Love Captive (13 page)

Oh, but can't we stay at least one more day
? Anne wanted to cry out, but at sight of Carlos's cold black eyes, she bit back the cry. He was right, of course. They'd agreed on a time limit and now must respect it. These three days here had been a delightful dream, nothing more. It was time now to wake up from the dream and once again deal with reality.

They left as soon as possible after breakfast that morning, their suitcases tucked into the trunk of their small rented car, Renée and Bob waving them off with repeated requests that they come again.

"Though next time you won't escape so easily," Renée exclaimed, tears shining in her large green eyes. "Three lousy days. I still can't believe you're really leaving."

"Our days here were anything but lousy," Carlos responded, dark eyes shadowed. "They were beautiful days, and I for one will always remember and be grateful for them." He kissed Renée affectionately on the cheek, shook Bob's hand warmly, then climbed into the little car and started the engine.

Anne crossed her arms over her chest, as though to press to herself the lovely three days they'd had. "Thank you for talking me into this," she murmured after a time to Carlos.

Carlos glanced around with a startled look. Anne could tell he'd heard her voice but had been too far away, in thought, to comprehend what she'd said.

"Nothing," she murmured even more softly, grateful tears glistening in her eyes. "I just wanted to thank you, that's all, for persuading me to come here. It was—well, the most perfect three days of my life, that's all."

"Mine too," Carlos said. His eyes met hers and remained fixed on them for so long that Anne was afraid they'd run off the road.

"Please, Carlos, remember you're driving," she reminded him nervously.

"Right." His steady gaze swung around to the road and he did not glance her way again.

Anne turned to look out her window and almost at once sank into a worried reverie. Why hadn't Michael and Dorrie shown up yet? she wondered. She tried to pretend to herself that she found this more surprising than she actually did. Her brother wasn't a weak man, but neither did he possess the fiery stubbornness that both Dorrie and Carlos possessed in full measure. In the end Michael would win, Anne had no doubt, but it was obviously going to take him a while to bring Dorrie around.

Carlos fell silent as he sped the little car along the highway, and with every mile they drove he seemed to retreat more securely within himself. His face closed up, as though to deny her existence, or at least to deny the enjoyment they had found in each other the past few days. Well, so what? Anne thought, afraid to face the limitless pain this caused her. If Carlos could withdraw emotionally, so could she.

After a time the smoothly rolling car rocked her into drowsiness, and she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

They stopped for a midday meal in Marseilles, and Carlos bought fruit, cheese, and nuts at a market so that they would be able to partake of a light supper later without having to lose any more time. Around midnight they reached Narbonne. Carlos pulled up to a small hotel, announcing that they would rent rooms here. As they bade each other good night, Carlos told Anne coolly that he planned to get an early start in the morning, so if she didn't wake of her own accord, he would come to her room to wake her. Tensing irritably, Anne snapped that she would do her best to awaken on her own.

"Don't blame me for the fact that we're not in Palencia yet," she reminded him. "It wasn't my idea to go off for a three-day holiday, it was yours."

"Admittedly," Carlos replied even more icily, "but now I must return as quickly as possible. Father's growing more upset by the hour and I'm also needed at my office. It was foolish of me to have taken that time off and now I must pay for it. Good night, Anne."

"Good night, Carlos."

They parted in the hall outside Anne's room. As Anne watched Carlos stride off toward his own room, her eyes misted over and smarted. How could Carlos dismiss the marvelous days they'd had in St. Tropez so easily? He sounded now as though he regretted them, as though he would wish them out of existence if he could. Anne felt suddenly lonely and isolated in a way she'd never felt before. After she went into her room, she lost control and burst into tears. Throwing herself across her bed, she wept, the first time she'd given in to sobs since this whole miserable mess had begun. How could Carlos push out of his mind and heart all memory of their golden days together? Obviously only
she
had enjoyed them; they could not have meant anything at all to him.

In time her sobs ceased and she drifted off to sleep, physically and emotionally exhausted.

When she woke in the morning, she steeled herself not to be hurt by Carlos again. She'd known almost from the moment they met that underneath his handsome, charming facade lived a man who was absolutely ruthless. She had foolishly allowed him to get by her defenses for a time, but not again. Never again would she forget that Carlos, for all his apparent charm, felt nothing for her. There was ample evidence to prove that the man had no heart.

As it turned out, both she and Carlos had awakened shortly after dawn, and after a quick breakfast they were again on their way. The weather was clear, warm, and beautiful, and much of the scenery they passed was truly spectacular. Nevertheless Anne couldn't seem to relax enough to enjoy their travels. Carlos drove silently hour after hour, eyes staring straight ahead, and every time Anne allowed herself to glance around at him, she felt a fresh wave of anger and pain. She did her best to keep her eyes fixed on the landscape outside her window, and tried desperately to forget that Carlos Philip Maximilian Alvarado-Castellon even existed.

Shortly before noon that day Carlos suddenly swerved the car off the road and stopped. For the first time in hours he addressed her.

"Anne, look up ahead, to the left. I've taken us some distance out of our way, but I couldn't bear to come this close and not let you see Carcassonne, which to me is one of the most fascinating sights not only in France but in all of Europe. Do you not think so?"

With her pulse now racing, Anne squinted her eyes to stare at the walled and towered city ahead, which rose against a background of snowcapped mountain peaks.

"Carcassonne is probably the finest example of a medieval walled city in the world," Carlos told her. "The city itself is said to date back some twenty centuries—can you imagine that, back to the time of Christ?—though the fortifications were built much later, between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries. As pressed as we are for time, I'd like to stop here just long enough for you to have a closer look. Maybe we can take a quick tour around the ramparts of the outer wall and catch a bite to eat in the walled town, 'La Cite.' We've made such very good time we can afford to waste an hour or two, don't you think?"

Pulse pounding even harder, Anne glanced around to look directly at Carlos, the first time she had faced him all morning. "It's hard for me to agree or disagree," she said, as calmly as possible, "when I haven't the least idea where we are."

"Then I will have to rectify that situation," Carlos said and smiled. "Carcassonne is in the southernmost area of France, nestling, as you can see, at the base of the Pyrenees. My idea was this, if it's agreeable to you. We'll explore the town for an hour or so, we'll stop for something to eat, then we'll be on our way again. There are several very passable roads over the mountains, and we can head south to pick one up as soon as we leave Carcassonne."

"If we do that, how soon will we arrive in Palencia?"

Carlos smiled. "Whether or not we throw away an hour or two now, we should reach my home by late afternoon tomorrow."

Anne's eyes held his a moment longer, then she lowered her gaze and shrugged slightly. "All right, then. Why not?"

"Good enough." Carlos started the car motor up again and swung the little car back onto the road.

They took the tour of the outer ramparts that Carlos had suggested, strolled through the "lists"— the space between the outer and inner walk— walked through the museum in the Counts' Castle, built in the twelfth century, and spent a brief time going through the Basilica St. Nazaire, gazing with awe at the lovely stained-glass windows built in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. After enjoying lunch at a small cafe in the Lower Town near the Mus
é
e des Beaux Arts, they agreed it was time to be once again on their way.

They had talked very little during their sightseeing through Carcassonne, but Anne had sensed that Carlos felt friendlier toward her again. This not only confused her, it also made her angry, and as Carlos sped them on their way she resolved with even greater determination not to let down her guard.

The little car sped smoothly forward. Carlos drove without speaking, his eyes fixed steadily on the road ahead, and again Anne grew drowsy, closed her eyes, and in time fell asleep.

She was awakened suddenly when the car jolted to a stop and Carlos cried out something in Spanish, words that sounded both startled and angry. She jerked upright, saw that it was dark outside, and glanced quickly around at Carlos.

"Carlos, what is it? Why have we stopped?"

"I don't know. I'll have to check." Carlos reached around to the back, grabbed up a flashlight and jacket, and pulled the jacket on before climbing out. He threw up the car hood and his head disappeared under it. Anne sat huddled forward, staring out, aware suddenly that she felt chilled. She rolled down her car window and peered out. The air slapping against her face was clear and cold, and she could see there was snow on the ground just beyond the paved road they were on. She hastily rolled her car window back up, then on impulse climbed out and walked around to stand alongside Carlos.

"Carlos, can I help? Do you know yet what the problem is?"

"Not yet." Carlos glanced around at her, and in the light of the flashlight he held, Anne could see the sudden sparks that flashed in his angry, dark eyes. "But, for heaven's sake, get back in the car. Do you want to freeze? You're not even wearing a coat!"

Yes, master
! Anne thought hotly, cheeks flushing with humiliation, but she quickly did as he'd ordered and had to admit to herself that of course he was right.

Headlights came up on the highway behind them and Anne swiveled around on the seat to watch. As the car approached, traveling at a high speed, she suddenly
knew
it would crash into them. A much larger car, it would squash them flat or smack them out of the way as a man would a bug. Tensing in fright, Anne watched in growing panic as the headlights got larger and larger, all but blinding her. But instead of running into them, at the very last minute the car swerved to the side and went roaring past. Though Carlos stood alongside their car waving for the driver to stop, his signal was ignored and the car sped by.

Carlos walked to the driver's door and yanked it open. "Anne, move over behind the wheel," he directed her. "Steer the car while I push it off the road. We're not safe here."

Anne did as he'd asked, hands nervously clasping the wheel. Fortunately the vehicle was small and light enough for one man to move, and soon the little car dipped down into a narrow gully to the side of the road and lurched forward onto some icy ground. Carlos came running up alongside, opened the door and said, breathing fast, "Very good, Anne. The motor has thrown a rod, I'm almost sure, which I have no way to fix, but I'm going to try to stop a car and get us a ride. Bundle up as best you can. Hopefully I won't be long."

A few minutes later another car came speeding by, and about a half hour after that a second. Then there was a long wait before they saw the lights of another car approach and disappear. Although Carlos stood in the middle of the road and waved his flashlight, none of the drivers stopped to help them. Twice he had to make a quick leap aside or he would have been struck. In fear that he would be injured if he didn't give up, Anne rolled down the car window and yelled at him, trying to catch his attention.

When Carlos didn't respond, she climbed out at last in annoyance. Slipping over the icy ground, she made her way over the gully and onto the paved road. Gleaming headlights flashed into view just as she stepped up to Carlos. Waving her arms back and forth, she tried desperately to attract the driver's attention.

"Anne, what the devil—?" Carlos exclaimed, obviously annoyed to see her there.

Ignoring him, Anne continued to signal frantically to the oncoming car. The car swerved to the side, and passed Carlos and herself without even slowing down.

"Anne, go back to the car," Carlos ordered imperiously. "This is no place for a woman to be."

"And no place for a man either!" Anne snapped irritably. "Can't you see you're just wasting your time? No one's going to stop for you. Now come on back to the car before you freeze to death!"

"Here's another car coming now," Carlos responded. "This one will stop for us, I feel it in my heart."

The car raced toward them, swung to the side to avoid them, and roared powerfully on. In spite of herself, Anne burst out laughing.

"In your heart, you said?" she mocked Carlos. "You knew in your heart that car would stop?"

Another car raced past them while they stood in the center of the road ordering each other back to the car. Finally Anne gave up, muttering that if Carlos insisted upon killing himself, all right, so be it. She trudged back to the car alone, and huddled on the front seat trying to warm herself up. Still Carlos stubbornly stayed on the road, frantically flashing his light at the pitifully infrequent cars that passed. Another hour had gone by before he at last gave up and stalked back to the car.

Throwing himself onto the seat, he sighed. "The worst part is I can't even blame those people," he muttered to Anne. "There have been so many cases of robbery, car theft, even murder up on these mountain roads that no driver in his right mind would stop to help anyone. Being a Good Samaritan may be good for the soul but it's highly dangerous to the body, up on these isolated roads, at least. The fact is," he admitted, swinging to face Anne, his black eyes shadowed, "as often as I've traveled this road, I've never once stopped myself for anyone signaling me. I always figure it's a setup, someone out to rob me and take my car. So how can I hold it against anyone else for thinking the same thing and not risking life and limb?"