Captive Heart (8 page)

He shook his head. "I meant what I said. You have proven to me that you are extremely competent, seňorita. You must pay no attention to my nervousness. It has to do with something that happened a long time ago—something I must deal with privately. It has nothing to do with you."

He really was a most confusing man. During the takeoff, he had been extremely tense, saying nothing. Once they were in the air, he had relaxed to the point that he was handing her his flowery line. But during the landing, he had become quite nervous again.

He was less of a threat to her when he was under this strain. She felt herself momentarily put aside her distrust and antagonism. In its place was concern for an overly anxious student. "I wonder why you wish to learn to fly if it makes you uncomfortable?"

He was regaining his healthy, bronze color. He shrugged. "It is nothing. It will soon pass. You see—you are doing wonders for my morale."

"I hope so. I mean, I hope the tenseness will pass. To be a good pilot, you must be relaxed."

She felt the stunning impact of his fiery gaze searching her eyes. "I am very relaxed when I am with you, JoNell," he said softly.

Her short-lived concern for him dissolved. The gates of her defense line slammed shut. "What is it you wished to show me?" she asked coldly.

"I will show you. Come, let's stretch our legs." He unbuckled his seat belt and opened his door.

JoNell did the same. Her white sneakers hit the hard packed sand. She stretched, rubbed the back of her neck, then met Del Toro near the tail of the plane.

"Well?" she asked. "Where is it?"

He towered above her. She forgot, when they were in the plane, how tall and powerfully built he was. The muscles of his broad shoulders strained at the plaid jacket he was wearing today. She felt like a Lilliputian beside him.

He was gazing at her with green eyes that smoldered with dark concentration.

"I said where is it?"

"What?"

"What you wanted to show me," she said impatiently.

"Oh, right here," Del Toro said with an expansive sweep of his broad hand. He placed his fingers on her slim shoulders, gently turned her to look around at the beach, then to face him again.

She was frowning suspiciously. "I don't know what you mean."

"In front of you!" he exclaimed. "Don't you see it? A long, golden beach. And in the center of it, what? A man!"

"Is that what you wanted to show me!" she gasped. "
You
? Is that why we landed the plane?"

"But of course," Del Toro laughed, his white teeth flashing. "You have not seen the real me since you've been here. I decided it was time you took a good look. I may not be so bad as you seem to think. To begin with, am I so unpleasant to look at?"

"Well, no," JoNell confessed. In fact, Del Toro was the most handsome man she had ever seen, though she would cut off her tongue before admitting to him that she thought so.

"Are my manners repugnant?"

"Of course not," she snapped impatiently.

"Then what is it about me that you find so distasteful?" he demanded.

Distasteful? On the contrary, JoNell found Del Toro almost irresistibly attractive—on the surface. His black hair contrasting with his fiery deep green eyes and his high forehead gave him a noble appearance. His muscular body hinted at passion only dreamed of in romantic novels. His wealth and power were sufficient to attract women in the highest circles of society.

But there was more to a person than the surface veneer. There was such a thing as character. And what JoNell knew about this man's character—or lack of it!—where women were concerned did make him repugnant to her.

"This conversation has gone far enough!" JoNell said hotly. "I can't see where it makes any difference whether I find you handsome or not handsome, or distasteful or not distasteful."

"It makes a difference to me—a great difference!"

"Well, not to me. I'm here to give you flying lessons. That is my only interest in you."

"But I wish to have you become more interested in me than if I were just another student, JoNell."

"What arrogance!"

"Some women love arrogance," he smiled.

"Not this woman! You're also conceited."

"That, too, can make a man attractive."

"You're impossible!"

He threw back his head and laughed. His laughter like everything else about him was big—it echoed from the dunes.

"Please," she said with angry tears. "Leave me alone! Do you have to make a conquest of every woman you meet?"

His laughter faded and he gazed at her soberly. "Why must you think of it as a 'conquest'? Can you not believe that I find you suddenly so important in my life that I must tell you so?"

"There you go, talking in Spanish again. Do you do that automatically when you start handing a poor girl your line?"

"I am sorry," he said with a slight nod of his head. "I do it without thinking. The two languages are so comfortable for me, I switch from one to the other without realizing it. Whatever language I use, I am trying to tell you how compelling you are, how much I find myself wanting you."

JoNell swallowed hard. She felt a trembling in her knees. She tried to hold onto her anger. "You met me twenty-four hours ago," she choked. "You know nothing about me…"

"I know everything about you. You are very young, JoNell, but surely you must know that in the important things in life, one must trust the heart, not the mind. Something deep inside gives us the message, sometimes quickly and without warning."

Fire was raging in his slashing green eyes now. He took a step closer to JoNell. A shiver of fear gripped her. Suddenly she realized how alone they were on this deserted stretch of beach. The size of Del Toro's powerful body made JoNell feel even smaller and weaker than she really was. If he decided to take her by force, she knew she couldn't stop him. What had possessed her to land in this isolated spot with the notorious Del Toro, knowing his unsavory reputation with women as she did?

Her mouth suddenly dry, she said, "We'd better go. It's getting late."

She turned to flee to the airplane, but was cut short by a strong hand gripping her upper arm. Powerful fingers bit into her flesh.

"You're hurting me!" she gasped.

"Not as much as you are hurting me," Del Toro raged. "You don't give me a chance! Your mind is made up to hate me!"

He pulled her to him. She felt the steel bands of his arms imprison her. She struggled helplessly as he mashed her to him and pressed his hard manliness against her threateningly. She twisted her shoulders, struggled and started to scream. He held her tight with one strong arm and covered her mouth with the other masterful hand.

"It won't do you any good to scream," he whispered huskily in her ear. "There is not another living soul within a hundred kilometers."

In that instant, JoNell was sure she was in the possession of the devil. Demanding green eyes bore into hers with fierce determination. Nostrils flared with passion. She felt the fight drain from her. Almost hypnotized, she became limp and fluid in his arms. Hungry lips pressed on hers. She felt the tingle of thick hair brushing against her upper lip. The half hysterical thought crossed her embattled mind that she had never before been kissed by a man with a mustache.

She was swept up in a cloud of bewilderment as her body was pulled tighter and tighter into his powerful arms and his lips became more demanding on hers. She felt hard teeth behind his lips bruise her flesh. He loosened his grip and ran his hands slowly down her spine. A tingle raced through her. Then his hands retraced their course, moved back up her spine and stopped on her shoulders. His lips reluctantly parted from hers, and he drew back.

"Was that so terrible?" he asked in a husky whisper, his eyes searching hers.

A smoldering deep in her being, in some hidden recess of her emotions, in a place so remote from her usual thoughts that she had never guessed its existence, began to ignite in an indescribable feeling that both terrified and fascinated her. Little bands of steel in all her muscles gave her a sudden strength. Her heart pounded furiously, making her dizzy. Vaguely, she knew she could break his grip and run. But she was trapped now in a snare of her own desire, and she knew, with an intensity she had never before known in her life, that she was being controlled by some inner force that brushed aside rational thought. Only her heart told her what she must do.

He said, "Destiny brought you to my life, JoNell. That is what I felt soon after I met you…"

Again, he kissed her. She could feel the hard jolts of Del Toro's pulse pounding through his body. Fire burned her lips. Now she melted against him willingly. She thought she would never get her fill of the delicious nectar of his mouth. All of her senses melted into a large ball of burning desire which begged for the touch and kiss of Jorge Del Toro Never before had she felt so alive, so vibrant, so in need. Her body ached. In her fogged state, she forgot about the many women Del Toro had had before her, and that he would toss her aside as he had them, when his fickle nature tired of her. Tomorrow would never be and yesterday had never been. There was only this place and this moment—this strip of deserted beach and this man holding her. They were man and woman at the dawn of creation.

She was enveloped in rapturous sensations begging to be fulfilled when the kiss ended. His caressing hands stopped leaving their trail of fire on her body. His breathing that had been quick and unmeasured took on a controlled quality. He loosened his grip on her and drew back. But still his eyes searched her face. "I will have you, when the time is right," he murmured, his voice unsteady. "In your hate for me, I have found a spark of passion—"

JoNell felt drained and weak. Her arms, an empty ache in them, hung limply at her sides. At first the desire that had raged in her changed into a blank feeling of nothingness, a void sensation of occupying an empty body. Then as her strength and sanity returned, she felt the hot rise of anger. Shame overtook the anger. Humiliation made her cheeks burn. She blinked hard to hold back a flood of tears.

What a cruel and calculating man he was! Older, experienced with women, he had taken advantage of her youth and innocence.

With a shocking realization, JoNell saw what a diabolical man Del Toro was, and how exceedingly dangerous he was. He had tricked JoNell in spite of her defenses against him. He had turned on in her a flood of desire so intense she would have willingly given herself to him today, here in this place, and then regretted it the rest of her life. But he had stopped short, perhaps to prove to her just how much power he really had over her. He could toy with her as he pleased because he had her under his spell now. He had proved that he could arouse her. But he was not nearly so weak as she was. While she had been his willing victim, he had been emotionally aloof the whole time, coolly measuring her responses.

JoNell was frightened. How long would it be before Jorge Del Toro carried out his threat? She loathed him more than ever. In that moment, she vowed to never again allow him to trap her into a situation where they were alone together like this. Her hate for him was her only protection. She would use it like a sword against him until she was safely out of Peru!