she didn't, he was quite capable of using force to ensure her obedience. 'Well?' she said, with an assumption of coolness. 'What is it you have to say? Whatever it is, I'll tell you now that I'm not interested in hearing it. I've heard quite enough lies from you already.' She laughed bitterly. 'And swallowed them. But fortunately my eyes are open at last.'
He could match her for cool control. 'What exactly do you mean by that?' he asked levelly.
'Can't you guess?'
'Suppose you tell me.' He moved towards the heavy mahogany desk that dominated the room and, stripping off his jacket, tossed it carelessly on to the chair that stood beside it, before turning to her again. 'I'm not in the mood for riddles of any kind this morning.'
He didn't look in the mood for anything at all, thought Nita as she studied his face in the strong light from the window. There was a grey tinge to his face and he looked tired to the bone. 'You look awful,' she told him.
'After I left you I sought a little consolation from the whisky bottle. It helped at the time, but this morning it doesn't seem such a good idea.' He ran a careless hand through his hair, ruffling its casual tidiness even more. 'It'll pass.' He glanced over at her, still standing by the door, as if poised for flight. 'Well?' he asked her. 'What am I supposed to have done?'
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