that I’m the girl you once had an affair with? The one you wrote to her about? Not that she had ever truly believed him. Her mouth was tight, her eyes mutinous. ‘I don’t care what Matilde might think. I don’t want you here; I have nothing to say to you.’
‘Were you happy in your marriage?’
The question took her by surprise, and she relaxed her grip on the door. Instantly Alejandro pushed his way inside. Tanya followed, leaving the door open, feeling that at least she had an escape route should she need it.
‘You haven’t answered my question.’ His abrupt tone made her look at him sharply.
‘Of course I was happy. I was very much in love with Peter.’
‘More than you loved me?’
The directness of his question made her gasp. ‘I never loved you.’
His eyes narrowed. ‘You gave a very good imitation of it.’
‘Did I?’ she asked coldly. ‘You must have been mistaken. As far as I was concerned all we were having was a brief affair, fun while it lasted. I always knew you’d be coming back here.’ Lies, all lies. Goodness, how could she say such a thing?
‘So it meant nothing to you.’
‘No.’ The obsidian darkness of his eyes unnerved her, and her answer came out in a husky whisper. She covered her embarrassment by turning it into a cough.
‘And the moment my back was turned you found yourself another man and got married?’
He made it sound as though she had done it the very next day, but she wasn’t going to deny it. ‘Something like that.’
He shook his head, looking at her with an intentness that cut right through her. ‘I never thought you were that kind of girl.’
And she hadn’t thought he was the sort of man who would use a girl and then let her down with no compunction whatsoever. ‘It looks as though we never really knew each other.’
He nodded. ‘It certainly does.’
‘And now we’ve sorted that out perhaps you’ll go. You’ll have to call again for the dress.’
‘What’s the hurry?’ He smiled faintly, grimly, and sat in Matilde’s rocking-chair.
Alarm bells rang in Tanya’s head. ‘Aren’t you a busy man?’
‘Not so much that I can’t spare the odd hour to talk to an old—flame.’
He said the word sneeringly, and Tanya bridled. At the same time she could not help noticing how much better his command of the English language was. He had scarcely an accent now, and she wondered whether he had been back to England or whether he had English friends here. Whatever, he was certainly very good.
‘Perhaps the “old flame” doesn’t want to talk to you,’ she returned acidly.
‘You have other plans? You’re going out, is that it? Sightseeing all by yourself. What a pity your sister is working while You’re here on holiday. It cannot be much fun.’
His derogatory tone needled Tanya, and she looked at him hotly. ‘Charlene has already taken one week off. I’m not complaining; I have several trips organised and——’
‘But none for today?’ he cut in swiftly. ‘Why don’t you sit down?’
Tanya sat, not because she wanted to, but because she needed to. The effect of seeing Alejandro, talking to him, trying to ignore the very real sensations that churned inside, was very debilitating.
‘Is your sister still in the hotel trade?’
‘Indeed. She’s managing a hotel in Playa de las Americas; that’s why she came out here. It was too good an offer to miss, the first time she’s been in complete charge. She loves it.’ He confused her by flitting from subject to subject, although she knew she would far rather talk about Charlene than herself.
‘And she has not married? Her career is more important to her?’
‘Let’s say she’s never found the right man,’ said Tanya, and at the age of thirty her sister was becoming more and more choosy. Tanya sometimes wondered if she would ever find anyone who would put up with her bossy, dominating nature and her strong, independent streak.
‘Had you found the right man in Peter?’
Tanya swallowed hard. His questions were certainly hard-hitting, and always unexpected. ‘I wouldn’t have married him otherwise.’ She looked at him as she spoke, trying to convince him, hiding the fact that Peter had been second-best. She hadn’t admitted that at the time, but it was true. Not that she hadn’t been happy—she had, very much so; he was a wonderful man—but the excitement of a strong physical relation-ship had been missing. If she hadn’t met Alejandro she would never have known what she was capable of, what she needed, what her body needed. As it was, he had spoiled her for anyone else. She gave a tiny sigh, and Alejandro’s mouth tightened, and she guessed he thought she was sighing for Peter.
‘I thought I was seeing a ghost when I spotted you at the airport,’ he said, with another complete turn in the conversation.
‘I wasn’t too happy about seeing you either,’ she retorted.
‘I didn’t say I didn’t want to see you.’ The frown was there, grooving his brow, narrowing his eyes. ‘It had been so long, I’d given up the idea that we’d ever meet again.’
And whose fault was that? she wanted to ask. You were the one who went away without a word; you were the one who ended it all. She lifted her shoulders in a tiny careless gesture. ‘It’s a small world. Would you like a cup of coffee?’ She had to get out of the room, away from the stifling atmosphere. She had never known it would be like this.
‘No, thank you,’ he answered. I’d much prefer to sit and talk to you.’
Tanya groaned inwardly. ‘About what? What is there to say? I’m sure You’re not interested in every single little detail of my life since we parted, and neither do I want to hear about yours.’
Her bitter tone caused a further tightening of his features. ‘You’re making it pretty plain what you think about me.’
‘There’s no point in pretending.’
‘I really misjudged you, Tanya.’ He stood up suddenly, abruptly.
Good, he was going. Tanya rose too, but somehow they bumped into each other, and the next moment she was in his arms, his mouth on hers, and the years in between might never have been.
She was conscious of nothing except a rising hunger inside her, a desire that had lain buried for so many years. Nothing had changed. It was sheer insanity, she knew, but as her mouth clung to his the rights and wrongs of the situation did not seem to matter.
And she sensed in him the same voracity, felt him trembling slightly, felt the hammer beats of his heart, the urgency of his kisses. She began to soar, to forget the empty years. This was now, this was Alejandro, this was the man she…
Her
