Charade of the Heart Read online

  ‘There’s no need to lock yourself away and type all this up,’ Marcos told her, as the meeting dispersed. ‘It seems a shame to waste this weather. Why don’t you go down to the beach?’

  Jane had edged towards them. She fluttered her lashes in Marcos’s direction. ‘I will, even if Beth doesn’t,’ she said. ‘I need a tan, don’t you think? Are you coming down? I’d feel much safer with a man around. The sea can be a scary place to a city gal like me.’

  ‘I hardly think there’s anything to fear if you stay close to the shore,’ he said drily, glancing at her.

  Beth could almost feel Jane vibrating under his dark gaze.

  ‘Get your swimsuit,’ he told Beth, turning to face her, and she replied tartly,

  ‘Is that another order?’

  ‘You’re beginning to catch on.’

  Jane was watching this interchange suspiciously. ‘Perhaps Roger would like to tag along?’ she interjected. ‘By the way, did you have a good time last night?’

  Marcos’s expression changed imperceptibly. ‘Drew’s tied up for the whole of today,’ he informed Beth, his voice hard.

  ‘What a shame,’ a little stab of mischief prompted her to reply. ‘And yes,’ she added, looking at Jane, ‘we had a lovely time last night.’

  Marcos’s face grew grimmer. ‘I’ll see you two on the beach in ten minutes. We can have lunch there.’

  ‘Promise?’ Jane’s lips pouted, but Marcos wasn’t looking at her at all. He was looking at Beth, his eyes silently reminding her of his warning, and she smiled innocently back at him.

  She refused to be daunted on a day like this. When the sky was so perfectly blue, and in the distance she could see the silvery sparkle of the water, crystal-clear and invitingly warm.

  ‘I’ll see you both on the beach, then,’ she affirmed cheerily, and pranced back to the bedroom, dumping her stack of notes on the bed, and quickly changing into her swimming costume.

  It really was a minuscule affair. Jade-green and designed to attract attention. Typical of her sister.

  She modestly covered herself with a loose-fitting T-shirt, but the minute she removed it she realised exactly how revealing the bikini was by the heads that swivelled around as she walked past.

  Jane’s mouth fell open, but it was Marcos’s reaction which made her face turn red. He was staring at her through narrowed eyes, and she felt suddenly and powerfully aware of just how much of her breasts were exposed.

  Jane looked at them both and broke the silence. ‘The sea looks great, doesn’t it, Marcos?’ It worked. His attention reluctantly shifted away from Beth and he began chatting to Jane.

  Beth took the opportunity to stretch out her beach towel, a little distance away from theirs, and she lay down on it, diligently applying the suntan oil over her body.

  Nevertheless she was frighteningly aware of Marcos next to her, his body lean and mesmerising, clad only in his swimming trunks. He certainly didn’t look as though he needed a tan at all. It wasn’t fair. Couldn’t he have one little bit of physical imperfection?

  Even relaxing as he was now, there was something aggressive about him. Maybe it had something to do with his physique. It struck her forcibly just how devastatingly attractive he was and she stopped herself before she was besieged by any more unwelcome thoughts.

  Instead, she looked around her. Reduit Beach was most people’s idea of paradise. It stretched away into the distance, a seemingly never-ending expanse of soft white sand leading down to turquoise waters.

  It was fairly uncrowded, freckled with holiday makers, some of whom looked as though they were applying the same precision to their tanning as they would have done to their jobs. Half an hour on the front, half an hour on the

  back, a quick dip in the sea, then starting all over again.

  Laura would have loved this, Beth thought wistfully. Neither of them had ever travelled very much. There had simply not been enough money to stretch to such luxuries when they were growing up. Their holidays had mostly been spent at beaches in England, and there was no comparison.

  Jane had managed to persuade Marcos to accompany her into the sea, and Beth idly watched as their figures were swallowed by the water.

  Marcos immediately began swimming out to sea, his strokes strong and assured, while Jane paddled about close to the shore and hungrily followed his progress.

  When he was safely in the distance, Beth made her way to the water, submerging herself, her body temperature adjusting remarkably quickly to the temperature of the water. She made desultory conversation with Jane, finding her continual barbed comments more of an irritation than an insult, and when she could stand no more she began swimming out.

  It was wonderfully liberating being surrounded only by water, water so clear that she could easily see down to the sandy bottom.

  She was about to begin the haul back to shore when a sudden pain shot through her calf and she yelped in agony, spluttering as she frantically made an effort to keep above the surface of the water.

  She could barely move her leg and she floundered, desperately trying to massage it back into life while not drowning in the process.

  Of course she wouldn’t drown; she had only to holler for help. Nevertheless, she was relieved when she felt arms around her, supporting her body at the waist.

  ‘Thanks,’ she murmured sheepishly, twisting to see her rescuer, then the smile froze on her lips.

  Why Marcos? Why, when there were other people in the water, did it have to be Marcos who was now helping her back to land, his arms sending prickles of heat through her?

  ‘What happened?’ Jane asked, only to be abruptly told by Marcos that there was no need for her to accompany them.

  ‘Cramp,’ Beth explained and Jane’s mouth tightened.

  He helped her back to her towel and sat her down gently.

  ‘Suffer often with this?’ he asked, squatting next to her. He began kneading her foot and Beth instinctively pulled away. ‘Don’t act like a child,’ he said tersely. She relaxed reluctantly, letting him massage her calf, the rhythmic movements of his hands gradually easing the painful knot.

  ‘It’s fine now,’ she said, as soon as she possibly could. She flexed her ankle tentatively, then with more confidence as the pain faded. ‘I’m all right.’

  ‘Don’t I deserve a thank-you?’

  ‘Thank you,’ she murmured obediently, wishing that he would vanish back into the water and leave her alone.

  She lay down flat on the towel and squinted against the sun, but was uncomfortably aware that he had not budged.

  ‘There’s no need for you to baby-sit me, you know,’ she hinted.

  ‘I’m not.’

  ‘Then why don’t you go back into the water?’ she asked, abandoning any pretence of subtlety.

  ‘Because the view from here is infinitely more satisfying,’ he said. He leaned over her so that he blocked out the sun and the warmth in his eyes made the blood rush madly to her head.

  She couldn’t think straight. She couldn’t even seem to move her limbs because a strange torpor had settled over them, and they felt like lead weights.

  ‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen quite such a small bikini before,’ he murmured. ‘I can’t imagine why you don’t dispense with it altogether.’

  Laura, she thought desperately, this is your fault. My modest one-piece is languishing back in Cambridge and here I am, decked out in this tiny green thing that leaves nothing to the imagination.

  There was no response to that remark, none that she could think of anyway. She smiled weakly and hoped that he couldn’t hear the thudding of her heart under her ribcage.

  ‘I don’t appear to have noticed before,’ he was saying, his eyes straying over her body, ‘but you really are remarkably attractive. But you know that already, don’t you?’

  ‘Do I?’ Beth squeaked.

  ‘No one who wears a bikini like that is unaware of the effect she has on men.’

  It’s not my bikini, she wanted to wai
l. His observations were a curious blend of perceptiveness and misjudgements, as though he could see into her depths but was constantly being fooled by surface appearance. Hardly surprising when she was masquerading under a false identity.

  ‘Isn’t it nearly time for lunch?’ she questioned in a feeble attempt to change the conversation.

  He was not to be so easily diverted.

  ‘In fact, right now, I could be sorely tempted to break my own rules about non-involvement between members of staff.’

  Beth’s body froze as she felt his finger trail a path along her collarbone, down to the inviting valley between her breasts, which were aching as though in anticipation of forbidden delights.

  She wondered where Jane was. Still obeying orders and splashing about in the water?

  She could hardly breathe. His finger finished its delicate exploration of her cleavage, then moved up the swell of her breast until she felt it circle the hardened tip of her nipple, rubbing it gently till she was drowning under a barrage of new and overpowering sensations.

  She had never been touched by a man before, not like this. Marcos made her whole body pulse with response, electrified her until she was filled with a need that frightened her with its intensity.

  ‘Please,’ she uttered, ‘no.’

  ‘You don’t like it?’ His voice was rough and as unsteady as her own. He moved his finger to her other waiting nipple, and it swelled under his touch.

  ‘Does Ryan make you feel like this?’

  Beth’s half-closed eyes shot open, and her brain cleared instantly. What the hell was she doing? Had she completely taken leave of her senses?

  She sat up and pulled her T-shirt over her.

  ‘Get away from me,’ she said numbly.

  ‘Why? Don’t tell me that your thoughts were on Ryan, because I won’t believe you. Can you really try and convince me that you love another man when I can feel you opening up under my fingers like a flower?’

  ‘I don’t have to tell you anything at all.’

  ‘And you don’t object to whatever conclusions I draw?’ he asked tightly.

  ‘Please, just leave me alone.’

  ‘My pleasure.’ The contempt was back in his eyes as he looked at her and she wanted the ground to open up and swallow her.

  She was still trembling when he walked away.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  BETH WAS HARDLY AWARE of what they ate for lunch. She knew from the menu that it was typical local fare—crab-back with cheesy christophene and salad—and normally she would have savoured every mouthful, but it tasted like cardboard.

  She couldn’t even summon up the energy to respond to Jane’s slyly caustic comments, although she was aware of the other girl watching her suspiciously out of the corner of her eye.

  She was still too shocked by what had happened on the beach. Marcos had touched her and all of a sudden her world had shifted on its axis. Her careful, neat little arrangement of emotions had been shattered, and what had been exposed was a primitive yearning that she had not even known she possessed. Nothing she had felt for Craig had prepared her for this.

  The sheer force of it had knocked her for six.

  Around her, Marcos and Jane conversed politely, and she joined in when it was necessary, her mouth finding the right responses though her mind was miles away.

  What a fool she had been. What a silly, gullible little fool.

  Marcos didn’t look as though he had been in the slightest bit affected by what had happened between them. But then, she thought bitterly, why should he? He had only, after all, used her to satisfy his curiosity. For a while, she had turned him on, and he had reacted. The fact that she had responded to him only proved his point that she had no scruples.

  She had never before in her life felt so helpless.

  She was relieved when he politely excused himself, saying that he had an appointment to view his potential site. She barely noticed that Jane had remained where she was, sipping her fruit juice, until she spoke.

  ‘How’s your leg feeling?’

  Beth looked at her warily. It was an inoffensive enough question, but she knew from experience that very few of Jane’s remarks to her were ever devoid of some undertone of malice.

  ‘Much better, thank you.’

  ‘I suppose you think you’re clever, don’t you?’ she asked conversationally, rolling her glass in between her fingers so that the ice cubes clinked together.

  ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’ Beth glanced at her. Her face was beginning to show the hallmarks of too much sun. Her nose was tinged red, as were her cheeks, and her hair, without the aid of a brush as they had lunched straight from the beach, hung in short, uneven strands around her face. She was wearing a white T-shirt, an unflattering colour on her without the benefit of a tan.

  Beth sighed. Right now, she just wasn’t up to a bout of verbal warfare, but she had a feeling that that was just what she was in for.

  ‘Don’t think that I didn’t see through that phoney cramp routine,’ she bit out without preamble.

  ‘It wasn’t phoney!’

  She carried on as though Beth had not spoken. ‘Don’t think that I don’t know that you’d do anything to get Marcos’s attention.’

  ‘And how was I supposed to know that he would be the one to come to my aid?’ Beth enquired logically, holding on to her calm with great difficulty. ‘Believe it or not, I don’t have eyes in the back of my head!’

  As a matter of fact, he was the last person she had wanted around, but she wasn’t going to say that.

  ‘Look,’ she said wearily, ‘can’t we stop all this and at least be civil towards one another? I have no axe to grind with you, and we are going to be here for another two days. We could at least call a temporary truce.’ She ventured a smile but met with no response.

  ‘I would if I could see anything likeable about you. Ever since you joined the company, you’ve rubbed me up the wrong way. Preening and posing and acting as though you’re God’s gift to men.’

  Had Laura acted like that? Beth doubted it. Her sister was vivacious and bubbly, like a glass of champagne, but she was not the kind of girl ever to court disfavour with anyone, and she certainly didn’t preen and pose.

  ‘I think that remark is totally uncalled for,’ she snapped.

  ‘I don’t care what you think! I can only repeat what I’ve said before. You’re wasting your time with Marcos. Men like him don’t need women like you. They can have anyone they want. Do you really think that he would find anything about you appealing?’

  ‘You’re wasting your time, and mine, Jane. I’m not interested in him.’

  ‘Doesn’t look that way to me.’

  Her eyes were chips of ice in a face distorted by anger.

  ‘In case you didn’t know, inter-company relationships are strictly forbidden…’ Beth began appeasingly.

  ‘Not that you would ever let that stand in your way.’

  There was a heavy silence and Beth wondered what she could say to pour oil on these waters. Nothing, she decided. She had no reason to justify herself.

  At the back of her mind, though, a little nagging thought began to spout. What if, without wanting it, she was attracted to Marcos? Of course she couldn’t be, but then again, she had reacted to him in a way that was totally uncharacteristic and uncontrolled.

  Maybe Jane had picked up her unconscious response. And if Jane had picked it up, who was to say that Marcos hadn’t as well?

  The thought made her go cold.

  ‘Why do you care what I think of Marcos anyway?’ she asked eventually.

  Jane reddened.

  ‘Look,’ Beth said, feeling a surge of pity for the other woman, ‘he goes in for beautiful blondes. You’re right. He’s a man who can pick and choose, and those are the types he chooses. Surely there are lots of men out there; you’re not unattractive…’ Her voice faltered as the embarrassment on Jane’s face gave way to fury.

  Too late, Beth realised that she had c
hosen the wrong words to express her sympathy. Jane would not want to be told that Marcos was as out of her reach as a shooting star.

  ‘This is silly,’ she began, hastily trying to retrace her steps. ‘Marcos is not interested in either of us…’

  Oh, lord, she groaned inwardly. How much more tactless can I get?

  ‘Don’t patronise me,’ Jane hissed furiously. ‘I may not be tall and blonde—’

  ‘I didn’t mean it in that—’

  ‘—but I know one thing for sure. If I can’t have Marcos, then you certainly won’t!’

  She stood up and swept away, her head held high.

  Beth remained where she was, ordering a cup of tea, even though the weather was so hot, thoughtfully taking small sips out of it. Tea was a great soother, a lovely British habit that never failed her.

  What a mess, she thought. Not only had Marcos Adrino shown her that she was far more of a vulnerable fool than she had ever suspected, but from the look of it he had managed to turn Jane’s world upside-down as well. How long had the poor woman been nurturing her dreams? Had her obsession with him crept up on her insidiously, like some dreadful illness, only becoming apparent when it was too late to take preventative measures?

  Men like him, she thought angrily, ought to have a health warning on them. It was at least a small blessing that Laura had remained untouched by his charm. She preferred the adoring kind of man, and Beth somehow could never see Marcos in that role.

  No, he had been brutally honest with her when he had told her that commitment was not for him. He preferred the excitement of the chase, the sweet short period of possession, and then the freedom to discard.

  If I had read his character reference on paper, Beth decided, I would have disliked him on the spot.

  She wandered up to her room for a short siesta and gloomily contemplated the remainder of the day.

  They were due to accompany him on a sightseeing tour of the island, to get the feel of the community, he had told them earlier on. Just the three of them. It had the makings of a nightmare.

  Outside the sun poured through the window. She could imagine the sizzling heat, even though it was beautifully cool inside the bedroom with the air-conditioning on.