The Stand-In Bride Read online

  It annoyed Maggie not to be able to dispute the point, but she’d come to see that Sebastian’s assessment of his bride was largely correct. That didn’t make her agree with him about his marriage, but it did make him hard to fight.

  ‘And what about you?’ she asked. ‘How will you manage with a wife who cannot share your thoughts?’

  He shrugged. ‘I share my thoughts with men, not women.’

  ‘For heaven’s sake!’ she cried to the sky.

  ‘You demand too much of marriage. No relationship can fulfil all needs. Catalina and I will make a home together. I will keep her safe, give her children, and satisfy her need for passion.’

  ‘You’re very sure you can satisfy that?’ she snapped.

  He shrugged. ‘I’ve had no complaints so far.’

  ‘Stop right there. I don’t want to hear about your easy conquests.’

  ‘Why do you assume that they were easy?’

  ‘Because I know about you now. I know how they speak of you-Don Sebastian, the man of authority, of respect, of power. The man whose eye everyone wants to catch-’

  ‘Like your friend tonight,’ he murmured.

  ‘Yes. Good heavens, he nearly jumped through hoops when he heard I knew you.’

  ‘Why, Margarita,’ he said softly, ‘I didn’t realise that I filled so large a part of your conversation-or your thoughts.’

  ‘Don’t try to lay traps for me-’

  ‘You lay them for yourself. Why do you dislike me so much?’

  ‘Because-’ it was suddenly hard to answer ‘-because I feel sorry for Catalina. You mean to be a good husband by your lights, but your lights are very narrow. I see her being frog-marched into this marriage without having a chance to find something better.’

  ‘Something better than a home in which she will be petted and indulged, and given safety in which to rear her children? Yes, I shall be a good husband by my lights. But my lights include something you never speak of, perhaps because you think it doesn’t matter.’

  ‘I don’t know what you mean.’

  ‘I think you do. She is beautiful. I am a man who knows how to please a woman, and how to teach her to please him. Strange, how you never allow for passion, Margarita. A man might almost think you knew nothing of it.’

  ‘Oh, I know about passion,’ she said with a bitterness she couldn’t suppress. ‘I know how dangerous it is, and how overrated. You think if you blind her like that nothing else will matter.’

  ‘I think that a man who satisfies his wife in bed is a good husband, and has protected the sanctity of his home.’

  Suddenly time rolled back and she was confronting Roderigo again, beating her head against his selfish conviction that his technical skill as a lover should silence all argument. Terrified, she hurled the cruellest words she could find.

  ‘And how will he know if she’s truly satisfied, Sebastian? How can he be sure that what he sees isn’t a pretence, the prisoner placating her gaoler? That’s the trouble when a man has too much power. He’s never quite certain, is he?’

  The sharp intake of his breath told her that she’d struck home. ‘Be careful,’ he said harshly.

  ‘It’s true. Admit it!’

  She didn’t know what demon was lashing her on to drive him past the point of safety. She only knew that she would do anything to crack his control and wipe the complacency from his face. And that she was succeeding.

  ‘Stop there,’ he said harshly.

  ‘Why should I? What did you think I meant when I spoke of your “easy conquests”? They’re very easy, aren’t they, Sebastian? I’m sure women flock to your bed, but is it you that pleases them, or your money and power? You’ll never be sure, will you?’

  ‘Then you can be the judge,’ he snapped.

  She read the intention in his eyes and backed off, but too late. His hand was behind her head and his mouth on hers before she had time to think. There was no chance to even try to push him away as his other arm clamped itself around her waist, grinding her body against his. She had driven him too far. Now he had a point to make, and she knew within seconds that he was going to make it with devastating force. No quarter asked or given.

  But that went for her too, she thought furiously. What a pleasure it would be to lie, frozen, in his arms, and let him know how little impact he made on a woman who wanted nothing from him. It would be satisfying to teach him a lesson.

  She let her hands fall to her side and stood, unresisting, while his lips moved over hers, skilled, purposeful. There was coaxing in those movements, but she ignored it. It was harder to ignore the hot, spicy smell of him and the feel of his body moulded against hers. She was conscious of the lines of his thighs, his lean hips, and the fact that he had come swiftly to full arousal.

  To her dismay, that knowledge sent little sparks of excitement through her. That wasn’t what she’d meant to happen, and she wouldn’t give in to it. She must remember how much she disliked him, because then she couldn’t possibly want to press herself closer to him.

  He raised his head and looked down at her face, closed against him in the moonlight. He smiled.

  ‘It isn’t going to be that easy,’ he said softly. ‘For either of us.’

  ‘Go to the devil!’

  ‘Of course. That’s where you’re driving me. Let’s go together.’

  ‘No!’

  ‘Too late to say no. Too late for both of us. You should have thought of this before you taunted me. Now we have to go on to the end.’

  He covered her mouth with a swift, ravishing movement, and she clenched her hands. It was hard to keep them at her side when they wanted to touch him, excite him. She resisted the impulse, but she guessed he must sense her struggle. At all costs she must prove herself stronger than him at this moment.

  As though he read her thoughts he murmured against her lips, ‘Why do you fight me?’

  ‘Because somebody must,’ she said fiercely, trying not to let her voice shake.

  Astonished, he drew back and searched her face.

  ‘You have more power than any man should have,’ she flung at him. ‘But while I’m alive, it will never be complete. I’ll never give you power over me. Not for an instant.’

  ‘I believe you really would fight me to the last moment,’ he murmured huskily.

  ‘Believe it! Because I’ve seen through you.’

  ‘And what do you think you see?’

  ‘This is all an act. You don’t really want me at all, any more than I want you. You just can’t bear someone who doesn’t jump when you snap your fingers. If I let you overcome me, you’d shrug at another conquest and forget me the next moment.’

  ‘Are you so sure?’

  ‘Completely sure.’

  ‘Shall we find out?’

  ‘It will never happen,’ she said slowly and deliberately. She wrenched herself free and backed away from him. She was breathing hard, but in command of herself. She wasn’t so sure of Sebastian’s control. There was a wild look in his eyes, and she was suddenly aware how isolated they were in this distant part of the garden. He was a man used to taking what he wanted.

  ‘I’m leaving this house,’ she said.

  ‘I forbid it!’

  ‘And you think you have only to give your orders? Don’t try to order me, Sebastian. I’m going first thing tomorrow. And think yourself lucky if I don’t tell Catalina the kind of man she’s marrying.’

  ‘Do you know the kind of man she’s marrying?’

  ‘I know that whatever else you offer your wife, it isn’t fidelity.’

  ‘I find it hard to think of fidelity when you’re around. Perhaps you should blame yourself for that. Why do you incite me if you have nothing to give?’

  ‘Don’t try to blame me! I don’t incite you.’

  ‘You incite me just by living and breathing. You incite me when you walk in the room, when I see you-’

  ‘Then the sooner you see me no more, the better.’

  She walked away from him
quickly. As she went she listened for his footsteps coming after her, but there was only the silence and she managed to reach the building. She was shaking with the violence of what had happened to her, not what he had done, but what she had felt. Her heart was thundering and her whole body shook with the force of the sensations he had aroused. Everything he said was true. She was no girl but a woman who had learned the secrets of desire and couldn’t forget them. She’d forced them back, tried to deny what she knew, but they were there, waiting for the wrong man to bring them back to life.

  She hurried to her room, longing to get out of sight, but suddenly Catalina appeared, smiling at the sight of her. Now was her chance, Maggie thought. She’d wanted to stop this wedding, and if she told the girl the truth about her future husband, that was all it would take.

  Or would it? Catalina probably didn’t expect perfect behaviour from Sebastian, but she would expect it from her friend. Her revelations might cause pain without doing any good.

  ‘I thought you were in bed and asleep,’ she said.

  ‘I can’t sleep. I think and think about my lovely dress. I shall be the most beautiful bride.’

  ‘And after? Will he be a good husband?’

  The girl shrugged. ‘He will take care of me, and I shall have lots of lovely new clothes.’

  This was so nearly what Sebastian had said that Maggie was startled. There was something about Catalina’s prosaic attitude to her marriage that made the dreadful words die before they could be spoken. The next moment, she knew they would never be said. Catalina put her arms around Maggie’s neck and kissed her softly on the cheek. ‘I’m so happy you’re here,’ she said. ‘Nobody has ever been as good to me as you.’

  She drifted away down the corridor. At her door, she stopped, blew Maggie a kiss, and slipped inside.

  ‘Oh, heavens!’ Maggie said to the silence.

  ‘Thank you.’

  She whirled at the sound of Sebastian’s voice as he reached the top of the stair. ‘How long have you been there?’

  ‘Long enough to know that you might have betrayed me, and didn’t.’

  ‘For her sake, not for yours.’

  ‘I know that.’ In the dusky light of the corridor she could see that his face was gaunt and strained. ‘I behaved badly tonight. You are living under my roof-I forgot my honour, the honour of my house. If you will consent to remain, I give you my word that such a thing will not occur again.’ She hesitated and he said, ‘You will be safe, on my sacred word!’

  ‘Very well, I’ll stay. But hear this, Sebastian. I couldn’t give you away tonight, but I’ll still use every chance I have to undermine you in her eyes. Do you understand me? If I can talk her out of this wedding-I’ll do it.’

  He inclined his head. ‘At least I can see the battle lines. I have no complaints.’

  ‘You may have if she jilts you.’

  ‘She won’t jilt me, because you’re too honourable to use your strongest weapon. I thank you, for that and for declaring war openly.’

  ‘As long as you remember that war is what it is.’

  CHAPTER FIVE

  ‘O H , M AGGIE, it’s wonderful up here. I’m so glad we came!’

  Laughing, Catalina flopped down into a seat on the terrace café and looked out over the snow. An energetic session on the piste had left her with bright eyes and glowing cheeks.

  They had been three days in Sol y Nieve, the chief ski resort of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Here, surrounded by snow, they could be carefree for just a little time, and it was almost possible to forget Sebastian and all the turbulent emotions below. By day there was skiing and shopping, and in the evening there was good food, wine, and music.

  A waiter brought them coffee and cream cakes. Watching the girl tuck in, Maggie said, ‘If you’re not careful, you won’t be able to get into your wedding dress.’

  ‘I eat anything and I never put on weight,’ Catalina said with a giggle. ‘It makes other women so mad.’ She leaned back with her eyes closed, letting the sun play on her face. She looked prettier than ever.

  ‘How did you ever persuade Sebastian to let me out of the cage?’ she asked, keeping her eyes closed.

  Maggie regarded her wryly, no longer impressed by talk of cages. She knew now that this was Catalina’s ‘line’, and it would be dropped the next time she was enjoying being the star attraction in a big, glamorous, set piece.

  ‘There was no problem,’ she said. ‘He agreed to my suggestion at once.’

  That was true, but there had been a silent subtext. She had gone to Sebastian the morning after their fierce encounter in the garden and told him flatly that she wanted to take Catalina away for a few days.

  ‘Is this really necessary?’ he’d asked mildly. ‘There’s much to do-and I gave you my word-’

  ‘I want to get out of this house for at least a week,’ she’d replied. When he still hesitated, she said quietly, ‘It is a question of honour.’

  She knew those words had revealed something that would have been better kept secret. He would guess now that she wasn’t as immune to him as she’d claimed. But at the word ‘honour’ he’d nodded and agreed without further argument.

  While she was getting ready to leave there was a phone call for her. It was José, to thank her for her help yesterday, and to ask her to meet him for coffee.

  ‘I’d love to, but it’ll have to wait until we return,’ she said.

  ‘You’re going away?’

  ‘Catalina and I are going up to Sol y Nieve for a few days skiing. I’ll call you when we get back,’ she promised.

  An hour later the car departed, laden with five suitcases for Catalina and two for Maggie, to start the short journey up the mountain to the ski resort.

  It had taken less than an hour for them to remove themselves into what felt like another world. Gone was the balmy air of the foothills, replaced by freezing temperatures and dazzling snow as far as the eye could see. In this cheerful place, where the tourist season was just under way, Maggie could lose herself in mindless activity, and forget that she’d come within an inch of doing something for which her conscience would have reproached her. Or at least, she could try to forget.

  Skiing with Catalina could be frustrating. The girl was at home only on the ‘green’ and ‘blue’ runs, the two lowest rungs of difficulty. But Maggie had honed her skills on these mountains in the dark days of her marriage, when she scarcely cared what happened to her. From difficult ‘red’ runs she had progressed to hair-raising ‘black’. The Sierra Nevada had five black runs, two of them almost sheer drops, and she was longing to return to them, but with Catalina that was impossible.

  When they had finished eating they began to head back in the direction of the ski lift. Suddenly she heard a voice call, ‘Hey, Maggie!’

  Turning she saw two young men in ski clothes, making their way towards her. Against the blinding snow she didn’t recognise either of them until Catalina squealed with excitement, and cried, ‘José!’

  ‘Goodness, yes, it is,’ she said. ‘I wonder who the other boy is.’

  José’s companion was an undistinguished looking youth with a slightly sloping chin and prominent eyes. He was extremely tall with long, awkward legs and no social graces whatever.

  ‘Allow me to introduce my friend Horacio,’ José said, when he’d approached them. ‘We are taking a brief skiing holiday.’

  His eyes, meeting Maggie’s, were too innocent to be true, and an incredible thought came to her. Once, José had fancied himself in love with her. Surely it wasn’t possible that…?

  ‘Permit us to buy you both coffee,’ José offered smoothly.

  ‘We’ve just eaten, thank you,’ Maggie said. ‘We were about to return to the slopes.’

  ‘So were we. What a coincidence!’

  ‘Yes, isn’t it?’ she said, her lips twitching.

  The four of them skied together for the rest of the day, and after that it seemed natural to meet up for a meal that evening. By now Horacio was
smitten by Catalina, and goofily unable to hide it. The girl’s natural kindness stopped her snubbing him too firmly. Luckily he turned out to be a good dancer, so she was able to keep him content with a few energetic turns about the floor. This left Maggie and José together at the table.

  ‘Where on earth did you find him?’ she chuckled.

  ‘He works for me. He’s a good lad, but he doesn’t have much social life, so when I hauled him up here he jumped at it.’ He smiled at her outrageously. ‘Well, I could hardly come on my own. And, now that I’m here-’ He held out his hands invitingly.

  She laughed and let him lead her onto the floor, discovering that she was in the mood for a harmless flirtation. They danced together a couple of times, then everyone changed partners and she found herself with Horacio. The next few minutes were a trial, as he kept trying to look over his shoulder at Catalina. The sight of her happily dancing and giggling with José reduced him to anguish. Maggie was glad when it was time for them all to say goodnight.

  In the privacy of their suite, the two young women indulged themselves in a hearty burst of laughter.

  ‘If only he’d stick to dancing, everything would be fine,’ Catalina gasped. ‘But he will talk about balance sheets and import regulations.’ She went off in another convulsion of mirth, and Maggie joined her. It made a good end to an enjoyable day.

  The four of them spent the next morning wandering around the town on a shopping expedition. It was an enchanted place, covered in snow and full of coloured lights. Dazzling Christmas trees stood on every corner, the shop windows were packed with gifts, and silver bells hung overhead. Maggie and José had gotten a little ahead of the other two when it was time to return to the hotel, and they walked up the steps and into the reception area together. There Maggie stopped, astonished.

  ‘Good afternoon, Señora Cortez,’ Sebastian said affably.

  ‘Señor, I had no idea that you meant to come here.’

  ‘The snow reports are encouraging, and as both Alfonso and myself are keen skiers, we couldn’t resist.’

  Alfonso, a little way behind, inclined his head courteously. Maggie brought José forward and there were murmured greetings all round.