The Dragon's Cave (24 page)

The lights came on slowly and Megan pulled herself away from Carlos, startled by the audience about her coming to life. The boats had already waltzed their
way round to the back of the column and out of sight. The performance was over.

Megan leapt to her feet, hurrying over more tardy feet than
her
own with
a
muttered apology here and there.
Carlos caught
her by the hand and pulled her back against him. forcing her to slow down.

‘Carlos, leave me alone
!’

‘
N
i
hab
l
ar
!’

‘
I
—
I don’t understand.’

He chuckled.
‘
You wouldn’t, it wasn’t a term of endearment. I
said, not
on your life
!’

‘It isn’t
fair!’
Megan protested. ‘Carlos, let’s get out of here. I’m
going
back to England and that’s that!
Everyone
will be pleased
!’

‘
Everyone?’

‘
Everyone. Margot and—and Inez—’

‘And
you?’

‘Oh, Carlos, that isn’t a fair question!’ Her voice broke and she swallowed desperately to keep from crying.

‘
Isn’t it,
pequena
? But can’t you see that it all depends on that?’

Megan wiped her face with the back of her hand, hoping
that
he
wouldn’t
notice in the poor lighting.

‘
Oh, look
!’
she bade him. ‘Isn’t—isn’t the water
cl
ear down there?’

He
looked
down to where she was pointing with complete
indifference.
‘
Last time I came, this path wasn’t here,’ he
told
her.
‘
It took much longer to come out. Judging by the change of atmosphere, we’re nearly there.’ He
took
her hand in his, to help her up the
last flight of
stairs, running his thumb over the dampness
that
was all that was left of her tears.
‘
The prospect
of
going back to England doesn’t seem to have made
you very
happy,
hija
,’
he remarked.

The slow-moving group came to a complete halt. Megan looked over her shoulder, her eyes meeting Carlos’ ironic gaze fleetingly.

‘You don’t understand
!
’
she
began.

‘What
don’t I understand?’

‘Why I have to go away.
You
should never have brought me here in the first place! Poor Inez! I feel quite sorry for her—
’
She turned away, gulping in the cool air from above.
‘
You aren’t
kind
to anyone
!
’

‘
Am I supposed to have some particular obligation to be kind to Inez?’ he
enquired,
moving up a step so that she could feel his long, hard body close up against hers.
‘
Inez
is
Pepe’s girl. They are a good match for each other. At least, she doesn’t start like a frightened rabbit every time she sees him
!
’

‘
But—’

‘
Dios mio
,
Megan!
Qui disparate
!
How could you suppose that Inez would hold any interest for me? Didn’t I tell you right
at
the beginning that I am a man, that the boy that was me no longer existed? What would I do with Inez? She would be frightened half to death
!
’

‘She is a year older than
I
am,’ Megan pointed out.

His eyes glinted dangerously. ‘Is that so?’ he drawled.
‘
And were you frightened half to death when I kissed you?’

Megan blushed.
‘
No,’ she said simply. She didn’t want to remember what she had felt when he had kissed her. If she did, she knew she would never gather enough courage to leave him, no matter how urgent her reasons for going.

‘
That’s what
I
thought
!’
His hand caressed the back of her neck beneath the curtain of her hair. ‘What happened, that now you want to run away?’

Her knees felt weak and she drove herself to the edge of anger so that she wouldn’t give way to the delicious feel of his hands.
‘
What happened?’ she repeated. ‘You know what happened! How dared you be so contemptuous yesterday! What if Tony did like my singing, and you didn’t? You could at
least have said hullo
!’

His hand tightened on her neck. ‘If I had said anything to you just then, I would have slapped you
!’

She shivered, thankful that they were on the move again.
‘
It wasn’t my fault,’ she said defensively.
‘
I didn’t want him to kiss me.’

‘
That wasn’t the way it looked to me.’ He gave her a
little
shake, making her stumble and miss her step. ‘In future, my girl, you can keep all your kisses for me, no matter how much you feel like flirting with someone else
!’

The sheer injustice of this bereft her of speech. She made a last dash up the steps, past a stall selling postcards and various souvenirs and guides, and out into the sunshine, with Carlos in hot pursuit.

‘Now what’s the matter?’ he roared at her.

Megan stopped, very much on her dignity. ‘I do not flirt!
’
she informed him with a toss of her head.

He came level, catching up her hand in his. ‘You flirt; you tell lies; and you’re so young that I have no peace thinking about you. I imagine that you think you are in love with this Tony of yours. I spend hours telling myself that you are so free with him merely because you are English and have had a different upbringing from the Spanish girls I know. I even suspect that you wish to see
him
to annoy me, to find out how far you can go before my patience is exhausted and I make sure that you know you are mine once and for all
!
But you are young and I must give you time to find yourself
!
Well, you have no more time,
mi queridissima mujer
!
Your growing up is done, so you may as well make up your mind to spending your life with me, whether you like
i
t or not, and that your kisses are mine, and that, if you have to flirt, you can flirt with me
!’

Her eyes opened very wide.
‘
Did you call me your darling woman?’ she asked inconsequently.

‘Ah!
’
he grunted. ‘I might have known that you
would understand that
!
’

A glimmer of a smile came into her eyes. ‘It isn’t in my phrase book,’ she said.

‘I imagine that it wouldn’t be very useful to the average tourist
!
’ he retorted.

‘I don’t know,’ she murmured.
‘
The Spanish are said to be very hot-blooded.’ She grinned provocatively. ‘I suppose that’s why you find it necessary to closet your daughters. I prefer my independence
!
’

‘What a pity you will have it for such a short while
!’
he drawled.

Megan blushed. She turned and walked away to where she had left the car.

‘
Meganita, where are you going now?’ he called after her.

She was shaken by his use of her name, and she longed to tell him that his grandmother, too, had called her Meganita, and how much they had liked each other.

‘I must take Margot’s car back to Palma,’ she said. She looked at him doubtfully, taking in his harassed expression and the wild disorder of his hair. Had she done that, she wondered, when he had kissed her in the dark of the cave? ‘I—I didn’t ask her if I could borrow it.’

His grasp on her wrist tightened, pulling her towards him. ‘It is of no importance,’ he said firmly. ‘You are coming with me
!
’

‘I’m not
!’
She wished he wouldn’t look at her in quite that way, and that she didn’t feel so weak at the knees. ‘I have to take the car back. And then I’m going to buy my ticket
!
Carlos, are you listening to me?’

His arms went right round her and she thought he was going to kiss her. She shut her eyes, willing him to do so. ‘C-Carlos?’ she repeated.

‘Don’t try your tricks on me
!
’ he accused her angrily.
‘
You’re coming with me
!
Understand?’

‘Yes, Carlos.’

He glanced at her, suspicious of this unexpected meekness.
‘
Megan, I have to talk to you first. If I kiss you now, I won’t be able to stop, and then we will be late for lunch.’

‘I don’t care.’

His expression grew arrogant, his frown shadowing his dark green eyes. ‘So,’ he said, his voice as cold as steel, ‘the thought of being kissed by me doesn’t frighten you any more?’

‘I’ve never been frightened of you
!’
she claimed.

‘
Oh, Megan
!
’ he mocked her.

She chewed at her lower lip thoughtfully, wishing that she could behave in a cool, calm,
adult
way, with Carlos at her feet, hanging on her every word, instead of ordering her around and making her do everything
his
way!

‘
I may have been surprised,’ she went on, ‘but certainly not frightened!’

He laughed.
‘
Oh, Megan, I do love you
!
’

‘Do you?’ The urgency behind the question shocked her. She tried to escape his restraining hands.
‘
I mean—I mean, you’ve kissed a lot of people, haven’t you?’

‘
A few,’ he agreed soberly.

‘There you are, then,’ she concluded.
‘
You might kiss someone, but it doesn’t mean anything, does it? It—it doesn’t make that person any more
suitable
—’

He smiled straight into her eyes.
‘
I don’t think any of them were
surprised
,’
he teased her.
‘And
they were all of them quite suitable for the moment
!
’

She winced, trying once again to escape him. ‘But I’m not suitable,’ she pointed out.
‘
I tried to do what you wanted while you were away, and I couldn’t even do that. Your family don’t think me suitable at all!’ He opened the door of his car and pushed her in. Megan subsided on to the front seat, looking defeated and weary after her sleepless night. He shut the door
on her and walked round the car, getting in beside her. He spent a long moment, silently looking at her, until she grew restive and pulled at the creases of her trouser legs, wishing that she had worn a skirt after all.

‘My family will accept the woman of my choice,’ he said. ‘They are not important—’

‘
They are important
!
They’re very important—to me
!’

‘
Then they will welcome you,’ he answered grimly.

She shook her head. ‘Not even you can force them
to do that. Carlos, don’t you see? Margot doesn’t like me, and she’s afraid for the future. Didn’t your father leave her any money of her own?’

‘He had little enough to leave. He lived on my mother’s money from the moment they were married.’

‘Was that why he married her?’ Megan asked in a small voice.

‘Very
likely!’ Carlos agreed dryly.

‘Your
grandmother said your mother was bored and restless,’ Megan went on bravely. ‘You’re very like her—’

‘
Are you afraid that you might bore me?’

She bit her lip.
‘
N-no,’ she said.

His eyebrows lifted and he looked amused. ‘Then, as there is no possibility of my marrying you for your money, why do you still wish to run away?’

Megan wriggled with embarrassment, looking every bit as young as her eighteen years. ‘You haven’t asked me not to go,’ she reminded him.

‘
Nor will
I!
You know very well why I brought you to Mallorca, Megan. I shan’t prevent you if you want to go. I seem to remember that Tony Starlight asks your permission before he kisses you. If that is what you prefer—’ The cynical twist to his mouth cut through her embarrassment, bringing home to her the astonishing fact that he wasn’t as sure of himself as she had supposed. The knowledge brought a leap to her pulses and an effervescent sense of power that
went to her head like wine.

‘
Tony kisses very nicely,’ she remarked, not looking at him.

Carlos laughed harshly. ‘I’ll give you something to compare his kisses with
!
’ he shot at her. He readied over for her and yanked her along the seat towards him, ignoring her cry of protest as her knee knocked against the gear lever. His lips closed over hers in a kiss that hurt her mouth. With a
little
sob, her arms went round his neck and she eased herself closer to him. ‘Oh, Carlos,’ she whispered, ‘I thought you were never going to kiss me again
!’

‘Wishful thinking,
hija
,’
he whispered. His hand slid under her coat and tore at her blouse.
‘
No,’ he said at last.
‘
I think we had better behave ourselves. I will drive you over to a pleasant, respectable lunch with my grandmother, and after that, I’ll take you home and break the news to Margot and Pilar that you are going to marry me as soon as I can arrange it—
’

Megan smiled at him. ‘
Y
ou haven’t asked me yet,’ she complained.