Rebecca Stratton - Castles in Spain Read online

  'How dare you!'

  Holly stopped in her tracks, her hands tightly clenched at her sides, her eyes blazing at him furiously as she sought for words to tell him exactly what she thought of him. He too, came to a halt, his dark features betraying the violence of anger that gripped him, making his lips tight and cruel-looking, and putting a cold, sharp edge on his voice.

  'You are telling me that you were in no way to blame for that - the incident, senorita?' he asked, and Holly shook her head.

  'Not altogether,' she told him. 'But you're wrong to - to word it as you do. I was partly to blame because I went down that way for a walk, but I didn't realize I'd see Carlos, or that he'd behave the way he did when I did see him.'

  "But you knew he would be down there.'

  He was not going to believe her, she could see that and she felt cold and miserable inside at being so misjudged. 'I - I suppose I did,' she admitted, and could not imagine why she should be looking at him so appealingly, as if he had every right to question her as he was. 'I just didn't think where I was going.'

  'Huh!'

  The snort of disbelief and the expression she saw glittering in his black eyes made her clench her hands even more tightly. It was such a beautiful night, with masses of stars and that incredibly big silver moon, everything should have been set for a tender, romantic scene, and yet here she was fighting with the only man who had ever come close to making her fall deeply in love.

  'Oh, you can believe what you like!' she cried in despair. She felt small and tearful as she looked up at that hawklike face and remembered how her hands had caressed it only a few short days ago. How that wide, cruel-looking mouth could kiss her in such a way that she was ready to forget everything and everybody, including the girl he was going to marry.

  'Am I to believe that you just happened to go down that way by chance?' he asked. His hands were spread wide and the glitter in his eyes doubted every word she said.

  'Of course I did!'

  'After I had warned you?'

  'After you'd warned me!' She echoed the words harshly. 'You should have warned me about yourself, senor! Until tonight you're the only one I've had reason to be wary of! Not that I'm likely to make that mistake again, not with Senorita Mendez going to such lengths to warn me off!'

  'Holly!'

  There was a note of warning in his voice, but Holly was past caring. 'I went for a walk to try and — and clear my head,' she went on rashly. 'After an evening with the senorita I needed to get out into the fresh air for a while. Who knows, maybe it was instinct that took me in the direction of the stables - maybe I was seeking what Senorita Mendez would consider my own level!'

  'Parar!' He gripped her arms in a grip that made her wince, and shook her. 'You will not speak like that!'

  'About Senorita Mendez?' She shook her head, angry and hurt. 'I'm sorry, senor! Of course it isn't allowed, is it?'

  'About yourself, poca idiota!'

  'Oh, but surely you share the view of Senorita Mendez,' Holly said, her voice husky and trembling. 'You could scarcely do anything else, senor!'

  He looked at her in silence for a long moment and Holly felt that merciless grip on her arms relax gradually, and his thumbs begin a gentle, caressing movement on her soft skin. 'Do you think I hold so low opinion of you?' he asked softly.

  'Don't you?'

  She was trembling; her hands were shaking like leaves and she wanted to reach out and touch the soft white shirt, spread them over the place. where his heart beat would pulse strongly under her fingers. She was much too conscious of him and she must never allow herself to get into that dangerously vulnerable position again.

  He did not answer at once, but the black eyes looked at her steadily and disconcertingly, making her heart respond to what she thought she saw there. Then he raised one hand and touched her cheek lightly with his fingertips. 'I cannot blame you too much for what happened,' he said softly. 'Nor Carlos either. You are a very beautiful nina, and Carlos—' He shrugged eloquent shoulders. 'He is a man, how can I blame him for falling into a trap that I fell into myself?'

  Holly's eyes looked huge and shiny and she looked up at him uncertainly. Given even that much encouragement, it would be so easy to precipitate another situation like that earlier one, in the field below the castle, it all depended on her, she realized that. The temptation to take advantage of it was almost irresistible, but before she could say or do anything about it, either way, he was shaking his head, and sliding one hand under her arm to turn her back towards the castle.

  'You must go back, nina' he told her. 'It is getting late, and Dona Ana thinks you already in bed.'

  So that was what Aunt Nan had told him! Her aunt would realize, of course, that Marcos was the last person she wanted to meet on her moonlight walk, especially after that frank discussion they had had in the hall just before she came out. It had evidently not occurred to her that Holly would go in the direction of the stables.

  Holly looked at him for a second, uncertainly. His anger, she thought, was spent for the moment, but she wondered if he contemplated going back down to the stables, and if he did, what he would say to Carlos. More to the point, what Carlos would say to him.

  'You're - you're going back to the stables?' she asked, and he nodded, looking at her curiously.

  'As I do every night before I go to bed, nina.'

  'Oh—oh, I see!'

  Either Carlos must have forgotten that nightly visit from his employer, or he had not expected him so soon, most likely the latter, for Marcos was never very early retiring for the night, she had heard him quite often when she was in the hazy state of just going off to sleep, and often wondered where he got to. It was unfortunate for Carlos that he had chosen tonight to pay an early visit, and she worried again about the possible consequences to Carlos. She had seen a sample of Marcos's temper, and remembered that ominous dark trickle at one corner of Carlos's mouth. Only her own presence, she felt sure, had saved the man from worse violence.

  Marcos, it seemed, must have sensed her uneasiness and the reason for it, for he shook his head slowly, and a slight smile tipped one corner of his wide mouth, softening its hard line for a moment. 'I can see what is troubling you,' he said, and Holly looked at him with a frown, suspecting that he found her anxiety amusing, in some perverse way.

  'You can't—' Holly began, but he was shaking his head again, that hint of a smile still in evidence.

  "Do not worry, mi pequena' he said quietly. 'I will not beat Carlos insensible, as you seem to fear!'

  'I -1 didn't think that at all,' Holly denied. 'It's just that I - well, in the circumstances, I thought—' She sought for words for a moment or two, then shook her head. 'It doesn't matter,' she said, and he smiled briefly one hand reaching out to cup her chin.

  'Buenas noches, mi pichon/ he said softly, and bent his head, his lips brushing hers lightly for a moment.

  Perhaps it was instinct that made her mouth respond to the light pressure, and she did not even realize that she put up a hand to curl its fingers over the one that cupped her chin, its gentle pressure unmistakable in its message. Whatever the reason was, his lips left hers for barely a second.

  In the bright, silvery white of the moonlight his eyes glittered like jet when he looked down at her, and in a moment she was crushed against him, his arms holding her so tightly that the hard muscular strength of his body seemed to envelop her, and his mouth found hers again, but with a hard, fierce possessiveness that left her breathless and bereft of all sense except the certainty that she wanted nothing else but to be where she was, with him.

  Her hand slid up around the strong column of his neck, and she twined her fingers in the thick black hair at the back of his head, clinging to him with such a wild, uncontrollable longing that for a time her passion matched his.

  It was only when she was on the brink of complete oblivion that cold reason, and the memory of her vow never to be in such a situation again, brought her slowly back to realization, and she put he
r hands to his face, forcing their lips apart and shaking her head slowly.

  'No, Marcos!'

  Her voice had a soft, husky sound and he must have known that her protest was as reluctant as his relinquishing of her, but he slid his arms from around her, and instead held her arms tightly, looking down at her with those glittering black eyes. There was a tightness about his mouth again as he shook his head slowly.

  'So!' he said, in a voice that was still hoarse with emotion. 'You would make certain that I cannot punish Carlos for what he did, by putting me in the same position, eh? You are very clever, nina!'

  Holly stared at him for a moment, unbelievingly. It seemed scarcely credible that he was blaming her for what had happened, and yet evidently he was. 'You - you're not saying that that was my fault too?' she said huskily, and he said nothing for a moment, then he sighed deeply and, so it seemed, sincerely.

  'Go to bed, poca bruja,' he said softly, shaking his head. 'The combination of you and a warm moonlit night are too potent a wine for any man. Vayase, haga usted el favor! Go for your own sake as well as for mine!'

  Holly hesitated for only a moment, then she turned and walked back up the hillside to the castle, dreamily unreal under the bright Spanish moon, its tall towers piercing the star-scattered sky. It was a temptation to turn and look back at him, for she felt so certain that he stood watching her go, but she resisted it because if she had looked back and seen him still there she knew she would have run back to him, and that would have made the situation irrevocable.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  It was something of a surprise, after their last encounter, to find Marcos behaving as if nothing had happened, and Holly could not help feeling oddly let down, yet again. Encounters like that with Marcos invariably left her feeling disappointed, although she could not help being slightly ashamed of herself for it. It was almost as if Marcos treated such episodes as no more than moments of light relief in his normally well run life, and certainly not to be taken seriously.

  Holly, however, found it much less easy to treat them so lightly, and staying under the same roof with Marcos had become a definite strain lately. Much as she tried to deny it to herself, she was afraid that she was already more than a little in love with him and she could never tell when she would be faced with another similar situation. Sooner or later it was bound to happen.

  For a whole week now she had spent considerable time looking at the question from all sides and she had at last decided that her position at the castle was quite untenable and that it would be better for everyone if she left and spent the rest of her holiday somewhere else in Spain.

  It was obvious that Aunt Nan would miss her, and so too would Don Jose, for he made no secret of the fact that he liked her very much and enjoyed having her there. She would miss them too, of course, and the type of life she had led for the past few weeks, but weighed against that there was Helena Mendez's attitude towards her, and try as she would, Holly had to admit to disliking the Spanish girl intensely. Helena, she knew, would never change, and she doubted if she would herself.

  There was a hope too, that away from the undeniably romantic atmosphere of the Castillo de la Valeroso she would be able to forget about Marcos, although at the moment the possibility seemed a remote one. He was not a man who would be easy to forget, and feeling as she did about him made it more difficult. Such a situation could not be allowed to develop any further and the sooner she left the castle and the proximity of Marcos, the better.

  It was no surprise to learn that Helena was coming to dinner, yet again, but Holly faced the prospect bleakly, as always. She dreaded those meals with Helena's malicious and determinedly unfriendly presence at the table, and she knew, via her aunt, that such frequent visits to the castle were a new departure since the arrival of Holly.

  As she always did on these occasions, Holly dressed with extra care, although she told herself that no one was likely to be any wiser of the fact, except herself. A mid-length dress of jade-coloured chiffon that clung softly and closely to her figure and swirled into fullness at the waist was the most flattering dress she owned, and she had chosen it with deliberation.

  She brushed out her dark hair and let it fall softly about her shoulders, realizing that she looked not only younger like that, but also much more vulnerable. Perhaps unconsciously seeking an effect that was appealingly feminine, to contrast with Helena's sleek, dark sophistication. Satisfied at last, she gave a final smoothing touch to her dress and her hair, and turned to go.

  A moment later in the carpeted passageway outside, she closed her bedroom door, then, unable to resist doing it just once more, she spun round and round. Under the stern, dark gaze of Marcos's haughty ancestors, she whirled about, the full skirt of her dress flying out, then swirling softly about her slim legs.

  Holly had noticed no one else about, but as she stopped, a little breathlessly, she heard the sound of hands clapping quietly behind her, and Marcos's voice spoke from the shadows of one of the arched alcoves. 'Bravo! Otra vez, senorita!'

  'Marcos!' Holly spun round swiftly to face him, her cheeks colouring furiously at being caught in such a childish pleasure. What a fool he would think her for indulging in such naive pranks.

  Marcos came out of the shadows to join her, tall and heart-stoppingly attractive in dinner dress, a black cummerbund hugging tightly about his lean waist. He stood with his feet slightly apart, as he was inclined to do, the black trousers fitting smoothly over his long, muscular legs and a frilled white shirt adding a slightly

  Victorian look.

  He stood looking down at her for a moment, down the length of that hawklike nose, and there was just a glimmer of humour in his black eyes. 'Are you going to dance flamenco for me, nina?' he asked softly, and took one of her hands in both of his, raising it to his lips.

  It was an unexpected and courtly gesture that set her pulses racing wildly, and she despaired of herself, yet again, for responding to him so readily. 'I didn't - I didn't expect anyone to see me,' Holly said, wishing she could control the disturbing desires that the touch of his strong fingers aroused in her.

  'So much I could guess, pequena,' Marcos said softly. His black eyes swept over her slowly, disturbingly aware of every curving feature revealed by the low cut of the dress. 'You look very beautiful,' he said.

  Holly kept her decision to leave firmly in her mind and wished she had waited just a minute more before leaving her room, then she could have avoided meeting him. Even a couple of minutes alone with Marcos in such circumstances, could persuade her to change her mind, no matter how senseless it would prove eventually.

  She glanced down at her wrist watch, seeking escape, and managed to free her fingers at last. 'It's getting late,' she said. 'We should go, Marcos.'

  He nodded agreement, a small half smile just touching his lips as he offered her his crooked arm. 'Senorita?'

  After a second's hesitation Holly slipped her hand through his arm and almost gasped audibly a moment later when it was crushed tightly against the warmth of his body as he led her along to the stairs, a glance from those black eyes challenging her to protest about the familiarity of the gesture.

  They walked side by side down that magnificent staircase, and as they went Holly's brain was spinning when she considered the kind of impression they would have given a stranger. There was a strange sense of intimacy about coming downstairs with him like that, arm in arm, and she briefly closed her eyes when she heard Helena Mendez's unmistakable voice in the hall, speaking to one of the servants.

  It was much earlier than usual for Helena to arrive, and Holly mourned the mischance that had made her choose tonight of all nights to be early. There was no doubt that Helena had seen them, for she stepped back into full view and looked up at them as they came down the last few feet, her black eyes glittering when she saw their linked arms.

  'Buenas noches, Marcos,' Helena said, and swept her gaze over Holly, leaving no doubt how she felt about such familiarity. 'Dandose el brazo, mi amor
? Como amigable!'

  Whatever the sharp words meant, they appeared to have little effect on Marcos, for he continued down the rest of the stairs with Holly's arm through his, the pressure he exerted foiling any attempt on her part to remove it. He bowed his black head briefly in a formally polite bow when he faced Helena, and smiled quite blandly at her angry face.

  'Buenas noches, Helena,' he said, and Holly marvelled, not for the first time, at the very formal way he always spoke to the woman he was supposed to be going to marry. Perhaps Aunt Nan was right about Helena finding him a less than ardent lover, although from her own experience it was difficult to believe.

  'Marcos—' Helena was trembling with anger, her eyes blazing, but Holly had no doubt who was the villain of the piece in her eyes.

  Marcos, however, merely bowed again and extended his other arm, his black gaze challenging her to refuse the offer. 'Shall we go in, senoritas?' he asked softly.

  After a moment's hesitation Helena slid a long hand through his arm, her fingers curling possessively, her long red nails looking uncomfortably like claws to Holly's uneasy gaze. Marcos walked with them, one either side of him, across the hall to the dining-hall where a manservant opened the huge double doors to admit them, still three abreast.

  Holly noted surprise and a hint of dismay, too, in her aunt's face when they came in, but Don Jose seemed unaware of anything untoward as he sat already at the head of the table with his wife beside him, one gentle, reassuring hand on his shoulder.

  'Marcos,' Aunt Nan said with a faint smile. 'How gallant of you!'

  'It is my pleasure, Dona Ana,' Marcos told her, and bowed each of his ladies in turn into their seats, then did the same service for his stepmother. 'I am humbled by the presence of so much beauty!' he said, catching his stepmother's eye and smiling slowly.

  It was quite unlike Marcos to even profess humility, or to play the gallant quite so obviously, and it took Holly a moment or two to realize that he was showing off. It was an unexpectedly juvenile trait to find in a man of Marcos's calibre and for a moment it startled her, until he caught her eye. The expression in his eyes left her in no doubt that he was doing it purely for her benefit, probably to show her that he could indulge in childish behaviour too, and she felt the colour in her cheeks, praying that Aunt Nan would not notice and guess the reason.