Lions Walk Alone

by Susanna Firth

  She threw herself enthusiastically into the social life available to her. Maria and Emilio were a popular couple, involved in almost every aspect of the town's affairs, and the invitations that flowed in for them made a point of including their visitor. Most of their friends were youngish married couples like themselves, but Nita had no lack of escorts at the gatherings that she attended with them. The news that they had a young, attractive female staying with them had circulated to every unattached male in town—or so it seemed.

  Up until now she hadn't really been interested. None of the men she had met had come near Leon in attractiveness. His image had come between her and every man who had talked to her.

  Well, it wasn't going to happen any more. Nita forced herself to be good company, to laugh and flirt and generally project an image of a girl who was enjoying herself. She made herself listen when people talked to her about themselves. She accepted offers to dance where before she had given a polite refusal.

  'You're making quite a hit,' Maria told her after one evening, a fund-raising dinner-dance, held for charity, when Nita had attracted a good deal of attention from the opposite sex. 'I don't think you had the same partner twice, did you? They were queuing up for you!'

  There was safety in numbers, Nita thought, her mind going back inevitably to another evening, not long before, when she had danced all night with the same partner: Leon. When she had been aware of nothing but the movement of his body against her, the slight roughness of his cheek as he pressed it to hers, the firmness of his arms holding her. God, was she never going to forget?

  Maria was talking excitedly to her husband about some project that she had in mind, and Nita surfaced rapidly when the other girl turned to her and asked her opinion. 'It would be a good idea, wouldn't it, Nita? You would enjoy it?'

  She started. 'Sorry, I didn't quite catch what you were saying—'

  'I was telling Emilio what a lovely thing it would be for us to hold a party while you're here with us. I do love entertaining, and it would be such fun to do something like that before I get all fat and ungainly and only want to hide away and not talk to people.'

  Emilio gave a bellow of laughter. 'I doubt that day will ever come!'

  'Beast!' Maria gave him an indignant look and then returned to her theme. 'We could have fairy lights in the garden. And dancing. And I can get someone in to help with the food—and Rosa's got a sister who could help to serve it. Then there'd be the music. Who were those people who played at the Rozos' a couple of months ago?'

  'Los Castellanos, they called themselves. I know the guitarist, he works in one of the hotels between engagements. I expect he'd be glad of the job.'

  'So you think it's a good idea?' Maria turned a delighted face towards him. 'Oh, Emilio, you're wonderful!'

  'You look like a little girl who's just been given a present,' he chuckled.

  'I feel like one. Oh, I'm going to enjoy myself!'

  'And not overdo it, hm?' he cautioned.

  'I'll see to that,' Nita volunteered. 'I'll do the running around and Maria can give the orders.'

  'It sounds like a perfect division of labour to me,' said Maria. 'I'll warn you, though, that you'll be worn out by the time we've got it all set up.'

  'I'm stronger than I look.'

  'You'll need to be!' Emilio warned her. 'You don't know my wife when she gets the bit between her teeth. She's like someone possessed!'

  Nita realised what he meant when the invitations went out the very next day to just about everybody that Maria knew. She had selected a date early in the following week.

  'Not much notice, I know. But I don't think there's anything else going on that night. We'd have been invited to it if there was,' Maria said with the confidence of one who attends every social event of note. 'Anyway, the best parties are those that just happen.'

  But she didn't intend leaving anything to chance. Every last detail, from the hanging of the fairy lights in the garden to the choice of fillings for the savoury pasties that were part of the menu, passed under her eagle eye.

  'Not that I don't trust people, you know,' she told Nita, who was frantically urging her to rest. 'It's just that I always feel happier if I've supervised everything myself. I worry less about things going wrong.'

  'And what could possibly go wrong? You've anticipated every disaster.'

  'Well, there's always the weather. I haven't thought about what we'll do if there's an absolute downpour and no one wants to venture out that night.'

  'Miss one of your parties? Never!' Emilio told her. 'So stop worrying.'

  By the day of the party Nita was worn out with all the dashing over town in search of this and that which Maria was sure would add to the occasion. But a siesta in the afternoon did a lot to rest her, and, as she dressed for the evening ahead, she found that she was almost looking forward to it.

  Maria had bullied her into buying one of the local huipiles, a long, loose shift made of white silky material, trimmed round the neck and hem with brilliant embroidery. Nita liked herself in it. The simple style suited her, she knew, emphasising the slender curves of her figure and the tawny glow that the sun had given her complexion during her stay here. She left her hair loose against her shoulders, merely clipping it away from her face with jewelled combs that she had found at the same time that she had bought the dress.

  'You'll break a few hearts tonight,' Emilio said admiringly as she emerged from her room and joined them to receive their guests. 'Won't she, Maria?'

  'Just as long as yours isn't one of them!' Maria tapped his arm in pretended jealousy. Then she smiled at Nita. 'You do look lovely. I hope you enjoy yourself tonight. You deserve to after all the hard work that you've put in.'

  'And so do you.'

  'That's enough of the mutual admiration. I just heard the doorbell, I think the first guests are arriving,' Emilio told them, and that was the end of private conversation between them for quite some time as they devoted themselves to receiving partygoers.

  Nita knew most of the people who came, by sight, if not always by name. When the band started to play she took to the floor with one of Emilio's brothers and then danced with a youth she had met at a dinner party two nights before. Then a cousin of Maria's, called Julio Perez, claimed her.

  'You're the most gorgeous girl in the room,' he said conversationally as he whirled her round, expertly avoiding the other dancers, with his attention apparently all upon her. 'And not just the room—the most gorgeous girl in Merida. You're not going to dance with anyone else for the rest of the evening. You're mine, all mine.'

  He was only a year or two older than herself, an agricultural economist working on a project to educate farmers about the best use of their land and new farming methods. He was back in Merida for a holiday, but he was based at a research institute in Mexico City.

  'My home,' she told him, and he laughed delightedly.

  'Fate, that's what it is! I'll see you when I get back there. I'll take you out dancing. It's a date, yes?'

  'It's a date, maybe,' she said, laughing.

  'Spoilsport! Still, I have got all evening to convince you that I'm the nicest man you ever met. You never know, I might just manage it.'

  He was fun, was Julio—lively, uncomplicated and clearly smitten with her.

  'Tell me,' he said when, after a pause for a rest and a cool drink, they danced again, 'is there some special boy-friend in your life?'

  'No, no one special,' Nita admitted. She wasn't going to think about Leon tonight.

  'I can't think why not,' he said with frank admiration. 'The guys in Mexico City must be even slower than I thought they were.'

  Nita only laughed. He was outrageous, she thought. But he was fun. She wasn't going to take him seriously—no danger of that. But it looked as if the evening was going to be more enjoyable than she had thought it would be. They ate supper together and danced some more, this time to slower, dreamier music.

  Julio was nice, she was thinking. Nice enough to make her forg
et Leon? She didn't know. But certainly nice.

  When suddenly his voice broke in on her thoughts. 'You did say there wasn't anyone special in your life at the moment, didn't you?'

  'Yes. Why?' She looked at him in surprise.

  'Because there's a guy standing over there against a wall who looks as if he'd like to break every bone in my body. And, as I don't know him from Adam, I just wondered why.'

  Nita turned quickly within the circle of his arms to look, and the room spun giddily around her. What was Leon doing here?

  'Do you know him?' asked Julio.

  'We've met,' she said through dry lips. 'He doesn't matter. Let's dance.'

  'You've gone a bit pale. Are you all right?'

  'Yes—no.' She had to get away from Leon. 'Perhaps a little air—'

  'Of course.' He sounded worried about her. 'I'll take you outside.'

  In the warm humidity of the garden there wasn't much air, but at least she was away from Leon in a little sheltered grove a distance from the house. Only then he was there, looming suddenly up at them.

  'Take your hands off her, do you hear?'

  Julio took his supporting arm away from her, but only to square up to the newcomer. 'I don't like your tone.'

  'And I don't like anything about you!' There was a suppressed fury in Leon's voice that scared Nita. 'She belongs to me—do you understand? Now get out of my sight before I do you an injury!'

  'The lady didn't tell me she had an escort for the evening.' Julio stood his ground.

  'She didn't know I'd be here.'

  Somehow Nita found her voice. 'Don't listen to him, Julio. He's not—'

  Julio didn't appear to hear her. He was too intent on clearing himself with Leon. Why were Mexican men so punctilious in matters of male honour? Steal a man's car and he would forgive you—just. Steal a man's woman and he would get his revenge if it took him the rest of his life. Julio clearly didn't feel inclined to involve himself in a dispute of that kind.

  Leon cut short his stumbling excuses and sent him indoors. He went without another glance at Nita.

  'Your Romeo didn't have much spunk when it came down to it, did he?' Leon jeered, watching him go.

  'He's not my Romeo!'

  'Isn't he? From what I've seen he seemed to be doing pretty well.' He turned back to her. 'Or do you go into the garden with every man?'

  'How dare you!' Her hand made stinging contact with his face. And then she made to run from him.

  He caught her before she had taken two steps. 'You're not going anywhere, Nita. I have to talk to you.'

  'I don't want to listen!'

  'Damn you, Nita!' His voice was ragged. 'For God's sake—' He pulled her towards him with a force that she couldn't resist and his mouth came down on hers in a punishing kiss.

  She'd missed him—oh, how she'd missed him! The touch of him against her, rousing her, stirring her to a wild abandon that she couldn't damp down. It didn't matter what he was or what he felt for her. Nothing mattered except the warmth of his body as he held her closer to him and the slow fire ran through her veins.

  She could hardly bear it when he finally raised his lips from hers.

  'Well,' he said slowly, his eyes scanning her face in the dim light that came from the myriad coloured globes scattered throughout the greenery, 'so you don't belong to me. You've a strange way of showing it.' He kissed her again, gently this time, his mouth moving over her skin with tantalising softness. 'Tell me you want me, Nita. Let me hear you say it.'

  'I want you.' It was only the truth.

  Leon pulled her closer to him. 'And I've never stopped wanting you. Do you know that? From the first time I saw you I knew I had to have you.'

  'But you despised me.'

  'At first. Can you blame me? I thought you were a cold-blooded little bitch who didn't give a damn about anybody. You certainly did your best to give me that impression. But I still wanted you. I hated myself as much as I told myself I hated you, but you were a fever in my blood. I couldn't shake you off.' His lips sought hers again. 'When you accused me of making love to you just to get my hands safely on your father's business you couldn't have been farther from the mark. I was getting to the stage where nothing mattered a damn except making love to you. You were driving me wild!'

  'Yet you didn't take me when you had the opportunity.'

  He laughed harshly. 'I called myself all sorts of fool that night. But I was scared.'

  'Scared?' queried Nita.

  'That you'd change your mind in the morning. That you would despise me for taking advantage of you. That you'd despise yourself for giving in. That—' He shook his head dazedly. 'I couldn't believe my luck that night. But I didn't dare to take the chance in case it all ended there.' His arms hugged her closer to him. 'I didn't want a one-night stand. I knew that wouldn't satisfy me.'

  'And next day—'

  'Next day I cursed myself for holding back. It seemed as if I'd lost you anyway. You told me you hated me. You wouldn't listen when I tried to reason with you. I decided to leave it until after my deal with your father had gone through. I thought then you'd know that I hadn't any ulterior motive for seeking you out, but you wouldn't listen then either. I looked for you at the end of the signing session, but you'd vanished from sight. I was up to my eyes in work that week, meetings night and day. I told Mercedes to ring you and explain that I'd be in touch when I was free. She said that she tried several times, but you kept putting the phone down on her when she started to deliver the message. She said you told her you weren't interested.'

  'She said that, did she?' Nita asked. Mercedes was going to have a little explaining to do some time in the near future!

  'It seemed that you meant what you said,' Leon went on. 'You did despise me. You wouldn't even respond that day in Rivera's office when I kissed you. The only means of communication that we had, and even that seemed to be gone. I didn't know what to do.'

  'So you let me go to Merida while you thought things out?'

  'More or less. I told myself I was a fool to bother. I took other women out. Mercedes—'

  'She told me once you always went back to her in the end,' Nita told him.

  'A couple of times perhaps, between other affairs. She was a useful stopgap.' He saw the expression on her face. 'She was willing. She wanted me.'

  But not just as a stopgap, Nita could bet. 'And I didn't want you.' If only he knew what she had been going through in the last few days!

  'Your father told me you were having a wonderful time,' said Leon, 'And so did Maria.'

  'You rang her?'

  'Of course I rang her. I didn't know what to do. Nothing worked. I didn't want other women, I only wanted you. I asked her advice in the end. I was desperate. She suggested that a little civilised discussion between us might clear the air a little. She told me to come out here.'

  'A civilised discussion? Is that what you call your behaviour tonight?'

  He had the grace to smile. 'O.K.—I behaved badly.'

  'That's one way of putting it!' said Nita darkly.

  'When I arrived and saw you dancing with that boy, smiling up at him as if you cared something for him, I could have killed him with my bare hands! When he brought you out into the garden I was in such a blind rage I didn't know what I was doing. God help me, I was so jealous!'

  'Jealous? You?' echoed Nita.

  'Is it so surprising?' he asked.

  'Do I mean that much to you?'

  'And more.'

  'Well, now you've got me,' she told him. 'I'm yours for as long as you want. And afterwards—'

  'What do you mean, "afterwards"?' His grip tightened on her. 'Nita, what on earth do you think I'm suggesting?'

  'You're suggesting that we have an affair. Aren't you?'

  'I'm suggesting we get married.'

  'Married!' she gasped.

  'Isn't that what people in love generally do?' Leon sounded slightly defensive.

  'People who are in love, yes. But you—'

&n
bsp; 'I love you, Nita. I've never said that to a woman in my life before and I swear I won't say it to a woman again.'

  'But you told me that men didn't marry girls from nightclubs. You said that—'

  'I said a lot of things I didn't mean. I was terrified you'd fall for someone else. I was terrified of committing myself. I've never wanted anyone to marry me before. It's never gone that far.'

  Nita gave a gurgle of laughter, joy springing up inside her. 'I can see that I'm going to be married to a complete neurotic!'

  'Then you'll have me?'

  'Try and stop me,' she smiled. 'I love you too. But there's one condition.' As he made to kiss her, she held him off.

  'Anything you like.'

  She smiled up at him. 'Top billing at all the nightclubs that you own?'

  'So long as you don't seduce the customers,' he teased.

  'Darling, I've—' She was about to tell him exactly how inexperienced she was. Then she stopped. Let him find that out for himself. 'Done,' she agreed.

  Leon kissed her again, and for a long time there was silence.

  Suddenly Nita raised her head as a thought struck her. 'I wonder what my father will say?'

  She saw his lips twitch with amusement. 'Your father will congratulate himself on his business acumen at having driven a hard bargain with me for his business, when, as his future son-in-law, I might well have suggested receiving it as a wedding gift. After all, he did suggest that to me once before.'

  'You mean?'

  'I mean that I was the man that your father had in mind for you all along.'

  'You!' she gasped.

  'Yes, I was the man he wanted you to meet three years ago. I wish I'd met you then. It would have given me three years longer with you.'

  'I might have disliked you on sight,' Nita pointed out.

  'I'm sure you would have done.' His eyes danced mockingly. 'Three years ago I was insufferable.'

  'And now?'

  'And now I'm a reformed man.'

  She laughed. 'Let's go in and tell Maria and Emilio.'

  'Later,' he said his lips seeking hers.

  And later, much later, they did.